Progress family & home
“ neighbors.
Perla Garcia and her sister, Jennifer Deleon, 4, have lived at their home at 220 Pearl St. with the rest of their family for almost one year. Colleen Harrison/albert lea tribune
I love my
It’s
usually a quiet street.”
Meet the pearls who live on Pearl Street By Sarah Stultz
sarah.stultz@albertleatribune.com
H
ome to people of all walks of life, Pearl Street in Albert Lea represents generations of the city’s history. Nestled between Washington Avenue on the northeast and Front Street on the south, the street is only a block away from the heart of the city in downtown Albert Lea. On the northeast part of the street, a few houses down from the end, is former 5th Ward Albert Lea City Councilor John Severtson, 66, who is retired from Enderes Tools and lives with his wife, Becky, 60, who works at St. John’s Lutheran Community. John, who served with the Marines in the Vietnam War, was on the council from 1985 to 1989 and from 2005 to 2009. With a desire to be in public office, he ran once for the office of 3rd District Freeborn County commissioner and four times for the office of Albert Lea mayor. He also has served as the commander of American Legion Leo Carey Post 56, as chairman of the local Beyond the Yellow Ribbon group and as a member of the Albert Lea Planning Commission. He said he and his wife have lived at 214 Pearl St. for close to 40 years. Their house is known as the one with the American flag on a pole in the front yard. He has had a flag up since about 1992, he estimated. Nearby is a sign that says “Support and pray for our troops.” Right outside of downtown Albert Lea, he said they moved to Pearl Street in the first place because of its convenience to several downtown amenities. At the time, there were multiple theaters and they were within blocks of the former Red Owl grocery store. They even went to church right across the street. “To me, it was the easiest thing,” he said. “It was a convenient place to live,” he said. Since they moved in, Severtson said he has seen changes take place on the street. He said he thinks it is starting to become more rental property. Some of the houses on the south end of Pearl Street have been torn down and new ones have been built in their stead. Next door to the Severtsons at 220 Pearl St. is the Garcia family, made up of Ricardo, 19, mother Juany, sister Perla, brother Erik Deleon, 11, and sister Jennifer Deleon, 4. Ricardo said the family has lived on the street for less than a year and moved there
1992
Moo Pla Soe, 2, sits with his grandmother in their home at 246 Pearl St.
DOOR DOOR by
This is the door at 137 N. Broadway to Goldman, Sturtz & Halverson law offices. It is downtown next door to the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center.
Year Pearl Street resident John Severtson estimate he put up his flag in his front yard.
Pearl Street in Albert Lea features all kinds of diversity. from somewhere else in town. He said everyone mostly stays to themselves on the street, though during the summer there are often children playing outside. He commended his neighbor, John Severtson, and said the two help each other out when they can. Further down the street in a duplex on the other side, at 231 Pearl St., lives Patrick Scott, who has lived on Pearl Street for about six years. Scott, 47, drives a school bus for Albert Lea Bus Co. and has routes that serve both the high school, middle and elementary school, he said. He also works at Zumbro River Brand. Scott said he grew up in Albert Lea and moved to Washington state when he was 18 years old. After about 10 years, he returned. “It’s not a bad neighborhood,” he said. “It’s fairly quiet.” Scott owns a 9 1/2-foot-long Argentine boa constrictor named Jasmine. He said he has had her since she was two weeks old. “I got her basically as a black worm,” he said. See PEARLS, Page 7
26
Houses on Pearl Street in Albert Lea
9 1/2
Length in feet of the Argentine boa constrictor owned by Patrick Scott
ide? What’s ins
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PagE 2 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | Family and homE | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
Albert leA’s
minEcraFT mania Michael Flaherty, 9, has been playing Minecraft for 1 1/2 years. His world has an extensive array of buildings including a store resembling an Apple store, a bank, a bakery, a diner, a jail, a warehouse and some houses, among other things. His city is surrounded by a moat. Provided
Both children and adults enjoy creating in building block video game
By Tim Engstrom
news@albertleatribune.com
The kids in Albert Lea are building. And building. And building. And building. Along with some of the adults. They are playing the hypnotizing video game known as “Minecraft,” and they are doing it on all kinds of platforms: cellphone, iPad, Xbox, PlayStation and, of course, personal computers, where the whole thing started back in 2009. The game lets people play in survival mode or creative mode. In survival, they can eek out a living by mining for ore, farming crops, building a safe place to sleep at night and
