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- 1. MFBF president thankful ag mostly spared in 2010 session By Per Peterson phpeterson@marshall independent.com Kevin Paap is exhaling and holding his breath at the same time. Paap, the president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation, a group made up of 78 local Farm Bureau asso- ciations across Minnesota, said that even though the gen- eral fund spending for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture was reduced by 8 percent in this year’s legislative s e s s i o n , M D A ’ s core mis- sions of food safe- ty, animal health and environ- m e n t a l protection should not be impacted. “Going into the session and dealing with a significant deficit we knew there would be cuts,” Paap said. “We’re con- cerned with all cuts, whether it’s the department of ag board, animal health or the ag utiliza- tion research institute — those are three we watched very closely. We realize everybody has to make some cuts, and 8 percent is a significant cut, keeping in mind this isn’t the first time we’ve been asked to make cuts.” BP executive acknowledges public frustration over spill BARATARIA BAY, La. (AP) — The BP executive in charge of fighting the Gulf of Mexico oil spill said Monday his company knows people are frustrated by its failure to plug the well that has been gushing for more than a month and is now spreading damage through Louisiana’s wetlands. ‘‘Everyone is very, very frustrated about why we haven’t been able to bring this well to stop flowing so far,’’ said Doug Suttles, chief oper- ating officer of BP PLC, but he insisted the oil giant has the necessary resources to stop the growing spill. Millions of gallons of oil have already spewed from the MOVING TRAFFICWASN’T EXACTLY HUMMING RIGHT ALONG AFTER ROAD CONSTRUCTION BEGAN AT THE 59/23 INTERSECTION, BUT AFTER MUCH PUBLIC OUTCRY, CHANGESWERE MADE TO GET THINGS MOVINGAND THE RESULTS ARE NOTICEABLE. AND LIKE DRIVERS, BUSINESSES AT THAT END OF TOWN HAVE ALSO HAD TO ADJUST. Story, photos by Katy Palmer • kpalmer@marshallindependent.com www.marshall independent.com cu.marshall independent.com VIRTUAL NEWSROOM Check it out at www.marshallindependent.com and send us your news and photos! INDEPENDENTINDEPENDENT CARRYING THE TWINS Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau doing it all for the Twins so far / PAGE 1B Marshall, Minnesota Southwest Minnesota’s Award-Winning Daily Newspaper 75¢ TUESDAY, MAY25, 2010 WEATHER AIR SHOW IS JUNE 19 IN GRANITE FALLS The Ray Fagen Memorial Airshow, a tribute to World War II aircraft, will be at 4 p.m. June 19 at the Lenzen-Roe Memorial Airport at 2450 540 St. in Granite Falls. Admission is free for chil- dren 10 and younger, $5 for ages 10-17 and $10 for adults. Net proceeds from admission will be donated to Minnesota’s Military Appreciation fund. Doc’s All Stars big band from Alexandria will perform 1940s World War II era hits at a hangar dance following the airshow. LOCALLY TODAY: Partly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain High: 85 WEDNESDAY: Partly cloudy High: 80-85 2 SECTIONS, 18 PAGES RECORDS 2A LOCAL/STATE 3A OPINION 4A CALENDAR/TV 5A MARKETS 6A OUTDOORS 7A SPORTS 1B-3B CLASSIFIEDS 4B-5B ENTERTAINMENT 6B INDEX Ag PAGE 10A Spill PAGE 10A Paap ST. PAUL (AP) — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton chose Duluth state Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon as his running mate on Monday in a bid to bolster his appeal with voters in a key party stronghold. The addition of Solon, a three-term senator who began her political career on the Duluth city council, brings balance to the ticket of the Minneapolis candi- date Dayton, who is one of three serious contenders for the Democratic nomi- nation. The nominee will be decided in an Aug. 10 primary. TRAFFIC UPDATE ■ The intersection of Minnesota Highway 23 and Lyon County Road 7 has had stop signs installed in all directions. The intersection of highways 19 and 23 is sched- uled to have the Marshall Police Department directing traffic for the morning Marshall High School traffic starting at approximately 7:30 a.m. and ending daily as needed. The directed traffic control is antici- pated to continue through at least May 26 (seniors’ last day of school) and as long as June 3 (last day of school). For immediate updates, visit www.mar- shallmn.com Dayton taps state senator as ballot mate Prettner Solon Communicationkeyinmaking CulturesConnectingwork By Jodelle Greiner jgreiner@marshallindependent.com MARSHALL — When racial tension threatened to erupt at Marshall High School, a group of freshmen came up with a way to make the school a more welcoming place for everyone. About three months ago, conflict intensified to the point where some kids were texting each other trying to set up a fight, said Principal Brian Jones. “We got it calmed down,” he said. “It provided us with an opportunity to educate. We took time the next day and gave Dayton PAGE 2ACommunication PAGE 10A Goldie Gullickson of Walnut Grove. Thank you for subscribing! GOODMORNING ■ Since traffic lights were put into operation May 13 traffic at the 23/59 intersection has been more fluid. S ince the Minnesota Highway 23 construction began, com- plaints could be heard all over town about the congested intersec- tion at Highway 23 and U.S. Highway 59. Driving through dur- ing the rush hours of noon and 5 p.m. became