Lost Lake Tribune October 25th 2008

Pillsbury Will Close Its Doors at the End of the Year. - Pillsbury's director of communications, Tom Lawson, announced that Pillsbury Baptist Bible College (AKA Pillsbury) will be shutting down at the end of this calendar year. Here is the official statement from http//:www.pillsbury.edu The Pillsbury Baptist Bible College Board of Trustees has announced that the college will cease academic activities on December 31, 2008. National economic conditions combined with deficits caused by declining enrollment have exhausted Pillsbury’s financial reserves, leaving the college without funds to complete the school year. Pillsbury is committed to help current students complete their educational goals. Several sister institutions are working with the college to facilitate the transfer of credits and academic programs for those who choose to transfer. Pillsbury will invite college representatives from sister schools to the campus to inform students of the academic and financial assistance programs they are making available to Pillsbury students affected by the closure. The Registrar’s Office and Financial Aid Office will assist current students transferring to other colleges. Transcripts and academic records will be maintained for perpetuity at a sister college. The campus will be sold and the proceeds used to meet obligations to creditors as well as assist faculty, staff and students with the transition. Pillsbury began as Minnesota Central University in 1857 and was forced to shut down in 1867. It was not until 1877 before Minnesota Academy reopened the idea of a bible college in Minnesota. But instead of being in Hastings, MN, the school opened in Owatonna, MN. George Pillsbury gave generously to the school in the 1880's and in 1887 they named the Academy after the man. Pillsbury Academy continued as a bible college until 1920 when declining female enrollment forced the school to become a military academy. Then in 1954 the Academy closed. In 1957 Pillsbury Baptist Bible College began with about 100 students. Dr. Monroe Parker took the presidency in 1958 and grew the school to an enrollment of 500 in 1965. Then in 1968, President Myron Cedarholm split the school and started Maranatha BBC in Watertown, WI. In 1978, the very best male student, Pastor Mark Fugate began taking classes at Pillsbury as a 19 year old student from Northern Indiana. He ran into the best female student, Sara Young, when the two started attending similar classes in the basement of the dining hall. The two graduated in 1983 and were married on July 1, 1983. Benjamin Fugate attended the school in 2003 and graduated in 2007. In 2007 the Pillsbury Men's Basketball team enjoyed their second best season which included a NCCAA North Central Region championship. Benjamin Fugate's sister, Rachel began at Pillsbury in 2005 and will have to take classes at a sister school for one semester to finish her four year Pillsbury degree. The early 2000s seemed to be a time of reemergence at Pillsbury as the enrollment was above 200 three school years in a row, but the freshman class of 2004 failed to retain half of its students within its first two years of the class. In 2008, new President Greg Huffman was called to help the school. President Huffman was informed that Pillsbury would get 192 students for the 2008-09 school year. However, fifty students could not come to school because of joblessness. Pillsbury has a history of coming out of nowhere. Yemen Experiences Unusual Deadly Floods.- Rain and flooding in Yemen has killed 46 people and left an estimated 20,000 without basic shelter, a local newspaper reported Saturday. Men try to reach a vehicle carrying tourists stranded in floodwaters in the old district of Sanaa Friday. Most of the dead were in Hadramout, one of the worst-affected provinces, said Yemen Post Editor-in-Chief Hakim al-Masman, citing the Ministry of the Interior. Officials continued to evacuate people from affected areas, but thousands remained stranded in their homes because the extensive rain has prevented help from reaching them, the newspaper said. The flooding follows several days of rain in the Middle Eastern country that is unaccustomed to more than a few inches of rain a year. The rain began Thursday as the remnants of a tropical cyclone moved over the area, said CNN forecaster Martyn Jeanes. The rain continued Friday and into the weekend as the weather system hung over the region, also bringing rain to parts of Saudi Arabia and northern Somalia, Jeanes said. Better weather conditions were expected Sunday and conditions should be "much improved" by then, Jeanes said. Thousands of families have fled Hadramout, the newspaper reported. Some evacuees are being taken to schools, but they can only accommodate about 10 percent of the people, the newspaper previously said. The Yemeni government promised to send tents as emergency shelter. More than 220 houses have been destroyed and many infrastructure projects suffered damage from the rains, according to SABA, the Yemeni news agency. The rains also caused damage to property and agricultural lands and killed a large number of livestock, SABA reported. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered the formation of an emergency committee for the delivery of aid to those who were affected by heavy rains, the news agency said. Information directly from http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/10/25/yemen.flooding/index.html John McCain Speaks in Denver, CO.- John McCain went to Denver, CO on Friday to speak to a large crowd in the Colorado capital. He spoke about Barack Obama's plan by saying "It's been a long campaign and we've heard a lot of words, and after months of campaign trail eloquence, we've finally learned what Senator Obama's economic goal is. As he told Joe the plumber back in Ohio, he wants to quote "spread the wealth around." Just this morning, he said it again. He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs. Senator Obama is more interested in controlling wealth than in creating it, in redistributing money instead of spreading opportunity. I am going to create wealth for all Americans, by creating opportunity for all Americans. " The Arizona senator also visited Durango, CO. Barack Obama Visits Grandmother after Speaking in Indiana.- Presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke in Indianapolis, IN early Thursday before flying out to Hawaii to visit his ailing grandmother. Obama spoke to 35,000 people in the downtown area of the circle city. The Illinois senator spoke with temperatures in the forties but he was still able to speak about voting early. "I want everybody who is able and willing to vote today. If not today, do it tomorrow," the Illinois senator told the crowd "The point is that you can vote now. It's easy to do. All you've got to do is go to your clerk's office or a satellite location." Nothing else he said was considered important by the Indianapolis Star. Fugate is Ready to See Financial Audits. - After the announcement of closing by Pillsbury, Benjamin Fugate called President Greg Huffman on Thursday Afternoon to get some answers. He asked the first year president for a full audit. The president stated that Pillsbury does an audit every year and that they would be $750,000 in debt if the bible college continued through the school year. Fugate asked Huffman what other resources had been exhausted and the president told Fugate that Pillsbury had attempted a merger and an investment plan. The merger idea fizzled because Faith Baptist Bible College could not come up with the capital to cover Pillsbury's debts. The investment plan failed because of the economic problems that the world is experiencing right now. Fugate is planning to ask Fourth Baptist, Central Seminary, Norhtland, Faith and Maranatha for complete financial audits over the next six months. Fugate has also a need for front right turn signal for his 1998 Volkswagen Passat, but will have to wait to buy the signal because he will have to buy a seminary textbook instead. Fugate tried to explain the situation to his professor but no solution is possible. World Series Results Game 1: Philadephia Phillies 3, Tampa Bay Rays 2 Game 2: Tampa Bay 4, Philadephia 2 Game 3: Tampa Bay at Philadelphia 10/25 7 PM CDT Game 4: Tampa Bay at Philadelphia 10/26 7 PM CDT Game 5: Tampa Bay at Philadelphia 10/27 7 PM CDT Game 6: Philadelphia at Tampa Bay 10/29 7 PM CDT IF necessary Game 7: Philadelphia at Tampa Bay 10/30 7 PM CDT IF necessary Editorial. - So my BELOVED Pillsbury is planning to shut down? What should we expect with high taxes and an artificial minimum wage? Pillsbury's highly anticipated closing was not expected this year but the shut down is a direct result of the minimum wage increase this June. With a liberal Congress and spend everything President passing an artificial minimum wage increase, many businesses downsized or simply stoppend hiring new employees. Pillsbury is one of the best undergraduate institutions in the nation. It has trained thousands of young people for ministry. I enjoyed my four years there and learned a lot about myself, the Word, and life in general. When I came to Pillsbury my Freshman class was about sixty-five students and most graduated with a two-year of four-year degree. In fact, my class gained fifteen students in the Spring Semester of 2004. At least ten of those students graduated from Pillsbury. But in the fall of 2004, the freshmen class of 75 students was not retained well and the school continued to lose retention over the next four years. The "glory years" of Pillsbury extended from the Mid 1960s to the Mid 1980s with enrollments as high as 800 students in the late 70s. Until 1978, Pillsbury cost less than $1,000 a semester. But 30 years later the school costs more than seven times that much. That means that the minimum wage would have to be about $20.00 an hour to make up for the inflation. Many Pillsbury alumni will point to the destuctive choice of Alan Potter to be president in 1986 and the ensuing choices of presidents in the early 90s as the reasons for Pillsbury's demise. This is an agreeable position, however the 2000s became a blessing and a bane on Pillsbury. With a high quality handbook came its problems. Many students believed that Pillsbury had few biblical reasons for its rules. As a result, these students did not promote the school and most left early. Others did agree with the rules but were let their friends be open to any choice of institution because of the cost. Pillsbury never made an attempt to explain the rules but neither did they say that the rules were entirely biblical. This stance seemed safe but it resulted in lower enrollments. Higher taxes on corporations who would have hired Pillsbury students, also contributed to the loss of students. Many students were able to work on campus, but this was not enough to pay the majority of the school bill. I was blessed to have my grandparents give me a lot of money to stay in school. However, I did work hard in the summer but my wage was insufficient. Pillsbury also suffered from not being able to cash in many wills and endowments that they had intensively recruited for in this decade. So what happened? Well, a combination of ecomonic hardships and misapplied standards hurt Pillsbury and will hurt many other bible colleges if there leaders do not learn from Pillsbury's loss. I could also point to Pillsbury's insatiable desire for more faculty but space does not allow for this discussion. Please do not get me wrong, I love PILLSBURY and will always keep its fond memories in my heart and on my lips. But, the factors of failure did occur and we need to learn from them so that other quality institutions do not shut down. This includes VOTING for CONSERVATIVES this November 4th. True conservatives believe in low taxes, less government spending, and the free market economy. These men and women deserve your vote and they should be given your support and comment throughout their time in elected office. If we just vote and fail to communicate to our elected officials, we will see more quality institutions close their doors. But if we do vote and we do communicate and we do run for political office oursleves, success can and will occur. This is why the LLT supports John McCain, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Tom Kuntz, Jon Kline, Erik Paulsen, Mitch Daniels, Peter DeFazio and Mike Pence. This is the opinion of LLT editor, Benjamin Fugate.