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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>A note from my Department manager (and NAHMMA member) Allen Frechette:</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>Scott County, MN has for the last year been offering its
functioning decommissioned (hard drive wiped) computers to County residents
free of charge in our Household Hazardous Waste facility’s material
exchange room. Through contact with a county resident who is an Army
Sergeant in charge of providing support for families of deployed Minnesota
National Guard soldiers we learned that several families had contacted his
support office to get help with their computers that had crashed. Their
primary means of communication with their deployed family member is through
email, some have live video abilities as well. We provided several PCs
taken out of service from County offices that had been wiped of information and
volunteers installed Ubuntu Linux a free operating system and software suite to
get them up and running again. News of free computers quickly spread at
the National Guard family Christmas party and the demand for PCs quickly grew
beyond our supply. We turned to our pc recycling company, Asset Recovery
Corporation and they have now stepped forward to provide more working used PCs.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>As a Vietnam veteran who personally experienced separation
anxiety from my wife after a month of marriage when our only means of communication
(postal mail) was disrupted for several months I appreciate the need for
soldiers to stay connected with their loved ones back home. So, I am
passing on this service idea as a challenge to other HHW facility managers who
accept e-waste like computers and who offer working items to the public through
your materials exchange shelves to consider contacting your local Guard or
Reserve office and offering your used PCs rather than sending them off to be
destroyed. If anyone wants more information on our program please contact
Greg Boe (<a href="mailto:gboe@co.scott.mn.us">gboe@co.scott.mn.us</a><span
style='color:#002060'>) </span>or me. A good place to start to identify
military organizations that might be able to coordinate a similar local program
is: <a href="http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/07GUARDSURVEY.PDF">http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/07GUARDSURVEY.PDF</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>Allen Frechette, Environmental Health Manager, Scott County,
MN; <a href="mailto:afrechette@co.scott.mn.us">afrechette@co.scott.mn.us</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<DIV STYLE="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New"><EM><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="2">The Department of Environmental
Protection values your feedback as a customer. DEP Secretary Michael W. Sole is committed to continuously assessing and
improving the level and quality of services provided to you. Please take a few minutes to comment on the quality of
service you received. <eXclaimer:HTML_ONLY>Simply click on <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://survey.dep.state.fl.us/?refemail=Glen.Perrigan@dep.state.fl.us">this link to the DEP Customer
Survey</A>.</eXclaimer:HTML_ONLY> Thank you in advance for completing the survey.</FONT></EM></DIV>
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