News stories from Hutchinson, Minnesota

A Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit was unanimously approved Thursday, Nov. 20, for the proposed $1.8 billion, 500-megawatt Big Stone II power plant. The decision by the South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment came at a meeting in Pierre.

ST. PAUL — Exporters who are concerned about the worldwide credit crisis and its potential effect on their ability to conduct business overseas are invited to a forum presented by the Minnesota Trade Office.

ST. PAUL — Minnesota employers cut 7,500 jobs in October, according to figures released today by the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The Farm Business Management program at Ridgewater College will be hosting a webcast by Dr. David Kohl entitled “Positioning Your Business for New Economic Realities”. Participants can access the webinar at one of 8 sites in Central Minnesota, including Barrett, Belgrade, Hutchinson, Melrose, Montevideo, Morris, Ortonville, and Willmar.

The Internal Revenue Service reminds Minnesotans — including 28 McLeod County and 14 Meeker County residents — who are missing more than 2,700 economic stimulus checks totaling about $1.5 million that they shouldn't let Nov. 28 pass by without updating their address with the IRS.

The stimulus checks sit waiting for an updated address, along with about 1,300 regular tax refund checks from Minnesota totaling $1 million that bounced back to the agency as undeliverable by the postal service.

The Minnesota consortium for Citizens with Disabilities is having a series of town hall forums that will provide education on the state of health and human services in Minnesota.

The McLeod Emergency Food Shelf is helping people
deal with tough economic times. Now is as good
a time as any to consider making a donation.

Use of the McLeod Emergency Food Shelf has risen significantly this year. That should be no surprise, considering the faltering economy and subsequent job layoffs. Many families have turned to the food shelf sites in Hutchinson and Glencoe to put sustenance on their dinner tables.

A longtime Hutchinson educator gives his overview
of how local residents have viewed school building proposals, and how those plans were approved

From William Scherer
Hutchinson

An open letter to the Hutchinson Board of Education:

There is an often repeated truism about the importance of history.

From Marc Vaillancourt
Development director,
Southwest Initiative Foundation

As a rural community foundation — a public nonprofit organization — the Southwest Initiative Foundation understands the important role of our region’s charitable organizations.

From Dan Brinkman
President, Education Hutchinson

What does public education mean to you?

When we look back in history, the founders of our country made sure that every child was entitled to an education. They knew that educating our children would ensure the success of our country. This still holds true today.

Cheers to Steve Pasche and all his band students. Such a wonderful concert they gave us Nov. 10. The leadership Steve has really shows in the respect his students show him. The quality of their concert was impeccable.
Judy Sladek, Litchfield

Cheers to the Hutchinson High School's vocal department in their Fall Concert.

From Phil Drietz
Delhi, Minn.
Back in May, I tried out for the first time, doing a rebuttal to a letter to editor (not this newspaper) using one of those on-line “Comments” postings that so many newspapers are now offering. They give you the option of going anonymous, so I did. But since then, I have been having serious reservations as to the honorableness of this “anonymous” approach after seeing so many blatant cases of just plain name calling without offering any kind of constructive argument.

From John Korngiebel
Hutchinson
I would like to provide the District 423 School Board the take I have on the failed bond issue and the proposed plan.

There were some very good parts to the proposal.
1) The auditorium renovation and foyer addition at $1.8 million.

The year was 1958. Hutchinson already had two furniture stores, but George and Edna Kable saw something in the community of less than 5,000 people that made them think it could support a third store, and not downtown, but out on prairie by itself a mile east of town.

Ground could be broken on the first phase of a 288-unit senior care/housing facility for Hutchinson as early as next September if two important things happen.

Walter Schuett, 91, of Gaylord, died Tuesday, Nov. 18, at Burns Manor Nursing Home in Hutchinson.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 21, at Immuanuel Lutheran Church in Gaylord with interment in St. Matthews Lutheran Church Cemetery in Penn Township. Visitation will be 9 to 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 21, at the church. Arrangements by the Hantge Chapel in Brownton. Condolences may be directed to www.hantge.com.

Farmers and agriculture professionals are invited to the University of Minnesota Extension Service’s third annual Crop Management Input Seminar on Tuesday, Dec. 2. The event is from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center, 1005 State Highway 15 S.

McLeod County Sheriff Scott Rehmann’s personal 2000 Dodge Caravan was one of two vehicles damaged Nov. 8 when a third vehicle struck them from behind on Hutchinson’s Main Street. The collision took place about 11:35 a.m.

