In Washington, a bi-partisan group of Senators proposed creating a commission tasked with crafting a deficit reduction plan.  Yet, nine Republican legislators who co-authored this legislation ended up voting against it. It is hard to understand how someone could sponsor a bill – but then vote against it.

In Saint Paul, in bi-partisan fashion legislators passed a law to restructure the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program designed to cover the indigent.  The initial vote was an overwhelming 125 to 9.  Yet, after a gubernatorial veto, the override vote was 86 to 47 (three votes shy of the required two-thirds needed for an override). How could so many legislators switch their vote on this bill?

On ethics, hypocrisy is also evident. A few years ago, Democrats railed against the ethical transgressions of several Republican congressmen and derided what they termed to be a “culture of corruption” in Washington. On several occasions they called for unethical Republican legislators to step down from leadership positions. Now, as they are in control of Congress, Democrats are singing a different tune.  Democrat Charlie Rangel of New York, the powerful chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, has been found to have violated ethics rules by taking trips funded by private corporations. It also appears that he did not properly disclose all of his sources of income – as required by ethics rules- and that he failed to pay taxes on $125,000 of income from rental property. At the least, Rangel should be asked to step away from his chairmanship until these issues are resolved. But Democratic leaders are defending instead of denouncing Rangel. When it comes to ethics both parties express outrage only when the transgressor is from the other party.  But when they have a miscreant in their own midst they seem to take the attitude that “he may be a crook – but at least he’s our crook.”

Ugghh.  That is my two cents.

Tim Penny

The Chinese New Year’s celebration started on Valentines Day this year. It’s the Year of the Tiger, still being celebrated. Were there Chinese immigrants in Waseca County’s history? We found one Chinese immigrant who had a laundry business in Janesville, and according to newspaper accounts, moved his business to Waseca in 1903 because of harassment by local boys.

In Waseca his laundry was located on South State Street just north of the old city hall where Quality Print is located today. He likely washed, starched and ironed most of Waseca’s businessmen’s white shirts of the time. Then he was drafted into the army to serve in World War I. On June 27, 1918, he was photographed with the other young men posed front and center against the south exterior of the Waseca County Courthouse. They left that day for training camp. He was a member of the 22nd Company 161st Depot Brigade, Camp Grant, IL.

His stint in the army lasted less than one year. Did he survive World War I? Yes, he did. He
came back to Waseca, but in 1920 he sold his laundry to Mr. Brownson of the Waseca Steam Laundry, and moved to Minneapolis.  We recently found his name in the 1930 San Francisco census. This photograph is his service portrait from the World War I book in our Bailey-Lewer Research Library. To see other photographs, join WCHS online, and search “Yep Lun.”

Waseca County History. It's unexpected.



I have been inspired to write you all once again! This morning we were finally allowed to run our half marathon! The Hesco Half Marathon started at eight this morning and it was a perfect day to run. Well for what we have here it was. I thought I would describe what it was like. First off it was put on our friends on the United Kingdom base next to our base. They raised money for two charities and raised almost $6,000! It was great to know that my small donation went to a greater cause!


I do not claim to be a “runner” but do claim to love running. It was something that took me some time to like and eventually love. I have also found that I am a runner that needs to constantly train. I am not a natural and I still have a long way to go. So on to my story for the day.

We started our run as I said at eight this morning. I have written that the temperatures here were cold, well that has changed again, now it is warming up. It feels good to have some heat, as I am sure you are all waiting for! I am also sure that in a few more weeks from now I will be writing about how HOT it is here! I would guess the temp for the run was in the 70’s, perfect!

As we started our run I noticed that it felt much hotter. The first thing I noticed was that the wind was going to be a challenge. It was against us most of the way but it seemed to cool me down. I mentioned to the person running with me that it was funny that the wind was at our faces most of the way and kept us somewhat cool, but when at our backs, it seemed to disappear!

Another thing about our location is that there are helicopters flying all of the time. I could sit and listen to them all day. I love the sound of them above me. Today we had a few fly over us, it was awesome!  

The roads we run on are just like the gravel roads in our rural areas. They are pretty beat up most of the time and the dust is crazy. Not as bad as my last blog, but after mile nine, it gets to be a lot! After a few miles, you can feel every rock that you hit, not a great feeling. Traffic here was not stopped for our little run so we had to make sure we were aware of our surroundings.

This course had a lot of turns, which was nice for the changes of scenery but it messed with you a bit, the longer stretches seemed really long! I kept a pretty good pace. I usually run my heart out and then get tired at the end. My new strategy is to get a good pace and stick to it, until the end, and then run my heart out.

The finish is always the best part. Most runners stick around and cheer on the people coming in, it is great to have people out there cheering for you and motivation helps me keep moving. I am always happy with my performance and that I even finished the thing. It was a great morning. Now time to relax for the rest of the day and take care of my legs!