Minnegasco name going away for goodWe knew it as Minnegasco for a very long time. Then in Oct. 2002 it became CenterPoint Energy Minnegasco.Starting this month, Minnegasco will be removed from the name to become just CenterPoint Energy.The purpose of their plan, according to President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Cerny, is to create a single, national identity and eventually discontinue using individual business unit names such as Minnegasco.Customers can expect a few changes, including design of the bill envelope, Web site and other company materials.Company phone numbers, payment addresses, billing services and service programs will remain the same.CenterPoint Energy is Minnesota’s largest natural gas distributor, serving more than 745,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in over 240 communities.Headquartered in Houston Texas, CenterPoint is involved in electric transmission and distribution, natural gas distribution and sales, interstate pipeline and gathering operations, and more than 14,000 megawatts of power generation.The company serves nearly five million metered customers in six states and has assets of over $19 billion.The company has been in business for 130 years and has 11,000 employees.Credit Card debt up more than 14 percent since last yearThe amount of debt Americans are carrying on their credit cards is up again.From 2003 to 2004 the average Americans credit card debt went up 14.5 percent from $2,294 in ’03 to $2,626 in ’04.According to Myvesta, a nonprofit consumer education organization, individuals are also carrying more credit cards around in their wallets.They now carry 2.9 credit cards, compared to 2.3 a year ago.Other notes from the survey include the following:Males have an average of $2,742 of credit spread out over 2.5 cards; females average $2.522 of credit card debt on 3.3 cards.Married individuals have an average of $3,288 of credit card debt; non-married individuals have an average of $1,785.Average debt by geography:South, $2,988Midwest, $2,682West, $2,538Northeast, $1,918In too many cases, according to Myvesta, Americans are turning to the equity in their homes to cover their credit card debt, a funding source that can quickly run out.WCCO radio recently reported that for the first time Americans are paying more of their debt electronically than with a personal check.‘Let’s Bring ’Em Home’ Web site We recently received an e-mail from Joshua Arndt requesting our help in spreading the word about a Web site that buys tickets for junior enlisted military members to come home for the holidays.According to Joshua, the people who run the Web site operate 100 percent on donations.People have donated as little at $5 or as much as $2,000, and 100 percent of the money goes toward buying tickets for soldiers.Joshua said because he is a junior enlisted who doesn’t "get very much money" and lives 700 miles from Luverne, flying was not an option.So he applied for the program. Not less than a week later he received word that the program had bought a ticket for him.So Joshua will be coming home this Christmas holiday to spend time with his family. Joshua is the son of Red and Lisa Arndt of Luverne.If you would like to know more about the "Let’s Bring ’Em Home" program, you can go to their Web site at www.ibeh.com.Publisher Roger Tollefson can be reached by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com