opinion

My best friend Derek turned 35 on Wednesday, Jan. 21. It’s hard for me to believe that we’ve been best friends for 30 of those 35 years. Anyone who knows me knows that one of my favorite things to say is “Everyone needs a Derek.” If everyone had someone like Derek in their...

How often do you do something good for others simply to do good? If you’re human, which we all are, a tiny part of you might hope that your good deed will not go unnoticed. You might even hope for a bit of praise, or a pat on the back. Then there are those who are thrust into...

Take steps to reach out To the Editor: Articles focusing on deaths due to suicide or overdose upset me. Yes, death is a possible outcome of untreated addiction or mental illness but it is not necessarily the worst possible outcome. Focusing energies to simply prevent deaths...

You may not know me, but many of you might recognize me by now. I’m the friendly, chatty guy, possibly dressed a little funny, goofy hat, shorts when it’s too cold, who approaches you, encourages you, sometimes guilts you, lures sounds wrong, entices sounds better, and certainly...

Time to start doing To the Editor: Living in Hammond, Wis. for over ten years and hearing myself and other village residents complain about the unprofessional behavior of both the village board and the police department along with the lack of government transparency and nothing...

By the time you read this I will most likely have already started my, seemingly, annual trek to the great state of Texas for yet another FCS National Championship game for my alma mater North Dakota State Bison football team. The Bison will play for their fourth straight national...

We ask – as we’ve asked before – that our state legislators to do something about the poor time frame forced on those who wish to become candidates for local office. Candidacy registration, as required by state law, goes from Dec. 1 to the first Tuesday in January. Yet spring...

Community Christmas Dinner a success To the Editor: Thank you for your coverage of the Community Christmas Dinner held at the New Richmond United Methodist Church. We greatly appreciate your pre-event publicity and the photo spread in the Jan. 1 issue. The dinner this year was...

Thank you from Five Loaves To the Editor: When over 34 percent of New Richmond area children live below the poverty line, holiday hunger can be a critical issue, but not as much this year. Record support has flooded into Five Loaves, which serves over 1,100 local residents every...

If you are 21 or older and go to the State of Colorado, you can legally possess and use up to an ounce of marijuana. Besides buying an ounce of pot, you can buy and consume many types of concentrated and edible forms of marijuana – from brownies and candy bars to truffles, pretzel...

I love this time of year. No, not winter. I hate winter. What I love is when the calendar page flips from December to January. I love putting the holiday season behind me, getting back in the saddle at work and at home, and plotting a new course for my professional and personal...

Christmas can mean different things to many people. Ways to celebrate the holiday include shopping, Santa Claus, gifts, parties, decorations — the list goes on. The fact remains that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. However, if you dropped in from another planet...

I am a rural girl through and through. I grew up on a hobby farm in Pierce County where I mucked out stalls, fed the cows, cared for an army of barn cats, cut firewood, refused to wear shoes until it snowed and helped raise a huge garden. I raised rabbits for 4-H, learned how to shoot...

Mixed in with Christmas cards and holiday gift parcels, area property owners will find their property tax bill in the mailbox in the coming days. Though nobody particularly enjoys paying taxes, those funds are vital to keep our way of life functioning. Whether its fixing potholes,...

Gas tax losses To the Editor: It was Vladimir Lenin who once said, “Everything is connected to everything else.” This is a truism when you consider what’s happened to gas prices lately. Because the price of gas has gone down at the pump, in seven states below $2 per gallon,...