To the Alden-Conger supermileage team.

We cannot say enough good about Alden-Conger School’s supermileage team and the success it has seen in recent years. The team will take that success to another level when it competes in a world competition from June 27 to July 3 in London.

The competition comes after the Alden-Conger team won first place in the Urban Concept division in the Shell Eco-Marathon last month in Detroit. The team’s four-wheel, street legal car gets 525 mpg. The team also finished second in the Prototype Ethanol divison.

Adviser Dave Bosma hopes to raise $30,000 for the London trip, and we hope the community steps up in helping these students make it there. Well done, team, and we hope to hear more success after the competition later this summer.

 

To Discover History at the Freeborn County Historical Museum and Village. 

Kudos to Albert Lea High School 11th-graders, other volunteers and staff at the Freeborn County Historical Museum who gave area fifth-graders a peek into 19th and early 20th century life this week in Discover History.

The program, in its 19th year, takes place at the museum’s village. It gives the high school juniors in Jim Haney’s class the chance to learn and then teach about various topics, including churning butter, rope making, putting mud between logs and shelling corn.

This is a great multi-generational project, and we look forward to seeing it continue to succeed in the future.

 

To Freeborn County Bike-A-Thon organizers.

Congratulations to the organizers of the Freeborn County Bike-A-Thon over the last 44 years as well as the participants who collected more than $1.3 million in the fight against cancer. As of press time, the number raised for this year was not available, but we look forward to hearing the results.

The Bike-A-Thon is an event that has been looked fondly upon by many people.

 

To District 27 Sen. Dan Sparks.

It is yet to be seen if and when a bonding bill will be approved before the end of the session, but we appreciate Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, going to bat for some of Albert Lea’s projects in the initial bonding bill proposed by the Senate this week.

The bill included $3.5 million for Albert Lea’s Blazing Star Landing, which would have moved Front Street north to make way for development along Albert Lea Lake, along with funding to connect city sewer and water to the Stables area.

Though the bill failed by one vote on Thursday, we hope legislators will be able to construct a new one still this session that will benefit both Albert Lea and Greater Minnesota.

These projects help boost our local economy.

Thanks to Sparks, who serves on the Senate Capital Investment Committee. Let’s see what will happen in the next two weeks.