Donald M. "Don" Picka, age 82, of New Prague, died peacefully on Friday, December 26, 2025, at Mala Strana Health and Rehabilitation Center.  Don was born on April 6, 1943, in Derrynane Township, Le Sueur County, MN, to Edward and Angeline (Brezina) Picka.  He graduated from Montgomery High School, and his first job began his career in the print shop at Suel Printing.

For roughly 35 years, a group has been taking one day to sing carols around New Prague. On Saturday, Dec. 13, about a dozen people gathered to visit the apartment complex Bohemia Flats, Praha Village senior apartments and Mala Strana Rehabilitation Center and Assisted Living.

Among those who have gone out nearly every year are Mary Lou and Wade Fradenburgh, Diane and Rick Nerud and Marcia and Robert Sammons.

Recently I saw two movies based on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” One was the 1970 musical “Scrooge” and the other was the 1979 made for TV movie “An American Christmas Carol.”

The Ptarmigans and Polars will renew their rivalry Saturday, Dec. 27, noon, in the 66th edition of New Prague’s Sno-Bowl football game.

The game will be played at the open lot north of the Memorial Park Baseball Field and south of CSSW. A pregame gathering will start at Fishtale Grill at 9 a.m. All New Prague graduates are in a roster. Rosters can be found at https://ballcharts.com/ team/?team=snobowl with all graduates not listed whose last name is between N-Z are a Polar and all graduates not listed whose last name is between A-M are a Ptarmigan.

Had it not been for a slow start in the second half of the Trojans’ game against Stillwater Saturday, the NP girls’ basketball team would have enjoyed a far more relaxing victory, the final contest of a busy yet successful week on the hardwood.

The Trojans won all three of their games for the week, improving their record to 6-2 overall. But the road is expected to be a bit more challenging moving forward, NP coach Eric Specht said.

The New Prague Area Historical Society is celebrating toys with a display at the New Prague Memorial Library from now until the end of January.

Dennis Dvorak of the historical society said the toys are ones from the Victorian era. “Some are 125 years old and they have been well cared for,” Dvorak said, adding some of the toys are made of metal or wood. Another reason the toys are well preserved is there was usually only one child in the family, who didn’t have to share his or her toys with others, said Dvorak.

At the beginning of the season, New Prague’s gymnasts eyed their meet against Waconia as an important step in winning another MetroWest championship.

Mission accomplished.

The Trojans topped the Wildcats Dec. 16, 138.125 to 131.275. NP was led by its overall top talent with big contributions from its depth in the victory.

Hailey Proshek posted the top all-around score, 37.425. Karly Ophus was third at 34.35, less than a half-point out of second. Frankee Spicer took fourth at 33.4. Annie Hanzel was sixth at 24.1.

It wasn’t quite as low as the 3.9% increase from last year, but the Le Sueur County budget and levy passed was still among the lowest of the last decade.

On Dec. 2, the Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners held its annual Truth in Taxation meeting to hear residents’ concerns. The hearing was followed by the official vote on the next budget.

The final levy was set at $30,337,063, which represents a 4.4% increase over last year.

The only years where the increase was lower were in 2021 (4%) and 2025 (3.9%).

Charlotte A. Edberg, age 88, of Union Hill, MN, passed away peacefully on December 19, 2025.

Fidelis “Charlene” Scheffler, 89, passed away on December 17, 2025, at The Rosemount. She was born in Sand Creek Township, Scott Co., MN, to Carl M. and Fidelis T. Tieben Schmitz. She grew up in Credit River Township, attended District 16 Grade School, Lakeville High School and graduated from Prior Lake High School and went on to receive an Associate in Arts Degree from Normandale Community College.  

The Elko New Market City Council approved a resolution at its Thursday, Dec. 4, meeting appointing Jay Simon as fire chief for the Elko New Market Fire Department.

City Administrator Tom Terry said officers in the volunteer fire department serve terms of three years. According to the department’s policy and procedure manual the position for fire chief must be posted for applications in October of the last year of the fire chief’s term. The only application received was from Simon, the current fire chief, said Terry.

Simon has been with the fire department since...

We’ve all recently had the opportunity to partake in our local property tax hearing lately, whether we live in a city, a township, the county or school district. Having covered a few for work or watched a few of them via the wonder of video posted on a website, the refrain is usually the same.

People want to pay less in taxes. Of course we do.

New Prague scored two wins on the hardwood as the boys’ basketball team defeated Simley, 72-53, Tuesday, Dec. 9, and Coon Rapids, 68-55, Friday, Dec. 12.

The Trojans are hosting Northfield tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m. New Prague travels to Rochester Mayo Saturday, Dec. 20, for a 2:30 p.m. game., then the Trojans will be at the Lakeville North Holiday Tournament facing Lakeville North Monday, Dec. 29, 6:30 p.m. then Rochester John Marshall, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 4 p.m.

With three early wins, New Prague’s floor hockey team is off to a fast start in its effort to defend its state championship.

The Trojans have earned early wins over Shakopee-Chanhassen-Chaska-Prior Lake, Minnetonka-Wayzata and most recently an improved South Suburban squad. The Trojans were back in action Wednesday, Dec. 17, after the newspaper’s print deadline.

After the holiday break, the Trojans will host Mankato Wednesday, Jan. 7, 4:30 p.m., at the New Prague Community Education Center (the former intermediate school).

Bruce Bartyzal of New Prague has written his first book. It is about his dealing with chronic pain and writes about it with frank honesty at times, which likely explains the book’s title, “Chronic Pain Can Kiss My..” You can probably figure out the last word.

The book describes how Bartyzal started having simple, persistent knee pain four to five years ago, which rapidly became worse. Bartyzal chose knee replacement surgery that was supposed to improve his mobility. It was later discovered a major artery had been severed resulting in pain and internal bleeding.

Charles Albert Flicek was born on November 26, 1946, and died December 9, 2025, surrounded by his family in North Hills, CA. 

He was born in New Prague, Minnesota, the eldest son of Charles and Anna (Horejsi) Flicek. One of eight siblings, he graduated from New Prague HS in 1965. He enlisted in the United States Navy from 1965 to 1972. While in the Navy yards for ship repairs in San Pedro, he met his future wife in November of 1971.