Jeremy Engebretson has accepted an offer to become the new principal for Raven Stream Elementary School. The New Prague Area School board is scheduled to approve the hiring at its May 13 meeting.
He will take over for Pat Pribyl, longtime principal and teacher in the New Prague district. Pribyl announced his retirement last month.

Two sections of Highway 99 in Le Sueur and Rice Counties will be under construction beginning Monday, May 20 for resurfacing, drainage and safety improvements.
According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), Highway 99 from Highway 13 to Highway 21 in Rice County will be detoured to Highway 13 and Highway 21 on Monday, May 20 as crews begin replacing culverts. The detour will remain in place until project completion in October.

Helen E. Meger, age 80, of rural Le Center, Minnesota passed away peacefully, surrounded by family on May 5, 2019 at the Central Health Care in Le Center, Minnesota.
Helen was born on June 9, 1938 in Spooner, Wisconsin.  She worked at Indianhead Café in Spooner and after graduating from Spooner High School in 1961, she moved to Wausau, Wisconsin. Four years later she moved to Minnesota.
After moving to the New Prague, Le Center area, she worked at Munsingwear for 22 years. 
She was married to Robert Meger on November 25, 1961.  They lived at the farmhouse since then.

Dave Velishek, of Prior Lake, passed away May 2, 2019 at the age of 75.  A visitation will be held on Monday, May 6, 2019 from 3:00 – 7:00 PM.  Mass of Christian Burial is Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 11:00 AM with visitation from 9:30 – 10:45 AM.  All services will be held at St. Michael Catholic Church in Prior Lake.  Father Tom Walker will preside, and Dave’s grandchildren will act as pallbearers.  Dave will be laid to rest at Credit River Cemetery with military honors provided by the Prior Lake Honor Guard. 

Runners leave the starting gate at Memorial Park to start the 13.1 mile Run New Prague Half-Marathon Saturday, May 4. It was a near-perfect day for running runners of all ages gathered for the half-marathon, 10K and 5K races and Kid's Fun Run Saturday, May 4, at New Prague's Memorial Park. Chris Caron of Maple Grove was the first one to cross the finish line, in 1 hour, 18 minutes, 5.2 seconds. Anja Standly of New Prague was the first woman to complete the race, in 1:37.4. See more in the May 9 print edition.

Tug-O-War was one of the 28 activities students at Falcon Ridge Elementary School in New Prague could participate in on Friday, May 3, during ACES (All Children Exercising Simultaneously) in the Sun. Students began the program at 1:30 p.m. and at the end were able to enjoy popsicles with their classes. Teachers supervised their classes with the help of parent volunteers. For more see an upcoming print issue of The New Prague Times. (Patrick Fisher Photo)

On June 26, Karen VonBank will be bringing to a close more than 42 years of being a daycare provider. She actually came to the decision back in 2018, in April of that year she informed the families of the children she was caring for that she would be retiring.
Before her retirement, she received on Thursday, April 25, the Scott County Daycare Provider of the Year Award. It is the third time she has been honored, her first time to receive the award was in 1990 and the second was in 2005.

The Le Sueur County Pioneer Power Association hosted its annual Swap Meet at its showgrounds near Le Sueur Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 26-28.
More than 800 vendors were registered for the meet, which is considered one of the largest in the nation.
Whether you were looking for antiques, collectibles, car and tractor parts, hardware, power equipment, toys, clothing, home-made candies and maple syrup or hand-crafted items, chances are someone had something you were looking for.

The New Prague Trojan baseball team won three of four games last week, upping their season record to 5-2 (2- 1 Wright County Conference).
New Prague defeated Waconia, Northfield and Delano, but lost to Holy Family Catholic last week. Their game at Delano scheduled for Tuesday, April 30, was postponed to May 10.
New Prague hosts Orono on Thursday, May 2, and travels to Rochester for games against John Marshall and Mayo high schools Saturday, May 4. They are at Hutchinson Tuesday, May 7, and host Waconia at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 9.

New Prague’s Adapted Softball team travelled to East Ridge High School Thursday, April 25, where they lost a 14-3 contest to the South Washington Thunderbolts.
New Prague just couldn't seem to get in the rhythm, coach Shellie Kriha said. “We allowed too many runs and didn't produce hits on offense,” she said.
South Washington took a 4-0 lead in the first, but New Prague got hits from Evan Minar and Shane Friedrick before Breanna Stark drove in the team’s first run.

On Saturday morning, a large crowd will gather at Memorial Park in New Prague for the 34th Annual Run New Prague Half Marathon, 10K, 5K and Kids Fun Run.
With hundreds of runners expected to attend, it is important to realize that this event wouldn’t happen if it weren’t for the many people who volunteer their time to help New Prague put on a first-class, quality event.

The weather held out long enough for the New Prague Trojan girls golf team to compete in three tournaments last week. Two of them were Wright County Conference meets at Baker National and the other was the New Prague Invitational.
The Trojans have two meets scheduled for the week ahead. They compete in the Northfield Invitational at Willingers GC Thursday, May 2, and will host a rescheduled WCC East Meet at CreeksBend GC on Monday, May 6.

Big innings led to big wins for three Dakota-Rice-Scott League baseball teams on the first day of the regular season Sunday, April 28.
New Market scored eight runs in the 11th inning to defeat St. Benedict 10-2, Prior Lake used a nine-run sixth to power their way to a 13-3 win over Shakopee and St. Patrick broke open a close game with a seven-run seventh inning to claim an 8-0 win over Lonsdale. Also on Sunday, Faribault defeated Webster 7-4, Veseli defeated Union Hill 4-3 and Montgomery registered a 4-0 win over New Prague.

Irma Emma Kohout, 95, of Montgomery, passed away on Thursday, April 25, 2019, at The Lutheran Home in Belle Plaine. Private family services will be held. Interment will be held in Calvary Cemetery in Montgomery.
Irma was born on January 1, 1924 in Rice County to William and Anna (Hanek) Turek. Irma was united in marriage to Edward Filipek on February 12, 1941, and to Edward Kohout on May 4, 1973.

Kenneth James “Ken” Pasek, age 64, of Montgomery, died Wednesday, April 24, 2019, at his residence in Montgomery.  Ken was born on April 18, 1955 in New Prague to James C. and Alice Marie (Kroyer) Pasek.  He grew up in New Prague and graduated from New Prague High School.  During high school, he worked for Bilek Bakery and immediately after high school, he began work at the flour mill and worked there until 2011.  Ken loved music, movies, and show cars.

Gilbert Ray Schoenbauer, age 81, of Jordan, died peacefully, surrounded by his family on Friday, April 26, 2019, at Abbott-Northwestern Hospital. Gilbert was born on July 31, 1937 in Helena Township, Scott County, MN to William and Walburga (Busch) Schoenbauer. He was raised in the St. Benedict area and attended St. Wenceslaus Catholic School and New Prague High School and was a member of the US Army Reserve. He married the love of his life, Shirley Valek on May 10, 1958 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Lonsdale.