something to avoid. Mn/DOT noticed the attention brought to the issue and came up with some possible solutions, including replacing the four-way stop with temporary traffic lights. Marshall is part of Mn/DOT District 8, which has its headquar- ters in Willmar where traffic control plans are developed. The reason traffic lights were not in the original plan, said Adam Ahrndt, Mn/DOT project engineer, was because they were not aligned correctly to direct traffic through construction. “Originally, the traffic control plan did not call for those (traffic lights),” he said. Mn/DOT installed a success- ful four-way stop at the same intersection six years ago and assumed the same procedure should perform similarly again. Unfortunately, a four-way stop could not accommodate the 23/59 intersection the way it used to. Mn/DOT assessed the status of the four-way stop and “responded to its poor perform- ance,” said Ahrndt. “The Marshall Police Department was contracted to direct traffic,” said city engineer Glenn Olson. This solution, however, could not be permanent. Mn/DOT brought in traffic control experts, squeezed in a left lane, and installed separate hanging lights to accommodate the necessary traffic flow, Ahrndt said. Traffic PAGE 10A Pictured is the 59/23 intersection in Marshall.
- 2. Ahrndt says they are “still doing some fine-tuning.” Constantly evalu- ating the traffic and effects of traffic lights or four-way stops will allow efficient updates as construction con- tinues. The temporary traffic lights are scheduled to stay in place for the duration of the project. They will be updated to coordinate with the correct lanes of traffic once the construction switches to the other side of Highway 23. Hwy. 23 businesses adjust Various businesses along Highway 23 that have their main entrance roads closed have been adjusting to the road construction. It is an obvious inconvenience, but with the help of time, signs, maps and traffic lights, business is running a little more smoothly. “Whether they (customers) call us or we call them, we tell them how to get here,” Jim Swenson, general man- ager of Action Sports, said. “Awareness is the biggest thing,” Swenson said when talking about sig- nage and back roads. There are now a number of signs to eliminate confusion around the 23/59 intersection directing drivers to Canoga Park Drive to reach some of these businesses. “If someone’s four- wheeler breaks, they’re going to find out how to get here,” Swenson said. For the most part, these businesses are a destination. Shawn Laleman, manager of Marshall Spas & Pools, said, “you can’t go everywhere for what we offer here.” Brian Hart, president of The Computer Man, Inc., said, “We have our regulars who know how to get here.” Brian Kor, president of Awards Plus, said they do a lot of business online as well, allowing customers to get what they need from the comfort of their own homes. Delivery is another popular option. “It’s not that all of our customers are coming to us,” Hart said. “We’re going to them in a lot of cases.” Aside from the regulars, these businesses are seeing a little slow- down in walk-in traffic. The effect of closed roads is simi- lar on the other side of U.S. Highway 59. “More people are asking for their order to be delivered rather than picking it up, and you can’t blame them,” Mike Klein of Independent Lumber, said. Brynn Boerboom, an associate at VIP Floral, said the drive-by business has really slowed. “The month of May is usually the busiest,” she said. That makes this setback from construction more noticeable. Referencing the original bottleneck at the intersection, Boerboom said the “congestion coin- cided with the cold and rainy weath- er, so it’s hard to differentiate the cause of the slow down.” Laleman said the construction affecting the 23/59 intersection and Highway 23 entrance roads “definite- ly changed our business.” However, he said, since the traffic lights came back, more people are willing to find their way out here. Some people will call asking for directions if they can’t find it, Laleman said. Overall, business is improving. Since the traffic lights were installed, Klein said business is “more back to normal.” Everybody seems to agree that bringing the traffic lights back has definitely helped the flow of traffic and let people navigate their way around the construction more effi- ciently. well that blew out after a drilling rig exploded April 20 off the Louisiana coast. Suttles said it will be at least Wednesday before BP will try using heavy mud and cement to plug the leak, a maneuver called a top kill that represents the best hope of stopping the oil after several failed attempts. BP initially said it would try Tuesday, but company spokesman John Curry said more time is needed to get equipment in place and test it. ‘‘Our goal, of course, is to succeed,’’ Curry said. ‘‘We want this as much as anyone and our best chance of success is looking like Wednesday morning.’’ Several officials from President Barack Obama’s administration led a delega- tion of U.S. senators who surveyed the affected areas from the air Monday, then held a press conference to emphasize that the cleanup is BP’s responsibility. ‘‘We are going to stay on this and stay on BP until this gets done and it gets done the right way,’’ said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Engineers are working on several backup plans in case the top kill doesn’t work. Suttles said they will likely try to cap the well with a small containment dome if the maneuver fails. He said they are also con- sidering injecting assorted junk into the well to stop the oil. BP said Monday its costs for the spill had grown to about $760 million, includ- ing containment efforts, drilling a relief well to stop the leak permanently, grants to Gulf states for their response costs, and pay- ment of damage claims. BP said it’s too early to calcu- late other potential costs and liabilities. At least 6 million gallons of crude have spewed into the Gulf, according to a Coast Guard and BP esti- mate of how much is com- ing out, though some scien- tists say they believe the spill has already surpassed the 11 million-gallon 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska as the worst in U.S. history. A federal task force of scientists is now working to try to get a better idea how much oil is gushing from the well, and it could release data this week. A mile-long tube operat- ing for about a week has siphoned off more than half a million gallons, but it began sucking up oil at a slower rate over the week- end, and even at its best it wasn’t capturing all of what is leaking. The spill’s impact on shore now stretches across 150 miles, from Dauphin Island, Ala. to Grand Isle, La. With oil pushing at least 12 miles into marshes in his state and two major pelican rookeries coated in crude, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said crews have begun work on a chain of berms made with sandbags, reinforced with contain- ment booms, that would skirt the state’s coastline. ‘‘This oil threatens not only our coast and our wet- lands, this oil fundamental- ly threatens our way of life in southeastern Louisiana,’’ he said at Monday’s press conference. On Barataria Bay, some brown pelicans coated in oil could do little more than hobble. Their usually brown and white feathers were jet black, and eggs were glazed with rust-col- ored gunk. The birds got spooked when wildlife officials tried to rescue one, and officials were not sure they would try again. Pelicans are especially vulnerable to oil because they dive into the water to feed. They could eat tainted fish and feed it to their young, or they could die of hypothermia or drown if their feathers become soaked in oil. The birds were removed from the fed- eral endangered species list just six months ago. Oil has also reached a 1,150-acre oyster ground leased by Belle Chasse, La., fisherman Dave Cvitanovich. He said cleanup crews were string- ing lines of absorbent boom along the surrounding marshes, but that still left large clumps of rust-colored oil floating over his oyster beds. Mature oysters might eventually filter out the crude and become fit for sale, but this year’s crop of young oysters will perish. ‘‘Those will die in the oil,’’ Cvitanovich said. ‘‘It’s inevitable.’’ Officials said last week that 264 birds, sea turtles and dolphins had been found dead or stranded on shore that may have been affected by the spill, though Roger Helm, chief of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s contaminants division, said the death toll is certain to rise as the oil moves deeper into the marshes. In contrast, hun- dreds of thousands of birds, otters and other animals were killed after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. Helm said the biggest reason for the relatively low death toll from the Gulf spill is that until recently, most of the oil remained far out to sea. ‘‘But if the oil does real- ly start fouling up the marshes, you can expect the numbers of oiled birds to go up significantly,’’ he said. Meanwhile, BP was still using a contentious chemi- cal dispersant Monday to fight the oil, despite orders from federal regulators to use something less toxic. Suttles said the oil giant is still researching other dis- persants but has yet to find one that is both less toxic and readily available. ‘‘If we can find an alter- native that is less toxic and available, we will switch to that product,’’ he said. ‘‘To date, we’ve struggled to find an alternative either that had less risk to the environment or that was readily available.’’ The EPA raised concerns on Thursday about the dis- persant at issue, Corexit 9500, saying the long-term effects remain unknown. “Our No. 1 concern is and will continue to be as we look ahead to next year’s session, to make sure the core functions — food safety, animal health and environmental protection — are maintained and make sure the resources are there to follow through with those missions,” he added. On the other hand, the MFB, like many other organizations and entities throughout Minnesota, is cautiously looking ahead to the next biennium, when the state could be looking at a much larger deficit than it took on this year. “Listening to (Department of Agriculture) Commissioner (Gene) Hugoson, if we’re asked to make significant cuts in the next biennium, nothing’s gonna be sacred,” Paap said. “Everything will be on the table — we have to decide what’s nice and what’s necessary, what can be combined for efficiency. We won’t have the dollars to do things status quo. It’s hard to keep going without eliminating programs, or people. But we’ll continue to make sure the department has the resources to contin- ue with its core mission.” The Minnesota Farm Bureau actively worked on a number of key issues affecting agriculture