DNR Commissioner Greets Employees With Cookie

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Department of Natural Resource Commissioner Tom Landwehr welcomed several hundred employees back to work after the longest government shutdown in decades.

His wife made 500 cookies in the shape of a star, with a note saying, "Welcome Back. You are a Star!"

"I was just going to give them a little piece of candy," Landwehr said.

NewsRadio 830 WCCO's Susie Jones Reports

But his wife insisted on baking the cookies, and having their two children wrap them and hand them out to employees.

Karen Erickson has worked for the DNR for 11 years. She said she is glad to be back on the job.

"You know, I'm one that needs to know what's going on. And it was frustrating, very frustrating, but you know, you take one day at a time and move on, and here we are," she said.

The commissioner also said the state's 66 parks will not open all at once.

"You know, we have blown downs (sic) in at least four different parks so we need to, our park managers are just getting there today to clean," he said. "We don't want people to have a bad experience."

You can go to the DNR's website for more information.