Snow photos from Thursday-Friday this week will be posted today

Shots from Kensington on Thursday morning at about 8:00am, with the view coming from the north side of Main Street, facing south, and a photo of the travel from Kensington to Hoffman, and then a few shots from around Hoffman.

It's about time: President Obama proposes slashing farm payments

(How can we have any credibility by saying farm subsidies are needed to save the family farm, when the majority of these payments go to the largest farms? The logic is, "bigger is better" right? So bigger farms should be more efficient, and therefore should get the least government aid.)

WASHINGTON - Big farms that receive large government subsidies would lose some of that money under President Barack Obama's budget.

His proposal would cut government subsidies to farmers, targeting large-scale operations that get the highest payments.

Obama's budget would break from the five-year farm bill that Congress enacted last year, with his support. He proposes eliminating what are known as direct payments - subsidies that are paid to farmers regardless of crop prices or crop yield - for producers with higher sales revenues.

Under Obama's request, agriculture programs would receive $26 billion, almost a 9 percent increase over the 2009 budget year. That does not include the recent economic stimulus or entitlement spending for food stamp programs.

Hoffman Tribune office closing before NOON on Thursday - Main Street Galleria also closed today (read below)

Look outside and you'll know why! I probably will be packing up at 11am, after a trip over to the Coop to buy some corn to heat my house this upcoming cold, cold weekend.

Here are some video clips from downtown Hoffman on Thursday morning.



Here is an e-mail I received from T.J. Clavens at 10:29am =

For the safety of our volunteers we have chosen to remain closed today.

As always please feel free to call TJ at 320-766-1166 and he will be happy to come to the Galleria and try to meet your needs.

Sorry for any inconveniences this may cause you.

Thanks~
TJ & Theresa Clavin

"Randy's Ramblings" for February 26, 2009

A very well-attended Commerce and Ag meeting took place last Thursday at Bullfrog’s in Hoffman. I counted 22 on hand when we gathered for the regular February meeting. It’s noteworthy that 12 members of the organization (which totals over 60 businesses) are farmers. This reflects how intertwined the farm economy and small town Main Street are.
HEDA director Muriel Krusemark gave a wonderful update on the business activity going on in Hoffman as of late. She highlighted too many items to give justice to in this short editor’s column. Look for an extended story about the February 19th meeting in next week’s Tribune. Also, Commerce and Ag will be running an “annual statement” of what their organization stands for and how you can become involved, whether you’re a private citizen or a business owner.
I have to say “Hats off” to the staff of Anderson’s Dew Drop Inn, who handled with ease the large turnout for the legislative Town Hall meeting last Friday. I’ll just say that we sure were “cozy” in their meeting room!

Shifting gears...Did you know that insurance giant AIG lost more money in the fourth quarter of 2008 than it had made in the previous three years? While they had their hand out for taxpayer money, 38 executives were rewarded with “retention bonuses” in 2008. Are you kidding me? Only a moron would say that makes sense! As the company was run into the ground, their leaders got bonuses. When will the madness end

Downtown Kensington on Tuesday morning, February 24

Two important items for Hoffman residents

•Horizons Welcome Packets updated
The Ambassador Committee of the Hoffman Horizons is updating the Welcome Packets that will be delivered by the committee to each new family in Hoffman. The Ambassador Committee and Messiah Lutheran Church Committee are working together on this project. If you have not yet responded to Messiah’s previous request and wish to, please contact the HEDA office with your item or brochure. Box 227, Hoffman, 56339, or heda@runestone.net.
•New City Website
The city of Hoffman is creating a new website and we need all the info we can from the community. If you are a new business that was not included in the old list of businesses, please contact us so you can be included. The website will be able to link to each business in our community. Please contact janee@runestone.net with your information. Janee Strunk will be creating the website.

West Central Area girls basketball team defeats Hawley 66-55 in Heart O' Lakes Conference action

The Knights girls basketball team will finish the regular season next week with games against Hancock on Monday (at home) and against Brandon-Evansville on Friday (at Brandon)...both opponents are ranked in the Top 10 in Class A. Their combined overall records is 37-3.

The Knights capped the HOL conference schedule with this nice double-digit win over the Nuggets. WCA went 16-2 in league play this year, while the Nuggets went 13-5 in the HOL and 14-9 overall. West Central Area is 19-3 going into next week's action.