Around McLeod County

As millions of Americans travel over the
Thanksgiving holiday to celebrate with family and friends,
National Transportation Safety Board Acting Chairman Mark V.

In order to support the streamlined modification program announced on Nov. 11, 2008, Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) today issued a notice to its loan servicing organizations and retained foreclosure attorneys directing them to suspend foreclosure sales on occupied single-family properties as well as the completion of evictions from occupied single-family properties scheduled to occur from Nov. 26, 2008, until Jan. 9, 2009.

McLeod County Commissioner Sheldon Nies pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor DWI charge during a pretrial hearing Thursday (Nov. 20).

Minnesota Department of Revenue Commissioner Ward Einess announced today that in 2009, taxpayers will pay a 5 percent interest rate on delinquent state tax payments. This rate is a decrease of 3 percent from 2008.

The department calculates interest from the date the tax is due until it is paid in full. By law, a person or business with delinquent taxes must pay interest on the amount of the penalty owed, as well as on the amount of tax owed.

Likewise, the state must pay taxpayers the same 5 percent rate on tax refunds not issued within 90 days.

Churchill is a ghost town near Hector. Its only building, a church built in 1901, as the Methodist Episcopal Church in Brookfield Township, will meet the wrecking ball soon if no interest is shown in the white clapboard structure.

The Renville County Historical Society has owned the building since 1979, and it is putting all or parts of it up for grabs. Director Jill Wohnoutka said, “We do not have a definite date on demolition. If anyone is interested in the whole church, we would be more than happy to talk to them.”

Tom Andrews asked around his Twin Cities running club — “Has anybody ever run the entire Luce Line Trail?” No one answered. Andrews, who regularly runs a portion of the trail near Plymouth, will try the feat this week.

Andrews of Richfield and running partner Doug Thomas of Bloomington, along with the support of their families, will embark on the 70-mile journey from Cosmos to Plymouth early Saturday.

“On the outside of the house, when we’re getting ready for winter, the first thing we’d like to do is check for any openings, gaps, cracks; like this brick; that creates an opening into the house where water might be able to intrude into the building structure or into the basement. So this should be cleaned up, reinstalled and tuck-pointed.”

Dick Stone, University of Minnesota Extension educator in housing technology, has decades of home-improvement experience, and also has plenty of tips to keep your home warm and safe during the winter months.

By Becky Hagen Jokela, University of Minnesota Extension

As the holiday season approaches, it may be helpful to create a holiday spending plan. Knowing what financial resources you have and where your dollars are going will lessen overspending and stress.

Winter protection for newly planted and smooth-barked trees and shrubs is helpful for their development. Tender-barked trees need rodent protection and sunscald protection/tree guards. That stretchy tree wrap is no longer recommended. Use plastic tubes with ventilation holes or tie boards to the south-southeast side of the tree. Hardware cloth cylinders will keep voles and rabbits from chewing up shrubs. Have the tasks associated with smooth-barked trees and shrubs done by Thanksgiving.

By Carl Hoffman
University of Minnesota Extension

Those beautiful hybrid tea roses we admire all summer come with a caveat; they will not survive our winters. Unless you grow them as an annual, which isn’t very cost effective, some form of winter protection is necessary. Although there are some other ways to protect roses for the winter, the “Minnesota Tip” is a proven method of preventing them against the bitter cold of winter and the danger of thaw-freeze cycles in the early spring.