avoiding an assortment of nocturnal monsters. Well, mostly nocturnal. In creative, they can build to their heart’s content, like playing with Lego blocks. In both versions, the sun rises and sets. Daylight lasts about 10 minutes. So what are they making? Some fairly amazing constructions, it turns out. Houses. Harbors. Railroads. Castles. Skyscrapers. Entire cities. River DePoppe, 9, and Emilio Delasantos, 9, like to gather at River’s house to play “Minecraft” on the boy’s PlayStation 3. They like to build a world in creative mode, then switch it over to survival mode. River said a sixth-grade
girl who is the daughter of a computer programmer residing in Albert Lea introduced the game to him and shared many of its more advanced engineering aspects. He has a world with a bakery, a dog house, an Old Navy, a post office, theater, music store, restaurant complete with arcade, a library with a hidden room behind a bookshelf, a helicopter, an unfinished rocket and even pet dogs. River would like to be a computer programmer when he grows up, and he even went to a video game “Minecraft” camp in Clear Lake for a week last See gamE, Page 5 In TIm Nelson’s Minecraft world, he has a shipyard and an airport.
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Sunday, February 22, 2015 | Family and home | ProgreSS 2015 | albertleatribune.com | Page 3
housing market ushers in recovery By cathy hay
news@albertleatribune.com
Recovery — that’s what real estate agent Jay Waltman sees in the data for residential home sales in the Albert Lea area. “Our recovery is slow, steady and sustainable,” said Waltman, an agent since 1998, the last seven years with the local Re/Max Properties. In 2014, the number of residential homes sold in the 56007 zip code, and their median sale price, were both up from the previous year. They have yet to reach the numbers of 10 years ago, and that’s actually good news. In 2004, the high number of homes sold and the higher median value show when the market was running up. Homebuyers found money easy to borrow, leading to higher demand for homes, which in turn led to higher prices and more homeowners deciding to sell. “Then we got to the bubble,” Waltman said. “And the bubble burst.” The national housing
crisis hit home locally. Many people were living paycheck to paycheck. When they lost their jobs in the recession, they lost their homes too. Bought at the top of the bubble — when prices were high — they found themselves with homes worth less than their mortgages, leading to lenders taking back the homes or to selling at a loss. “People with less means lost their houses faster,” Waltman said. Note the sharp drops from five years earlier, both in the number of homes sold and median sale price in 2009. That year, 36 homes — 16 percent of the 224 homes sold that year — went for $30,000 or less. That indicates a higher number of foreclosures and short sales. Foreclosures are when lenders such as banks take possession of a home because the owner has failed to keep up the mortgage payments. This legal action forces the homeowner to move and the lender to sell, usually at a discount. Short sales are when the
selling price of a home falls short of the mortgage used to buy it. The mortgage holder agrees to the lower price and typically releases the seller from the shortfall, but the seller’s credit rating takes a hit. People with more resources — more secure jobs and assets such as savings — held onto their homes even if wanting to sell. They are now returning to the market because they feel the economy is more stable. By 2014 both the number of homes sold and the median value were recovering. Of the 270 sold, 30 of them — 11 percent — sold for $30,000 or less. That’s 5 percent less than five years ago. The number of lenderowned homes selling is also down in the Albert Lea area. In January, seven lenderowned homes were on the market. Last year, 41 homes sold that were owned by lenders, down from 57 the year before. The Multiple Listing Service — a service that allows participating real estate companies to
home sales in the 56007 zip code year
number of homes sold
median sale price
2014 2013 2009 2004
270 228 224 304
$80,000 $77,000 $68,000 $87,500
Source: Multiple Listing Service These are what homes actually sold for in the given years. Residential properties include single family homes, twin homes, duplexes, triplexes and condominiums
assessed values for city of albert lea year
median home value total estimated market value
2014 2013 2009 2004
$69,700 $71,500 $83,100 Not available
$604.5 million $605.4 million $672.2 million $549.8 million
A house sits for sale in February on Park Avenue in Albert Lea. colleen HarriSon/albert lea tribune
