Martin County Star Newsmakers
Everything you want and need to know about what is going on in Martin County Minnesota.
We look at the paper and talk to the Newsmakers.
Mayor's, City Council members, Coachs, Police, Concerned Citizens, and everyday folk with a story to tell.
Tune in each Friday for a new episode.
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Martin County Star Newsmakers
Welcome's Vision for a Brighter Tomorrow
Ever wonder what excuses people come up with when they're pulled over for speeding? Join us for a laugh as we sit down with John Arringer, the police chief of Trimont and a city council candidate in Welcome, Minnesota. John shares lighthearted tales from his time in law enforcement and reminisces about our first meeting, which involved a not-so-smooth run-in with an unexpected alarm at the Amberfield Apartments. Plus, get a sneak peek into the upcoming Harvest Festival and local elections, along with a friendly reminder for all candidates to reach out for their spotlight interview.
As we shift gears, the conversation turns to the future of Welcome, Minnesota, with John sharing his vision of improved ordinance enforcement and infrastructure development. We dive into the community's strong points, from its dedicated public safety departments to its fantastic neighborly bonds, and discuss how these elements contribute to a cohesive town atmosphere. With upcoming road projects and tax concerns on residents' minds, our commitment remains to align the town's growth with their needs. To wrap up, we unveil our podcast schedule, invite sports coaches to share their team stories, and provide a guide on how to tune in for more insightful episodes. Catch us online at martinco-star.com and stay tuned for the next engaging discussion!
Okay, ready or not, here we are. Hey, welcome to episode three of Martin County Stars Newsmakers Podcast. I'm Mike Ennis, I'm your host and today we have a full. We have a full show planned for today. We have John Arringer, police Chief of Trimont and also candidate for City Council, and welcome. John will be with us here in a little while.
Speaker 1:A couple of things to bring up to you. First of all, we need some kind of an intro music, don't we? Something kind of upbeat? I'm going to be looking for some intro music to play. I want to welcome you to the show today.
Speaker 1:Also, hey, today in section B of the newspaper you're going to find a fire prevention week, and we have all 11 fire stations in our area listed with pictures. So it's worth it. And if you have a loved one who's maybe a firefighter, cut out the picture frame it, put it up somewhere, you know. Anyway, we want to thank our firemen. They do a great job and we're always thankful. I know they put their lives on the line whenever they go out to a fire, and so you know, if you see one today or this week, tell them. Thank you all.
Speaker 1:Right, I also wanted to bring up the southern Minnesota peach we're a part of. We belong to that along with six other newspapers, so there are seven of us total, and I believe it's four counties that we cover, with some 6,000 distribution. These are people who have paid to be subscribers. They want the paper not just popped in the mail, you know, to everybody under the sun who half of them throw it away. These are people who want to be here and so, anyway, this week our own Snyder Logging is on the front cover of the Minnesota Peach. So, anyway, take a look at that.
Speaker 1:A couple of things going on. The Harvest Festival is October 20th. Also, elections are just around the corner, which is why we're going to be talking to John here in a little while. But lots of things going on. If you're a candidate, by the way, for one of the seats in the area, give us a call at 507-764-6681, and we can schedule you to be on the show to talk about why you should be elected, why the people of your area need to vote for you. Also, on the pet page this week we have the pet of the week is a mouse. Yeah, kind of interesting. The pet of the week is a mouse, so check that out also.
Speaker 1:We'll be back in just a minute. We're going to be talking to John and we're going to find out what's going on. Here we go, All right, we are back and I've got John Oranger with me. John is a police chief in Tremont and also the candidate for city council. In Welcome, I've got to tell you a funny story on how I met John. We had just bought the Amberfield Apartments about six months ago, Candy and I, and they had those pull cords in there, for it was an assisted living at one point, and they still had those. And I told Candy I was an assisted living at one point, and they still had those. And I told Candy. I said I wonder if these things work. She says I don't know. I said, well, let me pull one. She said I don't think I would do it, Mike. I said, well, you know, so I pull it. And all of a sudden alarm goes off. I said, oh gee, money. Five minutes later, up he handcuffed me, threw me in the back. No, he didn't. Anyway, there I was, Showed up there.
