for what it's worth
By Rick Peterson, Tollefson Publishing general managerMarch 08, 2022From time to time the Star Herald runs a “Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down” editorial. Almost all of the “thumbs” are based on local issues or events. We try to run a balance of ups and downs, and I’m guessing the “thumbs up” outnumber the “thumbs down.” So, with “thumbs” in mind, I thought I would share a few thumbs of my own that are life- and product-related and not necessarily local. First, “thumbs…
By Rick Peterson, general managerFebruary 22, 2022The phrase “the new norm” has gained popularity since the pandemic starts to wind-down. Personally, I am not a fan of most of the new norms. Maybe over time I’ll start to warm up to people working from home or a new supply shortage of the week. I really struggle with going to the store, any store for that matter, and not always finding what I went there for. I was killing time before a grandson’s…
By Rick Peterson, general managerFebruary 08, 2022A recent edition of the online Morning Brew cited a government report last week that 31,720 people had been killed in motor vehicle crashes in the first nine months of 2021. That is the highest nine-month total in 15 years. It’s also 12 percent higher than the same time frame in 2020, making it the biggest percentage increase over a nine-month period since records began in 1975. One might think…
By Rick Peterson, general managerJanuary 25, 2022I am learning that as you get older it’s not just your birthday that tells you and others that you’re getting older. While my birthday is down the road a bit and Mary’s is just around the corner, it seems the signs of our advancing ages are popping up all too often. Our middle child is turning 40 this month, and our oldest grandson is graduating from high school this year. After months of Joe…
By Rick Peterson, general managerDecember 28, 2021I suppose seeing how 2022 is knocking on the door, it’s probably time to jot down a few New Year’s resolutions. Well guess what? I’m not going to do the resolution thing this year. Frankly I don’t need the added pressure of trying to change my way of life or try something new. This year it’s “Keep it simple, stupid.” Sure, I might tweak a few things, but not to the point of stressing over it.…
By Rick Peterson, general managerDecember 14, 2021No one has ranted more about the high cost of medical care and the cost of insurance to cover it than yours truly. You can ask my wife, my coffee group and my insurance guy for verification if you wish. The recent financial departure packages that Sanford has doled out to a few Sioux Falls doctors and executives has been in the news and the talk at the coffee shops. It’s difficult for many of us…
By Rick Peterson, general managerNovember 30, 2021White lights or colored lights? Blinking lights or non-blinking lights? Real tree or artificial? Open gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? These are the questions that are causing more than a few discussions or debates in our household, and yours as well, I suspect. I’ll cut right to the chase. The Petersons prefer white lights, the non-blinking kind. The real tree/artificial tree debate…
By Rick Peterson, Tollefson Publishing general managerNovember 16, 2021This weekend marks the halfway point of the 2021 pheasant hunting season, so that means the really good hunting is about to begin. So far, however, pheasant hunting in Rock County is about as good as this year as it has been in many years, if not better. My 5-year-old English setter, Otis, and Hazel, my 12-year-old German Wirehair, have hunted three of the four new Rock County walk-in parcels and…- By Rick Peterson, general managerNovember 02, 2021Next Thursday, Nov. 11, is Veterans Day, and I just want to remind folks to take a couple of moments to think about and appreciate the men and women who have served and will serve our country in the armed forces. I never served in the military, and frankly it’s one of my greatest regrets in life. If I had a do over, I like to think I would have served our country. There are a number of Veterans…
By Rick Peterson, general managerOctober 05, 2021You may not have noticed it, but last week hell froze over, a cow jumped over the moon, and Mary and I won a golf tournament. The chances of hell freezing over and a cow jumping over the moon are more probable than Mary and I taking home the championship trophy in a couples’ golf tournament. The tournament field is comprised of just four couples, and I believe this is the ninth year the four…
By Rick Peterson, Star Herald general managerSeptember 20, 2021You may or may not be aware that Page One in Slayton is where we print the Rock County Star Herald and Luverne Announcer. We send our pages online to the Slayton printing plant, and a driver delivers our papers to the post office for mail distribution and to our office for news stand distribution. Last week a fire broke out in the warehouse area of Page One, where many of the advertising inserts…
By Rick Peterson, general managerSeptember 07, 2021I would imagine every one of us remembers exactly where we were when we first heard the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center building. I was walking down Second Street in Redwood Falls on my way to the Redwood Gazette office. It was about 9:30 in the morning, and from across the street Jay Eykyn yelled over, “Hey, Rick, did you hear about the plane that flew into the World Trade Center…
By Rick Peterson, general managerAugust 24, 2021Earlier this month Mary and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary. A couple of weeks after that, I added another year to my age. I bring up both of those milestones because with our aging we have noticed some not-so-subtle changes that are starting to creep into our daily lives. Body aches and pains are more frequent, and I can handle that. But the hard part about those aches and pains is…
By Rick Peterson, general managerJuly 27, 2021Just when you’re about to give up on people in general, something happens and you realize there are still good people out there … more than we realize. As strange as what you’re about to read may seem, it really happened. A week or so ago on a Saturday, Mary and I thought we would take our side-by-side to Rowena, South Dakota, to the junk fest. We were going to zigzag our way over there, and we…
By Rick Peterson, Tollefson Publishing general managerJuly 13, 2021Mary keeps telling me that I need to stop getting so upset about things I can’t control and take some pleasure in the small things in life. So, with that in mind and as I was making my morning toast, I was lucky enough to be at the end of a loaf a bread, and there was the crust. The little things in life don’t get much smaller, so I stop to enjoy the crust. When I was growing up, the crust was…
By Rick Peterson, general managerJune 29, 2021Before you know it, we’ll be hitting the unofficial midway point of summer. I know the first day of summer was just a little over a week ago. Yet once the Fourth of July comes and goes, we unfortunately shift our thoughts toward the dog days of August, then Labor Day, then back to school, and summer is over. Don’t shoot the messenger, but that is the way it goes … if you let it. So here are a…
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