Donations from Walleye Classic help community

By: Joshua Heineman, Staff writer
June 16, 2002

After all the fish are in and the waterfront crowd has long gone home, there is a silent encore to Saturday's Kraus-Anderson Walleye Classic that lasts throughout the year.

The tournament is expected to donate close to $20,000 to Bemidji Youth Hockey, Special Olympics and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources this year.

"This event is organized to raise funds for the community - let's keep that in mind," Kraus-Anderson's Clint Bruestle said in a rules meeting Friday night at the Northern Inn. With sponsorship up and interest only rising from last year's debut, the
future looks bright for both the Classic and its beneficiaries. Donations from the 2001 event have already been put to good use around the community.

Fittingly for funds generated from a walleye fishing tournament, the DNR is using a portion of the money to study walleye spawning in an effort to keep it healthy in Lake Bemidji.

The DNR contracted with Bemidji State University to surgically implant transmitters in 29 Lake Bemidji walleyes, caught in the fall. "What develops is a pattern of use," Gary Barnard, with the DNR, said. "From there we can delineate spawning areas and protect them." Barnard said most people don't realize Lake Bemidji is no longer stocked with walleye.

"We suspected the population was doing well naturally so we backed off," he said, adding the lake was last stocked for walleye in 1989. Bemidji Area Special Olympics, which is funded completely by donations, uses their portion of the money to provide athletes with competition transportation, hotel accommodations, uniforms and equipment.

"All of it goes to the athletes," Sports Management and Team Coordinator Jeri Scamp said, "and with our base constantly growing, there are so many more athletes to support."

"It's expensive and that's why we're so excited about (the donations)."

Some of the donated monies will also bring the Bemidji Youth Hockey Association another step closer to realizing its goal of creating more skating ice in Bemidji. The BYHA put an arena structure in place at the site of the new Bemidji High School with help from a $200,000 grant by the Neilson Foundation.

Lynn Eaton, president of youth hockey, said the finished arena should have two ice sheets and will function beyond simply hockey. "Even with the Neilson grant we're about $200,000 from having enough money on hand to make that skateable ice," Eaton said, adding the entire project is estimated to have a $4 million price tag.

With almost 20 teams in youth hockey alone, the hockey community is stretched beyond its means in finding ice time for everyone, he said. The splash of the second annual Walleye Classic is now over, but the ripples it created for these three local entities have just begun.

jheineman@bemidjipioneer.com

The Pioneer 2002