Dorothy Kohlhoff, 85, of Litchfield, died Tuesday at her home. Funeral services will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Litchfield. Visitation will be Friday from 4-7 p.m. at Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home and will continue one hour prior to the service at the church. Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home & Cremation is in charge of arrangements.

Edwin Swanson, 78, of Cosmos, died Saturday at the VA Hospital in Minneapolis. Funeral service will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at the First Lutheran Church in rural Cosmos. Visitation will be Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. at the Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home in Litchfield and one hour prior to the service at the church on Thursday. Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home & Cremation is in charge of arrangements.

Alvin Stone, 68, of Darwin, died Nov. 23, at his home. A memorial service will be Monday at 2 p.m. at the Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Dassel. Memorial arrangements are being handled b y the Johnson Funeral Home in Dassel.

Alvin Karl Stone, 68, of Darwin died Nov. 23 at his home. A memorial service will be 2 p.m. Dec. 1 at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Dassel. The Rev. Thor Skeie will officiate at the service with the interment of the urn at the All Saints Cemetery in Darwin at a later date. Memorial arrangements are being handled by the Johnson Funeral Home in Dassel.

N. Thomas "Tom" Johnson, 94, of Bemidji, Minn. died Monday at the Meadowlands Elder Care Homes, Tenstrike, Minn. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Friday at First Lutheran Church in Bemidji. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Arrangements are with the Olson-Schwartz Funeral Home, Bemidji.

The Minnesota Public Facilities Authority awarded a $1.24 million loan to the city of Dassel Monday, Nov. 24, to pay for improvements to its municipal drinking water infrastructure.

The low-interest loan is from the PFA’s Drinking Water Revolving Fund. It will pay for demolishing an existing water tower, building a new tower, connecting the water system to the new tower and modifying pumps at the water treatment plant.
 

Donald Grundahl, 92, of Cokato passed away Friday. Funeral services will be Tuesday at Stockholm Lutheran Church. Arrangements by Swanson-Peterson Funeral Home.

The U.S. Senate recount took place Thursday at the Meeker County Courthouse. Teams of election judges and election observers looked over the more than 12,000 votes cast in the county during the general election. The judges were looking to verify the election totals in the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken. Observers representing both candidates challenged votes for a variety of reasons, sending more than 50 ballots to the State Canvassing Board for review (see related story).

Mildred Brossared, 85, died Oct, 26, 2008 in Corona, Calif. She is survived by Channa Rae Huggett of Litchfield and Scott and Guy and daughter-in-law Debbie.

Arlene M. Sanderson Smith, 77, died Wednesday at her home in Litchfield. A memorial service will be Monday at 2 p.m. at Cornerstone Church. Visitation will be Sunday from 3-5 p.m. at Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home iin Litchfield and will continue one hour prior to the service.

Litchfield School District voters soundly rejected any school-related increase in their taxes Nov. 4.

It might be tempting to blame the 56-percent ‘no’ vote on the economy. As popular wisdom goes, nobody wants an increase in their taxes, and they want it even less so when the economy is in the dire straits it is today.

The Internal Revenue Service is still looking for more than 2,700 Minnesota residents who have not received economic stimulus checks. The checks total about $1.5 million, and the IRS will not wait much longer to have the money claimed. A Dec. 31 deadline is looming.

The stimulus checks sit waiting for an updated address, along with about 1,300 regular tax refund checks from Minnesota totaling $1 million that bounced back to the agency as undeliverable by the postal service.

Laurane M. Anderson, 85, of Litchfield, died Nov. 11, 2008 at the Meeker Memorial Hospital in Ltichfield. A memorial service was Nov. 15 at the Hantge Funeral Chapel in Darwin. Hange Funeral Chapel was in charge of arrangements.

Irene J. Pearson, 97, of Darwin, died Wednesday at the Emmanuel Nursing Home in Litchfield. Mass of Christian Burial is Monday at 10:30 a.m. at the Çhurch of St. John in Darwin. Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home & Cremation is in charge of arrangements.

Lorraine Irma Thulin, 91, of Dassel, formerly of Litchfield, died Nov. 13, 2008 at the Lakeside Health Care Center of Dassel. Funeral services will be Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Dassel. Visitation will be two hours prior to the service. The Johnson Funeral Home in Dassel is in charge of arrangements.