Speaker 1:I was Showed up Anyway, hey, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it. Thank you All right.
Speaker 1:Good deal. A couple of questions for you. First of all, john is a police chief in Tremont, yes, and so I looked up something, I got something kind of interesting and I've got hold on. Let me get this thing here. I have the top reasons that people give when they're pulled over for speeding. Okay, so you tell me if they've ever used these on you, all right, okay, the last one. This is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. I got like nine. So the last one says they said they were late for a court appointment.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it was specifically court, but running late for an appointment or running late for something.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, all right, that's the next one too is for doctor's appointments, so we'll lump those together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just lump them all together. They're late for something.
Speaker 1:Late for something, all right? Well, here's another one Late to pick up or drop off their child. Again, same thing. That was just recently, was it?
Speaker 2:With a local person, if they listen.
Speaker 1:Yes, they know who they are. Yes, they do All right remark that they were going as fast as everybody else.
Speaker 2:I don't see that around here as much because yeah, I mean it's, but I have had that excuse, especially going from the four-way stop going north out of town. They're like well I was just following the guy in front of me. Well actually no, there was a big gap.
Speaker 1:He was doing 30 and you were doing 42, whatever you were catching up with him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you were trying to catch up, all right.
Speaker 1:They say they did not see the speed limit sign.
Speaker 2:That happens frequently, especially in Trimont. Here there's the 130 mile an hour. If you're coming from like Sherbourne area, there's a 130 mile an hour sign. That's right on the curve. So a lot of people just don't pay attention. They don't see that sign.
Speaker 1:That's a tough one.
Speaker 2:So you know, I was, and since it's a state highway, it's like can we make this more noticeable, Can we do more of something? But then we can't place signs in the city. It has to go through the state, Okay or something.
Speaker 1:But then we can't place signs in the city, it has to go through the state. Okay, all right, your hands are tied. Yeah, let me see.
Speaker 2:They say, oh, they have to use the bathroom. I don't think I've had that one, really. No, no.
Speaker 1:Okay, folks, there's one for you.
Speaker 2:There you go. No stiff, it should have planned ahead.
Speaker 1:Yeah right, Let me see A medical emergency.
Speaker 2:Yes, I've run across that one a couple times.
Speaker 1:A couple times. Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2:Like somebody following an ambulance.
Speaker 1:Well, the ambulance had went through and then they're trying to catch up. Okay, so they got a loved one in the ambulance?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's processes that go through the emergency room. Your presence is not. I get it. I would probably be in their same shoes, but it's kind of like, but it's still not allowed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay All right, they say they're late for work. Again the late. Yeah, excuse us.
Speaker 2:And then the number one is they claim they didn't realize they were speeding. Yes, that one. Oh, I wasn't. You know that falls into oh, I wasn't paying attention, or I didn't realize, or something like that.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I understand that with young drivers.
Speaker 1:Of course they do.
Speaker 2:Okay, there we go.
Speaker 1:All right, john. So anyway, let's talk for a minute. You're running for well. First of all, let's talk about Trimont Anything going on in Trimont that maybe you can shed some light on Not really, not really.
Speaker 2:The biggest talk is the Highway 4 project, and so you know I'm trying to keep up with it, even though I have no say in anything Not your fault, nope. So I try to stay up to date. So when people are asking questions I can somewhat fill it in. I was talking to one of the DOT guys yesterday and trying to get the road cleaned up. They were doing that yesterday and the day before, whatever, getting the road like all the dust and dirt off of it and getting ready for milling, milling. So the word I got was that they'll come in and mill sometime in the next two to three weeks. So it got pushed a little bit further, because paving crew is out doing other projects too. There's some, you know they're, they're spread, spread out.
Speaker 1:So so it's still not open, though, between here and Sherbourne.
Speaker 2:No, okay, technically no. So that's what I tell people. Okay, no, it is not.
Speaker 1:Because I see people going down it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people are driving on it. They're taking it upon themselves. However, the road is still closed. All right, the reason being is, since there's no stripes on the, you know there's no white lines.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah.
Speaker 2:Everything's not finished yet, right? So there could be liability if they were to open it up and something were to happen.
