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I can’t wait to visit my relatives’ farm…
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To the Editor:
With the approval of the Ingvalson “Environmental Showpiece” manure pit a mere 300 feet away from my grandparents and uncle’s house. The smell should be impressive.
With all the hauling that will have to be done, at what distance this manure will be hauled and what tests if any were taken on the soil and groundwater where this manure is ending up, how long will it take to get rid of all this in the spring and fall?
I guess the only time I can visit is in the summer, for that one week where they won’t be hauling manure when it will be 90 degrees-plus out and humid. It will feel good to know I can look across the street and see a 7.2 million gallon pit of manure and to be able to see how the whole process works. That is of course, if I can see over the saplings.
The Houston County Commissioners had more than enough information to look over and use some form of logical thinking in their decision. Yet they a 13 million gallon pit, then it was 12 million, then it went to 9.6 million. After a letter from the MPCA, about getting involved, an engineer reduced the project by roughly 25 percent. I say roughly because it went from 9.6 to 7.5 million, which could easily be achieved by clicking reduce by 25 percent. I mean who really wants to be thinking about manure pits over a holiday weekend?
So the county board passed it without looking over the new plans and without explaining why an EAW was not needed when the state said one was for a project of this size. Mr. Scanlan knew enough. I guess a county worker knows more than a state certified board who sets these regulations. There was one condition put in for Mr. Ingvalson, to plant trees…..to block the view and to reduce odors. With his last expansion in 2000, he planted some trees that now provide shade for the kittens.
There was also the thing about Calvin Alexander, who was contacted by the Ellenz family, not the Ingvalsons (as people are led to believe by the paper and minutes posted) in which he (a geologist at the University of Minnesota) asked for more tests to be done. They never were done.
“With 12 million gallons of liquid manure, we do want to make sure,” Scanlan said. “We want to protect everyone.” So without naming names or pointing fingers, the county said they had no money to do the tests and Mr. Ingvalson said he wouldn’t pay for them. It seems logical to approve the manure pit then.
Putting a manure pit 300 feet away from a neighbor’s house where there could be a sinkhole, is not being a good steward of the neighborhood.
So I look forward to the smell. I have heard it smells like the Mississippi River. I have also heard it smells like grape juice, but we all know what manure smells like.
Joseph M. Ellenz
Elk River, Minn.
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Further testing should be done
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To the Editor:
This article is to inform readers of an inaccurate description of results from sink hole testing on the Ellenz family farm.
The initial visual evaluation of the sink hole test conducted by Calvin Alexander, geologist of the University of Minnesota and Jeff Green, of the DNR did not show sinkholes. Both Mr. Alexander and Mr. Green requested further testing to be done.
“In my review of the air photos, I can find no clear evidence of sinkholes on either property. This observation does not rule out the possibility that sinkholes currently exist or have previously existed on one or both properties.
It is a general property of Karst [geology] that there is a lot more topography on the surface of the bedrock than is evident on the land surface. The bedrock surface typically has many more currently filled sinkholes than open sinkholes on the surface. Construction, generally, and water impoundments, specifically, often reactivate these unseen filled sinkholes.
The area of the proposed lagoons is an active Karst area. If this proposal proceeds the area beneath where the lagoons are to be built should be investigated by a detailed geophysical investigation.” – Calvin Alexander
A sinkhole can be as small as 1' x 1' in diameter. So upon the visual assessment of 1,000 feet in all directions from the proposed manure basins on the Ingvalson Hilltop Dairy Farm more accurate testing would be needed.
The proposed further testing was to be completed two to three days after the initial article (Tuesday May 18, 2010) was printed in the Argus and Bob Scanlan, feedlot officer was quoted as saying, “But they didn’t find anything.” Which is misleading to readers, based on the fact that further testing was not completed at that date.
The further testing requested and required for a low Karst region has not been completed as of today’s date, June 4, 2010.
Robert Ellenz
Caledonia, Minn.
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Hunger in the summer
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To the Editor:
For some, summer can mean hunger. The summer means the end of the school year and also the end to free or low cost meals to many children at school. Summer is a time when many families must find a way to obtain the additional food for feeding the family. Summer is a time when many must rely on the Food Shelf for some or all of the extra food needs. Summer is a time when the Houston County Food Shelf needs your help!
In 2008 the Food Shelf distributed approximately 35,000 pounds of food in Houston County. In 2009 the Food Shelf distributed 50,458 pounds of food to 1,874 families and 8,461 individuals.
Your help enabled the Food Shelf to meet these major increases in food to many families and individuals to include many children and senior citizens in Houston County. In 2010 we are seeing increases in needs for food. We need your help! Many need your help!
Hunger is the physical and mental condition that comes from not eating enough food due to insufficient economic, family or community resources.
One could easily quote all the price increases in light, food, water, etc. However, you already know them and are living with them. It has been proven that hunger and poor nourishment, at any age, creates many medical problems, creates absenteeism and makes learning and working very difficult. Hunger in a community affects everyone in the community. It is for the common good of all that a community keeps hunger at the very least possible. Remember, except for the grace of God, you could be hungry! Will you help?
Please donate food or cash to the Houston County Food Shelf now and as often as possible in the future.