show and sell each other’s listings — did have not these numbers for previous years because of changes in software. Freeborn County Assessor Ryan Rasmusson agrees that the local housing market is recovering. Statistically, the county’s estimated values are close to actual sales overall. The county estimates the market value of properties for the purpose of assessing taxes, partly based on sales. The county values usually take some time to catch up to the market, whether going up or down, he said. “The market’s stable,” Rasmussen said. “We are still recovering but the number of sales are up, which is a positive.” The local recovery
reflects state and national trends. According to the “2013 Annual Foreclosures in Minnesota: A Report Based on County Sheriff’s Sale Data” by HousingLink, a nonprofit dedicated to affordable housing: “There were 11,834 foreclosures in Minnesota in 2013. This number is a 34 percent decrease from 2012, with the relief being relatively balanced between the Twin Cities metro area (down 37 percent) and Greater Minnesota (down 30 percent). This marks the third consecutive year of double-digit percentage declines in foreclosure, with 2013 coming in at less than half the total number of statewide foreclosures than the last ‘high water
Member FDIC
By the numbers
Source: Freeborn County Assessor’s Office These values are what the county based its tax assessments on for the given years. Residential properties include single family homes, twin homes, duplexes, triplexes and condominiums
mark’ total in 2010. Perhaps even more notable: the number of foreclosures in 2013 is just below the total number in 2006, the year generally regarded as the first year of the foreclosure crisis.” The report lists 96 foreclosures in Freeborn County in 2013, a 30 percent decrease from 137 in 2012. In the United States, about 567,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure as of November 2014, compared to 880,000 in November 2013, a decrease of 35.5 percent, according to the “National Foreclosure Report” by CoreLogic, a corporation that provides financial, property and consumer information, analytics and business intelligence.
$26.7 million: Dollar volume of homes sold in the 56007 zip code in 2014. This is the sum of adding all sale prices of homes sold. 3.6 percent increase: In median sale price of homes sold from 2013 to 2014 in the 56007 area code. $604,486,600: Estimated total market value of homes in Albert Lea in 2014, which is down from the year before but still higher than 10 years ago. Member FDIC
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The number of people playing card games at the Albert Lea Senior Center tends to drop during the winter months with a number of seniors leaving the area for warmer climates. colleen HarriSon/albert lea tribune
Exercising both the mind and body a 15-year member at the Albert Lea Senior Center, who enjoys playing the card The competitive spirit game 500. doesn’t give up at a certain “Some play for blood and age. guts because we each put in Just ask Sharon Gardner, a quarter,” she said with a By micah Bader
micah.bader@albertleatribune.com
laugh. “The winnings aren’t very high, but it’s something fun to do in the afternoons.” A common theme among Senior Center members
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Page 4 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | Family and home | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
No doors of their own: Homelessness a growing problem locally By Cathy hay
news@albertleatribune.com
After finding black mold in their Albert Lea rental home, a family of four ends up staying in a motel room for weeks until they can find a different rental that’s affordable. A local church finds people sleeping in Sunday school rooms and other areas not used every day. A woman with a gradeschool daughter and mother to support, two part-time jobs and nowhere to stay but her car turns to the United Way for help. While homelessness is often hidden in Albert Lea — sometimes out of embarrassment — it’s still a problem here, ranging from transients sleeping under bridges to families tenting at the state park to teenagers sleeping on a friend’s couch because they have no other options. “We have people living in their cars or couch-hopping — staying with friends or family,” said Ann Austin, executive director of the Freeborn County United Way. While the recession has ebbed and the housing crisis has eased, not all families are feeling the relief. Homelessness is one symptom of a crushing poverty cycle. People lack
