Bothun joins FM Insurance

Ben Bothun started his role as an Insurance Agent with F&M Insurance on March 14th. Prior to joining the agency in Clarkfield, Bothun worked for an insurance agency in Madison for five years. “This opportunity came up and it was a better fit for my family,” he said. Bothun says he appreciated the culture at F&M Insurance, and that he has found the company culture to be just as described. “I’m happy here. The people have been great, and the customers I’ve met have been great,” he says. Bothun lives outside of Dawson where he and his wife of sixteen years, Chelsie are raising two sons, Mason and Max, ages 13 and ten. Both Chelsie and Ben grew up in the Austin area, and lived in the cities after college for around 10 years. The couple decided to move back to the area for the slower-paced lifestyle. “We wanted our kids to grow up in a similar town around relatives and family,” Bothun says.

Council receives quotes for equipment purchases

At the regular midmonth meeting of the Granite Falls City Council, the possibility of purchasing a mower to be designated for use at Memorial Park was discussed. The Public Works Department has requested the purchase, as the park has historically been mowed through a contracted mowing service but considering the City has added a Park Caretaker Position, it was suggested that a mower could be purchased for that employee to complete the work.

Local author publishes first book

Katie Stearns has been writing since she was a small child, never imagining that she would eventually make a career from her hobby. After she and her husband moved from Duluth to a farm between Clarkfield and Montevideo with their two young children a year and a half ago, Stearns began seriously working on publishing her first novel. “I never really thought that I would let anybody read anything that I wrote,” she says. “It was always a very private thing.” Stearns recalls in childhood, having her first experience with positive feedback from something she wrote from a sixth-grade teacher. “It was like oh I’m actually good at that. Ever since then I was always writing something – even if it was just in my head,” she says.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, April 21: Postcards Bluenose Story Screening at Bluenose Gopher Public House. Meet the Postcards crew of Dana Conroy, Ben Dempcy and Kristofer Gieske.

From the Editor’s Desk

My son, who is currently stationed overseas, seems to have acclimated so much to his environment, he has a hard time with remembering what time of day it is in the United States. And so phone calls happen very early in the morning. Most often moments after I actually wake up.

Meet your YME High School TRAP Team

Meet your YME High School Trap Team: (Back row L-R) Logan Hoff, Brayton Hammer, Will Lecy, Andrew Winter, Preston Berends, Tarrick Rupp, Ryan Brouwer. (Middle row L-R) Mathias Vonderharr, Tarin Gatchell, Parker Levitz, Connor Olson, Aidan Martin, Braden Eisenbacher, Owen Slettedahl, Garrett Cobb.

Service, not self: Granite Falls American Legion Auxiliary revitalizes membership

The American Legion Auxiliary was first established in 1919 with the idea to support the American Legion and the nation’s Veterans. The first department in Minnesota was established in 1920. While Granite Falls has had an American Legion Auxiliary group in the past, membership and meetings had fallen to the wayside. A group of members have now revitalized the organization, holding their first meeting in March. This month, the meeting was held to establish those members with Wanda Seidler, President of Minnesota’s District Seven branch of the Legion Auxiliary in attendance for a ceremony in which the members took an oath, and newly elected officers were installed.

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

In the book “The Language of Letting Go” by Melody Beattie she writes, “Enjoying our good days doesn’t mean we’re being disloyal to loved ones who are having problems.” It can be hard to rejoice in a day when there is so much pain. But the psalmist says, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” This isn’t a conditional statement. This verse doesn’t say, if everyone is having a good day you can rejoice and be glad also. It seems to be that human-nature thing that leads us to taking on all the problems of the world and using them as the basis of how good our day is going to be.