'Our children's murderers are sitting right there on their phones'
A quiet epidemic is sweeping the countryside — opioid overdoses, better known from the families of victims as fentanyl poisoning. In Minnesota alone, the numbers have more than tripled over ten years.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, there were 317 opioid-involved overdose deaths, but that number skyrockets to 1,031 in 2022 and 1,001 in 2023.

With 32 days left before the start of Kolacky Days, the parade marshals were announced for the 91st annual event.
The Kolacky Days Meet and Greet was held at Memorial Park on Monday evening. The pavilion hosting the event was packed with Montgomery Area Community Club (MACC) members and directors, volunteers, and Kolacky Queen candidates.
The Kolacky royalty for 2025 was introduced. Kolacky Queen Neysa Anderson and Second Princess and Miss Congeniality Tayla Kline spoke about their experiences attending events as royalty over the past year.

Lonsdale Chamber of Commerce’s 3rd Annual Badges & Bobbers event on Friday, June 20, was a ‘reel’ catch with local emergency responders. It was a great day for fishing, and wasn’t thwarted by rain like last year’s event.
A total of 25 kids were paired up with law enforcement officers, firefighters and staff at Rezac Nature Preserve’s fishing pier for a lesson in catching fish while making positive connections with emergency personnel.

Kilkenny’s Anna Stangler (Fischer), age 39, was involved in a single vehicle utility task vehicle (UTV) accident Thursday, June 12, according to a press release from the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office.
The release said that a 911 call was received at approximately 2:35 p.m. on June 12 from a family member in Kilkenny Township and that Stangler had been involved in an UTV accident in the county ditch behind their home.

After an overcast day, the sun broke free from the clouds just as the Tri-City FFA Alumni and Friends Truck and Tractor Pull began Friday evening.
A crowd of several hundred was there for the seventh annual event at the Le Sueur County Fairgrounds. The truck and tractor pull featured 91 participants in 19 different categories, ranging from tractors to street-legal Pickup trucks.
Some participants came from as far away as Wisconsin to take part in the pull.

Three members of the 2025 Tri-City United Schools Volunteer Community Task Force presented to the school board their recommendations for the district at their last meeting on Tuesday, May 27.
The task force met on five occasions in April through May, doing a site visit at each school to see issues first hand. The superintendent, each school’s principal, and other staff lead a tour of the schools, followed by a separation of the staff and task force to come up with their own opinions about each site.

Montgomery’s Ed Keogh was elected the Department of Minnesota Veterans of Foreign Wars State commander at its 126th annual convention held in St. Cloud, Minn., June 5-8. He had the honor of being installed by the VFW National Commander-In-Chief Al Lipphardt.
Keogh is a past District 2 VFW commander and past commander of the Montgomery VFW Post 5340, which he held for 14 years. He is the first member of VFW Post 5340 to hold the position of department commander since the post was started nearly 80 years ago.

Members from Bolten & Menk, Inc., and city staff were on hand at city hall the afternoon of Tuesday, May 27, to answers residents’ questions about the 2025 Street and Utilities Improvement Project (SUIP).
The 2025 SUIP, like previous ones, will be a total overhaul of most of the infrastructure between County State Aide Highway (CSAH) 26/Lexington Avenue NW and just beyond Vine Avenue between Highway 13/4th Street NW and City Ditch 22 to the west.

The Montgomery American Legion Auxiliary Unit 79 sponsors an Americanism Essay
contest every year for all students in grades 3-12, including home-schooled and special needs students. The contest is divided into six different grade level classes.
Essay lengths correspond to the student’s grade level, ranging from a minimum of 150 words to a maximum of 500 words.
Essays are judged on the local level and then sent on to state for judging, then to division, and finally to national.

Tri-City United High School graduated over 150 students on the evening of Friday, May 30. 
People overfilled the high school gymnasium, spilling into the halls. Some chose to sit in the auditorium, which a live stream of the ceremony was presented.
A full story will follow in the June 6 Messenger. Don't forget to pick up a copy of the May 29 Messenger at a newsstand, which features a special graduate section with full class picture and indiviual pictures.
Congratulations to the TCU Class of 2025!

The Arts and Heritage Center in Montgomery is home to approximately 50 quilts and a handful of barn quilts currently.
Quilter Anne Pexa has brought together a double fistful of quilts she has worked on from start to finish, about 40 quilts on loan that she did the longarm stitching on, and a handful of painted barn quilts from her husband, Scott Pexa.
It certainly is the quilters delight with a series of colors and patterns in wide variety, including a lot of fabrics that were produced in Minnesota and some from Australia, where Anne Pexa was from.

Graduation — It’s another season of parents sending their young ones off on a new segment in their life.
Most Holy Redeemer Catholic School held their eighth grade graduation last Tuesday, May 20, in the church. A mass was said for the three graduates at 6 p.m.
“Be more concerned about giving than receiving, whether that be at home to serve your family or in high school trying to help other young men and women to try and be what God wants them to be,” Fr. Timothy Sandquist said in his sermon.

Tri-City United Montgomery Elementary K-8 Parent-Teacher Organization’s End of Year Celebration on Friday, May 16, was thwarted by cool, cloudy and light rainy conditions — none of which hampered the spirits of the kids participating. The adults managed to have some fun too.

A religious service will be held in honor of soldiers who died in service at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, May 26, Memorial Day.
Following the service, at 9:30 a.m., the Montgomery American Legion Post #79 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #5340 will host a memorial program at the American Legion ballroom. The community is invited to attend the ceremony to pay respects to fallen soldiers of this community.

Four members of the Tri-City United High School Business Professionals of America (BPA) team competed in Orlando, Fla., at the BPA National Leadership Conference from May 7-11. The theme this year for the conference was “Capture the Moment.”

Most Holy Redeemer Catholic School’s (MHRCS) children used to have to go across the street to get to their playground, but not anymore. Volunteers and donations made a new playground set possible.
“We have been working hard raising funds for the past few years, especially the last two years working the MN Twins games in concessions. We also had a grant from the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence,” said MHRCS Principal Kari Marsh. “Our hard work finally paid off last fall when we purchased the playground.”