Lifestyle

While headlines about rising crime rates focus on the Twin Cities, residents across Minnesota have great concern about safety in their local communities. Important to solving crimes and keeping communities such as the City of Granite Falls safer is information about crimes and the people committing them that can help law enforcement make arrests and solve cases. To encourage members of the public in the City of Granite Falls to come forward with such useful information Chief of Police Brian Struffert is partnering with Crime Stoppers of Minnesota to make that possible in a manner that is safe and proven to be effective. Committing to work with Crime Stoppers of Minnesota in their 2023 Law Enforcement Partnership Program, the Granite Falls Police Department invites persons who want to, or may need to, remain anonymous to submit information about a crime, criminal, or fugitive that helps solve a case. Providing information in this safe method can also save precious hours of investigators’ time, while protecting this anonymous source from retribution or harm for being known to have helped law enforcement. In addition to staying anonymous, persons giving information leading to a felony arrest may be eligible to collect up to $1,000 in reward paid by Crime Stoppers.

The GFACF would like to recognize the following memorials and in honor tributes received by the GFACF endowment fund from July1-December 31, 2022. These gifts to the endowment fund help the Foundation provide grants to local non-profit organizations for special projects that benefit the community. Thank you! Thrivent Choice dollars are gratefully accepted. Memorial and Tribute gifts may be sent to The Granite Falls Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 143, Granite Falls, MN 56241or donated online: www.granitefallsfoundation.org.

The YES! House, located in downtown Granite Falls, has an upcoming 2023 event series. The YES! House is a creative, multi-use community space led by the Public Department of Transformation, an artist-led non-profit organization that works to develop creative strategies for increased public connection, civic engagement, and equitable participation in rural places.

In the last more than 30 years since 6W Community Corrections Director Midge Christianson has been working for the agency, she has seen a shift in addiction in the local area. It’s hard to describe what the shift is, exactly, as it’s not data specific, but the driving force behind community members’ addictions, and the substances they find themselves addicted to has become more concerning.

Sons of Norway will meet at the Kilowatt Center in Granite Falls for a Potluck at noon on Sat. Jan.