Fine Arts to sponsor photo contest
The Rock County Fine Arts Association is sponsoring a photo contest, "Images of Rock County."
The contest is divided into two divisions, one for those under 18 and the other for the rest of us.
The three categories include people, animals and scenery, and you can enter one entry in each category.
You don't have to worry about competing with the pros because they are not allowed to enter, but they will judge the event.
The deadline for entering is March 1, and the photo entries will be on display at the Carnegie Cultural Center through the end of March.
For details about entering the contest you can go to their Web site at www.rockartsrock.com, or you can contact them at 283-8294.
County Engineer imposes weight restrictions
It may not be spring yet, but it is time for spring weight restrictions on county and state roads.
The weight restrictions went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19.
According to County Engineer Mark Sehr, the weight restrictions used to be set at eight weeks. Now the restriction can go as long as eight weeks but can be ended in a shorter period of time is circumstances permit.
The intent is to restrict weights at the beginning of the thaw cycle when restrictions are needed most. Spring is a critical period for roads because the soils and aggregate materials are weak while the frost leaves the ground, according to Sehr.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation put its spring restrictions in place on Feb. 18.
The restrictions are different on various roads, so each road is posted with the appropriate limit.
Meat for Mexico
The Christian Reformed churches in southwest Minnesota, southeast South Dakota and northwest Iowa have joined together to send meat to needy children and families in Mexico.
When hog prices hit the bottom in 1998, the idea of using cheap pork to help benefit starving people in Mexico was born.
The original goal was to butcher 12 hogs and send the meat to a southern Texas mission station for distribution to a mission school in northern Mexico.
The response was much greater than expected. Instead of 12 hogs being donated, a total of 14,000 pounds of pork was donated.
With prices again down, the group is trying to raise a shipment of pork for Mexico.
This time 30,000 pounds of meat is the goal, which local processing plants will process and package for free, and Justice for All, a non-profit organization, has agreed to find delivery and cold storage for the meat at no cost.
If you would like to donate a hog or two, contact one of the Christian Reformed churches in the area or phone Larry Ryswyk at 507-443-6202 or Ken Alons at 507-825-3861.
Making it easier to donate your organs
If Minnesotans want to donate their organs, should they have their wishes followed?
The House Civil Law Committee decided on Jan. 30 that they should.
The committee clarified an existing law to make sure those who designate their intention to be donors on their driver's license or state identification cards actually become donors.
Rep. Phyllis Kahn sponsored the bill because family members sometimes override the wishes of their deceased relative and refuse to allow the personÕs organs to be donated.
Since the organs need to be harvested from the body shortly after death, grieving families are often asked to make a quick decision at an already stressful time.
According to LifeSource, an independent, nonprofit organ procurement organization that matches donors to recipients, nearly 80,000 people nationally are waiting for an organ transplant, including about 2,100 in the upper Midwest region, which includes Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and North and South Dakota.
Although the list of people in need of organs continues to grow, the number of organs has remained steady.
According to LifeSource, about 16 people each day die while waiting for an organ transplant.
Publisher Roger Tollefson can be contacted by e-mail at
tolly@star-herald.com