BACK THEN: Mayor announces plan to use utility funds for new library

A snapshot hanging on the wall just inside the front door to KLFD 1410 AM shows Bob Greenhow and Steve Neighbors popping bottles of champagne. The photo was taken 10 years ago when the radio duo opened the doors to their then newly acquired station, located in the former Gamble’s bu9ilding in downtown Litchfield. When Greenhow and Neighbors went on the air for the first time Dec. 7, 1991, they were nearly broke after fighting a legal contest in which a few area radio stations tried to block the approval of their FCC license. To make ends meet, both found part-time jobs; Neighbors even worked at a Willmar radio station for a time. But they eventually purchased the license and last week observed their 10th anniversary as owners of KLFD.

50 YEARS AGO: NEWS FROM THE ISSUE OF DEC. 15, 1971

The cost of school lunch will go up by a nickel effective Jan. 1. The School Board took action to boost the lunch prices last July, but the price freeze resulted in holding back on the increase. However, effective Jan. 1, a lunch in the elementary grades will increase from 25 to 30 cents, and in the Junior and Senior High the boost will be from 30 to 35 cents. The price students pay for a half-pint of milk will be up from one cent to two cents. Noting that at these prices, the district is operating the lunch program at a deficit, Superintendent Johnston said the school pays 6.2 cents for a half-pint of milk. The district gets 4 cents from the federal government for each half-pint sold.

Mrs. Dee Bollin will be Meeker County’s new home extension agent. She succeeds Luanne Johnson, who has retired effective Jan. 1. Mrs. Bollin, a native of Hutchinson, is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. She served as a home agent in Meeker County from 1961 until 1964, and prior to that served for two years as a home agent in Redwood County.

Milk is the First District Association’s business and they handled a lot of it during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Ron Leaf, association manager, reported to the 46th annual meeting of stockholder-dairymen on Saturday that the cooperative handled 521,937,118 pounds of milk during the past year. There’s 46 quarts of milk in 100 pounds. If you do your arithmetic you’ll find that the figured out to about 240,000,000 quarts. That’s more than a quart for every man, woman and child in the United States. The peak daily volume came on June 13 when 1,900,158 pounds of milk came in from the far-flung First District area. Leaf also reported that the cooperative posted a record dollar volume of $25,046,504 in fiscal 1971.

A meeting called by the Meeker County Planning Commission to lay the groundwork for setting up a garbage collection franchise to serve eight Meeker County municipalities got the cold shoulder Wednesday night. Mayor Vern Madson of Litchfield was the only one of eight from around the county to show up for the meeting at the Meeker County Courthouse. The County Planning Commission was hoping to work with municipalities to set up a single franchised operator whose garbage collection service could serve all the municipalities in the county with the exception of Litchfield, where the City Council acted to keep a municipal garbage collection system.

The morning announcement read something like this: “Take your dead birds out of the freezer tomorrow morning so that they will be thawed in time for our evening meeting.” Yes, taxidermy season had started once again. Gary Larson, biology instructor at the Litchfield Senior High School, is largely responsible for a growing interest in the art of taxidermy. He even acts as advisor for a club dedicated to learning about and experiencing bird and animal stuffing. Now in its fourth year of regular meetings, the club has about 20 active members who meet Thursday nights to cut, scrape and stuff.

75 YEARS AGO: NEWS FROM THE ISSUE OF DEC. 12, 1946

Don’t forget about the fox hunt staged by the Meeker County Sportsmen’s club this Sunday. Shotguns will be the only firearm permitted. The hunt will cover several sections in the north part of the county. Foxes are plentiful in that area and hunting should be good.

A Junior Chamber of Commerce will start in Litchfield with the organization meeting slated for next Tuesday at the Community building. All young men between the ages of 21 and 35 should attend this organizational meeting when officers will be elected and by-laws drawn up.

100 YEARS AGO: NEWS FROM THE ISSUE OF DEC. 10, 1921

At the regular meeting of the council Monday night, the village attorney was instructed to draw an ordinance which will prohibit towing of toboggans by automobiles. A committee was appointed to look into the matter of heating the opera house by steam from the city plant. The petition for a third policeman was denied. There having been two men on duty each night, it was thot advisable to reduce to one.

Miss Kate Kennelly, a nurse, has been appointed by the school board to examine all the children in the local schools as a preventative measure for the spread of any infectious colds or other disease. Thus far her findings have been satisfactory. Out of all the grade children examined, only five have been excluded from the school because of bad colds. Next week children will be weighed and measured.

The Eden Valley girls and boys basketball teams will drive over this afternoon and this evening will try conclusions with the Litchfield high school boys and girls teams. The games will be played at the Noreen pavilion, the first one to be called at 7:30. Litchfield folks will have the opportunity of the season to discover the quality of the local players. No doubt a large crowd will be on hand on that account.