for what it's worth
By RIck Peterson, general managerJune 25, 2025At the time I am writing this column, the topic idea is just that – an idea. With Hotdog Night just around the corner, some of the staff in our office had the brainy idea of putting together a short video centered around tossing a hot dog and catching it with a bun. Two-person teams representing each department at The Star Herald have been established, and they are as follow: Our front…
By RIck Peterson, general managerJune 11, 2025This is the last of four columns about my take on the abundance of choices we have when it comes to selecting and purchasing a simple item. I wrote about the number of choices on the shelf for the perfect barbecue sauces at our local Sunshine Foods store, the plethora of paint colors and sheen to choose from at the Luverne ACE Hardware store, and the aisle after aisle of choices of dog food at…
By RIck Peterson, general managerMay 28, 2025This is the third installment in my series of columns about what I consider growing trends of having too many choices in making simple decisions. I so far covered barbecue sauces and paint, and now we’ll cover dog food. Pet food choices are off the charts, and for this column I am zeroing in on dog food. Our local Bomgaars is where I buy my dog food, so I did my research there on the plethora…
By RIck Peterson, general managerMay 14, 2025This is the second installment in my four-part series of columns on how I feel we have too many choices. My last column dealt with the onslaught of choices regarding barbecue sauces. This week I was overwhelmed by the choices in the world of paint. Our local Ace Hardware is ground zero when it comes to paint choices: brands, color, sheen, and now even texture. First, brands. At Ace you can pick…
By RIck Peterson, general managerApril 30, 2025Sometimes coming up with a topic for my column takes more time than actually typing it out. So the other day when I was throwing column ideas around in my head, I stumbled across writing a series of columns on how I think we have way too many choices. The first topic of overabundance of choices will focus on barbecue sauces to choose from. My area of research was conducted standing in front of…
By RIck Peterson, general managerFebruary 19, 2025It’s been 20 years since I started working here at the paper. To say things have changed a bit in the paper industry would be an understatement, considering computers, digital cameras, cell phones, internet and social media, not to mention the fax machine that came and went over a relatively short time. All of the afore-mentioned changes came about in the last 30 years or so. Twenty years in…
By RIck Peterson, general managerFebruary 05, 2025I never considered myself much of a hat guy. That was until I was searching for a column idea, and as I looked around in my garage, I counted 13 hats and four more in the house … 17 hats in all, so that might make me a hat guy. With the exception of a couple of those hats, I have worn the rest at least once this past year. Four of the hats are for cold weather use. My snowblowing hat is one of…
By RIck Peterson, general managerJanuary 22, 2025I have a little bit of this and a little bit of that for you this week. First, I have to admit until the Caitlin Clark phenomenon, I didn’t pay much attention to girls’/women’s basketball. I watched as Clark took women’s college basketball by storm. I followed her throughout her first year in the WNBA. What I came to realize is that women at the college and professional level can really shoot…
By RIck Peterson, general managerDecember 24, 2024Christmas on a Wednesday followed by New Year’s Day just a week later are not ideal days for those of us in the paper business. Early deadlines set forth by our printer and postal deadlines make for a very chaotic two weeks. A big thank you to our advertisers for their understanding and willingness to get us copy for their ads well ahead of normal deadlines. To the staff at the Star Herald,…
By RIck Peterson, general managerDecember 11, 2024It’s been just a little over two months since the Rock County Star Herald introduced you to Star Media, our way to expand our presence beyond the printed page. Star Media aired its first podcast in late September and in relatively short order produced 20 different podcasts resulting in over 4,000 downloads. Just in case you have no idea what Star Media is, take a moment and crawl out from under…
By RIck Peterson, general managerNovember 26, 2024It’s time for the annual “What I am thankful for” column. Before I started pecking away at the keyboard, I sat there staring at the screen. After a longer pause than I care to admit, I decided to start by mentioning the little things I am thankful for that oftentimes are overlooked. The automatic garage door opener comes to mind as does the motion light. Thank goodness for that little sliding…
By RIck Peterson, general managerNovember 13, 2024Oh, what to write about this week … Politics, I’ll pass. The weather, the Vikings, Medicare — again I’ll pass. I have mentioned more than once that the fall is my favorite season of the year. The reasons are the usual suspects, like the fall colors, the weather, football season and, of course, hunting season. The downside to fall is the prep work we have to do to get ready for winter. Raking…
By RIck Peterson, general managerOctober 30, 2024Thursday is Halloween and Saturday we set the clocks back an hour. That’s right, clocks. At the Star Herald office we have five wall clocks and a time clock. At home we have seven clocks that need attention twice a year. Sure, we gain an extra hour of sleep Saturday night, but we lose an hour of daylight in the evening until we get it back in the spring. If it’s Daylight Saving Time in March it…
By Rick Peterson, general managerOctober 09, 2024It’s harvest season, football season, soon to be pheasant hunting season, but right now it’s pumpkin-buying season, and that is taking center stage. Back in the day, the pumpkin selection was limited to a big orange or a little orange pumpkin. Today the selection is unlimited. At the Peterson household we entered the pumpkin-buying season with a purchasing cap of maybe three or four. – At last…
By RIck Peterson, general managerSeptember 25, 2024It’s not just a flagpole. It’s a sign of strength and stability and patriotism We put up a new flagpole in front of the Peterson household a week or so ago. It got me to thinking about iconic flagpoles. For me one of the two most iconic flagpoles is first and foremost the pole that held the flag that the six United States Marines raised up atop Mount Suribachi on the small island of Iwo Jima…
By RIck Peterson, general managerSeptember 11, 2024We get two magazines at the Peterson household on a regular basis, one being AARP and the other is the Pheasants Forever magazine. The AARP gets a quick thumb-through until I spot an article of interest. The Pheasants Forever is read cover to cover by me … Mary not so much. The most recent issue of the Pheasants Forever magazine is something they call the Upland Bird Hunting Super Issue 2024.…
You must log in to continue reading. Log in or subscribe today.
Columnists
