News stories from Hutchinson, Minnesota

Whether it is raspberry pan chicken or grilled French double-pork chops, Zella’s Restaurant, the newest dining establishment in downtown Hutchinson, has a goal of creating a memorable experience for diners.

Doing business under the general philosophy of “specializing in chef-driven eclectic comfort food in a warm and elegant bistro atmosphere,” Zella’s owners Tiffany Haag and Blake Barnard believe Hutchinson area diners will like what they offer.

Jennifer Magallon graduated from the Minnesota School of Business’ massage therapy program just two years ago, but she puts continuing education high on her list of priorities.

Magallon is an independent massage therapist working out of a room in the basement of Julie Elder’s Urban Hair Salon, 18 Main St. S. There she offers hot stone massage, body wraps, prenatal massage and Swedish deep tissue massage.

Mildred E. Piepenburg, 94, of Litchfield, died Sunday, Oct. 5, at Meeker Memorial Hospital.

Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Litchfield.

Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7 at the Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home in Litchfield, and will continue one hour prior to the services Wednesday at the church.

Interment will be in the Lake Ripley Cemetery in Litchfield.

Arrangements are by Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home. An on-line guestbook is available at www.johnsonhagglund.com.

Donald Hamrin, 80, of LaPorte, Ind., died Friday, Oct. 3, at the LaPorte Hospital in LaPorte.

Visitation will be from 1 to 2:45 p.m. today (Tuesday, Oct. 7), at Dobratz-Hantge Chapel with a 3 p.m. graveside service at Oakland Cemetery in Hutchinson.

Military honors will be by the Hutchinson Memorial Rifle Squad.

Arrangements are with the Dobratz-Hantge Chapel in Hutchinson. Online condolences may be directed to www.hantge.com.

Mabel Grunewaldt, 98, of Waconia and formerly Hutchinson, died Sunday, Oct. 5, at Waconia Good Samaritan Center in Waconia.

A funeral service is at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, Peace Lutheran Church in Hutchinson. Interment will be in Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery in Acoma Township.

Visitation will be two hours prior to services Thursday at Peace Lutheran Church.

Arrangements are with the Dobratz-Hantge Chapel in Hutchinson. Online condolences may be directed to www.hantge.com.

By Nathan Winter
University of Minnesota Extension

Trees are often enjoyed more by people that come after those who planted the tree. Trees help define how a yard in the city will look and the type of landscaping that can be done by determining shade or full-sun types of plants. Businesses and city municipalities also use trees to help make areas more aesthetically pleasing to those who are working within, as well as those who are using those areas for recreation. In rural country settings, trees serve many purposes.

Elizabeth J. Horrocks, 90, of Hutchinson, died Saturday, Oct. 4, at Hutchinson Area Health Care.

Private family services are planned at a later date.

Memorials are preferred to Hutchinson Public Library.

Arrangements are with Dobratz-Hantge Chapel in Hutchinson. Online condolences may be directed to www.hantge.com.

Minnesota manufactured exports increased to $4.4 billion in the second quarter of 2008, 13 percent higher than the same period a year ago.

The increase was led by sales of transportation equipment, machinery and processed foods, according to quarterly export figures released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Harry Lawrence Ernst Werner, 82, of Darwin, died Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Meeker Memorial Hospital in Litchfield.

A funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Litchfield with the Rev. Donald Main officiating. The interment of the urn will be at a later date at the Ellsworth Cemetery in Darwin.

A visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, at Johnson Funeral Home in Dassel.There will be a one hour visitation prior to the service Saturday at the church.

Arrangements are with Johnson Funeral Home in Dassel.

From Bill Corby
President, Hutchinson Area Chamber of Commerce/Convention and Visitors Bureau

If you are going to shop and spend, spend your money in the Hutchinson area with the businesses that help support your community.

By LaVonne Hansen
Hutchinson

I don’t tend to operate by writing letters. I like to understand a situation and work with the people to find a better solution. But the Hutchinson mosquito spraying proposal didn’t make sense so I spent 30 minutes reviewing the city budget process and I went from being confused to being utterly “frustrated.” (That is being really tactful about how I actually felt.)
I am going to write two letters on this. The first specifically addresses the mosquito program. The second will be about things to improve the planning and budgeting process as a whole.

From Cal Wendlandt
Dassel

What a financial mess in Washington. And the same people who relaxed regulations on these big corporations want everyone to believe they will fix it. Ya sure, you betcha!

Seeing that people keep wanting to do extreme measures, which is this or that in the name of “national security,” we don’t need to concern ourselves with outside terrorists near as much as a demise coming from within.

Cheers to all the people who helped me jump start my car after the football game Friday night at Holy Angels. Your kindness was greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to help me.
Jason Rusch, West St. Paul

From Thomas Higgins
Anchorage, Alaska, and 1982 graduate of Hutchinson High School

Sarah Palin isn’t a “nominee” she was picked by one man! I didn’t trust governor candidate Sarah Palin and haven’t agreed with her operation of the state.

She bragged she would favor her hometown of Wasilla and has earmarked a high percentage of funds for it. She made a snap and very poor decision about our Mat-Maid creamery. She has lied and changed her reason many times about the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

From Paul Otte, Hutchinson

Take a drive to Northwoods Park and see how wealthy our community is. The massive project of building a lake (holding pond) and a fancy paved parking lot cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, I’m sure. The parking lot will be used 20 to 30 evenings a year for baseball games. A community that can afford such a huge project and yet can’t decide to spend $44,000 for mosquito control is truly bizarre!

