Wright County Journal Press featuring news, real estate, classified ads, dining and entertainment in the Buffalo Minneasota area

HEADLINES FOR NOVEMBER 21, 2008

Bertram project, horse trails addressed by County Board

Recount starting on Dec. 3 in Wright County

Buffalo man sentenced for mail fraud

Jon Huston’s Korean reunion story aires on KSTP-TV Sunday

Almost finished

BACK ISSUES

Dec. 19
Dec. 12
Dec. 5
Nov. 28

Alyssa Tryggeseth competes in national pageant
Nov. 30

Vietnam vacation (Feature)

The Bertram Chain of Lake regional park project, horse trails and snowplow honors were addressed by the Wright County Board this week.

The Board approved a memorandum of understanding regarding the Bertram Chain of Lake project. The YMCA is granting the county and the City of Monticello until 2013 to gather funds and grants for the purchase of 12 land parcels located just west of Monticello. A $20.5 million agreement is being finalized between the YMCA, the county and the city.

The County Board also approved a grant agreement for $1 million from the state. Marc Mattice, the county’s parks administrator, said the money is coming from lottery proceeds.

Commissioner Pat Sawatzke expressed optimism that the Bertram Chain of Lakes regional park could become a reality. The area being purchased is wooded and has much shoreland. It offers many opportunities for enjoying the outdoors.

Sawatzke said the memorandum of understanding and the $1 million grant are major steps toward making the project a success.

Earlier this year, the Board debated the continuation of horse trails in Stanley Eddy County Park. This week, the Board accepted a recommendation from the Park Commission to keep the horse trails open and to establish additional trails in an area called the Alama Unit by 2011.

Many people have contacted the county about the matter. Commissioner Dick Mattson said he was upset about receiving what he called “hate emails.” It was the first time in 16 years he had received such messages, he said.

Mattson offered the motion to accept the Park Commission’s recommendation. He had expressed concerns about horse trails last September.

The Board received a U.S. flag from Lt. Col. John Peterson of Marysville Township, who is currently serving in Iraq with the Marine Corps. In a letter presented by Commissioner Dick Mattson, Peterson explained the flag was literally flown through the skies over Iraq in a U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornet aircraft during Operation Iraqi Freedom in honor of Wright County. Peterson said he and others are truly thankful for support shown by residents of Wright County. The flag from Peterson will be displayed in the lobby at the County Government Center.

The Board accepted a recommendation from the Building Committee to approve modifications at the old jail. After the new jail is operating, inmates who are scheduled for court appearances will be brought to the old jail to wait until the specific time of their court appearances. Only part of the old jail will be needed. The modifications could cost around $25,000 and could include moving elevator controls and constructing a wall.

The Board approved several change orders for the new jail and law enforcement center (LEC) construction project. The Sheriff’s Office could be moving into the LEC this January, and inmates could be moved to the new jail in April or May.

The change orders cost $21,689. The project’s contingency fund started at $1.11 million, and now, with roughly 90 percent of the project billed, $491,509 remains in the contingency fund. Commissioner Pat Sawatzke said it is possible the contingency could have around $400,000 in it when the project is completed.

Commissioner Dick Mattson expressed some disappointment that so many change orders have taken place. Sawatzke said experts had stated that change orders are to be expected during a project that is so large and complex.

Commissioner Karla Heeter said the contractors did an incredible job keeping the change orders down to around $600,000 on a $50 million project.

County Highway Engineer Wayne Fingalson was proud to present two snowplow drivers who performed well in the annual Snow Fighters Roadeo on Oct. 1-2 in St. Cloud. Tom Waldron placed third, and Bob Erickson placed ninth.

Wright County’s maintenance personnel competed against 107 other drivers at the event. The Roadeo was part of an annual Fall Maintenance Expo.