Irene J. Pearson, 97, of Darwin, died Wednesday,
Nov. 12, at the Emmanuel Nursing Home in Litchfield. Mass of Christian
Burial will be 10:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 17, at the Church of St.
John in Darwin. Visitation will be 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday,
Nov. 16, at Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home in
Litchfield. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the services at the
church. Interment will be in the St. John Catholic Cemetery. Arrangements are with Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home of Litchfield.

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie today announced the members of the State Canvassing Board. By Minnesota law, representation must include two Minnesota Supreme Court justices, two district court judges and the board is chaired by the Secretary of State. Canvass board members named are Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson and Justice G. Barry Anderson. Chief Judge Kathleen R. Gearin and Assistant Chief Judge Edward J. Cleary have also been tapped from the Second Judicial District to serve on the board.

Frank Nesseth, 90, of Grove City, died Tuesday at Bethesda Heritage Center in Willmar. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Grove City. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Burial will be in Lake Ripley Cemetery in Litchfield.  Arrangements are with Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home of Litchfield.

Elvera L. Mahn, 85, of Atwater, died Nov. 8 , 2008 at the Meeker County Memorial Hospital in Litchfield. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. John Lutheran Church north of Atwater. Visitation is from 4-7 p.m. Monday at the Atwater Funeral Home and at the church one hour prior to the services. The Atwater Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Hugo P. Piepenburg, 84, of Litchfield, died Saturday at the Willmar Commons Nursing Home in Willmar. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Beckville Lutheran Church in Litchfield. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Thursday at Beckville Lutheran Church and will continue one hour prior to the meomrial service. Arrangements by Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home in Litchfield.

Evelyn R. (Fallon) Keller, 89, of Cosmos, formerly of Hutchinson passed away Nov. 5, 2008 at the Hutchinson Area Hospital. Mass of Christian Burial is today (Monday) at 2 p.m. at the Church of St. John in Darwin. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Arrangements by Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home in Litchfield.

Pastor Herbert "Burnell" Baldwin, 87, of Litchfield, died Oct. 30, 2008 at the Meeker Memorial Hospital in Litchfield. A memorial service was Nov. 5 at the First Lutheran Church in Litchfield. Hantge Funeral Chapel in Darwin was in charge of arrangements.

Robert Wills, 48, of North Kingston, Minn. died Nov. 6, 2008 at his residence. Funeral services were Nov. 10 at the Church of Christ in Kimball. The Dingmann Funeral Care of Kimball was in charge of arrangements.

Dorothy Scholtes, 92, of Minneapolis died Friday. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 2424 18th Ave. So., Minneapolis. Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Monday at the Thomson-Dougherty Mansion, 2535 Park Ave., Minneapolis and 1 hour prior to mass at the church. Thomson-Dougherty Funeral Home, Minneapolis, was in charge of arrangements.

Alberta G. Hatfield, 85, of Becker, Minn., formerly of Darwin, passed away Wednesday at Shepherd of Grace Assisted Living in Becker, Minn. Funeral services were Saturday at All Saints Lutheran Church in Darwin. Hantge Funeral Chapel in Darwin was in charge of arrangements.

Tim Brian Berghuis, 45, passed away at his home on Saturday. Memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Rosemount United Methodist Church, 14770 Canada Ave., in Rosemount, Minn. with visitation from 9-11 a.m. White Funeral Home in Apple Valley is in charge of arrangements.

Geraldine (Deany) Marie Wiese, 87, passed away at Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake, Iowa on Friday. Turner Funeral Home, Spirit Lake, Iowa is in charge of arrangements.

Ervin C. Radunz, 79, of Sauk Rapids, died Friday at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Funeral services will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church in St. Cloud. Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday at the Daniel Funeral Home in St. Cloud, 1010 2nd St. No. Daniel Funeral Home of St. Cloud is in charge of arrangements.

Theresa P. Lanigan, 76, of Litchfield, died Wednesday at the Meeker Memorial Hospital in Litchfield. A Mass of Christian Burial was Saturday at St. John's Catholic Church in Darwin. Hantge Funeral Chapel in Darwin was in charge of arrangements.

Brock W. Schroeder, 29 days, died Wednesday morning at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis. Funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Willmar. Visitation will be from 5-8 p.m. Monday at the Atwater Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service at the church. Atwater Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.