Thursday, October 3, 2013

Volume 98; Number 15

www.bladepublishing.net staff@bladepublishing.net

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

75

Turtle Creek Vineyard produces its first saleable crop

Carlos Creek Winery in Douglas County near Carlos, Minnesota. The vineyard was planted by John and Cathy Walburn and Cathys sister Maryann Woeste on the farm that Cathy and Maryann bought from their mother Christine Woestes estate. The farm has been in the family for at least 107 years (Hartford Twp Homestead records dated 1904, USGenweb). Maryann said the farmhouse is 117 years old. The Walburns and Woestes have been making wine for personal use for many years. Both sets of their parents made wine at home. The Walburns and Woestes donate wine baskets to local fundraising events as prizes and for silent auctions. They use red and black raspberries and chokecherries for a mixed-berry wine they have made during the last few years. The Walburns have given three classes in winemaking through the local community education service in Melrose. Now theres a lot of people makContinued on page 9.

Todd Board Chair vows to keep trying to make Friendly Rider and Rainbow Rider bus services available to more residents
By Rin Porter One of the major topics of discussion at the Sept. 24 Todd County Board work session was the status of the effort to provide Friendly Rider and Rainbow Rider bus service to residents along the U.S. Hwy 71 corridor that runs through the county from north to south. A three-year pilot program to provide service to Eagle Bend and Bertha was not able to meet ridership goals. It ended in 2013, and cost the county $7,000 per year to provide just a few people with rides. The program, funded primarily by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT), will not be renewed by the state because of low ridership and the results of a citizen survey that indicated only a few people would use the service if it continued. Several officials from the administration of the two transit services along with Katherine Mackadanz from Todd County Health and Human Services (HHS) attended the work session to talk with county commissioners about what to do next. Wadena County Social Services Director Paul Sailer, who oversees the Rainbow Rider program in that county; Harold Jennissen, Rainbow Rider Executive Director; Kevin Hess, City Administrator of Eagle Bend; and two others took part in the discussion about next steps, options for route planning, barriers that reduce ridership, appropriate destinations for scheduled trips, costs, riders needs, and other matters. Verna Toenyan from the Council on Aging also attended the meeting and spoke about the continuing need for transportation, especially for senior citizens and disabled citizens. The two most common reasons for using the Friendly Rider and Rainbow Rider transit services were the needs to go grocery shopping and to keep medical appointments. After discussion, the board asked Mackedanz to explore further the possibility of arranging once-monthly scheduled trips to important destinations like Alexandria, Wadena, Sauk Centre, and Staples. An experimental program of scheduled trips could be heavily publicized to county residents and subsidized by the county to see if the trips would draw riders. Another important topic of discussion during the threehour combination Health and Human Services Board meeting and County Board work session was a presentation by Michael Steinbeisser on MNCHOICES, a new internet-based human services assessment process that will be used by all counties beginning in November. The counties are divided into nine groups which will stagger their roll-outs of the new assessment process. Todd Countys roll-out date is May 19, 2014. The new assessment process takes five hours, and is accomplished either in a persons home or at the county offices, with the assistance of a Certified Assessor. This significant allocation of time for completing the assessment process is designed to result in a complete understanding of which services, if any, a person is eligible for, and what the persons goals, strengths, and preferences are for receiving the services. The Certified Assessors will have completed between 16 and 28 hours of training, and will be licensed public health nurses, degreed social workers, or registered nurses with at least two years of community home-based service experience, when each county program begins. Currently, Todd County HHS completes 120 to 125 new assessments per year, Steinbeisser told commissioners. Two staff currently work together to complete the assessment. It is possible, he said, that when MNCHOICES is launched, just one staff person will work with each potential client to complete the assessment, due to the time requirement of MNCHOICES. Continued on page 9.

In Hartford Township east of Browerville, on a hillside with a stunning view, two-and-a-half acres of grape plants soak up sun and rain. The vineyard was planted by John and Cathy Walburn and Cathys sister Maryann Woeste on the farm that Cathy and Maryann bought from their mother Christine Woestes estate. By Rin Porter In Hartford Township east of Browerville, on a hillside with a stunning view, two-and-a-half acres of grape plants soak up sun and rain. After four years of careful hand-tending, Turtle Creek Vineyards grapes have produced about 1000 pounds of wine grapes, all to be sold to

BHS Homecoming Coronation 2013

Trent Johnson and Abigail Irsfeld were crowned the 2013 Homecoming King and Queen during a ceremony held September 30, 2013 in the high school gymnasium. Additional coronation photos in next weeks issue.

WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT

Tue. Oct. 1 Sunny/Wind 71/43 Wed. Oct. 2 Showers 72/51 Thur. Oct. 3 Rain 58/52 Fri. Oct. 4 Rain 52/40 Sat. Oct. 5 Showers 46/34 Sun. Oct. 6 Partly Cloudy 60/44