the education to land jobs that provide a living wage. Without a paycheck, they can’t afford housing. Without housing, they have no place to shower, prepare food, wash clothes and sleep safely. These conditions make it extremely difficult to attend school or find a job. Domestic violence, drug abuse and mental illness also contribute to the cycle. “People are one bill away from being homeless,” Austin said. Medical bills or car repairs can push people beyond their rent or mortgage payment. Albert Lea has housing for low-income families, but the waiting lists are long. The Southeast Minnesota Community Action Agency, a nonprofit that helps people in poverty, offers a homeless shelter in Albert Lea. Unlike overnight shelters in metro areas, this one consists of three apartments where families can stay up to 90 days. Referred by schools, the Salvation Army, public health, other agencies and word of mouth, people of all ages and backgrounds come looking for help. Male veterans, single moms, teenagers — they all find Vicky Helland, the shelter coordinator in Albert Lea for nine years. She uses her connections and works through frustrations for those making an
how you can help • Donate to the United Way (373-8670) and SEMCAC (373-1329) • Support the “Leaders Partnering to End Poverty Freeborn County” effort (search for them on Facebook) • Join the “Homeless Day on the Hill” March 12 when the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless will meet with legislators (www.mnhomelesscoalition.org) • Volunteer for “Rock the Block” in August 2015 when the local United Way will help people fix up their homes with donations from local businesses effort, like the single mom who walked her children to daycare every morning and then walked to her job, repeating the route back to the shelter at the end of her shift. The typical family staying at the shelter is a single mom with no job, no car or driver’s license, no support system and nowhere to go after breaking up with a boyfriend. Another trend she sees are people who grow up in Albert Lea, move to a different state, lose their jobs and return to their hometown to stay with family. But the stress of too many
The SEMCAC homeless shelter on Stevens Road has been helping people make transitions to more stable housing for 25 years. Provided kids in one house or other skills, child care, medical being successful members conditions can bring that care, food, clothing and of the community,” Helland arrangement to a halt. whatever they need to get said. “After a couple weeks, the back on their feet. Funded mostly by the family says, you gotta go,” “So in that 90 days, they state, the shelter also reHelland said. may get a job, get child ceives funding from the To qualify for the shelter, support, get into Section 8 United Way, Freeborn families meet with Helland housing, get on their feet a County, in-kind donations for an interview. little bit,” Helland said. Sec- and cash contributions. Others seeking help may “I always ask, ‘If you can tion 8 housing is a federal get in, how do you plan to assistance program to help receive vouchers to stay get out?’” she said. low-income people pay their in local motels as a temporary fix or be transported to Preference is given to rent. families from Freeborn Getting on their feet Rochester where there are County. They must agree to means clearing a lot of ob- more resources. To overcome homelessa three-hour financial litera- stacles. People in need of cy class to learn about bud- housing often have unpaid ness locally, agencies are geting, banking and credit heat and power bills, which working to collaborate more management. They must can easily reach $1,000 and fight poverty overall, follow the rules of no pets, or more. Before they can Austin said. The key is preno alcohol in the shelter or qualify for more perma- vention — to help people get elsewhere, no illegal drugs, nent housing, the utility the education and jobs they no guests and no staying the bills must be paid. They need to sustain their housing so it doesn’t become an night elsewhere. have often burned bridges emergency. If they have income, then with landlords and ruined For the community to they pay 30 percent of it to their credit rating. Helland make progress, it needs to the shelter. will try to broker deals with increase its capacity at sev“The purpose of that is utility companies and reach eral levels, each a major unto keep them in the habit of out to landlords willing to dertaking: Fix sub-standard paying rent,” Helland said. give people another break. housing to make it livable, The shelter is more than a “Success is when a family increase transportation opplace to stay. Helland meets that you helped four or five tions or make them more regularly with each family, years ago stops by to say affordable, and offer jobs helping them achieve sta- hi. And they’re still work- with higher wages. bility and permanent hous- ing, they’re still housed, “Homelessness is a growing. Her goal is to help them their kids are still going ing problem. It’s not getting secure transportation, work to school. They’re back to any better,” Helland said.
