Central Minnesota Political

“As of April 30, 2020, Todd County has seven lab confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID‐19).” according to Todd County Public Health. “Local transmission of the virus is occurring,” the Agency said. Previous cases had been confined to an elder care facility in Staples. This announcement comes as Jennie-O Turkey in Melrose announced that it was shutting down operations to clean the plant. Health officials said the plant was a COVID-19 hot spot. They also said that Pilgrim’s Pride, a chicken processor in Cold Spring, was a COVID-19 hot spot, according to Minnesota Public Radio. On Tuesday, April 18, nineteen Jennie-O employees had tested positive, according to Meat and Poultry magazine. No time line has been mentioned for reopening Jennie-O at Melrose. A number of workers at Pilgrim’s Pride walked off the job on Monday because they felt that the company was not taking adequate steps to protect them.  Numerous people from Todd County are employed at  the two plants.

With Long Prairie Packing taking the lead again we’re planning another free food distribution on Friday May 1st starting at 1 pm in the Baptist church parking lot in Long Prairie. As we did at our Good Friday distribution, Long Prairie Packing will provide each family with two pounds of ground beef. Minnesota Fresh, with the assistance of Ruby’s Pantry, will give twenty pounds of potatoes to each family. The Out Reach Program of Brainerd Lakes, with the assistance of Long Prairie Packing and Dreams United/Sueños Unidos, will provide 18 meals of dried prepared meals to each family. Our plan is to provide this all to 400 families. That’s the number we reached on Good Friday.

Today a Minneapolis firefighter tested positive for COVID. Today the fire hazard in Todd County was high and yesterday it was very high. It was high as well on Sunday when, on a short drive around the country side, I spotted three piles of brush burning. One was unattended. Forty years ago today, a fool like those brush pile burners, ignited a large chunk of land in north eastern Todd county. Those firefighters were only at risk of injury or death from fire. Today's firefighters, and first responders, have the added risk of COVID-19. Please do all you can to keep our fire fighters at home. Below is the story of the 1980 Philbrook fire; started by  a fool. -------------- By Tim King One hundred years ago Philbrook, a village near where the Long Prairie River joins the Crow Wing, was at the heart of the effort to exploit Central Minnesota's vast stands of white pine trees.  Then the village bustled with the new wealth of the pineries.  The was a large sawmill,

Tomorrow, April 20th, is the 10th anniversary of the methane explosion at the oil drilling platform called the Deepwater Horizon. Wednesday, April 22nd, is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.  At this time the Trump administration is promoting the largest expansion of oil drilling lease permits in American history along with rolling back oil platform safety regulations, according to the Washington Post.  And our attention is nearly fully engaged in the COVID-19 pandemic and attempts to conduct our curtailed lives. As you know, the Deepwater Horizon explosion and fire and the resultant five month roar of poisonous fluids from under the fractured sea bed into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and onto the beautiful shores of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida was the worst environmental disaster in American history. Sound trite, doesn’t it? The worst environmental disaster in American history. *11 people dead! *4,600,000 pounds of oiled material remo

Two thousand pounds of potatoes and over 800 pounds of meat were given to around 400 area families at a free food distribution in Long Prairie on Friday evening, April 10th. The meat was donated by Long Prairie Packing and the potatoes were a  gift to the community from Minnesota Fresh. Fifteen or so volunteers from Long Prairie Packing and a half dozen volunteers from Minnesota Fresh staffed the distribution. The volunteers took care to keep people safe and the recipients of the food were pretty sensible, according to Tamie Barber of Long Prairie Packing. “There were really long lines that went past the community gardens to the East and west to Todd Street and down to the bleachers to the West,” Barber said. Dreams United/Suenos Unidos was a cosponsor of the distribution and participated in the planning. Thanks to the Baptist church for the use of their parking lot. A second distribution is under consideration.   Photo by Luan Brinkhorst, LP Chamber of Commerce

Forty-five percent of Todd County residents had completed their 2020 Census forms as of Tuesday April 8th, according to Todd County’s Complete Count Committee. That’s lower then the entire State of Minnesota where 55% of the residents had completed their forms. Sixty-six percent of Hartford township residents had completed their forms here in Todd County. The high response in places like Hartford and Long Prairie townships was pushing Todd County’s overall percentage up, the Committee said. However low responses in Grey Eagle and Turtle Creek Township were keeping Todd County below the State average, according to the Committee. Only 29% of Grey Eagle residents had completed their forms and Turtle Creek Township residents have the worst response rate in the County at twenty-four percent. "It’s really important to fill out the 2020 Census form," Committee member Tim King said. " That’s because each person that fills it out helps bring tax dollars back to our c

FREE MEAT FOR EVERYBODY! CARNE GRATIS PARA TODOS! 2 pounds of ground beef per vehicle! Friday, April 10 th , at the First Baptist Church parking lot (401 4 th  St S in Long Prairie).  Senior citizens, 4pm to 4:30pm, everyone else 4:30 to 6pm or while supplies last. In order to eliminate contact, one person from the vehicle will need to exit the vehicle to gather their ground beef from a designated location between the volunteers and your vehicle. If there is a line, line up on 4 th  St S and EXIT onto 4 th  Ave SE.   We will help direct traffic as needed. Please note that Minnesota Fresh will be including potatoes with the meat from LP Packing.

We generally like to go to the grocery store to shop because we’re likely to see someone we know. It gives us a chance to visit. But some time ago Coborn’s set up an online ordering system for people who are just too busy to go grocery shopping. Customers can select their products from Coborn’s website, designate the store they want to get their groceries at, and pick them up at a time that they arrange online. I’m sure the company didn’t have this horrid virus in mind when they set the system up but it works perfectly. Now, since we love our friends, we only want to see them from a distance. So, earlier this week we signed up for ordering on-line at shop.coborns.com . We had to open an account. That took about fifteen minutes. Then we decided what day and time we wanted get our groceries. A day before we wanted to pick up we wrote up a grocery list as if we were going to town. Then we went to Coborn’s website. They have everything organized by department. But I preferred usi

Last week I posted an article about making do it yourself masks to protect care givers and family members. There was a lot of interest in that. Tom Kajer from Staples responded by telling me that Lisa Kajer, his wife, and Donna Bestland had developed a mask design in collaboration with Lakewood Health System. The mask features a pocket where a filter can be inserted thereby making it more effective. It also features washable cloth ties. Tom said that Lisa, Donna, and other people in Staples were aiming to make and donate 5,000 DIY masks to Lake. Lisa and Donna developed a really nice pattern for people to use. I include it here. The pattern is also on Lakewood's Facebook but I don't do Facebook. Minnesota Public Radio published a really interesting article  called “What’s behind the N95 mask shortage” on Tuesday. It explains why we need to pitch in to make these DIY masks and what their short comings are. Here’s the link  https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/03/30/faq-whats-b