County collects hazardous waste
A lot of hazardous material has left the county recently thanks to the Hazardous Waste collection program of the Rock County Land Management Office.
The collection was held on Monday, July 15 at the Hills city shop and again on Wed., July 17, at the Rock County transfer station.
According to Doug Bos of the LMO, 101 households brought hazardous materials to the transfer station and 25 households used the Hills facility.
A total of 6,320 pounds of material were collected at the two sites. 5,400 pounds of that was paint, and 720 pounds of what they call lab pac, which are mostly acids, bases and adhesives.
The latex paints will get recycled into other products, including chalking as well as other paint.
The oil base paints are sent to a burn for energy facility.
The lab pac materials are sent to a special incinerator facility.
Hinkly House is looking for visitors
The road construction that surrounded the Hinkly House is now gone, and they would like you to stop in for a visit.
During the month of August, after the county fair is over, members of the County Canines 4-H club will be in 1890's costumes to give tours of the historic home, including the recently restored rooms on the second floor.
One project completed earlier in July was the video taping and narration of the rooms on the second floor and the basement.
With the video taping, handicapped visitors can now view the two other floors with out leaving the main floor.
Big Buddies to hold golf scrambler Aug. 19
The 5th annual golf outing and fundraiser for the Big Buddies program has been set for Monday, August 19.
The format will again be a four-person scrambler.
Registration will begin at 4:30 p.m. with the tournament start at 5:30 p.m.
Following the tournament, will be a social hour at 7 p.m. with dinner at 8 p.m. and awards presentation at 8:30 p.m.
You can register for dinner, golf or both.
If you would like more information, contact Julie Wynia at 507-283-8685, ext. 4.
Passport fees take a significant hike
If you have been planning to visit England, China or some other over seas locale, the cost of the passport you will be needing is taking a major bump.
Effective Aug. 19, 2002, the fees for a first time adult customer will increase from $60 to $85.
The fee for minors will increase from $40 to $70 and an adult renewal will go from $40 to $55.
Expedited service will increase from $35 to $60.
With routine processing, passports are received within 6 weeks. The expedited service will get your passport in 2 weeks.
I applied for my first passport on Sept. 9, 1993. The cost was $10.
There are over 5,000 designated passport application acceptance facilities across the U.S.
Luverne is one of 760 facilities in Seattle's 11 state region.
According to the State Department, the reason for the increase is to insure that the true cost of providing consular services to Americans are recovered, this includes services to Americans provided at U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad, as well as the passport application process at home.
In Rock County you can apply for your passport at the Auditor/TreasurerÕs office in the Rock County Court House.
Publisher Roger Tollefson can be contacted by e-mail at
tolly@star-herald.com