By the numbers 619: People homeless on a given night in southeast Minnesota, 256 of them children with their parents, according to the Minnesota Housing Partnership. 50: Individuals who stayed at the Albert Lea homeless shelter in the last year. These individuals made up 13 families. 61: Hours per week that a person must work at $8 per hour — the state minimum By allowing stays up to 90 days, the SEMCAC shelter in Albert Lea offers families a chance wage — to afford the $637 rent for a modest two-bedroom apartment in Freeborn to get on their feet financially. Provided County along with other living expenses.
CARDS Continued from Page 3
— including Gardner and pfeffer card players Wayne Thorson, Irene Tandeski and Steven Seeger — was the enjoyment of gathering with friends and having entertainment.
“It’s more about getting together socially,” said Tandeski. “We like to play, and we like to win. But we don’t always win, and that’s OK.” Paula Juveland has been director of the Senior Center the last 12 years, and she enjoys the social aspect as well.
“My favorite part is being with all of these wonderful people,” she said. “They are so fun. You can’t guess ages anymore because they’re so young at heart. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.” In addition to 500 and pfeffer, Juveland schedules opportunities to play other games like bridge,
bingo and Scrabble on a monthly calendar. Along with games that exercise the mind, some activities — like aerobics, yoga and ping pong — do the same for the body. A full slate of activities keeps Juveland’s plate full. “It’s a challenge because there’s so many things
going on at the same time that you really have to be on top of it,” she said. “The slightest detail that gets missed makes a huge difference in how things run.” When a senior citizen becomes interested in becoming a member, Juveland said she goes through a newsletter with a list
of activities on it to find games and hobbies he or she enjoys. “I encourage them to step out of their boundary and go ahead and try something new,” she said. “If they don’t like it — of course, they don’t have to keep doing it — but at least they can say they’ve given it a try.”
Participants break into groups of four the play 500 at the Albert Lea Senior Center Jan. 27. colleen HArrison/Albert leA tribune
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One of the other card games played at the Albert Lea Senior Center is pfeffer, also known as Bid Euchre.
Sunday, February 22, 2015 | Family and home | ProgreSS 2015 | albertleatribune.com | Page 5
GAME Continued from Page 2
summer. His parents, Charla and Jeremy DePoppe, like his interest in the game and discourage playing violent games. “It’s good that they are using their imagination,” Charla said. Before “Minecraft,” River played with Lego blocks in the basement with his father, going all the way back to preschool days. Tim Nelson is a grownup who loves “Minecraft.” learned about the game from his niece, Elisabeth Nelson, two years ago. The girl is 10 now. Tim plays a scaled-down version of the game called “Minecraft: Pocket Edition” on his iPad, but from the extensive nature of his creations, you wouldn’t think it was the
scaled down version of the game. He tried survival mode and grew impatient waiting for monsters to come and go and having to deal with hunger. He just found himself wanting to build. And that he did. One of his worlds is called Tim City 2 and is a city with a rail system, underground mines, auditorium, museum, library, convention center, airplane, ship, helicopter, dirigible, fountains, skyscrapers, homes and plenty more. There’s even a rotating restaurant atop a tall building. “A lot of times I get ideas from YouTube or I am just driving around and see something I would like to incorporate,” he said. The full edition of Minecraft on computers offers modifications, where some users purchase add-ons
such as bicycles, battle gear, more animals, severe weather or various gizmos. Minecraft for handheld devices or game consoles offer either no mods or very few mods. Nelson said if he could alter Minecraft it would be to offer more vehicles from the start, not just mine carts. He said he would like to have blocks with angles that would work well for rooflines. Many builders have to use steps to make roofs. He also would like to see cables and a greater variety of lights. He has other “Minecraft: Pocket Edition” worlds with fewer items in them. One is like a 10th century snowy Viking land with a castle and lighthouse. He called his main creation Tim City 2 in reference to the popular Sim City games popular in the 1990s.