* Received a report that the county’s dividend payment from the Minnesota Counties Insurance Trust (MCIT) this year is $302,755, which is more than the expected $225,000;

* Cancelled the Dec. 9 board meeting because county officials will be attending the Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC) Conference;

* Reviewed a committee meeting during which plans for the present Sheriff’s Office were discussed. (Decisions need to be made about how to use the vacated space after the Sheriff’s Office moves to the new Law Enforcement Center in January. More discussion is taking place in January.);

* Approved the concept of establishing an employee fitness area and authorized the Wellness Committee to perform further research on the topic;

* Accepted a recommendation from the Park Commission to continue work on the restoration of a wetland basin in Ney Park;

* Scheduled a bid opening on Dec. 16 for replacing the roof on the County Government Center, including the annex building, next spring or summer;

* Approved plans for Northern Communications to cross underneath Ditch 10 with a fiber optic cable and have no impact on the ditch;

* Scheduled the county’s truth in taxation hearing on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. in the County Government Center;

* Approved four property tax abatements, three because of changes in property values and one because of a determination that a lot is unbuildable;

* Referred the Parenting Through Divorce Program to the Personnel Committee because someone needs to be assigned to administer the program after Mary Ann Peterson retires; and

* Acknowledged the receipt of a Department of Corrections inspection report regarding the old jail.

The lock for the room containing the ballots has one key, which is kept in a safe.

Boxes full of ballots await a recount that gets underway in Wright County on Dec. 3.

Not every county will be conducting the Coleman-Franken U.S. Senate recount at the same time. In Wright County, the recount will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 3.

Many other counties began the recount on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Bob Hiivala, Wright County Auditor-Treasurer, said one reason the process is starting later here is because a large enough room at the County Government Center was not immediately available. The board room is booked, and the community room was not available until Dec. 3.

With around 66,000 ballots involved, the recount needed to take place in a space large enough to accommodate sorting work on several tables.

The recount will take place in the community room (Rooms 120 A and B on the first floor of the annex building).

Another reason the process was slow to start here involves the high scrutiny under which the recount is taking place statewide. Both sides are watching the process very carefully. Both sides will send representatives here to check each ballot and to challenge those which may not have been marked properly during the Nov. 4 election.

The Wright County Auditor-Treasurer’s Office has received instructions from the Minnesota Secretary of State Office for carrying out the recount. Among the responsibilities of those conducting the recount, Hiivala said, is a duty to determine whether or not a challenge is frivolous or not. Hiivala and his election coordinator, Gloria Gooler, do not feel comfortable taking on this particular responsibility by themselves. Therefore, they insisted the Secretary of State send a representative to help oversee the recount process and help make decisions when and if it is necessary.

Hiivala and Gooler said the Secretary of State Office has agreed to send a representative.

A final hurdle involved finding enough volunteers to help with the recount. Hiivala said he does not have enough staff to handle the recount and also perform their usual duties at the same time. Volunteers have been signing up, and Hiivala hopes to have enough volunteers to fill most of 14 positions for counters.

When the recount takes place, a counter will be seated between a representative of Senator Norm Coleman and a representative of Al Franken. Together, they will look at each ballot, one at a time. Any challenged ballots will be placed in an envelop to be sent to the Secretary of State Office for rulings on the challenged ballots. As the ballots are counted, people will be sorting and stacking ballots to be counted.

Three days have been scheduled for the recount in Wright County, Wednesday to Friday, Dec. 3-5. Hiivala said, depending on challenges, the work could possibly be completed in two days.

The ballots have been locked in his conference room. A new lock was put on the door, and only one key can open the door. The key is kept in a safe.

The state is reimbursing the county at a rate of three cents per ballot for the recount. Hiivala said he is looking into whether or not some of the money can be used to compensate the volunteers.

He is both careful about preparing for the recount and excited about its significance.

He was referring to the amazing closeness of the race between Coleman and Franken. Only 215 votes separate the two, statewide, going into the recount. A total of about 2.4 million people throughout Minnesota cast votes for Coleman and Franken in the U.S. Senate race. Those taking part in the recount will be part of history.

