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Oak Hills residents owe much to Ramnarine

Residents of the Oak Hills Living Center, indeed, all of New Ulm, owes a debt of gratitude to Joe Ramnarine, who died June 8 at the age of 86. Ramnarine was the administrator of the Highland Manor nursing home in New Ulm back in the 1990s. He knew the facility was too old, too uncomfortable and our senior citizens deserved better. He led the push to build the new facility that is now Oak Hills Living Center. Ramnarine would take anyone and everyone through Highland Manor, show them the narrow corridors crowded with wheel chairs and carts, point out the lack of air conditioning in the ...

Good news on state tax cuts

Minnesota legislators have been in special session for a week to pass state budget bills. They are still working on those, but they did get a significant piece of legislation finished last week. Legislators agreed on a nearly $1 billion tax cut bill that focuses most of its benefits to businesses and workers impacted by COVID-19. Businesses that received federal Paycheck Protection Program loans won’t have to pay taxes on the loans, putting the state in compliance with federal PPP loan policy. Workers laid off because of COVID-19 who received federal unemployment benefits won’t ...

Give Schell’s an even break

The Minnesota Legislature has a lot on its mind these days trying to pass a budget for the next couple of years. It may not have beer sales high on its priority list, but it should be careful about putting the state’s oldest brewery at a competitive disadvantage. The issue is growler sales. Growlers are containers holding up to 64 ounces of beer that are popular items at mini breweries and brew pubs. People visiting the breweries like to take some home and buy a growler or two. The state controls the sale of these containers closely, some throwback to prohibition, we suppose. It ...

Thumbs Up/Down

Park improvements THUMBS UP: The City of New Ulm is celebrating a lot of improvements that are coming about as the result of the RENU program, which extended the city’s half-percent sales tax to fund another round of new and improved Park and Recreation facilities. The city will hold a special ribbon cutting and grand reopening for Johnson Park, which was the first project to be completed last season. The city’s recreation center is undergoing a major change, with a gymnastics center and a new aquatic center going in. We appreciate the willingness of New Ulm votes to approve ...

Downtown mural will dress up New Ulm

Nature abhors a vacuum, it is said, and so it is with bare, blank walls. The bigger the expanse, the more it calls for someone to fill it up with something. That can means unauthorized graffiti or posters and handbills, things that need to be cleaned off, covered up or removed. But a big, blank wall can be a canvas for something special and artistic, and so the New Ulm Downtown Action team is calling for local artists to create a mural for the side of the Nuvera building at 1st North and Minnesota Streets. The mural would be a 20x80 foot creation, framed and printed on billboard ...

The dangers of repeat DWI offenders

Throw together a crowd of protestors blocking a city intersection,and a 5-time DWI offender driving with no license and you have the recipe for a tragedy. Late Sunday, Nicholas Kraus, driving without a license after five DWI convictions, approached the intersection that had been blocked off by demonstrators protesting the shooting of Winston Boogie Smith, Jr., killed by U.S. Marshals on June 3. Kraus told officers he saw a car blocking the intersection and thought he had to speed up to “jump” the barricade. Instead, he smashed into the car, knocking it into Deona Knadjek, killing ...