Work cited

Works Cited
Kenndey, Clare. "New Hy-Vee store open for business." 13 Jan. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2009. .
Kennedy, Clare. "Another round of layoffs hits Owatonna employers." 13 Nov. 2009. Web. 11 Dec. 2009. .
"Owatonna Hospital construction history." Web. 14 Dec. 2009. .
"Owatonna, Mn." Web. 10 Dec. 2009. .
"Owl City." Web. 09 Dec. 2009. .
Shurts, Steve, and Ken Henricksen. "Growing Owatonna." Web. 12 Dec. 2009. .

My thoughts of Owatonna....

Owatonna...Oweee..!! I love this Town!..I been here since 1997! I came here when I was six years old and as I was growing up I discovered so much from this town. This place use to be lame, now we have hot spots to hang out and be with friends and family. I am so happy we have our first Somali restaurant. It is great because, we as Muslims do not have to worry about if a food product contains some kind of pork because, pork is not allowed in my religion. I am also happy about the water park because, West hills as a lame ass pool. I am glad to been here throughout all the changes. Sucks, though because, I am leaving to Mankato for college. It is OK thought because, I know I will come back here in there future and I will be more proud to see more changes =). All in all I am grateful for what Owatonna has to offer!

Future of Owatonna...

Owatonna has definitely made tons of changes throughout the century. We have expanded in population and business. As a whole we are booming to a better and brighter future. I feel as though, Owatonna might become a huge city one day!

A Booming Hy Vee....

We use to have an old Hy vee in Owatonna, but new we have a bigger and better Hy vee. The plan came about 2007 and the project ended this year of March. This new Hy vee is a third bigger then the old Hy vee. Director of Hy vee Max Dains said "the new store is 72,000 square feet, a 48,000 square-foot box. " Dains said he also hired an extra 150 people and will be hiring more later on in the year. Wow! thats amazing, because it took a lot to make this new Hy vee and now they are hiring extra people. Looks like Hy vee as a brighter future. They are also planning on building a gas station. I retrieved my information from http://www.owatonna.com/news.php?viewStory=32640

Water Park!

Water Park of Owatonna (River Springs Water Park)!!This website shows you a concept drawing of the water park..its very cool!!(http://ci.owatonna.mn.us/services/parkrec/aquatic/drawing.pdf ) The only place we had to enjoy swimming here in Owatonna was at West Hills and that pool was too small. Jeff McKay,
director of Parks and Recreation here in Owatonna said, "After 32 years in the Profession, I still get the feeling of satisfaction to see so many citizens using the parks and am very excited about the opening of the River Springs Water Park this summer and the anticipated use by so many of our citizens in our community and beyond." "The River Springs Water Park made $170,625 this year,that is amazing having only open June of this year" said McKay. He also said that they had visitors from Medford!.This water park has two Water Slides, Lazy River, Zero-Depth entry with play features, Lily Pad Walk, Sand Volley ball, Court, Activity Pool with Water Basketball, and coming soon a Climbing Wall!..I think that this is defintiely something great that can bring the community together. It's a cool built park.! To see more behind the scenes of how this park just click on this websit (http://ci.owatonna.mn.us/river-springs-water-park) and scroll down to pictures.

How are we making a living in Owatonna.......?

How are we making a living in Owatonna? This is what People's Press said about Owatonna being hit by the reccession "Recent statistics suggested that unemployment in Steele County was on the decline. Steele County’s unemployment hit a high note in March at 9.6 percent, but by September the unemployment rate had fallen to 7.7 percent. The next figures will be available Nov. 24. " Personally, my parents have their own business so my family has not been affected with the recession. But Viracon and Wenger have been hit the most in Owatonna. Half of the laid off employees were voluntary. At Viracon the glass fabrication company laid off 250 people in January 2009 and Wenger laid off 100 people in March of 2009 and another 23 people in November. So this would be the second major cut in Wenger. As for the rest of the employess that remained in Viracon and Wenger were given lower wages and salaries. My bestfriends dad was one of the employees who got laid off just a couple weeks ago. He said "It really sucks being laid off,because I do not know how I am going to find another job in Owatonna, since I do not have a degree on anything." OUCH!! But he has been working at Viracon for more then five years! Maybe, he will get his job back. But after working there for so long how did he get laid off? Also, when I was in the waiting room at Riverland I ran into a middle aged lady and she started talking to me about her life. She told how she has been working at Pearsons here in Owatonna for more then 10 years and she got laid off. Therefore she had to come to Riverland try to earn another degree and find another job! Wow! that really is shocking and scary because, you never know when you will lose your job. Hopefully Owatonna can rise back to the top!!! =)

..........MY information about Wenger and Viracon was provided http://www.owatonna.com/news.php?viewStory=111830

Hit Sensation of Owatonna(OWL CITY)....

EXTRA!!! Ok I thought this might be a cool fact about my town...well a young man by the name of Adam Young who use to live here in Owatonna was signed to Universal Republic. He was signed and changed his title to Owl City. He definitely made our little city famous! He made a song called "Fireflies".. and that song was hit on billboard charts and iTunes. My sources of Adam young are from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl_City ...I really love this song and here is a link to it if you never heard of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPFTfB2BEN8....... OMG! I hear this song everywhere...at work(Khol's)...radio..resturants...etc...!