On Saturday afteroon at 5:41, the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a camper on fire in the 24000 block of 553rd Avenue in Acton Township. Meeker County Deputies and the Grove City Fire Department responded and found the camper fully engulfed in flames. The property owner is 38-year-old James Zaske of rural Grove City. Nobody was in the camper at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. The camper is a total loss and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Ecumen of Litchfield has some fall activities coming up. There are some housing units available right now at the Ecumen campus, and Adult Day services are also available.
Dawn Doty says the Adult Day program gives caregivers a break, and there are people enrolled in the program every day, and some that come just once a week. She says they offer personal care and do lots of fun activities, but socialization is the most important part of it.
Doty says there are some services which can be added such as bathing. She says they can use more clients so if anyone is interested, they should call her at 320-373-6627. Doty says they are doing the Socks for Seniors collection again during the holiday season so if anyone is willing to donate socks, they will have a bin in the lobby at 200 North Holcombe Avenue from November 8th through December 15th.
Nicole Larson says there will be a pop-up shop in the former Emmaus Gift Shop at 200 North Holcombe Avenue on November 8th with home-made items for sale and that would be a good time to drop off socks, pick up a name on the Adopt-a-Grandparent tree or to drop off an item for the food shelf for their Meeker County food drive. She says the Ecumen Chapel will be open for trick-or-treaters on Halloween – October 31st – from 3-to-4 p.m. so children should plan to visit that day and get some treats from the Ecumen residents by entering the Armstrong Avenue side.
Larson says there are a couple of one and two bedroom apartments available right now at Emmaus Place so if anyone is interested in a tour or getting on her waiting list, they should call her at 320-373-6370.
Most people these days are potential victims of scams – receiving suspicious phone calls, emails, text messages and mailings. The Meeker County Sheriff’s office receives several scam reports each week throughout the year.
Sheriff Brian Cruze says some common scams are callers claiming to be from the IRS and demanding personal information or payments, or a grandchild claiming to be in trouble and needing money. He says you should never give out personal information and if it’s seems suspicious, call the Sheriff’s Office and report it.
Sheriff Cruze says the Federal Trade Commission receives reports of $12.5-billion in losses each year due to scams, with the FBI estimating reported losses at $16.6-billion, but he says there are estimates that it could actually be closer to $50-billion a year as a lot of people don’t report scams. He says you need to use common sense so if something seems too good to be true, it probably is; and you can forget about being “Minnesota Nice” with these types of phone calls and just hang up.