The Food Shelf is located in Caledonia at 138 East Main Street, Caledonia 55921; telephone number is 507-725-3677. If you wish, there are food collection carts in many churches in the area for you to deposit food. Use these food carts for your convenience. If you wish, you may mail a donation to the Food Shelf. (Your donation of food or money is a tax deduction.) God bless Houston County and all its’ residents.
Larry Salm
Caledonia, Minn.
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Upsetting visit to parents’ grave site
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To the Editor:
On Monday May 24 I drove from Cresco, Iowa to spend some time at my parents’ grave site, put some flowers on their headstone. I brought some soap and water to clean it up. I should have brought along a rake and wisk broom and a garbage bag! By the grave site there was brown and dead grass about eight inches long. I could have raked up at least 3/4 of a bag full.
When I visit my parents’ grave site it’s usually a quiet peaceful time for me, thinking back on our time together. Not this time!
As I was leaving I checked out other grave sites, many of them were not trimmed around, but not as bad as the long dead grass by my folks.
After I left the cemetery, I met some good friends at the Redwood for lunch. I asked several people that I knew who was the caretaker. No one seemed to know. That is why I am writing this letter to the editor.
On Tuesday I went to my father-in-law’s grave in Protovin, Iowa. It was neat as a pin. What a pleasant thing.
I was born and grew up in Caledonia. I still think of it as my home. I cried on the way home thinking of how my parents’ last resting place looked.
I always thought on Memorial Day the cemetery was at it’s best. When I come back in two weeks I will bring the right equipment to clean it up. How truly sad it looked.
Karen A. (Heintz) Hudecek
Cresco, Iowa
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Voters accept responsibility
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To the Editor:
A few years ago when the county commissioners put on informational meetings about the proposed jail I and about 25-30 people attended the meeting at Spring Grove which was led by Kevin Keller (sic). His established protocol was we could write down questions and he would then answer the question with no comment or input from the people attending. After the second time I tried to confront him on his protocol one of the seven law enforcement officers in the room moved in close behind me which I was not aware of until I was told after the meeting. I must have shut up just in time because it did not go any further. Every time I think about this meeting communism comes to mind. They are now doing the same thing with land rights and zoning, refusing to listen to people’s wishes or rights.
All they talk about is protection of ag land with few or not creditable explanations. Think about this, I as a land owner can build as many buildings on my land as I want housing everything from livestock, feed, junk cars, timber, rocks or just plain junk without any regard for land protection. But if I want to build a second house for my parents, family, etc., even if on an existing building site the commissioners invoke protection of ag land. Where’s the common sense?
In closing I must say it is we the voters who must accept responsibility for electing people with little or no regard for common sense, fairness, or doing the right thing.
My personal feeling is that no person with any amount of common sense would build a jail like what is being built now in this small county or have a one house on 40 acres of land law.
Jeff Gerard
Spring Grove, Minn.
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A ‘thank you’ and a warning to the residents of Caledonia
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To the Editor:
I am writing to both thank and alert the people of Caledonia regarding a trip we took this past winter to your area.
Our group of five snowmobilers from central Wisconsin decided to tour south central Minnesota this year for our annual ride because you had good snow and we wanted to keep our tour as local as possible.
We start in one place (Caledonia this year), and make a large circle tour on our snowmobiles returning to our starting destination about a week later. We have done this for many years, touring many Canadian provinces and U.S. states and always make reservations ahead of time to be certain we have a place to stay.
The several businesses we visited in Caledonia were very friendly and were glad to see snowmobilers from out of the area patronizing their establishments.
About half way through our trip one of our riders’ sleds had engine problems on the trail and we had to change our plans for the rest of the trip returning a little earlier than expected. We had planned to stay at the AmericInn Motel in Caledonia for the last night as we had on the first night but now because of returning early would not be necessary.
I called to cancel our reservation on Wednesday 2-10-10 at 7:29 p.m., as my cell phone record proves for the night of 2-13-10, well ahead of the motels required minimum time requirement. Also the remaining four of us were together eating pizza at the time.
A month after our returning home from this trip, a charge showed up on my credit card for $98.83 for one of the rooms I had called and cancelled for the night of 2-13-10. I called the owner of the AmericInn Motel there in Caledonia to tell him of the charge and he said if I didn’t have the cancellation authorization numbers that the charges would stand. I advised him I was never given any numbers by the woman I had talked to on the phone but he said it did not matter and hung up on me when I told him I would call the corporate office.
I have contacted their corporate customer service office several times and they say they have forwarded my complaint on to him but he will not respond back. I am filing a complaint with my credit card company as well as the Minnesota Better Business Bureau but I wanted to also alert the residents of Caledonia as to the unscrupulous business practices of this AmericInn Motel in Caledonia.
Obviously if I had never called, this manager would have billed me for both of the rooms I had reserved not just one of them.
We realize this business owner is not representative of your town and we thank you for the hospitality you showed us while traveling in your area. It is unfortunate that a business like this AmericInn Motel leaves us with a bad experience of your area and my warning to everyone reading this is to protect yourself against this type of unethical behavior and would not encourage anyone to patronize this AmericInn Motel.
Thanks but sorry,
Gary Schoppenhorst,
Endeavor Wis.
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