Sonntag and Hanson open financial services office
Jim Sonntag and Earl Hanson have joined forces to open a new financial services office in Luverne called Blue Mound Insurance and Financial Services.
Sonntag has been in the insurance business for 34 years, moving to Luverne to work for Tri-State Insurance in 1983.
In 1993, he left Tri-State and most recently, was affiliated with Lutheran Brotherhood, which is now known as Thrivent.
Hanson moved to Luverne in 1978 to manage the Hanson Silo business in Luverne. In 1995, he left there to become the Luverne representative for Edward Jones.
Blue Mound Insurance and Financial Services will offer a variety of life, disability and long-term care insurance products as well as annuities, variable annuities, mutual funds, bonds, stocks, CDs and retirement plans.
Sonntag and Hanson are registered representatives dealing with products supplied through First Heartland Capital.
The new company office will be located at 119 E. Main St. in Luverne.
Your ‘keepers’ could get smaller
The fish you get to keep, could get smaller if the DNR has its way.
A bill would limit anglers to one walleye longer than 20 inches and one northern longer than 24 inches.
In previous years, anglers were allowed to keep one walleye longer than 24 inches and one northern longer than 30 inches, as part of their three fish daily limit.
The proposal had its first committee hearing last Wednesday and was set aside for a vote this week.
According Ron Payer, director of the department’s fisheries program, the proposed size change would limit and spread the harvest of bigger fish on some lakes and probably increase the voluntary release of big fish.
Poaching gets a little more expensive
I know you’re an honest sportsman, but the other guy that likes to take a few over the limit might find himself facing tougher poaching penalties this year.
The new laws, which went into effect March 1, are based on established restitution values of the illegally taken game and fish. A walleye, for example, is valued at $30.
Under the new law, the higher the restitution value, the longer the suspension of hunting or fishing privileges is.
For instance, a poacher would lose his fishing license for three years if he had 18 walleye over the limit.
The bill also allows for a gross misdemeanor penalty when the value of illegally taken game and fish exceeds $1,000.
Violators will also find themselves in trouble elsewhere if they run afoul of the new restrictions.
The state has come up with reciprocity agreements with Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
One recent example of a fragrant violation occurred in August 2002 when conservation officers raided an illegal fish fry.
Upon investigation, the officers discovered 61 bags of fish with 10 to 12 fish per bag, totaling 1,700 perch, sunfish and crappies.
Further searching, officers found several freezers containing fish. Each package was labeled with the date, lake, amount and species of fish in the bag.
Publisher Roger Tollefson can be reached by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com
