The Public Hearing for the Commercial Tax Abatement for Mountain Lake Hotel has been rescheduled to 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 12th. The public hearing will still be held in the Courthouse in the Commissioner’s room.
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The Cottonwood County Sheriff’s Department reported on the 20th at approximately 10 am a Deputy was on duty in Mountain Lake when he recognized a male party that he was aware had an active warrant. After confirming identification, it was determined the male had five active warrants he was taken into custody and transported to jail in Windom. On the 23rd at approximately 10:45 pm a deputy was dispatched to West Clark Street in Jeffers for a report of an argument going on in the yard. The caller stated there was a lot of yelling and phones being thrown. Upon arrival and investigation, a 30-year-old male from Jeffers was arrested for Domestic Assault and taken to the Cottonwood County Jail.
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A 20-year-old Westbrook man, Ayden Wallace Parker was sentenced in Redwood County Court on August 14th to the correctional facility in St Cloud for 17 months and fees and fines of $235 as a result of a traffic pursuit and stop on June 10, 2022. Parker was traveling south on Highway 67 in a stolen vehicle from Iowa when the Redwood County Deputy spotted the vehicle and attempted a stop which Parker ignored and proceeded to flee reaching speeds of 80 mph. The vehicle was eventually pulled over in rural Redwood County and Parker informed law enforcement he had swallowed a bag of methamphetamines during the pursuit.
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The Windom Area Health Governing Board of Directors will meet Monday, August 28th at 5:30pm in the Large Conference Room at the Hospital.
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Windom Area School Board is holding a Work Session Meeting Monday, August 28th at 6:30pm in the Windom City Council Chambers. You can also view the meeting live at Media SB22 on YouTube.
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Cottonwood County Board of Commissioners will be holding a special meeting on Tuesday, August 29th at 8am in the Cottonwood County Courthouse on the Agenda they will cover an Amendment to Resolution 23-08-22 , Tax Forfeiture for Demo Bids, Disbursement Agreements for Watonwan Watershed and Des Moines Watershed and the 2024 Budgets.
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The University of Minnesota Extension, along with Minnesota Beef Council, will host online Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) training opportunities starting in September 2023. Producers attending any of the free workshops will receive their three-year BQA certification.
Over the past three years, cattlemen and women have been asked to complete the BQA program in order to market their cattle to certain processors. However, BQA certification is still voluntary. Specific companies have chosen to extend their own quality assurance protocol requirements to cattlemen who are a part of their supply chain. A BQA certification is being required by many major industry buyers and processors. When a producer does not have current BQA certification the result is that many packers and feedlots simply cannot purchase those cattle because their company cannot source cattle from a producer who does not meet their certification requirements.
The online BQA trainings that will be offered include:
- Online Zoom training: Thursday, September 14, 2023, beginning at 7:00 p.m. o Register at www.z.umn.edu/BQASept14
- Online Zoom training: Thursday, November 30, 2023, beginning at 7:00 p.m. o Register at www.z.umn.edu/BQANov30
- Online Zoom Training: Tuesday, February 20, 2024, beginning at 7:00 p.m. o Register at www.z.umn.edu/BQAFeb20
- Online Zoom Training: Tuesday, April 9, 2024, beginning at 7:00 p.m. o Register at www.z.umn.edu/BQAApril9
The two hour trainings are free to attend, but attendees must pre-register online at the correct link. Only one person from each operation is required to be certified to ensure the entire operation follows the BQA standards. However, everyone who handles and manages fed cattle is encouraged to become BQA certified. You only need to attend one of the training options to complete BQA certification.
About the ONLINE Zoom trainings: Pre-registration is required. You will not be able to access the Zoom meeting room without first pre-registering and receiving the secure Zoom link from Extension staff. Accessing Zoom is as simple as clicking on the secure link that will be emailed directly to you.
Families are able to view the training on the same computer/mobile device, and all viewers will receive credit for certification. At the time of entering the Zoom webinar, each participant will need to be checked in by UMN Extension staff with their full name, address, and contact information if it was not supplied at the time of registration.
As always, anyone can complete the online BQA training at www.bqa.org at any time.
To keep up to date on both online and in-person BQA trainings that will be offered throughout Minnesota in 2023 and 2024, you can go to the UMN Extension BQA Events site: https://extension.umn.edu/courses-and-events/beef-quality-assurance As more trainings are scheduled they will all be added to this page so that you can see a complete list of options, both online and in person, to be offered. Pay close attention to whether a training will be offered virtually or in-person.
If you have any questions about accessing the in-person or online BQA trainings, or have questions regarding your BQA status expiration, please do not hesitate to contact the UMN BQA Team by email – bqa@umn.edu
Any use of this article must include the byline or following credit line:
Melissa Runck is an Extension Educator-Ag Production Systems with University of Minnesota Extension in Murray and Pipestone Counties.
Joe Armstrong is an Extension Educator – Cattle Production Systems with University of Minnesota Extension
Source: Joe Armstrong and Melissa Runck, U of M Extension, 612-624-3610, armst225@umn.edu