Put up your hummingbird feeders

Hummingbirds are traveling through right now. They are on their way south for fall migration. If you put up a hummingbird feeder on your porch or deck, there is a good chance you could attract a ruby-throated hummingbird, or something more rare. I put my feeder up last week and I have at least three (two males and a female). Fall is the best time to try to attract hummers, so give it a try - they're fun to watch!

Greenleaf Legion to open

George’s Grill & Pub will open inside the Greenleaf American Legion on Sept. 3. Justin Hiltgen will manage the new establishment. There is also rumor the Elite Cafe may reopen.

The jail and the mill levy

We will likely have a story next week on the operation cost of the jail and the mill levy increase proposed by the county commission. Tom Parker is looking into it, but was unable to get ahold of anyone for this week's paper. I admittedly stink at budget/finance stories, but Tom can get the job done.

Morrowville

Just so you don't think we're clueless, we do have feelers out on the situation in Morrowville City government. If anything actually happens, we will report on it. But nothing official has happened yet. We're on the case.

New county treasurer

The Washington County Republican Central Committee appointed Ann Hawk as the Washington County Treasurer tonight as a result of the passing of Roine Tegethoff. This position will last until next October, at which point, whoever is elected in the November general election will fill the position. Hawk won the primary election earlier this month, but may face a write-in campaign from Larry Stigge.

Biden is the Veep

Sen. Joe Biden was evidently chosen as Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate tonight. That means we're stuck with Governor Sebelius for a while longer. Dang.

First day enrollments

Every year I hope I'll call schools after the first day of classes and I'll find each school added several to their enrollment totals from the previous year. But unfortunately, it is usually the opposite. This county lost 41 students this year. I'm writing a story for next week's issue, but here are the school enrollment changes:
Linn Lutheran +6
St. John's Catholic No change
Clifton-Clyde -10
Washington County -11
Hanover -13
Linn -13
The official count is taken on Sept. 20, and usually there is a bit of change by then.