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County approves additional hours for Recycling Center



Users of the county recycling facility will notice a change beginning this week – expanded hours of operation on Tuesdays. Cook County Planning Director Tim Nelson came before the county commissioners March 11 with the new plan and several other items. Nelson, who also serves as solid waste officer, said he has been hearing comments and complaints for nearly as […]

Donation requests top discussion at Lutsen annual meeting



The Lutsen annual town meeting took place the evening of Tuesday March 11, 2014. More than two dozen residents attended the meeting that followed the annual election. Andrew Beavers was elected as a new town supervisor by a narrow margin ahead of Colleen Brennan. Amity Goettl was elected as the new town clerk. A total of 55 ballots were cast […]

Tofte postpones budget decision for Birch Grove Foundation



Although the town of Tofte saw a record number of voters for the March 11, 2014 election—60 votes were cast—there was relatively small attendance at the annual meeting after the polls closed. The meeting went fairly quickly until it came time to discuss the 2015 levy. About 25 people gathered in the social room of the Birch Grove Community Center, […]

Full house and agenda at Schroeder annual meeting



Schroeder’s annual township meeting usually gets a good turnout. Last year 30 people attended, about one-fifth of the population. This year, however, there was at least 70 people in attendance, maybe more, with Steve Schug elected as moderator. The hot topic was the annual budget, specifically the requests for “outside” donations, which included requests from the Birch Grove Foundation for […]

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The importance of sunshine




I’ve written about the weather a few times in recent weeks. I was beginning to sound like a broken record, so last week I changed the subject and talked about government transparency and the need for legal notices to be published in the newspaper. I’m continuing that theme in Unorganized Territory this week, despite the fact that the title may […]

Break down your boxes



Rosa Recycler here…remember me? I was instrumental, along with Doris Kreitlow and Tim Kennedy, in getting the Recycling Center going back in the ‘80s. My husband, Mr. Recycler, came home from the center yesterday with a sad tale of woe. He was dropping off his haphazard but flattened load of cardboard and couldn’t fit it in the crusher because someone […]

Religious argument is frivolous



I typically have great respect for the opinions of my sage friend Jake Hjorth and those of Commissioner Garry Gamble, but in their recent “ Letters to the Editor” submissions concerning the pertinence of views on religion once held by President George Washington, both gentlemen make frivolous points. Granted, Washington was a pivotal figure in the birth of our nation, […]

Religious infighting detrimental to public discourse



In view of Garry Gamble’s response to my Letter to the Editor I wish to clarify what I feel George Washington meant by his view of religion in his letter to his friend in 1792. First, though, I want to thank Mr. Gamble for his response. In it, he quotes Washington’s view of the importance of religion in our civic […]