Fergus Falls Forum

On February 17, 2009 – at midnight – all full-power televisions in the United States will be required to stop broadcasting in analog and switch to digital broadcasts. If you have televisions in your household that get programming via antenna, you’ll need to buy a converter box which will cost upwards of $40.00. However, free $40.00 coupons will be mailed out to households that apply for them. Each household may order up to two coupons at https://www.dtv2009.gov/ or by calling 1-888-DTV-2009. Coupons may redeemed at Walmart and Radio Shack in Fergus Falls. Other national retailers that accept the government coupons include Circuit City and Best Buy.

“A school bus driver has been fired for failing a random alcohol test. The driver failed the screening Monday, after completing her morning route for the Pelican Rapids, Minnesota school district. The district contracts with a private company called Christianson bus service. The owner, Jim Christianson, says in the twelve years since random drug and alcohol tests became mandatory, he had never seen a positive result. So he says he was shocked and saddened when he had to immediately let the ten-year veteran driver go. Charges have not been filed but the Minnesota State Patrol is reviewing the case.”

Big Harvest Buffet & Mongolian Grill in Fergus Falls is now “closed for business” as the sign says in front of the building. The business was opened in November 2004 in the previous Sandpiper building.

Fergus Falls, and the rest of Minnesota, have the possibility of snow Wednesday night and Thursday morning. An upwards of 3″ can be expected – this could be counted as significant compared to our previous snowfall amounts this winter. As always, Fergus Forum will keep you updated on this weather system moving to our area as well as school announcements – if any.

If “you’ve been around the block” you may have heard that Burger Time’s Fergus Falls location is closing. However, Fergus Forum has just confirmed that this is not true – and the company has no plans on closing the fast food burger joint according to Bryan Curry, Burger Time’s Chief Operating Officer. Burger Time offers a “Bigger Burger” combo which they say offers exactly what the name says compared to other resturants such as Burger King of McDonald’s.

Fergus Falls grew an estimated 2.7% from the year 2000 to July 2006 – which is growth by 368 more people bringing our population to 13,839. How does that compare to other communities nearby? Alexandria grew a whopping 23% during the same time period, and their estimated population as of July 2006 is 10,852 people. Underwood had a 7.8% change in population which is followed close behind by Perham which had a 7.3% increase. If Alexandria follows the same growth pattern as it has in the past six years, it will be larger than Fergus Falls soon.

Percentages are from City-Data.com – and may be inaccurate. Visit http://www.city-data.com/city/Fergus-Falls-Minnesota.html for their current report on Fergus Falls.

If you have a cellular phone that is around seven or more years old, it may stop working this Monday due to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission giving permission to mobile operators to shut down their analog networks starting tomorrow. AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless have confirmed that they will shut down their analog networks Monday and other companies will soon follow. Most analog cellular phones are dubbed “glovebox phones” that are owned by users, mainly elderly, for emergency purposes only. If you have an older cellular phone, be sure to call your service provider to see if you’ll be affected.

The “Tamarack Square Development Project”, as I like to call it completed Phase #1 a few months ago. I’m sure they helped get Arby’s into their current location, which is awesome. But, what about the actual tenants in Tamarack Square? According to The Daily Journal, the first tenants were suppose to go into Tamarack Square by the middle of February. It is the middle of February and I don’t see anything – do you? I’ve heard that Starbucks and Game Stop are going to be opening up stores there, but those are all rumors. How about you, have you heard of any stores? Who knows?

Olive Garden, a popular Italian restaurant chain, may open a restaurant in Fergus Falls – a company representative said Tuesday. If built, it may open in around a year to a year and a half. But, there’s a catch.

The Fergus Forum sent out an email to Olive Garden last Thursday, and it basically asked, “May we suggest Fergus Falls as a new store location”. An Olive Garden company representative replied, “We are pleased to share with you that we are looking in Gulfport, MS as a future home for Olive Garden and Red Lobster. The details are not yet finalized and we are unable to share more at this time. Please keep in mind that this is a very lengthy process and could take more than a year. Please check our website for more specific information about future locations.” Did they mean to say Fergus Falls? We emailed them back today and hope to receive a reply Friday or next week.

The Fergus Falls Independent School District #544 has released the concept designs for the Middle School reconstruction project today via their website.

To view the concept exterior, click here.
To View the concept interior, click here.

Each of the files are over 4MB in size and require Adobe PDF Viewer. A high speed internet connection is recommended.