Victoria MN Newspaper

To the Editor:

Hi, Sue. Enclosed please find a check to keep Minnesota's best small town newspaper coming to our home. Thank you, respectfully and sincerely.

Mike and Colleen Klingelhutz

Waconia, Minnesota

To the Editor:

Over the last several months, I have been working with the Carver County Community Development Agency in an attempt to establish a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) program in Carver County.

This program helps encourage activity and value-added products at U.S. facilities in competing with foreign alternatives by allowing delayed or reduced duty payments on foreign merchandise, as well as other savings.

Today I am writing to invite you to a meeting with Mark William Toth, the administrator for the Greater Metropolitan Foreign Trade Zone Commission, to learn more about this program and potential opportunity. The meeting will be held on March 20th at the Carver County Government Center.

By helping U.S. employers remain competitive, FT zones can contribute to maintaining or boosting employment.

Randy Maluchnik

Carver County Commissioner

To the Editor:

I really liked the reprint of your 1982 story on Hank and Pearl Fossum last month.

When I started attending the old District 16 school in Victoria in 1936, Hank owned a school bus but it was driven by his brother in law Clarence Anderson. Hank was on the School Board at that time and it must have been considered a conflict of interest to be on the School Board and get paid for driving a school bus.

Then there were two routes. The other route had a bus being driven by Frank Schneider who lived in the Leuthner home just across the street (Rose Street) from the old City Hall in Victoria. He later worked in the Chanhassen State Bank. I see letters from time to time in the Gazette from his daughter in law.

Anyway, about 1938 both buses were declared obsolete and so Hank bought a brand new 1938 Ford school bus, orange in color. I should add that the old bus did not have regular seats. There was a large seat all around the wall of the bus, where the kids sat.

There used to be a Laketown Township road running between County Road 11 and State Highway 5 (part of it still exists, which runs by the public access on Lower Lake Auburn), and one morning when I was on the bus, it collided with another vehicle so we were late getting to school.

A fender of Hank's bus was damaged and, when replaced, it was a slightly different color so from a distance you could tell it was Hank's bus.

Pearl and her mother were great fisher people, and during the Depression my Dad (Erwin) rented boats on Lake Stieger, and Pearl and her mother kept a boat at our place on Lake Stieger. I can remember them fishing and laughing so loudly that they could be heard all over the lake.

Uncle Ron Holtmeier

Waconia, Minnesota

To the Editor:

Happy Easter. It's early this year, April 5th. If you haven't got your fish house off the lake yet, it will be fish chowder, just like in the Grumpy Old Men movies. I have copies of both shows.

I can see my mom boiling up about 30 dozen eggs and she colors them too. She boxed them up in the cooler, ready for the city park. She even made Easter Bunny costumes for the teenagers in the Junior Auxiliary. Teenagers weren't too interested in that.

A local Carver County ambassador celebrated his 60th birthday February 7th. The Polish Eagle himself, Randy Maluchnik, is pictured in the March paper with his wife Suzette, Editor Sue, and others in the Chaska Legion's Rose Room, which is named after my mom, Rose Meuwissen. It was a barber shop and years later a flower shop. When the flower shop closed, the Legion bought it and in the process of remodeling it was blended in years later after Mom passed away in 1991. My mom is pictured in their photos in the background. I have a copy of the same picture. She was about 60 in the photo.

I remember a lot of those past presidents of the Auxiliary going back to the charter members of 1925. At Christmas time, Mom's homemade Santa suit was worn by the Post members. One of the guys, Randy Maluchnik, wore it a few times as well. A Polish Santa. How would he say Ho, Ho, Ho in Polish?

As ever, Kay Meuwissen

Chaska, Minnesota

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