A 38-year-old Buffalo man was sentenced last Thursday, Nov. 13 in federal court in connection with the theft of more than $230,000 from his employer. The money was used to pay his personal credit card bills, reports the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis.

U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim sentenced Michael John Rome to sixteen months in prison and two years of supervised release on one count of mail fraud. Rome was charged on June 5 and pleaded guilty on Aug. 4.

According to his plea agreement, Rome was employed as the director of finance of the customer service division of Archway Marketing Services, located in Rogers. Rome admitted that from July 2000 to August 2005 he knowingly and intentionally devised and executed a scheme to defraud Archway and to obtain money from the company by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. Rome created a series of 116 false invoices that made it appear as though Archway owed the credit card company, Capital One, purported lease payments, which were not owed by Archway. Rome used his position to approve Archway’s payment of the false invoices, which were actually payments on Rome’s personal credit card account. The 116 payments totaled $232,784.49.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. MacLaughlin.

Jon Huston, a local resident who was born in Korea and adopted when he was six years old by Don and Gerrie Huston of Buffalo, is expected to be the subject of a news report on KSTP-TV, Channel 5 this Sunday, Nov. 23 during the 10 p.m. news.

Huston has been searching for his birth mother in Korea, and he recently found her through an organization of adopted Koreans. He appeared on Korean TV with his birth mother and spoke to her via video link and an interpreter. His mother showed pictures of Jon when he was a little boy.

He plans to travel to Korea this December to meet his birth mother face to face.

Jon and his reunion with his mother will be the subject of our “B” Section back page feature in the Journal-Press next week.

Alyssa Tryggeseth is heading to California to compete in the National American Miss Pageant. She won the title of Miss Minnesota Teen in June of this year.

Since then, she has attended numerous parades around the state, participated in community service projects and visited with some children. She will be heading to Hollywood on Nov. 23 and will be participating in many group events and the preliminary activities all week.

Alyssa is currently a freshman at St. Cloud State University and was a 2008 honor graduate at Buffalo High School. Her parents are Steve and Cathy Tryggeseth.

Wright County’s $50 million new jail and law enforcement center (LEC) construction project is coming to a close next month. The Sheriff’s Office could move into the LEC in January, and inmates could be moved to the new jail in April or May. This is a view (above) of the northern end of the LEC with the western side and the main entrance illuminated by the setting sun. The other picture shows the inside of a jail pod with cells on two levels. The jail will have a capacity of 326 beds, but only about 200 will be occupied initially. The facility was designed so that we can be expanded to 600 inmates in the future. Besides cell pods, the new jail has a kitchen, a laundry, a program area and recreation areas.

Vietnam vacation
Thirty-five years after American forces left
the war torn country, Rockford couple enjoy
friendly people and much to do and see

Ever since Bob and Sandy Ziegler retired as educators, they have taken turns deciding where in the world they would like to visit.

They have journeyed to 51 destinations since 1982. They go on three to five vacations a year.

Sicily was their destination last February. It was Tunisia last April, and Nova Scotia last August.

“The only continents we have not visited are Australia and Antarctica,” Bob said.

They have seen the Nile, the Yangtze and the Amazon Rivers. Last year, they visited Russia.

Carol recalled that as they began to get acquainted with their guide in Vietnam, he joked, “You Westerners all alike.”

The Zieglers had signed up for a tour package with a travel service they have often used because the trips are moderately priced, the service is good and the accommodations are better than average. For their Vietnam trip from Oct. 14-29, they flew twelve and a half hours to Tokyo and then six and a half hours to Bangkok before the final leg of the journey to Saigon.

Sandy mentioned the official name for Saigon is now Ho Chi Minh City, but the locals still call it Saigon.

The tour through Vietnam included cities that were often mentioned in news reports during the Vietnam War, such as Hue, Danang and Hanoi.