Speaker 1:Okay, you know. So that's why it's still closed. All right, well, I'm still going around. Yeah, yeah, I'm saying to myself you know, one day it'll be open and it's going to be great when it is.
Speaker 2:It will be nice. It'll be a nice smooth road. I went down.
Speaker 1:Highway 4 to Donnell.
Speaker 2:That's open now.
Speaker 1:Oh that was a nice drive. Why are you crazy?
Speaker 2:Maybe, maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, I ran. Uh, what was that Two years ago? Two years ago. Um, I used to work Sherbourne welcome police department down there. Oh, okay, and you know, and I I live in welcome and I just kind of want to be engaged within the community that I live in.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:You know serving the people.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I spent most of my life trying to serve communities and be active in some way shape or form Okay. From being on ambulance crews, fire departments, police departments, now I'm trying to work my way into city council.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I can serve on that.
Speaker 1:Well, I know, two years ago you lost by just a handful of votes.
Speaker 2:Well, yes, unfortunately, but I think the reason was people. A lot of people in the community know me by face, they knew me by Cop John or whatever, but when it came down to the ballot they didn't know my name and last name, so they didn't have, so they didn't, they didn't know who they were voting for. And then I found out after the election and many people have told me that, oh, if I would have known it was you, we would have voted so so I'm trying to get out and campaign just a little bit more.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to start too early so I just started. The other night I went out and was knocking on some doors, handing out some flyers and talking to people face-to-face, instead of just putting up a sign.
Speaker 1:Well, face-to-face.
Speaker 2:People want to meet their candidates. They want to know who's representing them.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I'm fairly new to Trimont and to the area. You know, we lived in Trimont for like two years, three years before. Then we moved to Fairmont for a couple of years. Now we're back, but I don't know all the players and so when I just see a sign in a yard I'm going oh, that's nice, but who are they?
Speaker 2:what do they believe and do they? Do they agree with with my the way I'm thinking? Sure, absolutely. You know that goes on, like you know the uh, county commissioners you see a lot of county commissioner signs out and so obviously it's a big election year for everything so you're seeing signs everywhere, and even the county commissioners, which you know that plays a big part in the entire county. So what is their outlook? And I don't know. I'm seeing signs for different candidates. I won't name any names because I don't know them and I wish.
Speaker 2:I did, I know, I wish I knew what their outlook for the county is, going as far as I know there's a lot of big talks on new jails and stuff like that, which are high-dollar items. Very expensive items. Yeah, and everybody's opinion varies on whether it's needed or not, right? We won't go into that, right? Right? You know, that's everyone's opinion and it has to be One second. We've got time.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, so Okay, but yeah anyways going through.
Speaker 2:Sorry to interrupt there, but yeah, so I mean getting to learn the candidates and what they're, you know being financially responsible with taxpayer dollars.
Speaker 1:That's right?
Speaker 2:Yes, things have to be replaced in time, but when that time? When is the right time? You know, that's obviously an opinion-based thing. When the right time is. Let me ask you a question so what do you see for welcome?
Speaker 1:Do you have a vision for welcome? Some things that you'd like to see changed. I drove through a couple days ago and you know the downtown is just about gone.
Speaker 2:And I don't know the reason for that. I don't. I think Fairmont offers so much that everybody's just driving to Fairmont. So it's hard to keep small-town cafes small-town, you know. To operate them it's fairly expensive.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And if they're not getting the business, then so you know. Welcome. Used to have a little cafe right across from City Hall, Okay, they used to have many other you know, businesses.
Speaker 2:They've since faded away and gone. They've since faded away and gone. But my vision for Wellcome, you know, some of the things that I'd like to change, is to maybe change some of the ordinances. I was reading through a lot of the and over the years, ordinance violations seems to be a big issue within Whatcom and it is in many, many cities across southern Minnesota. Just small town ordinance violations Junk in the yards, junk cars and people want, you know, a cleaner town.
Speaker 2:People want, you know, a cleaner town.
Speaker 2:And I think one of the things I'd like to look at and possibly change is maybe some of the timelines on how much warning somebody gets, maybe the fine, the dollar amount for certain things.