this past year. Beyond budget discussions, it successfully supported implementing a temporary livestock input lien to ensure farmers have credit options available to provide necessary inputs for livestock and, in coopera- tion with other agricultural organizations, stopped the imposition of a new fee on water users in the 11-county metropolitan area. If imple- mented, it was estimated this new fee would have cost farmers and ranchers an additional $350 per year per irrigation well. Additionally, no new restrictions on how farmers raise their animals or use crop protection products were part of the 2010 ses- sion discussions. Paap calls 2010 a “criti- cal election year in Minnesota” and is con- cerned about the future because of all the new, incoming legislators who be looked at to replace some key ag voices in St. Paul including Republican Steve Dille and Democrat Jim Vickerman. Vickerman, a farmer from Tracy who was first elected in 1986, was the chairman of the Senate Ag Committee. And Dille, a farmer and veterinarian from Dassell, was a ranking member of the committee. “We have a significant number of retirements, both in the House and Senate, and some long-standing leaders, chairs of ag committees, ranking members of ag com- mittees,” Paap said. “There will be some big shoes to fill — they brought a lot of institutional wisdom and experience to the table and we’re losing them both in the same year. Losing Vickerman and Dille is kind of a double-whammy. As we look at the challenges and opportunities in the coming years we want to make darn sure we’re sending qualified leaders to represent agricul- ture and rural Minnesota to make sure our voices are heard. “They’ve farmed all their lives and they have that understanding,” he added. “They know that agriculture is important to our rural infrastructure and our communities. Fewer and fewer farmers are now part of that process and more and more legislators are that much farther removed from our farms.” AgFROMPAGE1A SpillFROMPAGE1A TrafficFROMPAGE1A 10A•INDEPENDENT-MARSHALL,MINN.•TUESDAY,MAY 25,2010 032510i10867ab Downtown Marshall • 532-4401 040610b10968ag Town & Country Agency “An Independent Insurance Agency” MaJa Pogatchnik, CIC, CISR Manager/Agent #20105280-MN Main Office: 800 E. Main - PO Box 270 Marshall, MN 56258 Phone: 507-532-7538 • Fax: 507-532-7543 Email: maja@tcamn.com www.tcamn.com 300 Front Street Russell, MN 56169 507-823-4391 110 N. 3rd Street Hanley Falls, MN 56245 507-768-3494 330 2nd Avenue Wood Lake, MN 56297 507-485-3111 052510i11925bd #40077729-SD teachers some questions for general discussion. Once you get them talking, you can learn a lot from them.” “The teachers asked us how we felt about the whole situation,” said Tyra Clauson. A group came up with an idea for a club called Cultures Connecting, then went to their 9th Grade Academy advisers, Neenah Eben and Nick Patton. The kids put together a PowerPoint presentation for Youth As Resources (YAR) and received a grant to finance their ideas. The process took about five weeks, Eben said. “The reason we wanted to start the club was we wanted it to stop,” said Brett Fleahman. “It was a big deal and we wanted it to stop.” “Have a safer environ- ment in schools, communi- ty. Solve problems,” said Owen Hess. “To keep it friendly and make sure there’s no con- frontation between the dif- ferent races and cultures,” said Brijania Andrews. “Since we’re all friends and all from different races, we wanted this whole school to be like that.” “You can’t judge a book by its cover; you have to read it,” said Rebekah Criquet-Danielson. “You have to get to know the person before you know who they are.” “Everybody equal,” said Fabiola Mares. “For them to know how we feel when we’re discriminated against for our race.” “I think all of us feel the same way,” Clauson said. “We want people to see that if the color of our skin is different, it doesn’t mean we can’t be equal and have respect. The color of our skin doesn’t make us who we are, it’s just a part of us.” “To actually show peo- ple everyone’s equal,” said Fleahman. “They do belong and they shouldn’t be left out and should all be treat- ed the same.” To accomplish that, the kids organized a lunch mix- up day on Thursday, where students drew numbers to sit with others they normal- ly wouldn’t sit with. The event was voluntary and any student could opt out, but there was “pretty good participation,” according to Jones. “There were different questions to break the ice, to show everyone can get along,” Fleahman said. On Friday, World Diversity Day, the kids played games, like “Ninja” and “Red Rover” outside. Prizes included candy from other cultures. “I’m very proud of these kids,” Eben said. “Very impressed the youngest kids in (high) school took a negative and turned it into a positive, stepped up to be leaders.” The kids were already thinking the program could be expanded to a week next year, and other kids could pick it up and keep it going in the future. “We want the communi- ty to know what we’re doing — other schools to see this can be done,” said Fleahman. “We want everybody to know they should all be treated the same.” “If we can all get along, why can’t others?” Clauson said. “We get along just fine.” Communication FROMPAGE1A Do you know of a volunteer in your community who deserves some special recognition? Let us know about them by emailing us at news@marshallindependent.com