Bob and Sandy met a group of U.S. Marine veterans who came back to see what Vietnam looks like today.

The people of Vietnam were very friendly toward the visiting Americans. The Zieglers did not encounter any animosity. Sandy mentioned that, to the Vietnamese, the Americans are the most recent of many people who have fought in their country. Before the Americans, it was the French, and before the French it was the Japanese and the Chinese. The conflict America knows as the Vietnam War is called the “American War” in Vietnam.

Following the war, communism eventually took over, but Sandy describes Vietnam as a communist country with capitalist investments. She mentioned seeing shopping centers under construction.

The primary mode of transportation in Vietnam appears to be motorbikes. They were everywhere in great numbers, and very few cars were seen.

Few Vietnamese own cars because they are very expensive. A typical sedan costs around $63,000. Sandy explained that high taxes and the exchange rate for the local currency are the main reasons cars cost so much.

“It’s probably a good thing there are not more cars. The streets could not handle the traffic,” she commented.

The Zieglers saw a whole family – Mom, Dad and the kids – all riding on a single motorbike. It is amazing how much a motorbike can carry. They saw a farmer traveling down a road with six pigs in tiny wire cages on the back of his motorbike.

Crossing city streets is frightening because of large numbers of motorbikes whizzing by.

“The guide told us, ‘Walk slowly, and they will miss you.’ So, we walked slowly, and he was right; they missed us,” Sandy recalled.

She and Bob saw street vendors everywhere. They even saw a man getting a haircut on a sidewalk with motorbikes parked all around him.

Another aspect of Vietnamese life that intrigued the Zieglers is the use of hand labor. Rice is harvested by hand. Large timbers are moved by hand. Women carry extremely large loads in baskets hanging from a pole they balance on their shoulders.

One woman was carrying two massive amounts of hay for some cows. When she was asked why she does not bring the cows to the hay, the tiny but extremely strong woman incredulously indicated it would be more difficult to move so many cows that far.

Water buffalo are used to prepare for the planting of rice plants. During other times of the year, the water buffalo are allowed to roam free. The Zieglers asked if the water buffalo eat the rice plants. They were told pepper is mixed with the rice so the water buffalo won’t eat it.

One of the foods the Zieglers enjoyed in Vietnam is a soup call pho. It is reportedly made with 24 ingredients, including rice noodles and either chicken or beef. They came upon many pho restaurants as they traveled.

One of the most interesting stops on the trip through Vietnam was a Cu Chi Tunnel Tour near Saigon. Tunnels used during the Vietnam War spread out like a spider web 154 miles from a central location. The tunnel network contained an entire community, which included kitchens and medical facilities. Visitors can walk and crawl through the tunnels.

The Zieglers visited the site where Senator John McCain was shot down during the Vietnam War. They also saw the prison where he and other Americans were kept.

Throughout the tour of Vietnam, the Zieglers paid for things with either American dollars or Vietnamese dong. The exchange rate is one dollar for over 16,000 dong.

“We did not have to exchange our money very much. Many places accepted dollars,” Bob said.

“But they have to be crisp, new looking dollars. They cannot be torn or wrinkled too much,” Sandy added.

Currently, Bob and Sandy are back home in Rockford. They found plenty of yard work to do after being overseas for two weeks.

They have lived in Rockford since 1973. Bob was the principal at the Rockford Elementary School from 1973 to 1986. He was a National Distinguished Principal in 1985. During a total of 39 years as an educator, he was a principal for 33 of those years.

Sandy was a teacher for 34 years. She worked in St. Paul, followed by Anoka, Delano and Rockford.

When it was Bob’s turn to pick a travel destination this fall, Europe was too expensive. The value of the dollar had fallen in comparison to the euro. One euro is currently worth about a dollar and twenty-eight cents.

The cost of going to Vietnam was moderately priced compared to a trip to Europe.