Nelson works at Ventura Foods. He has a wife, Mona, and they have a daughter, 6-year-old Molly, who also likes to play the game time to time. She likes the farm animals of “Minecraft.” Usually, Nelson plays the game while his daughter is watching cartoons on television. Like many crafters, he ends up staying up a little too late so he can finish just one more thing. Michael Flaherty, 9, has been playing “Minecraft” for a year and a half. He likes creative mode. He has built a giant walled city surrounded by a moat. Inside, there is a house for dogs, a single-floor house, a two-story house, a music club with a disc jockey, a church, a bakery and diner, a store for water and other goods such as boats and fishing poles, a brick house on a private
island, a bank, a computer store with “Apple” computers, a store with food and weapons (Milan Hart, this is your store), a house for a creepy guy, a jail, a storage warehouse and, of course, Michael’s house. Michael is the king. Inside the house, there is a throne for the king. Oh, and let’s not forget the place has a battle arena. It sounds more violent than “Minecraft” really is. Siblings Leslie, 12, and Colin Farr, 11, have been playing on their e-tablets for about a year. Leslie plays “Minecraft: Pocket Edition” on a Kindle Fire, while her brother plays the game on a Samsung Galaxy Tablet. They often play together through the game’s two-player wireless feature. As siblings, at times they disagree, to put it mildly. However, when
they play the video game together, they get along. “The volume is less when they are playing this kind of stuff,” said their father, Albert Lea resident Chris Farr, who works at Viracon in Owatonna. Their mother is Austin resident Sarah Felt. The two children enjoy working together in survival mode to maintain and protect a village they call Homey Village. They say they play it as much as their parents will let them. Mom makes them take “tech breaks.” Dad has them stop to do something else. Chris Farr prefers video game football. He said he doesn’t get why kids like “Minecraft,” considering how blocky the graphics are. “I see it as 1980s Atari,” Chris Farr said, “but I can see how it encourages engineering at a young age.”
Leslie Farr, 12, captured pigs by building a fence around them in a village she maintains River DePoppe, 9, plays Minecraft on his Playstation 3. He likes to build worlds in creative in “Minecraft: Pocket Edition” on a Kindle Fire. The pigs can be kept as pets or killed to mode, then switch to survival mode. Provided be eaten as nourishment.
Brock Scott, 6, built this ship with “Minecraft: Pocket Edition.” His father is Phil Scott.
Titanic, by Jack Petersen, 6, son of Andy and Keli Petersen, created with “Minecraft: Pocket Edition” on an iPad. The ship has a library, pool, dining room and other features found on the actual now-sunken ship.
In River DePoppe’s Minecraft world, he has some pet dogs.
Leslie Farr, 12, captured this screenshot while battling a creeper in “Minecraft: Pocket Edition” on her Kindle Fire. Creepers, even though they are armless, pesky and explode, have become one of the most beloved enemies in video game history.
Tim Nelson created an auditorium in his Minecraft world Tim City 2.
A dirigible flies above Tim Nelson’s Minecraft world.
Page 6 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | Family and home | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
Leslie Farr captured an image of a “Minecraft: Pocket Edition” zombie on a Kindle. She and her brother enjoy maintaining and protecting a place they call “Homey Village.”
River DePoppe and Emilio Delasantos, both 9, enjoy playing Minecraft together. Provided
Connecting all branches of real estate Michael Flaherty has many buildings in his Minecraft world that reflect real stores, such as an Apple store.
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In one of Tim Nelson’s Minecraft worlds, he has created a castle.
