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To place an obituary, please include the information from the obituary checklist below in an email to obits@pioneerpress.com. There is no option to place them through our website at this time. Feel free to contact our obituary desk at 651-228-5263 with any questions. General Information: Your full name, Address (City, State, Zip Code), Phone number, And an alternate phone number (if any) Obituary Specification: Name of Deceased, Obituary Text, A photo in a JPEG or PDF file is preferable, TIF and other files are accepted, we will contact you if there are any issues with the photo. Ad Run dates There is a discount for running more than one day, but this must be scheduled on the first run date to apply. If a photo is used, it must be used for both days for the discount to apply, contact us for more information. Policies: Verification of Death: In order to publish obituaries a name and phone number of funeral home/cremation society is required. We must contact the funeral home/cremation society handling the arrangements during their business hours to verify the death. If the body of the deceased has been donated to the University of Minnesota Anatomy Bequest Program, or a similar program, their phone number is required for verification. Please allow enough time to contact them especially during their limited weekend hours. A death certificate is also acceptable for this purpose but only one of these two options are necessary. Guestbook and Outside Websites: We are not allowed to reference other media sources with a guestbook or an obituary placed elsewhere when placing an obituary in print and online. We may place a website for a funeral home or a family email for contact instead; contact us with any questions regarding this matter. Obituary Process: Once your submission is completed, we will fax or email a proof for review prior to publication in the newspaper. This proof includes price and days the notice is scheduled to appear. Please review the proof carefully. We must be notified of errors or changes before the notice appears in the Pioneer Press based on each day’s deadlines. After publication, we will not be responsible for errors that may occur after final proofing. Online: Changes to an online obituary can be handled through the obituary desk. Call us with further questions. Payment Procedure: Pre-payment is required for all obituary notices prior to publication by the deadline specified below in our deadline schedule. Please call 651-228-5263 with your payment information after you have received the proof and approved its contents. Credit Card: Payment accepted by phone only due to PCI (Payment Card Industry) regulations EFT: Check by phone. Please provide your routing number and account number. Rates: The minimum charge is $162 for the first 12 lines. Every line after the first 12 is $12. If the ad is under 12 lines it will be charged the minimum rate of $162. Obituaries including more than 40 lines will receive a 7.5% discount per line. On a second run date, receive a 20% discount off both the first and second placement. Place three obituaries and the third placement will be free of charge. Each photo published is $125 per day. For example: 2 photos in the paper on 2 days would be 4 photo charges at $500. Deadlines: Please follow deadline times to ensure your obituary is published on the day requested. Hours Deadline (no exceptions) Ad Photos MEMORIAM (NON-OBITUARY) REQUEST Unlike an obituary, Memoriam submissions are remembrances of a loved one who has passed. The rates for a memoriam differ from obituaries. Please call or email us for more memoriam information Please call 651-228-5280 for more information. HOURS: Monday – Friday 8:00AM – 5:00PM (CLOSED WEEKENDS and HOLIDAYS) Please submit your memoriam ad to memoriams@pioneerpress.com or call 651-228-5280. Round 1 of Lakeville South’s state title defense went rather smoothly in Wednesday’s Class 4A quarterfinals, as the top-seeded champs knocked out eighth-seeded Sartell in straight sets. The real challenge for the Cougars was getting back to the arena. Punching that ticket required a thrilling, five-set victory over Lakeville North in the Section 1 final over the weekend. That, Lakeville South coach Stephen Willingham noted, was the Cougars’ first five-set match of the season. “To be honest, it was kind of nice to … have that pressure and have to win it,” he said. “We look at it like seasoning for our team.” The Cougars were certainly sharp in the quarters, playing a low-mistake brand of volleyball that serves teams well under the bright lights. That doesn’t mean the defending champs weren’t nervous, even if they didn’t look it. Senior outside hitter Romi Chlebecek, who tallied a game-high 18 kills, said everyone made at least a mistake early amid what she called a “frantic” start. But what impressed her was how well everyone shook any errors off. That’s at least in part to the support junior outside hitter Elleora Utecht said the Cougars (29-3) provide to one another. “We look at each other and we’re like, ‘I know you have the next point,’” said Utecht, who recorded 12 kills Wednesday. “I think that was just really big to move on from those mistakes and continue to do what we know how to do.” Which is especially vital now. No one is under more pressure than the defending champs, who take the floor each time out with a massive target on their backs. That pressure reaches an all-time high in the postseason. “And there’s a lot more people watching and you want to do well, obviously, but mistakes are just part of the match,” Utecht said. “And when we know we can look to each other in the huddle in the middle of the match and just relax and trust that we’ve got the next point. It makes all the difference.” The Cougars will meet fourth-seeded Roseville in Thursday’s semifinals at 9 a.m. Centennial falls in straight sets Centennial went down in straight sets Wednesday against third-seeded Prior Lake. The Cougars pushed the Lakers, holding a 20-17 lead in the first set before dropping it, 25-23. The second set went extra points before Prior Lake won that, 26-24. Prior Lake had three players with double-digit kills, led by 12 from Dylan Raveling. Centennial’s Elena Hoecke, who won the Ms. Baden award as the state’s player of the year, had 10 kills for the Cougars.
