Allen Mehlhaf clears snow from his driveway Thursday morning following another round of winter — this time a 6 1/2 inch snowfall locally that came overnight. With more than a foot of snow already blanketing the community, the latest even only adds to the challenge of snow storage, visibility at intersections and scheduling. The Freeman Public Library and Heritage Hall Museum & Archives are both closed, there's no school and tonight's boys basketball game between Freeman and Menno in Menno has been moved to tomorrow in Freeman as a doubleheader with the girls.

Dawn Stahl, a lifelong resident of the Freeman community, holds up one of the last photos taken of her parents, Dr. Ernest and Elsie Hofer. Stahl is featured on the cover of this week's Courier for a story about a donation she made to the Freeman Regional Health Services Foundation in the name of her father, who was instrumental in establishing the Freeman hospital in the 1940s and early 1950s.

Icy conditions caused this mishap on Highway 81 just north of Freeman Tuesday morning, Jan. 17. Roads are both slushy and slick following another round of precipitation late Monday and into Tuesday, and more is expected on Wednesday as another system is expected to dump measurable snowfall across the area.

This large icicle dangling from the northwest corner of Heritage Hall Museum & Archives helps tell the story of the 2022-23 winter thus far; it's been extreme. Additional moisture is in the forecast for the region today with rain and the possibility of freezing rain expected this afternoon. 

This photo from 1918 shows what was the Hutterdorf Church, which was built in 1901 and known as "Hofer's Church." According to freemansdhistory.com, it was located west of Freeman in Section 32 of Grandview Township on 279th Street. The congregation worshiped as its own until 1961 when the church dissolved and parishioners joined the Bethany Church in Freeman.  

The shows the parking grounds at Pioneer Acres just north of Menno, where the annual Power Show is held each September. For now, the grounds are being used to hold the large amount of snow that has been removed from city streets following two significant winter weather events, including the 16-inch accumulation last week.

Freeman Public eighth grader Brody Gossen controls his opponent from Chester Area en route to a pin in the opening dual for the Marion/Freeman Rebels at their home quadrangular Thursday night, Jan. 12. It was a good night for the Rebels, who finished 3-1 win victories over Chester Area, Viborg-Hurley and Garretson. Marion/Freeman's only loss was to powerhouse Canton. It was also a good night for Flyers basketball as Freeman won both junior varsity and varsity games at Bon Homme.

It was an empty, quiet Freeman High School gym on Thursday morning, but all of that will change later today when the Marion/Freeman Rebels host a wrestling quadrangular with Canton, Garretson, Parker and Viborg-Hurley. Action starts at 5 p.m. and the Rebels will be on the mat for the first two duals, and then return later in the evening for their second duals.

This week's issue of The Courier includes our annual In Memoriam, which features a list of those who passed away in 2022 and whose obituaries we published. It will be available online early Wednesday afternoon and in print on Thursday.

The first meeting of the year for the Freeman City Council looks to be a short one, with a relatively light agenda. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and can be live-streamed by using this link.