By Tim King, photo by Jan KingOne Saturday morning, not long ago, Ona Reinbold was sleeping a little late at her rural Long Prairie home. She'd worked hard the night before. She had earned a few extra winks. But it was not to be. Her husband Gary gently woke her. "Do you want to be a miracle worker," he asked. A young woman was on t he phone. She had come to Sauk Centre from Minneapolis. Her sis- ter's wedding was scheduled for that afternoon. She was a brides- maid. She had a pretty dress. And she had just burned a hole in it with an iron. Ona, who has been making alter- ations, sewing zippers, knitting sweaters, making Halloween cos- tumes and curtains, and putting patches where they are needed for eighteen years, did what she had to do. She came to the rescue. "The hole was in the front where it did the most damage," Ona recalls. But the dress was made in such a way that a patch could be made largely invisible. Although the bride did not learn, on her wedding day, that her sister was wearing a patched bridesmaid dress the fact is now likely a treasured family memory. Miracles on such a scale may not be all i n a days work for seamstre ss Reinbold, but smal l miracles are regularly performed in her little shop in the now largely vacant Hart building in downtown Long Prairie. One recent week she hemmed twenty-four pairs of pants. On another week she altered seven brides maids dresses. She's made lots of things from scratch. Sometimes the projects are a little unusual. "A man wanted some fishing pole covers," she reca lls. "One was seven feet long and the other was twelve feet. They had to have a fleece lining and zippers." The request was made, no doubt, because Ona had a line of hand made covers for upright vacuums. She had covers with cow's heads, teddy bears, mice, rabbits and other cuddly creatures. That was back in the day when the Hart building was a hopping place with a coffee shop, gift store, H & R Block office, Travel Agency and a much larger Ona's Crafts and Alterations. "I had eighty-five craft consigners in the early 1990s," she said. There still are about six crafters, including an Amish wood worker. And Ona is never caught up on her work as a seamstress. Somebody is always in need of a tuck in their dress, shortened pants, or a patch where it counts. Ona Reinbold operates her seamstress business out of the old Hart building in downtown Long Prairie. A community newspape r serving Br owerville, MN and surr ounding ar eas. USPS 067-560 Thursday, December 10, 2009 Volume 97; Number 26 www.bladepublishing.net ATM Machine stolen Wed Dec. 9 Snow Showers Thu Dec. 10 Partly Cloudy Fri Dec. 11 Partly Cloudy Sat Dec. 12Partly Cloudy Sun Dec. 13Mostly Cloudy Mon Dec. 14 Mostly Cloudy Tue Dec. 15Mostly Sunny Wed Dec. 16Partly Cloudy WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT 7 5 ¢ First visit with Santa Four month old Ella Jagush, daughter of Mike and Michelle, had her first visit with Santa during his visit to Browerville on December 6t h. Browerville’ s Old Fashione d Christmas was held that evening, providing visits with Santa, hay rides, f ood, and door prizes. See additiona l photos on page 20. Local seamstress does not mind unusual projects Real estate taxes increase, milk prices decrease On the afternoon of December 4th Browerville resident Corey Heid discovered that the ATM Machine located adjacent to K o n - etzko’s M e a t Market was miss- ing. After calls were made to the owner of the machine, M n National Bank, to make sure it was not removed for servicing, the Todd County Sheriff’s Department was noti- fied of the appar ent theft. This incident remains under investi- gation. Additional incidents taking place in the same evening in Browerville were: At approx. 4:30 am, December 4, Curtis Robak, Browerville, reported that his 1996 Chevrolet S-10 pickup w a s stolen along with his checkbook and wallet and all the contents in the bed of the truck. A short time later the truck was located and also a location where the items in the truck had been u n - loaded. T h e vehicle w a s returned t o Robak. Also at 5:24 am, Dec-ember 4, Jimmy Wiershalla, Browerville, reported that his wallet and checkbook had been stolen from his vehicle, which was unlocked and parked in his driveway . A short distance away , the wallet and checkbook were located, but an undetermined amount of cash and check cards were missing. Anyone with infor- mation about these incidents is asked to contact the sheriff’s department. By Tim KingReal estate taxes are going up for farmers and milk prices are low. That's the message Todd County Commissioners heard Tuesday night when they convened a public hearing on the county's $13.6 million tax levy for 2010. According to County Assessor Chuck Pelzer and County Administrator Nathan Burkett taxes on the county's agricultural land have increased an average of 3.6 percent. At the same time homestead tax cred- its for agricultural land have been declining as land values have increased, according to Pelzer. Farmer Keith Olander told commissioners they were putting the tax burden on farmers. He said agri- culture can't continue to carry the tax burden in the face of declining commodity prices. Commissioner Kircher and Administrator Burkett both said they understood agriculture is the pri- mary economic engine of Todd County. They indicated their hands were tied, however, and the problem needs to be addressed by the legislature. The tax system as it is now, is unfair they said. Burkett and Pelzer pointed out that while taxes have increased on agricultural land they have decreased for residential, commercial, and Continued on page 20.
