opinion

There’s no place like home, except maybe Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards).  It’s a youth leadership camp for high school juniors and seniors sponsored by local Rotary clubs. While our regional Rotary District 5610 sponsors a camp held in Nebraska, the RYLA that’s closest to my heart is in my home district of 5580 and is held in Crookston.  Each year nearly a hundred teens from North…

Question: Hello, I live in “cabin country” and it never fails, during the summer months with the influx of traffic, there are always arguments regarding traffic “laws” or “it’s just being Minnesota nice”.  There’s been several near misses and I can see both sides of the argument and wondering if you can help clear up an ongoing discussion.  At a single-lane intersection, the roadway is…

   As summer heat intensifies across the U.S., the American Heart Association warns that soaring temperatures don’t just make people uncomfortable — they can put serious strain on the heart and increase the risk of life-threatening complications.  Although tragic deaths from major disasters like hurricanes and tornados may get the most news coverage, extreme heat is actually the leading weather…

The last time we considered 2 Samuel 11:1–2, we focused on the negligence of David’s kingly duty. While the kings went out to battle in the springtime, King David went about doing nothing.  While all Israel went out to battle the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, their capital city, King David was idle in the capital city of Israel, Jerusalem. The saying, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop,”…

A five-person citizen group has submitted a petition for a ballot question about amending Luverne’s City Charter to create a Municipal Services Commission.  The proposed amendment shifts supervision, management, employment and all financial oversight of the city utilities to a separate governing commission.  The petitioners, spearheaded by Isaac DeBoer, said they drafted their charter amendment…

At 10 a.m. Saturday, July 18, on South Highway 75 the largest nutcracker in the world will be dedicated in alignment with a pretty significant birthday.  Mine.  In a way, the Luverne nutcracker and I will now share a birthday.  In my 63 trips around the sun I’ve had some pretty amazing birthdays. One or two have fallen on Hot Dog Night.  Forty years ago, I was a bride-to-be.  Thirty-two…

There are dozens of stories swirling around the “Roadless Rule”. The Roadless Rule was put in place back in 2001 by the president Bill Clinton. The rule was put in place by a wilderness regulation and not by a bill passed in the congress. It prohibited the construction of roads across 59 million acres of forests. It basically made these acres wilderness. No roads, no development and no extraction…

World Cup soccer has descended upon our country. The arrival of this global tournament has brought fans all over the world to experience our great country. For many of these fans, it’s their first trip to the U.S., and their response is priceless. They are so amazed at the size of our stores, the food we eat, the people they meet and the beauty of our country. Many want to stay here and not go…

We’re in the height of summer travel and vacation season and thousands of people are motoring cross-country along Interstate 90.  As they enter Minnesota many will stop at the Beaver Creek Travel Information Center, but they won’t find travel information thanks to an unpopular decision by Explore Minnesota earlier this summer.  Explore Minnesota Deputy Director Beth Helle reached out to…

Be careful what you wish for.  I’m pretty sure I’ve written columns with this theme before.  It’s one of the “life mottos” I try to live by. Or at least remember at times when I think I really want something to happen.  That phrase has come to my mind a few times this summer as a result of our busier than normal Main Street and downtown.  This is, of course, a result of the Highway 75…

I announced my pending July 31 retirement back in May and the time is sure flying by.  I have this month to tie up loose ends and clean out my office.  Reflecting back on the last 21 years and my time here has occupied a fair amount of time each day leading up to my last day.  Following are personal highlights I have been lucky enough to experience during my time here.  In 2007 the Ken Burns…

To the editor:  As members of the Petition Committee we are writing to provide key context regarding the Proposed City Charter Amendment to establish a Municipal Services Commission. The Petition Committee did not approach the process in an unorganized or uninformed manner, quite the opposite in fact. The committee had several discussions with community members about the concept and also…

To the editor:  The purpose of this letter is to express our concern with the petition regarding having a separate Municipal Services Utility Commission proposed by a group of citizens.  We have seen the proposal and believe it is unwarranted for a public vote. There will be additional costs in operating a new commission. Having a city council and a utility commission seems to be additional…

To the editor:  We have had visitors from all over the world just this week.  They ask what to do in Luverne and we send them to the Herreid Military Museum, Brandenburg Gallery, the History Center (they LOVE Betty) and Blue Mound and Touch the Sky Prairie, depending on what they are interested in. I have to remind myself about the bike trail. We get questions about restaurants and other…

I am old enough to remember the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the United States. In case you need me to do the math for you, it was 1976.  The celebrations of that year were enormous. It seemed that the celebration started in January and ran all the way through December.  July Fourth fell on a Sunday that year, so churches had special services in honor of the 200th anniversary of the…

For anyone who’s gone through trauma, it’s as though there’s never a perfect time to start living again. I think I’ve had to learn that the hard way.  For the past two-and-a-half years it feels like I’ve been battling one medical condition after another. During the worst of it, I could hardly stand up or walk more than a few feet at a time.  Before getting sick I was very active, hiking and…