Editor didn't serve pasties at Ali's grad party

Ali, Stan, Patrick

Question: What do Bob Dylan, Roger Maris, Geno Palucci, Kevin McHale, Rudy Perpich and Patrick Minelli have in common?

Hibbing native Patrick Minelli has been the Shakopee Valley News editor for the past 20 years, but the unrepentant Iron Ranger has never really left home. His boss, Stan Rolfsrud, was born in Miner's Hospital in Crosby-Ironton near an open ore pit, but that was on the wimpy Cuyuna Range, not the Mighty Mesabi, and so that don't hold no truck with an honest-to-goodness, union-loving Iron Ranger from Hibbing. So be it. Stan can't claim to be an Iron Ranger. Those are the rules. Nor does he hail from Hibbing, like all the famous gentlemen named above. More's the pity.

Pat's late father didn't work the Mesabi ore pits. He was a printer for the daily in Hibbing. Consequently, Pat never lets anybody get by with sloppy printing for his Valley News.

Pat always said his two children were timed to be born on days that did not interfere with paper deadlines. His oldest, Ali, graduated from Prior Lake High School last week and was among the witnesses to an unscheduled streaking during the graduation ceremony. (The trailboss has the photos, but not the nerve to publish them. Vote below if you want to see them.)

Kathleen and Stan attended Ali's graduation party today and Kathleen took the photo, above. We had a wonderful lunch, but despite the Iron Range roots, there were no traditional pasties. Now, if you don't know what a pastie is, don't show your ignorance like Jay Leno did the other night on his Headlines segment. A pastie is a tasty meat pie that Iron Range workers often carried in their lunch pails. It is pronounced with a short, not a long, A. Incorrectly pronouncing it with a long A sound makes it sound like a strategic glue-on applique for an exotic dancer, hence the Tonight Show's blunder.

Ali will be attending St. Catherine's in St. Paul on a hockey/soccer scholarship. Our Briggs Rolfsrud Siitari recently graduated from St. Kate's. She was to be working as a guidance counselor there this summer.

Ali attended an orientation for new St. Kate's students last week, a couple of days after Briggs had her car accident. During prayers at the assembly that morning, Ali joined the audience in a request for a speedy recovery for Briggs Siitari, missing that morning because she was hospitalized.

Patrick was with his daughter and heard the announcement. He wondered if Briggs wasn't his boss's relative. Today, at the party, I was able to confirm to Ali that indeed it was my niece, and, indeed, her prayer is being answered.