LOCAL BRIEFS

This year, as has been the practice for several years, area residents will have an opportunity to recycle their Christmas trees from Dec. 26 through Jan. 13.

• Photos

Trees will be reduced to chips that can be reused at Northland Arboretum for gardens, pathways and snowmobile trails so people are asked to remove all decorations, tree stands, other metal objects and tree bags.

In the Crosby area, people can haul their trees to Northland Arboretum in Brainerd or place trees in alleyways to be picked up on Jan. 13 only by Range Disposal. Ironton waste haulers will be picking up trees on Jan. 7 only in alleyways and trees must be in the alleyways by 7 a.m.

In Brainerd, you can drop your trees off at Northland Arboretum behind the Westgate Mall anytime after Dec. 26.

Lori-Beth Larson

Sponsors of the tree-cycling in the Brainerd area are Crow Wing County Solid Waste, Brainerd Public Utilities, Minnesota Power, Crow Wing Power, Range Disposal, Waste Management, Waste Partners, Blue Lakes Disposal, Nisswa Sanitation, city of Ironton, Brainerd Dispatch, Crosby-Ironton Courier, the Lake Country Echo and the Pine River Journal.

For more information call your waste hauler or Crow Wing County Solid Waste at 824-1290.

College to offer first English as Second Language class

Central Lakes College will offer its first class in English as a Second Language as part of the English curriculum starting with the spring 2009 semester.

Lori-Beth Larsen is the instructor of the three-credit course Topics in English: ESL/Cross-Cultural Competency. It will meet from 9 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. on Thursdays starting Jan. 15 on the Brainerd campus of CLC. The semester concludes May 14.

Larsen said this is a research project-based course for international students who want to learn to succeed in an American college. It is also for American students who want to develop a global outlook by learning from and interacting with international students.

She said the students will participate in collaborative volunteer projects with community organizations and there will be guest speakers, debates and games.

Students will lead discussions and workshops.

For information about ENGL 2580, section 20, contact Larsen at llarsen@clcmn.edu or 855-8237. The CLC Admissions Office may be reached by calling 855-8037.

Brainerd schools committee to meet

The Brainerd School Board Personnel Committee will meet in a closed session at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Washington Educational Services Building, 804 Oak St., Brainerd.

The committee will be discussing non-certified negotiations strategies.

Morrison County to meet

The Morrison County Board will meet in a planning session at 1 p.m. Wednesday to negotiate with Deb Gruber, the county's treasurer, for the administrator position.