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Let’s stop flood relief abuse |
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To the Editor:
Recently, I received a complaint regarding flood relief grants to
businesses by the city of Rushford. Specifically, two businesses
had each applied for and received a $500,000 loan from the city of
Rushford in the wake of last August’s flooding.
Two problems: Rushford approved funding for the two businesses even
though they did not incur flood damage, and one of them didn’t even
exist until two months after the flood.
I contacted Minnesota’s Legislative Auditor to investigate the matter,
who in turn contacted the Department of Employment and Economic
Development (DEED) for an explanation. DEED noted that last fall
it approved the city of Rushford loan policy with two categories:
Category I, which is those businesses that suffered physical damage, and
Category II - those that were indirectly affected by the disaster.
The two Rushford businesses were approved for Category II loans from the city.
Based on the Legislative Auditor’s conclusion that these loans were in
violation of state law, DEED informed Rushford not to proceed with the
two loans and further Category II loans are not to be approved.
As a state representative, I am sworn to uphold the law. And when
illegal activity comes to my attention - even though the activity did
not take place in my legislative district - it is my job to do
something about it. In this instance, the letter of the law was
not followed, and therefore, these loans were not legal.
If you believe you have seen similar fraudulent activity taking place
with regards to flood relief, do not hesitate to contact me.
Lawmakers wanted state relief in the hands of those who were truly
impacted by the floods, not those looking to take financial advantage
of a natural disaster.
State Representative
Steve Drazkowski
Wabasha
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Participate in Week of the Young Child |
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To the Editor:
“All young children need and deserve high-quality learning experiences
that will prepare them for life,” that is the motto of the National
Association for the Education of Young Children and a worthy goal for
parents especially during this “Week of the Young Child” (April 13-19).
Clearly there is a need for young children to receive more than just
“babysitting.”
I am a professional in the field of early childhood education and have
a family of my own. I know the need as well as the challenge of finding
age and developmentally appropriate programs for young children. I also
know the needs and fears of children. There is nothing better for a
parent, trying to select a quality program, than to actually attend a
program with their child to assess the program and take away the fear
their child will have of something new to their experience. As the
director of the Little Lambs Preschool at First Evangelical Lutheran
Church (414 Main Street), I would welcome parents who wanted to see
first hand with their children how the daily schedule operates, the
level of community and respect with which children are shown and talk
about the planned curriculum which will aid children to make a
successful transition to kindergarten and the primary grades. I’m
offering “Preschool for a Day” free of charge to parents and children
on April 23 from 9-11 a.m. Interested parents can call at
507-895-5704.
Jill Hagedorn
La Crescent, Minn.
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Keeping the legal drinking age at 21 |
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By Don Heinzman
ECM Editorial Contributor
There are bills in the Minnesota Legislature to lower the drinking age to 18.
As Minnesota wrestles with the problem of teen drunken driving deaths,
binge drinking and an increase in high school student drinking, it
makes little sense to make legal drinking easier and earlier.
Throughout the country, states are taking a second look at lowering the
age, figuring if United States military volunteers can fight and die at
18, they ought to be able to have a drink in a bar.
In South Dakota, a petition is around that would allow 19 and
20-year-olds to buy beer no stronger than 3.2 percent alcohol. In
Wisconsin, an effort is under way that would allow active duty military
personnel younger than 21 to buy alcohol.
It is clear, however, that a national effort would be opposed by American parents and major lobbying groups.
No ground swell exists in Minnesota for lowering the legal drinking
age. Under a federal law, Minnesota could lose 10 percent of its
federal highway money if the age were lowered.
Since 1984, the bar for drinking legally has been raised to 21 years
and there’s evidence that raising the age has saved lives on the
highways.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that
minimum-drinking laws have saved 18,220 lives, 861 in 1998
alone.
The same report says that increasing the age has produced a 13 percent decrease in traffic accidents.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MAAD) oppose lowering the drinking age
saying that highway drunken driving fatalities have declined
precipitously since the drinking age was raised. MAAD also says
that after 29 states lowered the drinking age in the 1970s, all of them
saw drunken driving highway deaths spike.
Another argument against lowering the drinking age is that 18-year-olds
are not as responsible as 21-year-olds when drinking and particularly
driving. Younger drivers tend to believe that they are
invincible, that they can hold their liquor and they are ignorant of
how much drinking can impair their judgment while driving.
Teenage boys with a blood alcohol level of .05 to .10 are 18
times more likely to suffer a single vehicle crash, and teenage girls
at the same levels are 54 more times likely to have a crash.
