December 17, 2008 - Wednesday

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~~~~~~~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY ~~~~~~~
------------ GRAMMA GREEN -------------
Today the Tucker and Green families will help Johanna celebrate her 103
birthday.
======= CONGRATULATIONS ======
~~~~~~~ JOHANNA GREEN ~~~~~~~
Happy Birthday Mrs. Green, we wish you the very best on this special
day.
From The Moe family.
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The current temperature is -15 degrees
Yesterdays H/L temperature was 0/-19
Normal H/L temp for this date is 20/2
It feels like -26 at the nudy beach.
It was 57 degrees on this date in 1900
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"Profanity makes ignorance audible."
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L O C A L news & stuff,.. mostly stuff.
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The Grafton Drug store has been closed since the night of the big
storm. I'm not really sure why. I expect we'll read all about it in the
Walsh County Record.
Rumor has it, someone broke in through the north door and, adding
insult to injury, bitter cold temperatures driven by high winds entered
the building about the same time the bandits did. I haven't heard what,
if anything left the store with the bandits. I understand when the
bitter cold finally left the building it left some frozen water pipes,
among other things, behind.
The drug store was closed for a period of time, however, the Grafton
Drug Store IS once AGAIN,... "OPEN for BUSINESS"
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The mention of Mattson Refrigeration Service gave Kathee reason to
write the following. >>>>
Your reference to Kelvinator brought to mind a story about my
grandfather, Axel "Dad" Carlson (1877-1959), shoeman at Reyleck's.
Grandma and Grandpa Carlson never had an ice box. They used the cellar
to keep things cool and relied on getting to the grocery store often
enough to get fresh items. When they decided to get a refrigerator after
they came out, they were uncertain of which brand to get. Family lore
has it that Grandpa Carlson went to the president of some electric
company in which he had stock and asked what the president recommended.
"Kelvinator, " said the president. So that is the brand that they got.
Who needed Consumer Reports? Kathee <<<<
Thanks a million for caring and sharing Kathee. Aren't memories
wonderful?
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We are getting closer to solving the large Grafton neon sign question
posed by Charles Stewart the other day. Ann McCann shared the following.
>>>>
Hi Gary, Reading your news for today, you asked if anyone has seen the
neon sign that hung across the street. Yes, it is in the basement of
city hall or last I saw it a few years ago.
Lee Kieley and Donny LaBerge wanted to resurrect it for something
to keep them busy. All three of us went and looked at it. It was black
with red letters. Some neon was broken. ( New neon is brighter than
old and the reds would not match TODAYS. ) One would need to replace
ALL of the letters.
City Hall was not interested in investing the money to have this done.
Yes, I agree it would be nice sign memorabilia and part of
Grafton's history. I just love signs, you know!
Ann McCann
@ letter perfect sign co. <<<<
Thanks a million for caring and sharing Ann. I'm thinking it would be
an absolute perfect public relations project for the Newman sign
Company. Especially since they own the Alchem Alcohol plant in Grafton.
+++++
A few minutes later I received the following note from my son Jeff. He
wrote: >>>>> Dad, When I joined the fire dept. I remember seeing the
neon sign you wrote about hanging in the basement of city hall. However,
I believe It was moved from there to the old A&H building on the north
end of town. <<<< Thanks Jeff, I think you have it right. Tuesday
afternoon, former mayor Fred Stark not only bought us coffee at
Granny's, he confirmed that the sign, he believed to be approximately 12
feet long and a couple of feet high, was in fact moved to the former A&H
building.
Now then,... where do we go from here?
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The terms "Green Movement" and "global warming" always seem to generate
a heated discussion. A former Grafton Mayor and the husband of my
brother-in-law Chuck Demesters daughter chiseled enough time out of his
busy schedule to share the following thoughts.
Jeff wrote; >>>>
Hi Gary! Thought I'd join the discussion on "Global Warming" and
"going green". Yesterday you mentioned our inability to control the
mother nature to which I agree. But do we need to add to our own demise?
The problem as I see it (my opinion) is we, as a society, get awful
short sighted. "We", ME included, tend to focus on today and are driven
by consumption of whatever it may be...gas, water, consumer goods and
services and, instant gratification. Use more, buy more, waste more, and
who cares. I think we all need to think green, not only for ourselves
but for our kids, grand kids and great grand kids. Starting now, however
small, is a step in the right direction. I have the privileged of
serving a community of Seniors in Fargo. There are 180 men and women
who's average age is 87 years old. They are continuing to worry about
shutting off lights, recycling, turning down their heat in the winter,
some even shut their air conditioners off in the summers when the are
out for the afternoon. I would guess a great number came through the
depression era. The American Indian held great respect for "Mother
Earth". Maybe, just maybe "Big Al" is on to something! Or so it seem to
me... To know what is right and to do nothing is ...... Thanks for
allowing me an opportunity to add my $.02.
Jeff Pederson
CEO/President
Villa Nazareth <<<< Thanks a million for caring and sharing Jeff. I hope
your not overly surprised to find that I agree with absolutely
everything you said........ Except, I take some issue with the "maybe"
big Al is on to something. I find it extremely difficult to believe big
Al was entitled to the Heisman trophy because he found the station a
football game was played on. Nor, do I believe he should have gotten a
Silver Broom because he "discovered" a curling rink in his neighborhood.
And, it goes without saying that he is not entitled to the Silver Cup
simply because he read about the outcome of a hockey game.
The globe IS warming, that's not the issue. And, we definitely should
do everything "within reason" and within the realm of our individual
control to minimize our impact on global warming.
However, in my opinion, no-one needs even two "normal" size homes, yet
Mr. Gore has several mansions. No-one needs to fly by private Jet
although Al Gore does. Folks like Al Gore and his multi-millionaire
cronies, as well as major corporations like General Electric, justify
"covering" their carbon footprints by buying, carbon credits, with their
untold wealth. Then, they look at regular folks (like me) and say. "Give
a hoot, don't pollute".
That, in my opinion, is the height of arrogance and hypocrisy.
Putting it another way. I think what the Al Gores of the world are
doing with their global warming "panic attack" is very little different
than George Bush leading us into a war "without" weapons of mass
destruction.
Oops, did I mention that I "almost" totally agree with Jeff's
assesment of the worlds dilemma? The only thing I disagree with, is the
wealthy will continue to be so, and they will not shed one lonely bead
of sweat in the process. Everyone lesser than rich,...... most certainly
will.
Or so it seems to me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It saddens me to share the news that former Graftonite, Bernie Nugent,
lost his life in an automobile accident. I regret I have no additional
information to share at this time. Most local folks will remember Bernie
as the proprietor of Bolo Lanes, our local bowling alley.
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GOTTA GO WORK ON MY DASH
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"It is becoming more and more evident to me that wealthy folks and
honest folks aren't always the same folks.


Write if you can, call if you can't, and, tell your loved ones they
are,..... before it's too late.