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“Where Fillmore County News Comes First” Weekly Edition
Page 24
Monday, December 16, 2013
Snow accents Ostrander Lanesboro’s determines liquor Christmas Inn Tour license expirations page
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Volume 29 Issue 13
Whalan approves final tax levy for 2014 page
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Chatfield 2014 levy down slightly page
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Canton l Chatfield l Fountain l Harmony l Lanesboro l Mabel l Ostrander l Peterson l Preston l Rushford l Rushford Village l Spring Valley l Whalan l Wykoff
Fountain City Council welcomes new employee By Barb Jeffers barb@fillmorecountyjournal.com
Director Janeen Wingert, far left, teacher Jessica Marzolf, back row, far right, and high school helper Courtney Schroeder, front row, far right along with SAC children who sent letters in the Holidays for Heroes program. Photo by Barb Jeffers
Fillmore Central SAC kids send letters to Heroes By Barb Jeffers barb@fillmorecountyjournal.com
Children at Fillmore Central’s School Age Childcare (SAC) wrote letters to service members in the Holidays for Heroes program to wish them happy holidays and to thank them for their service. Janeen Wingert, Director of Fillmore Central SAC, said the idea came from a directors meeting and was put on the website and seemed like a great activity for the children. The children wrote letters to service members who are overseas and will not be able to be home with their families this holiday season. Jessica Marzolf, who runs the program in the mornings, also helped the children with their letters and said the children were very excited to write to service
members. Wingert stated that many of the kids have parents or family members in the service so it was very meaningful to them as they know the sacrifice military members and their families make. Twenty-seven children wrote letters to service members with wishes such as “Happy Holidays” and “Merry Christmas” and also expressed their thankfulness for the service of the person they were writing to. Various holiday greetings were written on the chalk board and the kids could choose which they would like to use in their letters and could add anything else they wished. Olivia Sethre, age 9, was happy to write a letter to a service member and said she wrote, “Have a Merry Christmas” and “I hope you are able to see your family” in her letter while Abi-
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gail Parker, age 8, wrote “Happy Thanksgiving,” “Merry Christmas,” and “Happy New Year” in her letter making sure to cover all of the recent and upcoming holidays. Many of the children also drew pictures along with their letters. The most popular, according to Wingert, were pictures of trees, Santa Claus, and presents under the tree. The pictures drawn by the kids are sure to bring a smile to the faces of the service members who receive them. Wingert commented that the letters were written so well that they made her cry when she read them. It is no doubt the letters from the Fillmore Central SAC children will mean a great deal to the service members who receive them and may produce a tear when the letters are read by the service member as well.
Tax plan
The Fountain City Council met on Thursday, December 5, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fountain City Hall. All council members were present in addition to Ronda Flattum. John Heibel attended the meeting to discuss his property and to determine that no former roadway was ever on his property and to be assured that no additional roadway would ever be placed there. The council agreed that no roadway would be added to the property in the future. Consent agenda items were approved including the minutes from the November 7, 2013 meeting, the treasurer’s report, monthly city bills and monthly fire department bills. John Hanson, the new city maintenance employee, asked
the council if there were any additional places in town that needed to be plowed for snow or have ice melt put down other than what had already been done. A request was given to purchase tools for servicing city equipment. The city council approved receiving quotes to purchase the necessary tools locally if possible. Hanson requested further instructions on where to place holiday wreaths around town. Ronda Flattum reported that the preliminary audit will begin on December 11, 2013 with Smith Schafer Associates. The City Office will be closed December 24 - 26, 2013. There was no activity for Police Chief Tom Mosher to report in the month of November 2013. See FOUNTAIN Page 2
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Rushford approves third officer unanimously council to step back and evaluate the need before locking the city kirsten@fillmorecountyjournal.com into a union contract. The debate After two months of discussion has continued since. and the item brought before the In an open letter to Chief Eide, council on three occasions, with Bunke cited the point of the disat least one decision ending in cussions as two topics. One, “An a deadlocked 2-2 vote, the city appropriate level of patrol procouncil approved the hiring of a vided for the safety of all City of third, full-time police officer. The Rushford taxpayers.” According city has held a third position for to Bunke, patrol options includover a decade. In the wake of a ed “use of three full-time officers resignation from former officer and relying on a minimum usage Chris Frick, Chief Adam Eide of part-time officers to complete sought to move part-time officer the patrol schedule,” “use of two Wade Anderson into the position. full-time officers and a heaviAt the November 12 meeting, er reliance on use of part-time Councilor Vern Bunke asked the See RUSHFORD Page 10 By K irsten Zoellner
to avoid surprises later. now Appointments still available.