Madison MN Kiwanis Club

05/26/2026

One of the benefits of belonging to Kiwanis is getting to taste various beverages from Madison Bottling when Tim Siegert is the speaker! He is the Sales Ex*****on Coordinator for Madison Bottling Company and spoke about the history of Madison Bottling and where it is at today at the May 26, 2026 Kiwanis meeting. He has been with the company for 30 years. Madison Bottling was started in Henry Roth in 1917, so it will be in existence for 110 years in 2027. Henry started marketing his pop that he bottled in his basement to Madison businesses. At some point, he got the recipe for Sun Drop pop and started bottling that soft drink. A company called Madison Bottling Works as formed with the Roth and Strege families. Roth eventually bought out Streges. While Madison Bottling no longer bottles it own beverages, it is still an independent, distributing both alcoholic and soft drinks. The company has 7 ½ counties in Minnesota which are designated territories for its products and several areas in South Dakota for non-alcoholic beverages. At the present time there are 8 delivery staff, 4 full time and 3 part time sales staff and 3 office people, plus some other specialized positions for a total of 25 employees. Busch light is the best selling alcoholic beverage and A & W root beer is the number one favorite non-alcoholic beverage. 65% of their business is to independent stores for their 251 brands of products.

05/19/2026

Postmaster John Novoteny was the speaker at the May 19, 2026 meeting. He has been with the postal service for 32 years. He started in Olivia as a clerk and two years later transferred to Willmar where he worked the night shift. He was at Willmar for fifteen years and became a supervisor while there. He then filled in at Albert Lea for a year and became its postmaster for five years. He managed the post offices in seven other towns while at Albert Lea. He then became the postmaster at Marshall for three years, moving to the Canby post office for a couple of years before returning to Marshall. He lives in Ghent, Minnesota and has been the Madison post office for the last two and one-half years.

When he started working for the post office, mail was sorted by hand. At that time it was very hard to get a job with the post office. He took the test, but had to wait four years before he could get a position, there were than many applicants. Now it is hard to find applicants, though those who work for the post office all seem to enjoy it. Madison has four rural routes and two city routes. The longest rural route is 135 miles with 2209 stops. The average route in Madison is between 10-15 miles.

05/12/2026

Each year Kiwanis has the pleasure of a visit by the Lac qui Parle Valley High School's Valley Harmonies. They provided an excellent musical program at the May 12, 2026 Kiwanis meeting.

05/05/2026

Greg Schmidt talked about his interest in collecting various items at the May 5, 2026 Kiwanis meetig.. He likes things about the oceans/seas so has items such as ships. Many of the items in his collections were gifts throughout the years. He enjoys collecting boxes and elephants. He collects rocks, noting on a slip of paper the location where he found each of the rocks. He collects books, particularly those written by Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey. He has collected bottles that he thinks are interesting. He usually finds them in ditches or while walking in the woods. He has first day issue stamps. He began collecting in the 1960s when the U.S. was first getting into space travel, filling scrap books with articles he found about space and space travel.

04/28/2026

Thank you to the Dawson Community Foundation for its donation to Kiwanis Gifts for Kids for $800 and the Madison Community Foundation for its donation to Gifts for Kids of $1000. Both of these foundations are part of Southwest Initiative Foundation.

The Kiwanis Gifts for Kids expenses are around $7,000 a year providing gifts for kids in need in Lac qui Parle County during the holidays. Kiwanis depends on donations from individuals, businesses and organizations to meet these expenses. If you wish to donate to Kiwanis you can send a donation in care of KLQP Radio, Box 70, Madison, MN 56256.

04/28/2026

Sgt. Brian Benck, Deputy Sheriff, was the speaker at the April 28, 2026 Kiwanis' meeting. He has been with the Lac qui Parle Sheriff’s department for 21 years. He is in charge of the jail, dispatch and supervises the road guys. He went to full time in 2011 and was made a sergeant in 2017. In 2021, he took over jail administration.

There are numerous rules applying to jails known as 2911 rules. The State of Minnesota is in the process of revising those rules and Sgt. Benck, along with others from various sheriff’s offices in the state, has tried to be involved with the rewriting of those rules to ensure that they are manageable for the department and keep the additional costs down in implementing any new rules.

All deputy and dispatch positions are currently full. Along with other law enforcement duties, the sheriff’s department also covers civil process.

When the new government center was built, it needed a 911 number of which he is in charge. So, because the building is in the 900 block, he chose to have the building number “911”.

The old sheriff’s office had one dispatch terminal, but the new one has two terminals which allows for two dispatchers to work at the same time. They have new radios that allow them to patch in multiple departments to more easily communicate together. They have a new 911 system that allows for easier tracking, can text back and forth with the call, send a text link to get the location of the caller and can link in audio and video so they can see what is going on. They also have body cameras which allow them to also translate into other languages for a non-English speaker. It also has AI that can transcribe the interaction and write a summary. When AI writes the summary, there are deliberate nonsensical words forcing the reviewer to actually read the report and make changes before it can be saved to their system. This ensures that the deputy has reviewed the report for accuracy. The AI will even put in things it sees through the camera, such as that it was raining at the time the deputy was on site. This system has saved the deputies hours in writing reports.

04/23/2026

04/22/2026

Kris Hanson, a retired Home Health Nurse was the speaker at the April 21, 2026 Kiwanis meeting. She spoke about her February trip through the Panama Canal on one of Holland America’s cruise ships. Their ship held 3,700 people. They started from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They were able to download a navigation app on their phones that gave them the daily events, food, excursions, etc. They also had an ID tag that they were required to always have with them. At one point they sailed 1,180 between ports. There was always something to do on the ship while they sailed. One of their stops was Cartagena, Columbia where some of the buildings were built in the 1600s. They are known for the Emerald industry. Kris thought she would get an emerald as that is her birthstone, but then she saw the cost.

Ships are required to have a reservation to pass through the Panama Canal giving them a specific date and time for them to go through. The reservation cost is $35,000. If the ship misses its time, it is out the money and must book a new time and pay the fee again. The canal is 50 miles long and takes 8-10 hours to go through it. Locks live the ships up 85 feet. The canal was opened in 1914, but the canal is now too small for modern ships so a new passage was finished in 2016. Over 25,000 people died building the canal, mostly from yellow fever and malaria. When a ship reaches the canal, a canal captain steers the ship through. It takes 14 years of training before becoming a canal captain. To go through the entire canal can cost $450,000 and up, depending on the type and size of the ship.

On their way home they went through the Cayman Islands. There is no crime there. Over 100,000 companies have their businesses registered there as it is a tax haven.

The morning they were back in Fort Lauderdale, the passengers disembarked, the ship was cleaned, everything was restocked and the ship was again sailing by 4 p.m.

Kris said her cost including air fare, the cruise, hotels, and souvenirs was about $6,000.

04/18/2026

The Kiwanis ambulance appreciation dinner was held April 17, 2026. The Joyful Noise singers were the servers for the meal and they did a phenomenal job and then entertained the group with a song. The evening's entertainment was by the Sun Dogs.

04/18/2026

A few scenes from our Madison Ambulance Service appreciation supper at the VFW Friday night.