Grass fire season was in full force Monday as foresters with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) battled four fires in the Brainerd lakes area, including a 120-acre fire west of Jenkins.

Mark Mortensen, DNR program forester, said all the grass fires occurred around the same time, with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office dispatching the first grass fire at 12:20 p.m., four miles west of Jenkins. The other three fires were an 18-acre fire five miles west of Pequot Lakes; a wildfire a couple miles from the Wadena County line; and a small grass fire near Leader.

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May is Electrical Safety Month and a good time to review electrical safety practices.

Increasing electrical safety awareness, following electrical safety guidelines and using tools and technology designed to address electrical hazards are all components of a safety program.

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Volunteer opportunities
for May 2013

■ ARC UNITED OF PEQUOT LAKES — Deborah Simmons, 218-251-0957, Debsimmons@charter.net.

Thrift Store Volunteers — We are looking for volunteers to work in our thrift store in Pequot Lakes. Duties would include, sorting incoming donations, marking, organizing and assisting customers. Daytime hours are Wednesday through Saturday with additional hours during summer months.

■ BRAINERD LAKES AREA EARLY CHILDHOOD COALITION — Tammy, 218-454-5445, tammyfilippi@charter.net.

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Zack is a 5-year-old from the Baxter area waiting for a mentor. He is a happy and active little guy.

Zach would really like to learn how to fish this summer. He enjoys spending time outside and loves sports, especially baseball. He also likes arts, crafts and baking. Zach likes to stay busy and would be a great helper for those weekend projects around the house.

Are you available to do a little fishing, play a little catch and have a little helper?

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Question: As an officer, I notice a lot of motorists using bypass lanes as pit stops, stopping in them to use their phone, or for other reasons. I appreciate passing lanes, and I am in favor of them. I wish there were more of them. I do stop and advise these pit stop drivers that they have chosen one of the most unsafe places to stop. I explain to them that a passing vehicle may not see them until it is too late.

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■ CLC students win at SkillsUSA state championships

Robert Koval, a student in the Diesel Technology Program at Central Lakes College, earned first place honors in the state SkillsUSA contest held in Bloomington.

CLC students Jason Peterson, machine tool technology program, and Colby Abazs, photography program, won second place in their categories.

Seth Schbert placed third in the diesel equipment technology competition.

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CAMP RIPLEY – Several Soldiers from across Minnesota who deployed in service of their country came out to Camp Ripley to take part in the annual turkey hunt Apr. 29 – May 3.

“It was not the most ideal weather, it was a bit windy and we had a hard time to get the birds moving,” said Staff Sgt. Tim Krouth, who deployed to Iraq with the 849th Engineers in 2007.

The hunt was split into separate two-day “seasons”.

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Upcoming blood donation opportunities planned

For those interested in donating blood can do so at the following: From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 20 at the Brainerd VFW No. 1647, 309 South Sixth Street, Brainerd; from noon to 6 p.m. May 22 at Emily City Hall, 39811 State Highway 6, Emily; and from noon to 6 p.m. May 23 at Motley United Methodist Church, 847 Third Avenue South Lane, Motley.

Simply call 1-800-733-2767 or visit redcrossblood.org to make an appointment or for more information.

A letter will be written by the Brainerd City Council, endorsing the concept of re-routing the Fourth of July parade through downtown.

A group of downtown business owners asked the council to re-route the parade at its regular meeting Monday.

Community Action hosts the parade and maps out the route.

Kevin Matthews, who represented downtown business owners, told the council 45 businesses support the idea of re-routing it and two are against it.

It will bring life back into the downtown district, he said.

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The United Way of Crow Wing and Southern Cass Counties is happy to announce the addition of four new board members from the community.

Jessica Leitheiser is the office administrator for Minnesota Home Improvements in Brainerd. She looks forward working with Imagination Library and supporting area youth.

Steve Gilbert has lived in the Brainerd lakes area since 2006 and works for CTC as an engineering manager. He is married with two boys ages 4 and 6 and is looking forward to the opportunity to help out in the community.

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Huntington Ingalls Industries announced the newest Virginia-class submarine, Minnesota (SSN 783), successfully completed alpha sea trials Monday.

Alpha trials are the boat’s first round of at-sea tests and evaluations. Minnesota is being built at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division, the Globe Newswire reported.

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The Brainerd Street Department will begin street sweeping in the central business district on Wednesday, May 8. Parking will be prohibited on the following streets from 4-9 a.m.: Front Street from Sixth to Eighth streets; Laurel Street from Sixth to Eighth streets; Seventh Street from Front to Maple streets.

Vehicles parked on these streets during those hours will be ticketed and towed.

Street sweeping operations will continue every Wednesday until further notice.

In Sunday’s Biz Buzz column, the location for the Cherrywood Store inside Colorz for Quilts was listed as the Westgate Mall but the store is actually in the Westport Mall.

The Dispatch regrets the error.

■ North Memorial conference scheduled today

The North Memorial Air Care annual spring conference will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport.

The conference is free.

The schedule for the conference is: Welcome and lunch will be from 5:30-6 p.m.; "Smack is Back: Heroin in Minnesota by Richard Molderhauser, 6-7:15 p.m.; "How Fast do you Squeeze:" Hyperventilation at its worse," 7:15-7:30 p.m.; "Finding Our Way Back: One police family's journey back from a critical incident" by Lisabeth Mackall.

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Eighty fifth-graders from Forestview Middle School recently participated in a Math Masters competition in Bemidji and Grand Rapids.

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Brainerd Firefighters worked on extinguishing a chimney fire reported at 6:02 p.m. Sunday at a home on 1710 Linden Lane in Brainerd.

Seventeen firefighters responded to the fire that was caused by poor chimney maintenance.

Local residents to compete in rodeo

The Brainerd Jaycees are sponsoring the Minnesota High School Rodeo at 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds.

Local competitors include Josh Cronquist, Dylan Windorski and Kelsey Jensen, Brainerd, Shawn Brandon, Jess Hanneken and Brianna Blanchard, Pine River; and Austin Kozelka, Sami McGuire and Cora Borman, Backus.

For more information, visit www.mnhsrodeo.com.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports that most area lakes will not be free of ice for the upcoming fishing opener weekend scheduled Saturday.

“While this is a unique situation that could lead to angling through the ice rather than from a boat,” Sheriff Tom Burch said. “I want to reminds anglers that ice conditions are rapidly deteriorating and the ice should not be considered safe. In several instances the ice is pulling from the shore on smaller area lakes. On larger lakes, the public landings are deteriorating from plowing, traffic and road salt.”

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The North Memorial Air Care annual spring conference will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport.

The conference is free.

The schedule for the conference is: Welcome and lunch will be held from 5:30-6 p.m.; "Smack is Back: Heroin in Minnesota by Richard Molderhauser, 6-7:15 p.m.; "How Fast do you Squeeze:" Hyperventilation at it's worse," 7:15-7:30 p.m.; "Finding Our Way Back: One police family's journey back from a critical incident" by Lisabeth Mackall.

Baxter Elementary School was in a soft lockdown for approximately 30 minutes Monday morning, after the Baxter Police Department responded to a call of a suicidal male, said Baxter Police Chief Jim Exsted.

Exsted said because of the proximity of the call with the school and the mention of a possible firearm involved, Baxter Police notified the school administration and it was determined that the school would enter into a soft lockdown status.

The report of the suicidal male was received at 8:05 a.m.

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