One of the most basic things to remember for a public office holder is to show up. Show up when the public needs to be heard. Show up when the public needs to hear from you. Show up.
That applies to those who already hold that office as well as those who want to hold that office. Paul Homme used to say “The world belongs to those who show up” and I believe it.
A bunch of us who buy into the idea of showing up did just that last week when the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC) held their summer conference in Winona. There were mayors and city managers in attendance from CGMC member cities from all around the state.
It is a special time of the year when classes begin at Minnesota West in Granite Falls. The welcome sight of new and returning students is always a good sign for the community.
We are fortunate to be able to host those students and the campus that offers the programs they are pursuing. While the students and the programs are always the focus, the new and the returning faculty and staff are a welcome sight, too.
It’s not quite time yet. There is not that nip in the autumn air that goes hand-in-hand with the shrill sound that blows the ball dead on the gridiron. Nevertheless, Foot-ball Fever is raging in Minnesota. Or maybe I should say Favre Fever is raging in Minnesota. Bret Favre is back to lead the Minnesota Vikings through the 2010 season.
With the fall campaign season in full swing, we expect there will soon be several political letters to the editor being written. Those people who ardently support a candidate or party will be mailing letters to the Advocate Tribune and other newspapers seeking to sway voters to cast a ballot for their candidate or political party.
The normally busy weekend traffic on Highways 212 and 23 was halted for 15 minutes on Saturday afternoon as more than 400 motorcycles traveled into Granite from Olivia and then turned and headed toward Redwood Falls.
This past weekend was yet another reunion. That makes three this summer – two this month. I watched four cousins – men – playing a game they play every reunion. After listening to the stories at lunch about their escapades on the farm when they were young, I tried to picture those men as young boys as they played the game.
Nope.
The election season is upon us and again the elections will feature seats for many local offices. These city councils and school board positions have a major impact on our day-to-day lives.
There is a need for local citizens to ask themselves not if, but when, they should step up, roll up their sleeves and help make the important day-to-day decisions that guide our schools and our communities in so many ways.
The adventurer who paddled his way into town last Friday was just plain remarkable.
Bill Nedderman is remarkable in many ways. The Iowa native’s travels on foot have taken him the length of the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail each three times.
Do you remember your first job? The job where you went to work and worked for someone other than a family member? A job where you were given a regular schedule to work – you know – Monday, Wednes-day, and Saturdays from 5:00 p.m. until 11 p.m.? A job where you got a paycheck, with taxes withheld every two weeks?
Disappeared persons, a drowning, even a murder—these are part of my family history. So too are summer reunions, barn raisings, and establishing church congregations. Human beings go to a great deal of trouble to get together.
This past Memorial Day weekend, I drove two and a half hours west of St. Paul to attend the annual meeting at Vestre Sogn Chapel in Wang Township in western Minnesota. The first white settlers there arrived in June 1867 in five ox-drawn covered wagons. One of these Norwegians, Christian Narvestad, settled north of the others along Hawk Creek. The pioneers said no one would homestead beyond his farm. They could not imagine family farmers venturing farther into the tallgrass wilderness. But, of course, people did, and agricultural history rolled north and west even as the newcomers made this assertion.
The column I wrote last week about the wedding in our family was certainly one from the heart. Thinking about my walk with our daughter Laurel still causes my feet to lift a bit. It is all part of an amazing day.
There were a few other highlights that day as you might expect. Seeing those little boys in their tuxedos was pretty special as was having so many friends and well wishers join the fun. Gaining a son-in-law is pretty nice too. So is building a bigger connection with his family.
The warm, bright summer morning waits patiently outside the window, waiting for people to press through; moving swiftly from one cool cocoon of a building or vehicle to another.
The first sign of dawn on the farm is the grayish glow that washes over the hills to the east. Next come the sounds of the birds; chirping, tweeting, warbling, and twittering. The comforting, carefree songs turn to scolding as the sound of a jet plane taking off from the airport pierces the humid air. The sound of the jet is my own personal ‘time to get up call’.
There were a few tentative steps at first. Was this too slow? Too fast?
After four or five steps on our way, the piano answered those questions and then we were on the right pace, being swept along by the smiles and the good wishes.
It was a fun and quick stroll. Some walks are like that. Some walks never seem to end and some are over before you have enough time to ponder where you went or to even think about how fun the stroll was.
The walk that I took last Saturday afternoon was with our daughter Laurel. Our pathway was the center aisle at Granite Falls Lutheran Church. It went by too fast, just like many events that happen once-in-a-lifetime. I can almost remember each step of the way and yet, it went by so fast that I could hardly feel like my feet were touching the church carpet.
All across rural Minnesota, communities are under stress from aging populations, the continuing consolidation and horizontal expansion of agriculture, and the recession’s spillover impacts.
For most communities, however, there is a pool of strength that local leaders and state officials may tap to create growth and prosperity. This source of strength comes from ancestors and immigrants from Northern Europe. Their relatives back home found ways to deal with the Great Depression and their legacy shows ways to rebuild after the current Great Recession.
My mission last week was successful: I fully recharged my battery with solar power. However, I am not sure I am ready to jump back in.
Like it has been since the first cave woman left the cave to go visit her mother in the neighboring valley, when I returned home I was not sure what I would find. Unlike some experiences I have heard from others, when I returned home it almost looked like I had never left. There was of course, an exorbitant amount of dust on the piano and furniture. (I have to admit that when I left there was a base of dust solid enough to write - dust me - on some of the most obvious pieces of furniture.)
During the 2010 Legislative Session, a law was passed which provides loans to small businesses affected by an employee’s deployment and returning veterans working to establish a small business of their own. State Sen. Gary Kubly, DFL-Granite Falls, said both types of loans available under the Minnesota Reservist and Veteran Business Loan Program are interest-free and available.
The incredible picture of the tornado on the front page of this week’s paper still brings chills to me. The July 25, 2000 tornado damaged nearly 300 homes and destroying 67 of them in western Granite Falls. It left many of us casting a wary eye toward the sky at the slightest hint of stormy weather.
As I sit here this morning I am tired.
Last week I was visiting with a friend at the bank and she asked how my vacation was going. I told her that sometimes I think I would prefer working rather than being on a summer vacation. (Who said that? I’m sure I couldn’t have said that!)
It seems like the faster I go the behinder I get.
There has been a sudden uptick in the traffic that flows by our Prentice St. office in downtown Granite these days. The detouring of highway traffic through downtown Granite has made it a bit interesting when you look over your shoulder to back away from the curb.
Remember those ‘Good Old Days of Summer’? Enjoying the hot, lazy afternoons swimming at Memorial Park, riding bike around town, that neighborhood pick-up game of baseball over in the empty lot, and the once in the summer trip to the Midway at the county fair.
