Minnesota briefs

Last update: September 29, 2009 - 8:45 PM

HUTCHINSON

Police officer fired, another suspended

One Hutchinson police officer was fired and another was suspended without pay after separate incidents earlier this year while the officers were off-duty.

Police Chief Dan Hatten said officer Shelly Schmidt was a probationary officer who was fired Friday. Earlier this year, Hatten said, Schmidt was convicted of trespassing. She was a passenger in a vehicle that drove into a field, damaging a new crop.

Officer Jason Pederson was told Tuesday he'll be suspended without pay for 40 hours. Hatten said Pederson's penalty stems from a criminal case in which Pederson violated policy by exhibiting conduct unbecoming a police officer. He didn't give details of the case.

Working phone numbers for Pederson and Schmidt were unavailable, and they could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

ST. PAUL

Employment agency said to bait job-seekers

The Minnesota attorney general's office is accusing an employment agency of baiting unemployed Minnesotans with the promise of helping them find jobs, then not living up to the agreement.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sued the Arthur Group Inc. and its owner and chief executive, Barry Trimble, on Tuesday.

The lawsuit says the company violated consumer fraud and deceptive trade practice laws. The company lured job seekers, and had clients pay as much as $4,500 in fees, often without producing a job interview or lead, it said. The lawsuit also says the company posted ads for jobs online, then told interviewers at the time of appointment that the posted job was no longer available.

The Arthur Group closed in August. A listed phone number for Trimble was unavailable, and he could not be reached for comment.

BISMARCK, N.D

105th birthday candles for Elbow Lake native

Amanda Klinger can remember when Bismarck and Mandan were not connected by a bridge and people had to use a ferry boat to cross the Missouri River.

Klinger celebrated her 105th birthday Monday in a Bismarck nursing home.

She rooms with her 84-year-old daughter, Verdell. Her 91-year-old sister, Ruth Lindblum, also lives in the home.

Klinger's parents came to the United States from Norway. She was born in 1904 on a farm near Elbow Lake, Minn., before the family homesteaded in North Dakota the following year, living in a sod house.

She remembers growing up on the farm near Voltaire and later Turtle Lake, but farm life wasn't for her. She said she decided, "I'll never marry a farmer because I didn't want to live on a farm."

Klinger has 14 great-great-grandchildren. She says she feels great.

As for any advice, she says, "Live from day to day, I guess. That's about it."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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