News stories from Hutchinson, Minnesota

Times are tough and the folks at United Way of McLeod County know it as well as anyone.

From David Schweikert
Hutchinson
The apparent inherent phobia in some laws and court decisions incenses me.

From Rep. Ron Shimanski
District 18A, R-Silver Lake

From Lona Oltmann, R.N.,
patient services coordinator
and Maureen Style,
volunteer and community outreach coordinator

Molly Ahlbrecht, 91, of Hector, died Friday, Feb. 5, 2010, at the Buffalo Lake Healthcare Center.

Marcia Falling, 65, of Hutchinson, wife of Larry, died Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010 at her home.

Memorial service will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, at Vineyard United Methodist Church in Hutchinson.

Michael Loftstedt, 31, of Hutchinson, died Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010 at Burns Manor Nursing Home in Hutchinson.

By Nathan Winter
Extension Educator – Agricultural Productions Systems
McLeod/Meeker County

Fourteen mostly Glencoe residents made up the vast majority of those who attended the Constitution Party’s McLeod County caucus Tuesday night at the Glencoe VFW.

Kathleen O'Connell, 80, of St. Paul, formerly of Hutchinson, died Sunday, Feb. 3, 2010, peacefully at her home surrounded by her family.

Sometimes the best ideas begin with casual conversations.

From Jim Conner
Hutchinson

From Kenneth Jensen
Hutchinson

From Betsy Price
Hutchinson

Are you interested in reading the public notices published in the Feb. 4, 2010 print edition of the Hutchinson Leader newspaper? the page or pages on which those notices were printed are attached.

Russell Meade, 79, of Chilliwack, British Columbia, died Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, in Canada after a valiant battle with cancer.

Explorer/author Dan Beuttner traveled the planet to learn from the world’s longest living people.

From Mayor Steve Cook
Hutchinson

Hattie Anderson, 73, died Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 at Burns Manor Nursing Home in Hutchinson.

Arrangements are pending.

The Crow River Region Chapter of the Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented is hosting a Connect, Help, Advocate, Talk, or CHAT session, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb.

Linda Earl, 52, of Litchfield, died Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010 at the Emmanuel Nursing Home in Litchfield.

A funeral service will be 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, at Zion Lutheran Church in Litchfield.

Lydia (Mrs Milt) Brinkman, 81, of Hutchinson, died Sunday Jan. 31, 2010 at Hospice of the Valley in Phoenix, Ariz.

By Nathan Winter
Extension Educator – Agricultural Productions Systems
McLeod/Meeker County

The City Council last week approved the lease of 94 acres of farm land Hutchinson owns surrounding the municipal airport south of the city.

If it starts snowing Monday and the forecast calls for more than a couple of inches of the white stuff, Hutchinson Public Works Manager John Olson will likely declare the city’s first-ever snow emergency.

Days after the McLeod County Board of Commissioners moved to equip each commissioner with a laptop computer, the topic of laptops came up at the Hutchinson City Council meeting.

Earlier this month, students at New Discoveries Montessori Academy in Hutchinson were able to see and talk with their art teacher, Sandy Kephart, while she was in India participating in a clown missio

NuCrane is a new manufacturer being built in the 900 block of State Highway 7 West, between Hutchinson Manufacturing and the Best Western Victorian Inn.

Though housing starts dropped to a modern day record of only four homes in 2009, overall construction last year topped 2008's total.