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PEARLS Continued from Front Page
She lives in a large cage that is monitored for temperature. Back across the street and further south lives a Karen family at 246 Pearl St., who moved to the United States from a Thailand refugee camp six years ago. Chaz Blu, 18, lives there with eight others, including three generations of the family. He said the family lived in St. Paul and California before moving to
Fiona is a Bichon-Pekingese mix that lives with her owners Katie and Kevin Toot. Albert Lea. Blu works at Quality Pork Processing in Austin. He said he likes living in Albert Lea because there are many trees and he
enjoys fishing. The main level of their house is decorated simply with bright colors, the Karen flag and plants. There is minimal furniture. A few houses to the northeast live Kevin and Katie Toot, both 55, of 236 Pearl St. The Toots have three dogs, a Bishon-Pekingese, a Cocker Spaniel-bassett hound and a German shepherd. Katie Toot said she and her husband have lived in the house since October, but used to live next-door.
Leah Say, 5, lives with her extended family, many of whom are Karen refugees, at 246 Pearl St. colleen HarriSon/albert lea tribune
John Severtson and his wife, Becky, have lived in their house at 214 Pearl St. for almost 40 years.
Kim Behrens said her home at 226 Pearl St. has been in her family for over 40 years. She and her son Jordy, 14, left, currently live in the house and her son Zach, right, 19, grew up there as well.
“I love my neighbors,” she said. “It’s usually a quiet street.” Kevin was born and raised in Albert Lea, though Katie grew up in St. Paul. Kevin works at Minnesota Corrugated Box in maintenance, while Katie worked for 15 years at the former Food & Fuel. They have three grown children who also live in Albert Lea. Kim Behrens, 43, lives with her 14-year-old son, Jordy. She has another son named Zach, 19, but he doesn’t live at home anymore.
Behrens, who works at Albert Lea Seed House, said she has lived in her house most recently for about six
“It’s not a bad neighborhood. It’s fairly quiet.” — Pearl Street resident Patrick Scott years though she recalls photographs of her as a child in the house. The house has been in the
family for about 40 years, initially belonging to her grandmother and grandfather. She purchased it from her father. Behrens served in the Air Force for seven years and is now a volunteer for the Albert Lea Salvation Army’s emergency disaster services team. She said she spent three months in Saudi Arabia during her military service, starting in the end of 1991. She signed up in her junior year of high school as a way to pay money for college. “It was a lot of fun,” she said.
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builDiNG DReamS 4... SiNce 195
NOW OFFERING THERMAL IMAGING!
507-373-6650 1410 Olsen Drive
• New Home Construction • General Contracting • Remodeling & Additions • Siding & Windows • Roofing & Decks
Albert Lea, MN 56007
–From Concept to Completion-
“We do it ALL when it comes to your home.” 512 E 7th St. Albert Lea, MN 56007
(507) 373-4526
www.albertleaelectric.com
lembkeconstruction.com
Page 8 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | Family and home | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
COMMUNITY OWNED. COMMUNITY FOCUSED. You’re invited to be a customer of something special in our area: a community-owned bank whose only focus is on reinvesting in our LOCAL community! Ask about our unique E-Checking account, with Mobile Banking with Mobile Deposit. See a lender about our home mortgage services or contact an experienced business banker who can give you great financial advice. Stop in any of our locations today!
90M 80M
Asset Growth (in Millions)
70M 65M 60M 55M 50M 45M 40M 35M 30M 25M 20M 15M 10M 5M
1990
1995
2000 2005 2015
0
COMMUNITY OWNED • COMMUNITY FOCUSED
HARTLAND OFFICE 507-845-2233 FREEBORN OFFICE 507-863-2371 ALBERT LEA OFFICE 507-373-1945 farmersstatebankmn.com Member FDIC
Download the app to start
MOBILE BANKING with new
MOBILE DEPOSIT! Simply download the app and use your Online Banking User ID & Password.
• View balances • Deposit checks • View history • Transfer money
• Pay bills • Get Text Alerts • Find ATMs
Simply search for Farmers State Bank Hartland in iTunes or Google Play. Open your accounts today!