Still, advocates of lowering the drinking age contend if servicemen and
women can fight in Iraq and Afghanistan they should be able to drink at
18 years of age. A group called Missouri 18 to Drink, said as of
the start of this year, 650 who have died in the war were under the age
of 21.
Evidence is on the side of keeping the legal drinking age at 21, the
age where drinking liquor can be done more responsibly and safely.
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Pool hours need to be addressed |
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To the Editor:
Do you have an opinion on the Caledonia pool hours and function?
I am a former lifeguard from the Caledonia pool. During the time
that I was employed at the pool the open pool hours were 1-5 p.m. and
7-9 p.m. We also held evening lessons from 5-6 p.m. during the
break, to accommodate working parents. Why has this
changed? I am not sure.
Currently, the open swim hours are from 2-8 p.m. I find many
issues with this. First of all, it can be a safety issue.
Spending six straight hours watching over the pool with only 10 minute
breaks becomes very monotonous.
Speaking from experience, you can lose your focus, which poses a threat
to the children’s safety for obvious reasons. Secondly, having
the two-hour break between 5-7 p.m. would allow evening
lessons which would accommodate working parents.
Currently many parents are taking their children to other towns
for lessons because they do not have a way to get their children to the
morning lessons in Caledonia. Let’s face it, the city of
Caledonia is losing it’s pool business to Spring Grove and Waukon
(to name a couple).
If you are a working parent and try to take your kids to the pool after
work, you are not guaranteed the pool will be open. With the
current hours, I have noticed that many kids leave the pool around
supper time and the pool census is very low. Sometimes the pool
will close because the numbers are not there. As a working
parent, it would be nice to have the option to bring your kids to the
pool after the supper hour, especially when you pay for a season
pass. When I was a lifeguard, typically from 7-9 p.m. there was a
new group of people swimming, enjoying the evening swim.
The bottom line is, our pool has lost a lot of business in the past
years for several reasons. There is a lot of competition in the
area. Maybe changing the hours back to 1-5 p.m., 7-9 p.m. would
help bring back some of the business to the pool. It is my belief
that it is an asset to have a city pool for our kids. I am afraid
that if there aren’t some changes soon we will no longer have the
luxury of having a pool in Caledonia.
If you have ideas, questions and or opinions about making changes
at the Caledonia Pool, please attend the City Council meeting on Monday
April 14 at 7 p.m. If you are unable to attend and would like to
have your voice heard, email me at <mailto:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
>.
Kelli Tornstrom
Caledonia, MN
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Will council allow smoking in my new casino? |
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To the Editor:
NOTICE is hereby given of a public hearing scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Monday, March 24, 2008-Headline-PROPOSED ZONING AMENDMENTS FOR HOUSTON
COUNTY CRIMINAL JUSTICE CENTER.
This was the only legal notice that was given. Imagine my surprise when
the hearing started. Not only did it include the site or sites that the
new center was to be built on, but also included every piece of
commercial property in the City of Caledonia. After an hour or more of
public input by the 50 or more residents, most talking against the
proposal, the City Council called the public hearing to an end.
During the break between the public hearing and the regular council
meeting, and with the assurance from the Mayor that no further action
would be taken on the proposal that evening, many people left.
Within 10 minutes of the start of the regular council meeting, the
Mayor makes a motion to make ALL changes in the ordinance as stated.
With a second to the motion and 4 to 1 vote in favor, 60 seconds later
it was over. WOW! What an impact on so many commercial land owners with
no other apparent reason other than the lack of ability or the common
sense of the City Council and the County Commissioners to sit down at a
table together and find a solution to the problem that would be good
for the entire community.
Can you imagine having a 120 foot commercial property downtown that now
needs a 150 foot setback to build on? I can, it’s now happened to me
and many more commercial landowners in Caledonia.
After the meeting, I got a chance to sit down and have a civilized two
hour talk with one of the council members. I stated that there hadn’t
been such a land theft here since the government stole Caledonia from
the Indians.
All of a sudden a brain storm… He said I could have a casino! He said I
could even have cigarette smoking in it. Gosh-Gee Wizz-Gosh… Do you
really think the city council will let me have cigarette smoking in my
new casino?
Alan “Mouse” Meyer
Caledonia, Minn.
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Six Republican legislators should be thanked |
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The Minnesota Republican Party is disciplining Republican legislators
for daring to vote their conscience and for what they believe is best
for their districts.
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Read more...
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