Mabel, MN Debt Consolidation in Minnesota

Shelves lined with antique glassware, linens and knick-knacks, and floors dotted with furniture and Amish-made items can be found in a newly built antique mall along U.S. 52 in Harmony.

Canton City Council members were presented with possible funding solutions for the replacement of the existing streetlights with new poles and fixtures at its meeting in October. The possibilities included loans, bonds, levies and also paying half immediately and the remaining balance later. The matter was tabled, to be reviewed at a later meeting.

A letter from the Minnesota Energy regarding a monthly increase was discussed, with the copy on file in the clerk's office.

City maintenance worker Jon Nordsving reported on the wastewater treatment plant and told the council that there were some needed repairs to be done. Authorization was given to purchase a water shutoff locator, estimated at $800, with the funds to come from the water account.

Local voters followed the national trend of the election last week and turned out in droves to cast their ballots for city, county and state officials. Incumbents did well in some races, while others faced the national attitude toward change and lost to new or returning candidates.

Following are the results for the races in the Mabel, Canton and Harmony areas, as well as the results for the District 31B race, State Senate and Representative races.

City of Harmony

With no candidates on the ballot for the city's mayor, Steve Donney was elected with 240 write-in votes. Linda Grover received 92 write-in votes and Ken Kiehne received 41. Current Mayor Dave Kingsley did not seek reelection.

By Charlie Warner Argus News Editor In 1973, Richard Nixon was president. Rod Carew was setting a major league record for stealing home.

 MABEL -- Eric Smith sat on a folding chair between a corn crib and a livestock trailer listening to high school students say things like, "the small heifer," and, "I place them 2, 1, 3, 4." Smith was on the of the judges at the Miller Mabel-Canton Region 8 FFA General Livestock Judging competition.

MABEL-CANTON 55, L-O 15 Cougars rush for over 400 MABEL -- Mabel-Canton used a stable of running backs to pile up over 400 yards rushing in an easy win over visiting LeRoy-Ostrander. Dalton Stoen and Laurence ...

The public is encouraged to attend a town meeting for the Big M.A.C.C. Capital Campaign for the proposed 9,000 square feet community center to serve the Mabel area on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m., at the Mabel American Legion.

The capital campaign is seeking to fundraise $1.1 million, of which one-third has already been raised from private donations, including $300,000 pledged by the Mabel Telephone Cooperative, $40,000 from the Arlin Falck Foundation and $12,000 from the Mabel Lion's.

Project details include infrastructure support of approximately $100,000 to be provided by the city of Mabel, which brings the total project to $1.2 million.

Stanley Arden Haagenson, 86, of Manchester, died Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008, in the Regional Medical Center, Manchester, from Alzheimer's disease.

Mabel/Canton swept LeRoy/Ostrander Thursday in Mabel. M/C won by scores of 25-18, 25-17, 25-19. "We played very well but we still need to clean up our mistakes," L/O head coach Lisa Swenson said.

Two more "met" (meteorological) towers for the EcoEnergy wind power company were given initial approval by the Fillmore County Planning Commission during its monthly meeting Aug. 28 and will be passed along to the Fillmore County commissioners with a recommendation for approval.

One tower will be located on property owned by Dick Boice, in Section 7 of Harmony Township and the other on Rick Morem property in Section 20, also in Harmony Township.

The requests sailed through the Planning Commission process as EcoEnergy representative Don Miller, of its new Harmony office staff, explained some project details and answered questions. He noted that the office would have another local staff person starting on Sept. 11.

County Commissioner Tom Bjerke, 46, of Spring Grove has served on the Houston County Board of Commissioners since January of 2005, representing the Fifth District, which includes the cities of Spring Grove and Eitzen and the townships of Spring Grove, Wilmington, Black Hammer, Winnebago, Jefferson and Crooked Creek. He is a fiancial associate with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, with an office in Caledonia.

He is being challenged by Brad Hernandez, 36, of rural Mabel, who is farmer and Brent Newgaard, 40, of rural Spring Grove, who is a plumbing and heating contractor.

