The Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy Phoenix are 1-0. Competing in Burke Friday night, Aug. 19, the brand-new football cooperative shrugged off a slow start and cruised to an impressive 34-12 win over the Cougars less than nine months after the Canistota School Board dumped Freeman Public by voting to dissolve the Pride cooperative.

Freeman Postmaster Lisa James wants the public to know that the post office is receiving word that people are getting emails and texts regarding tracking # US9514961195221 asking them to pay $3 on their credit card to reroute the package. This is a scam, she says, and all messages should be dismissed and deleted. 

Prompted by the significant interest of people planning to attend the Gary Waltner presentation on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 21, the program (originally scheduled at the Bethel Mennonite Church on the museum grounds) has been moved to Pioneer Hall to accommodate a larger audience. It will start at 3 p.m. in the auditorium located on the adjacent Freeman Academy campus. It is sponsored by Heritage Hall Museum & Archives (HHM&A).

The juxtaposition between “The joy of being jolly” printed this week as a historical piece from 1902 and the two guest columns written by rural Freeman resident Ashley Holzwarth dealing with mental health struggles that appeared in the past two issues of The Courier couldn’t be more striking. The former from 120 years ago urges everybody to “smile on, smile ever,” to “quarantine your feelings,” and that “people with ‘bad spells on them’ and the ‘dismals’ will cheer up, be chirk and get well.’”

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER It was 10 years ago that Chad Soulek attended a rib cook-off in Corsica at the invitation of longtime friend and fellow firefighter Josh Gerlach. So impressed was Soulek with the event that included representation from fire departments across the area that he brought the idea back to Freeman with him. “I said to our department, ‘I don’t know why we can’t try this here and make it a go,’” he told The Courier. “We took a chance and went with it and here we are.”

Students at Freeman Junior-Senior High School gather for an assembly Wednesday morning to make the first day of school. The 2022-23 term is underway at both Freeman Public and Menno, with Marion beginning classes next Monday and Freeman Academy starting Wednesday, Aug. 24.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER It’s just about time to ring the bells again — the school bells, that is. Area students will begin reporting to class for the 2022-23 term next Wednesday, Aug. 17 when Freeman Public and Menno start the new year. Both districts will complete a full day — a change for Freeman Public which has historically held just a half-day opener. Marion starts school on Monday, Aug. 22 — that will be a 12:30 p.m. dismissal — while students at Freeman Academy will report for a full day on Wednesday, Aug. 24.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER As recently as two years ago, Ryan Mews hadn’t even heard of Heritage Hall Museum & Archives (HHM&A), let alone appreciated all that it has to offer. But as circumstance would have it, the 2011 graduate of Bridgewater-Emery High School with a keen interest in German immigration not only learned of one of Freeman’s most underappreciated treasures, but has also immersed himself in it.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER A member of the 1975 Freeman High School boys basketball state championship team and a highly successful coach from West Central will be on the sidelines once again, this time as the assistant girls basketball coach with the Freeman Flyers. Kent Mueller has been hired by the district to work alongside second-year head coach Jenny Peters starting with the 2022-23 basketball season; his contract was to be formally approved by the Freeman School Board at its regular monthly meeting Wednesday night, Aug. 10.

Freeman held a 3-1 lead after five innings but Lake Norden got one back in the sixth, two more in the seventh and an insurance run in the eighth en route to a 5-3 victory in the opening round of the 2022 Class B State Amateur Baseball Tournament in Mitchell Saturday night, Aug. 6.