Elected officials who want to read the public pulse and relay
their own message are using emerging technology. Without it, the communication they desire might be severely disabled.

If the 2008 general election taught us anything, it’s that the candidates who use modern technology to communicate their message have the upper edge.

President-elect Obama’s victory was largely due to my.barackobama.com, a social network that enabled followers and volunteers to share organizational tips, discuss successes and failures, and plan social events.

From Eric Gehrke
Hutchinson
I would like to respond to the District 423 School Board in regard to the recent referendum failure. They have asked what they did wrong. I don’t think they did a bad job with this plan. If they had come with this plan in 2002, I think it would have passed.

From Wolfgang Winter
Hutchinson
Many articles in recent memory have been published about why the District 423 School Board cannot get any form of funding to build a new building or even upgrade the current ones. I, along with others I have spoken with, agree that this is a two-fold problem.

One, the funding they currently have obviously has to be enough or close to enough to complete the tasks at hand given that the charter school not only built a building but did so without asking the normal tax base for a dime.

From the Hutchinson Board of Education
Julie Ashbaugh, Lenore Flinn, Keith Kamrath, Tim Kerkvliet, Mike McGraw and Brian Pollmann

This Nov. 16-22 marks the 87th annual American Education Week. This year’s observance emphasizes the significance that quality public education makes for all students from kindergarten through college. It also emphasizes the need for everyone to do their part to make public education successful.

From Craig Bishop
McLeod County Republican chairman, Hutchinson
I am writing to thank anyone who supported the Republican cause during this 2008 election cycle. Whether it was putting up a sign, making phone calls, volunteering in our office or simply voting, the McLeod County Executive Board wants to express its gratitude for your efforts. Thanks again.

One project accounted for 79 percent of the value of building projects issued permits by the Hutchinson Planning, Zoning and Building Department last month.

Best Buy began construction on its new store between the vacant Office Max and Cub Food stores near Target. The permit carries an estimated construction value of $1.67 million.

A total of 109 permits were issued last month for projects worth $2.24 million. That compares to 105 permits for projects valued at $1.1 million during October 2007.

Recycling consumer electronics in the Hutchinson area is a field that had until recently been left mostly to government entities, such as the McLeod County Solid Waste Recovery Facility.

But entrepreneurs Brian and Paula Hauer are stepping in to add to the convenience of disposing of computers, monitors, televisions, stereos, CD and DVD players, microwaves and eventually appliances. The Hutchinson residents have opened BMH Enterprises at 3 Michigan St. S.E., in the Crow River Glass building, to provide another outlet for those products.

Minnesota’s economy is usually on better ground than the national economy, but it is now closely mirroring the country’s overall slide into recession.

That was part of the 30-minute message delivered Thursday by Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commission Dan McElroy in Hutchinson.

His audience included about 35 members of the Minnesota chapter of the Call Center Networking Group touring Customer Elation, a customer service call center that opened earlier this year in Hutchinson’s industrial park. The company already employs about 45 people here.

Plans for Hutchinson Area Health Care’s new senior housing development on Hutchinson’s south side will take a baby step forward Tuesday tonight.

A sketch plan for a 288-unit, multi-story facility has been submitted to the Hutchinson Planning Commission for comment. The plan calls for using use the western 15 acres of the 43-acre parcel the hospital purchased about a year ago along County Road 115 (Airport Road), west of Jefferson Street.

Hutchinson residents could see a 36.4-percent increase in their monthly sewer bill if the City Council adopts a recommendation that came from a rate study by its consultant, James Hagley of Donahue & Associates.

Hagley presented the study results during a Nov. 12 workshop. The council is expected to set its 2009 rates in the coming weeks. If adopted, the rates would make Hutchinson’s rates the fourth highest among 12 cities Donahue reviewed, after having the lowest in that group this year.

Starting Saturday, the drive to the Twin Cities
will be safer and less time-consuming.
We urge motorists to buckle up, abide by the speed limit
and enjoy the drive on the improved State Highway 7.

Back in 1927, the Minnesota Department of Highways published a map of the state’s 7,000 miles of trunk highways. State Highway 7 between Hutchinson and St. Bonifacius is barely visible on the map — just a thin line indicating an earth road. It carried no numerical designation.

From Archie Kucera
Hutchinson

I was very disappointed with the voters in District 423 when they turned down the high school improvement upgrade. The tally as recorded by the Hutchinson Leader was 3,978 “yes” and 5,021 “no” votes.