Speaker 2:And because I was reading through with Chief Yockham down there some of his notes that he was talking about in the Welcome City Councils is, you know, he'd go out and give somebody a warning and now he's got to wait three months, you know, before he can issue a citation or something like that. So maybe shorten up that timeline so we can keep the city clean, you know. So I think that's one of the things I'd like to maybe look at and see what's a little bit more reasonable. But I think the biggest thing is making sure that the city has an outlook for long-term infrastructure. You know, and make sure the city is getting the updates and make sure you know your water and your sewer lines and the wastewater plants and the water plant and the roads and the things that people really you know the infrastructure of the town that the people are paying the money for.
Speaker 2:That's right, that it needs to be um put to that use.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so okay, what sets you apart from? Let me see who else is running elroy and eric, elroy glidden and erica Anderson. They're both running for their same seats. And what sets you apart from them? They're probably great guys. I don't actually know them, but I'm sure they're great guys.
Speaker 2:What sets me apart. I don't know what would set me apart exactly, but I know that I can speak for myself, that I'm very open-minded and I like to hear the differing of opinions. So I'm not saying that they aren't but. I just want to give it a different view, a younger view. I'm not that old, but I'm not that young.
Speaker 1:So I'm sitting right in the middle here, where you know. Tell me what's right. What's right With welcome, not what's wrong with welcome. What's right with welcome, not what's wrong with welcome. What's?
Speaker 2:right with welcome. There's a lot of things that are right. I know, I mean you know.
Speaker 1:You've got a great baseball diamond little out there, you know for that youth center I want to call it. I don't know what it's called.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, we have the baseball softball diamonds out there that are great. We have the fire department and our first responders within. Welcome is Second to none. Oh, they're awesome.
Speaker 1:They're fabulous guys.
Speaker 2:All right Police department does really well with what they are working with. Obviously, second to none. Oh, they're awesome, they're fabulous guys. Okay, all right, police department does really well with what they are working with. Obviously, the people of the community are a lot of great people in the community, just as Trimon Trimon is phenomenal for the citizens.
Speaker 2:So it's getting back to the small town. I grew up in a small town and it's coming back to that small town mentality where everybody wants a nice little clean town but everybody wants a little bit of freedom to do some of the minor things Parking on the wrong side of the street, you know man, I used to do that when I was a kid, so I'd pull up to my sister's house and I'd pull over.
Speaker 2:And let's not worry about the small things, let's worry about the bigger picture. You know, keeping the town clean, organized, and you know.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, it's nice to be in a small town like Welcome or Trimont or Sherbourne, where you can leave your door unlocked and go away for an hour and come back and, hey, everything's still there.
Speaker 2:Yes, you know when I was working, you know when I work here in Trimont and when I worked down there. I always advocated for being neighborly.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you get along with your neighbors and have conversations with your neighbor. If something's bothering you, go have a conversation with them. Don't be confrontational, just have a conversation. Be like hey, I noticed this this, you know it bothers me or it annoys me, or whatever. Say it in a nice manner and have a conversation with your neighbor and get along with them. Right, I get along great with my neighbors, yeah, and you know. So that's. I think that needs to kind of come back to that small town being neighborly and and and we, we as the citizens, citizens create the community. Sure, it's not city council. City council just operates the finances and makes sure the city is there to operate, you know, to live in.
Speaker 1:All right. So what do you want to say to the voters? A lot of them, they know you. They didn't realize it was you.
Speaker 2:Vote for me. Yeah, vote for me. Yeah, right, you know? Um, you know I want to. I'd like to hear the concerns. You know what. What is the big issues that the people or the citizens of welcome, what? What are their main concerns, you know? Is it expanding? Is it keeping the taxes low? Is it you? You know? You know, I was reading through there. They got the road project coming up for 2025.
Speaker 1:Oh, they do, Yep.
Speaker 2:They got a road project coming up in 2025.
Speaker 1:We love those when they're done. We love them when they're done Right.
Speaker 2:But you know it's. You know a lot of issue is the operating levy and you know how can we keep that lower, how can we, you know, keep the taxes down, because that seems to be the big issue right now.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know the economy is not the best right now and I don't foresee it really ever going down. The economy never really goes down. It always seems to get more expensive. So you know that goes back to projects. If you're replacing something or fixing something, it doesn't matter. You know big government, it doesn't matter who's elected or who's what, things will never get cheaper.