Louise Sikkink and her son, Chuck Sikkink, returned to the Harmony City Council last week to seek information regarding the updates on the sanitary sewer in the northwest part of town.

They had attended the city council meeting last month to express concerns that the system did not function properly, causing her basement to be damaged with backed-up sewage during an extensive rain event earlier this summer.

Chris Johnson, operator of the wastewater treatment plant, explained that the pumps in that area have been cleaned and checked and he is optimistic that they are in shape to pump up to 400 gallons a minute between the two pumps. However, he added, during the rain event, more water was likely flooding the system.

On Saturday, Aug. 9, the town of Mabel will welcome Buddy Holly, classic cars and rock and roll enthusiasts to celebrate the decades of the 1950s and 1960s.

One may think they've stepped back into time walking the streets of Mabel with classic cars lining the streets and people dressed in poodle skirts and rolled-up blue jeans.

For the 10th year, Mabel will be host to the '50s and '60s Day. Main Street will be lined with restored cars and trucks from the '50s, '60s and '70s. Trophies and awards will be given out in several categories at 3 p.m. Registration starts at 9 a.m.

By Stephanie Szuch

It was decided recently at the 2008 Gopher State Classic Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure competition that Shannon Wilkens, formerly of Preston, has one of the top figures in all of Minnesota - and she's got a second place trophy to prove it.

Shannon, a 1995 Fillmore Central graduate, is the daughter of Darwin and Genny Smith, of Preston. Currently she lives in River Falls, Wis., working as a sales associate for Endres Processing, an agriculture company in Hastings. When she isn't working or working out, she spends time raising her 5-year-old son, Landon.

Council members at last week's Canton City Council meeting on Wednesday evening discussed possible funding options for the proposed street light project.

The project will be broken into at least three segments including the purchase of 20 poles and lights, the wiring of the project and the boring of the underground wiring.

Two quotes will be solicited for each portion. It was decided to use available funds for the purchase of the poles and lights, with possible bonding for the installation and additional wiring of the project.

A state of emergency has been declared in Houston County in southeastern Minnesota where flood waters have damaged several roads, caused mudslides and forced more than 50 people to be evacuated from a ...

An Amish toddler died this afternoon after his teenage brother accidentally ran over him while moving a horse-drawn manure spreader.

"By using my resources wisely in my community, I too, can help solve some of Minnesota's challenges."

In honor of Minnesota's 150th year of statehood, the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission held an essay contest for fourth, fifth and sixth grade Minnesota students.

The Web site announcing the contest states, "We want to inspire students to think and write critically and creatively and to publicly recognize them as the embodiment of Minnesota's future."

Mabel-Canton teachers Ruth Ann Sacquitne and Matt Jackson gave this 250-500-word essay contest as an assignment to all of their sixth grade students. Kaysie Kerns, daughter of Brian and Lorrie Kerns of Canton, is one of only three Minnesota students to win the contest. Read more

"We both like fishing a lot. When we go out, we see garbage. We want to do something about water pollution, so the fish will be alive."

The sounds of tinny pop cans clanking and hitting the floor were somewhat unusual in the Fillmore Central Middle School gym last Friday. Everyone knows, of course, that you shouldn't have pop in the gym.

But the laughter and kids tearing around the gym quickly showed this was no typical day. This was the annual Earth Day fair, started three years ago by FC sixth grade teacher Jodie Daniels. She explained that, going to school in Chatfield where she grew up, they'd always had Earth Day activities. She brought the concept to Fillmore Central, instructing sixth grade students to create projects. Read more

Members of the Mabel-Canton School Board were presented with an update of the Response to Intervention K-8th grade reading initiative at the April school board meeting.

Sarah Holdmeyer, along with elementary students Mitchell Kuhn and Tanner Williams, presented an overview to the program. The fourth and fifth grade students, respectively, read comments regarding the RTI program submitted by their classmates.

Following their presentation, Holdmeyer covered the program in greater detail, giving the core principals of the reading program, as well as explaining briefly how it works within the elementary grades. Read more