10 YEARS AGO: NEWS FROM THE ISSUE OF NOV. 2, 2005

Leaving a job he’s held since 1990 will be difficult, Mike Thompson said last week, but some opportunities just can’t be ignored. On Friday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty named Thompson, Meeker County attorney for the past 15 years, to fill a vacancy on the Kandiyohi County Eighth Judicial District Court bench. Thompson informed the County Board that he will be resigning as county attorney effective Dec. 5.

Meeker County has seen a trend reversed with a 1,000-head increase in dairy cattle in the county the past year, County Feedlot Officer Adam Barka told the County Board. Meeker has 333 feedlots but only ten have more than 1,000 head, Barka reported. A total of 128 feedlots fall within the 100 to 299 head category. A total of 290 feedlots in the county are large enough to qualify for the $80 per feedlot subsidy the state pays counties with full-time fed lot officers as Meeker has.

The Litchfieldl Police Department assisted the CEE-VI Drug Task Force in arresting four people suspected of selling drugs in Litchfield. Two were Hutchinson residents. All four are being held in the Meeker County Jail on charges of selling a controlled substance.

20 YEARS AGO: NEWS FROM THE ISSUE OF NOV. 3, 1995

It isn’t a part of the job that most policemen relish – answering a call that an errant dog is wandering loose in violation of the city ordinance, but 79 times so far this year and 108 times last year Litchfield police responded to such a call. The number of dogs picked up by police seems to be on the gradual increase. The 1993 figure was 91. In 1992, it was 74 and 73 the year before. The officers use catch poles, five foot long poles that snare the dogs around the neck. They are taken to a block building at the nrotheast part of town where they are held until claimed.

A five-member resource team has been formed in Meeker County to be a resource to citizens who have been abused by their husbands, wives of significant others. They are available on call to assist those who have been hurt by abuse. All are volunteers and group includes Becky Koster,Anine Picard,Pam Tacheny, Sandie Gruenke and Stacey Berry.

Six-year-old Ashlee Grubbs won the grand prize, a new 20-inch girl’s bike in the Halloween coloring contests sponsored by Pamida.

Christy Felt, student of Mary-Anne Olmstead Kohls of Litchfield, gave a piano recital at her home Sunday with family and friends in attendance. The recital was a preliminary step in graduating from a specific level in the Suzuki method of piano. Christy will complete the process by performing select pieces at Northwestern College in Roseville Nov. 11.

Ditches along highways in the county were like parking lots with so many cars in them and travelling on county gravel roads was like driving on grease Wednesday morning after a few inches of slush covered Meeker overnight. “You were OK if you weren’t driving fast,” Chief Deputy Jeff Norlin said, ”but if you got off onto the shoulder, you were sucked right into the ditch.” Cars were in the ditch off highways 7, 15, 24 and 22, Norlin said, but there were no reported injuries.

50 YEARS AGO: NEWS FROM THE ISSUE OF NOV. 4, 1965

Last spring Joe Duncomb, ag instructor at LHS, distributed some pumpkin seeds to his “greenhands” freshmen members of the FFA with the idea of staging a contest in the fall to see who had grown the largest pumpkin. The winner was Gordon Seiffert who raised a monster that was over five feet in circumference. He planted the seeds in June and used plenty of fertilizer to grow his prize.

Seventeen young people who registered for catechetical instructions this fall at the First Lutheran Church of Grove City received fine leather-bound Bibles as gifts from the church on Sunday. In the group were Linda Anderson, Daniel Carlson, Roxanne Erickson, Carol Hendrickson, Charles Holmquist, Floyd Joramo, Donna Larsen, Bryan Larson, Debbie Partain, Steven Schultz, Vicky Schultz, Luverne Wendroth, Ralph Wold, Russel Rueckert, Douglas Rueckert and Gweniejean Winkelman.

Susan Hawes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Hawes Jr. and Sara Pearson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin J.Pearson, entertained 24 friends at a Halloween party at the Hawes home Friday night.

Benson Cooperative Creamery’s lawsuit against First Districit Association of Litchfield and its board of directors for damages in excess of $700,000 was dismissed by order of the Minnesota District Court Oct. 15. The Benson Creamery and the Albion-French Lake Creamery had brought the suit complaining that First District refused to take their milk as a result of the two creameries signing an agreement with the National Farmers Organization. First District Association maintained that signing the NFO agreement while the two creameries were active members of First District Association was an act of disloyalty to the association and a repudiation of the cooperative marketing system.

Douglas Pearson Jr. son of Rev. and Mrs. Douglas Pearson suffered two broken ribs and a cracked shoulder blade Sunday afternoon in a riding accident.The youth was toppled from a horse when the animal reared and then fell on him.

Workmen this week began to finish clearing away the debris at the former Litchfield Seed House which has been purchased by the Litchfield VFW Post. When the lot is cleared, it will be available for parking until next spring when the VFW plans to begin construction on a new post home.

69 YEARS AGO: NEWS FROM THE ISSUE OF NOV. 7, 1946

The Meeker County courthouse is a busy place these late fall days. By noon Tuesday, 300 deer hunting licenses had been sold with an anticipated record sale of 600 expected. Many recently returned servicemen will be hunting and with the opening of the season in this territory a record number of hunters is expected to be out.

With Thanksgiving approaching, it’s a large job to get turkey ready for the festive dinner and Litchfield Produce is doing its part. During the year, a total of three-and-a-quarter million pounds of turkey are processed and the busiest month is the one before Thanksgiving. They go out from Litchfield by the train carload. Each carload holds 25,000 pounds and the number of carloads shipped is 130. Most of the birds go to the big eastern markets. In addition to turkey about five-and-one-half million pounds of chicken is processed each year.

The 157 hogs marketed at South St.Paul recently by Melvin Peterson of Litchfield averaged 215 pounds and sold for $23.25 per cwt., which was at the top of the market. Peterson raises between 450 and 500 hogs a year and the Petersons milk more than 30 cows and Mrs. Peterson keeps about 500 laying hens.

115 YEARS AGO: NEWS FROM THE ISSUE OF NOV. 10, 1900

The hardest part of the election out in Ellsworth was counting the votes. Out of 167 ballots, a dozen were straight, the remainder being scratched, some almost so that they could not be read. A number made crosses opposite the names of more than one candidate and in that way lost their vote.

Quite a number of our ladies exercised their right to suffrage Tuesday. What a pity that they could only vote for county superintendent. – Rosendale news.

The saloons were closed for election day but quite a number found was to slake their thirst.

The mill pond at Manannah froze over entirely the night of the ninth and remains so.

Litchfield expected to play Carleton in football the day after Thanksgiving but Carleton has sent word they cannot come up.

A mud turtle walked calmly from the laboratory into the classroom at the high school during a chemistry class Tuesday morning. All visitors were given a hearty welcome.

The discovery of a case of small pox in the city last week compelled the council to hold a number of special meetings to make arrangements for the isolation of such cases should more develop. It finally purchased the old Benson gallery for $85 and had the same removed to the northwest corner of the fair grounds where it will be used as a detention hospital for all contagious diseases. The council originally planned to purchase the old mill for this purpose but abandoned that idea.

LOST – Tuesday night on the road between Litchfield and the Danielson Creamery a buggy seat. The finder will please deliver it to one of the stores in Danielson or to N.B. Anderson’s store in Litchfield.