Speaker 2:You know, our gas and groceries, which we can see fluctuate from time to time. But you know if it costs. One of the mentions was, you know, a new fire hall or renovations to a fire hall. Right, yeah, in Wellcome, you know a new building. They're trying to get funding for that. You know backing from the state. But how can we keep the taxes lower and not increase them Again? I'd have to look at the finance. I'm no financial expert, so it's looking at still operating and keeping the city Right, you know.
Speaker 1:So we were talking before we went on and you had made a really good comment that I really wanted you to share again, because what you said was I thought I think that sums up who you are.
Speaker 2:It's. You know, when I said going in sitting as a city council, you know it's. I like having the differing of opinions, so we don't need everybody to see eye to eye, because when somebody has a differing of opinion about anything, it's. It's great to have good conversations about the direction of the city.
Speaker 2:It's a learning experience too having a good direction, because I may have a good idea, but my idea may not be the best idea. It's what's the best for the city, so it's not what's best for me, it's what's best for the city.
Speaker 1:I wish more people had that philosophy.
Speaker 2:You have to take the personal aspect, and that's what's really difficult about living in the community and then representing the community, because a lot of people take it well, that's personally going to affect me, so I'm going to vote no and it's taking that out of it. So you have to look at what's best for the entire city, not what's best for me. So I I want to bring that to the city and you know, sure, it might hurt my pocketbook, but it's going to hurt everybody else's pocketbook as well. So what's, you know what's a smart decision for the city as a whole?
Speaker 1:All right, All right. Well, Election Day is coming up in like I think it's like three weeks now.
Speaker 2:It's coming up pretty quick.
Speaker 1:Well, actually you can vote by mail right now, you know. So there is voting is going on. So anyway, if you like what you hear, folks, john Germain.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Running for city council in Welcome and I wish you luck. I really hope people welcome get what they want. I don't know the other guy so I don't want to say I want you to beat him, but I know John and he's a great guy and so anyway, I hope you do well.
Speaker 2:Oh, I appreciate that. Yeah, you bet Anything else you want to know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, what else do you have I?
Speaker 2:don't know, I mean so much to talk about. I mean I can come back and visit again, and we may do that.
Speaker 1:We may do that I know you had a couple of calls.
Speaker 2:I know you got to go in a second so I was trying to help out. I think we covered most everything. You got everything on my list on my questions yeah, and you answered a couple of my questions in one question, so sure. Well, I hope people reach out to me, you know, and um, just ask the questions. You know, um, because I I would love a different view or a you know something for me to look at it at a different angle. Yeah, you know, because not everything is black and white. There's so much gray area and I hope people just bring something different to my attention so I can look at it, ponder it over, think about it, have conversations with people, because I'm one person of 700 in the welcome.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So it's trying to do the best for the city.
Speaker 1:Trying to do the best you can. Yep, All righty Well thank you All right.
Speaker 2:Thanks, mike, good luck.
Speaker 1:You bet. All right, and that does it for us, john, good guess. By the way, folks, if you're a candidate for any of the positions, I don't care Donnell, ceylon, trimont, welcome, truman, where else? Oh, sherburn, fairmont, and you want to be on the podcast? Just give me a call, 507-764-6681, and we'll get you scheduled, because you know election day is coming up way close. We're right at it, aren't we? So, anyway, love to have you, love to have you on the show. Also, maybe you don't even have to be a politician. If there's something interesting going on in your life and you want to share it with others and you think it'd be interesting, give me a call Again, let's talk and we'll see. We put these out on Fridays and so, every Friday, listen, and there could be more, because with this amount of candidates, we could be doing a couple a week. So, anyway, also, sports coaches you want to talk about your team? Give me a call again and let's get it set up. So, thanks for listening and we will talk to you guys next week. All right, I'm Mike Ennis and we'll talk to you then.
Speaker 1:Martin County Starred Newsmakers and you go to Martin Co. So for Martin County, okay, it's M-A-R-T-I-N-C-O-S-T-A-Rcom. That's our website. When you get there, then just click on podcasts. It's that simple. All right, have a good day. Bye.