From Joanne Jacques, Treasurer, board of directors McLeod Emergency Food Shelf

It was with pleasure that I read about the 25th anniversary of the McLeod Emergency Food Shelf, especially since most food shelf news is about another food shelf closing. Our local food shelf is not about to close, at least not in the near future. Our goal would be to close only because we are no longer needed (I dream big!).

EDITORIAL By Publisher Matt McMillan and Editor Doug Hanneman

Attacks on books and other forms of intellectual freedom are not
only found in Nazi Germany and other dictatorships. Libraries
in Hutchinson and across America also must be on the watch.

Visit the Hutchinson Public Library this week and you’ll be able to view a display of books that have been challenged by library patrons across the nation.

Utilities hosting open house Oct. 9
Hutchinson residents benefit in many ways by having their own publicly owned gas and electric company. That’s a message Jon Guthmiller is working to get out.

He is Hutchinson Utilities’ energy conservation administrator who is helping to plan an Oct. 9 open house to give residents an opportunity to learn more about their company.

The increasing popularity of wind power in Minnesota and elsewhere means the line of oversized trucks with wind turbine parts rolling through Hutchinson and other area cities isn’t likely to end anytime soon.

The trucks, some as long as 215 feet and as wide as 15 feet, have to be specially routed. Until construction of the roundabout on Hutchinson’s north side, State Highway 15 was the preferred route between St. Cloud and New Ulm, according to Dave Johnston, a District 8 region engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Hutchinson office.

H.E. Antonio Patriota, the Brazilian ambassador to the United States, will be the keynote speaker during lunch at the Governor’s International Trade Conference on Thursday, Oct. 2, in Minneapolis.

Minnesota First Lady Mary Pawlenty will present the Governor’s International Trade Awards to nine Minnesota companies that have excelled in the international marketplace. Last year’s winners were Satellite Industries Inc. of Plymouth, Capital City USA of Red Wing, Digital River Inc. of Eden Prairie , and Excalibur Sires of Rochester.

Five longtime members of the Hutchinson Drift Riders snowmobile club stood last week on the deck of a scenic overlook club members built at Hutchinson’s newest park. They felt an immense sense of satisfaction in the club’s efforts at Island View Park.

The view they had was stunning. The blue of a sunny, Minnesota fall ski was reflected on the waters of Otter Lake. A few hundred yards across the water leaves were starting to turn.

Burglary and criminal damage to property charges have been brought against three Hutchinson boys found inside the vacant former Cub Foods building Saturday afternoon.

Hutchinson police were called to the building about 3:30 p.m. by an alarm. They found the three inside. The boys apparently had gotten in through a door on the west side. An estimated $2,000 in damage was done to glass and light fixtures.

Maplewood Academy is celebrating its 80th year in Hutchinson and its 104th year of existence. All alumni are invited to Maplewood's Alumni Weekend, Oct. 9-12. They are invited to reunite with old friends and share memories. For more information, call Maplewood Academy at (320) 587-2830.

By Nathan Winter, University of Minnesota Extension

The $700 billion bailout of Wall Street debated for the past 10 days has been called a necessary measure to prevent Wall Street’s ills from infecting America’s Main Street, too.

Hutchinson retailers, including those at Hutchinson Mall, are trying to remain cautiously optimistic amid reports that consumers are planning to cut back on their gift-giving this year.

Sunlight glitters between the green vines, revealing dark blue clusters of tiny grapes.

The late summer sun is warm on the skin and the smell of sweat is in the air, as a dozen pickers work deftly down the rows of vines, dropping the gem-like clusters into five-gallon buckets.

Soft laughter occasionally breaks the steady work, and every once in a while, a picker drops a blue grape into his or her mouth to taste the sweet fruit.

It’s an ideal day to pick the first harvest of the season.

The Hutchinson Utilities Commission was briefed last week on a $20,500 wind farm feasibility study it commissioned earlier this summer. It learned there are satisfactory wind conditions in this part of Minnesota to make such a venture viable, but commissioners were noncommittal on whether they would move forward with the project any time soon.

The Hutchinson area generally has an annual wind velocity of 16.68 mph, with the summer months of July and August on the low end (14.6 mph and 15.1 mph, respectively) and January and December on the high end (17.8 mph and 17.5 mph, respectively).

The Mid-Minnesota Development Commission has an opening on its 22-member board of directors for a business representative from McLeod County.

Hutchinson City Council Member Bill Arndt, who represents the city on the board, told fellow council members of the opening last week. To qualify, the person must be in a position of decision-making leadership in their position, such as the owner or manager. Anyone interested in serving should call Arndt at (320) 587-6882, or City Administrator Gary Plotz at (320) 587-5151.

By Carl Hoffman, University of Minnesota Extension

A recent drop of temperatures into the low 30s reminds us that it is time to move any houseplants that were outside for the summer back indoors. Most houseplants originated in the tropics and will not survive frost and actually have trouble coping with nighttime temperatures in the 40 degree range.

By Carl Hoffman, University of Minnesota Extension

Seeing the boxelder bugs beginning to gather on the south side of my house reminds me that it is time to relay some information on control of these insects to homeowners. The boxelder bugs are gathering on the outside of some homes in large numbers and the multi-colored Asian lady beetles will probably arrive soon. They congregate on the outside of homes as they search for sites to winter over. Many of them may find their way into the home and, although they do not feed or reproduce there, they certainly can be annoying.