Local News

Ecumen of Litchfield has all kinds of services available to help people in the community with their daily living needs. Both Home Care and Hospice have a variety of services that can be provided.

Jillian Miller says the Home Care services range from therapy, personal care and skilled nursing.

Miller says if you would like more information about Home Care, call 320-693-7367. She says Hospice services are also available through Ecumen of Litchfield and they can use more volunteers to help with things like companionship and administrative tasks. For more information about Hospice, call 877-300-1672.

Nicole Larson says the assisted living facilities at Ecumen of Litchfield were fully occupied as of the end of the year, but she anticipates an opening at both Emmaus Place and Bethany within the next month. She says you can schedule tours of the facilities and get on a waiting list and there is no pressure when you do so.

Larson says if you’d like more information about Ecumen of Litchfield housing, call her at 320-373-6370.

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The Farm Family Recognition Program honors farm families from throughout Minnesota for their contributions to the agriculture industry and their local communities. Locally, the Extension Committees in Meeker, McLeod and Wright Counties are looking for nominations.

The program exists through the continued support of and coordination by University of Minnesota Extension; the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences; and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Each year, one family from each Wright, McLeod, and Meeker County is recognized as the Farm Families of the Year. To select the families, nominations are sought from key stakeholders and agribusinesses in the community. The nominations are then reviewed by the Wright, McLeod or Meeker County Extension Committee – Farm Family of the Year sub-committee, which is responsible for selecting the new Farm Family of the Year. For more details, call 693-5275.

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On Sunday evening at 7:02, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a vehicle that went through the ice on Green Lake in front of the Rush Brown public water access landing at 8387 North Shore Drive of Spicer. The driver of the vehicle, 22-year-old Blake Hiltner of Paynesville, was out of the vehicle and was uninjured.

Hiltner was driving a 2001 Chevrolet Trailblazer on Green Lake when the vehicle broke through the ice about 100 yards in front of the landing. As the front end of the vehicle broke through the ice, Hiltner was able to exit through a window. The vehicle then broke completely through the ice and was fully submerged in about 8-feet of water. The ice depth was about 3-to-5-inches at the place where the vehicle broke through. In the area where it broke through appeared to be a path that had been driven on numerous times in recent days.

Assisting the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office were New London Fire Dept., New London Ambulance, Spicer First Responders, Spicer Fire Dept., Kandiyohi County Rescue Squad and the Minnesota DNR.

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The Meeker County Sheriff’s Office has launched RAVE alerts, a new mass notification system designed to deliver timely and reliable emergency information to residents, businesses, and visitors. RAVE Alerts allows public safety officials to quickly send emergency notifications and other critical information via text message, phone call, and email.
 
Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze says residents are encouraged to sign up for RAVE Alerts to receive these important notifications. He says registration takes only a few minutes and can make a significant difference in an emergency.
 
Sheriff Cruze says you can just text “Meeker” to 78015 from your cell phone to begin the registration process. He says the system will be used for relaying relevant information.

Sheriff Cruze says if you don’t want to register right from your phone, you can go to the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office website and click on Register Now under the RAVE information or click on the shared link on the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. He says if you have questions or are having difficulties, contact Stephanie Johnson at Meeker County Emergency Management at 320-693-5420.

Sheriff Cruze also wants the public to know that a couple of new laws kicked in as of January 1st including one that allows for an order for protection to prevent financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. He says the “shotgun zone” is also no longer in effect and the Meeker County Board is holding a public hearing about that on February 17th at 6 p.m. in the Board Room of the Government Center at 114 North Holcombe Avenue in Litchfield.

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