Columns/Opinion

Letter: Environmentalists get frustrated with good reason

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Mon, 08/05/2019 - 11:01am

Being an environmentalist often feels like a losing battle.

All environmental wins are temporary, lasting only until a new regime undoes the regulations and protections. Losses are permanent. Once the land, water, air is polluted, eroded or developed it cannot be restored in human time.

Science supports environmentalism. Capitalism opposes it. In American politics, commercial interests usually win.

Environmental protection is a long-term project. The pursuit of wealth and comfort are immediate rewards. 

Al Batt: White clover may be preferable to grass

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Wed, 07/31/2019 - 8:16am

I mowed the lawn. It's a job I don't relish. White clover, also known as Dutch clover, adjusts when mowed and flowers on shorter stems. I prefer it to grass.

Not long ago, it was considered a standard of excellence in lawn care. The clover grows quickly and is a fertilizer factory, a nitrogen-fixing plant that improves the fertility and health of the soil.

Lisa Brainard: Driftless Challenge: Win with environment, beauty and history

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Wed, 07/31/2019 - 8:13am

With basically a good month of summer vacation available before school starts again, you want to make the most of that time. A travel and exploration game called the Driftless Area Challenge will help you explore your backyard, so to speak.

The challenge is kind of like playing bingo with selfies – if bingo involved traveling to fun places, that is. Sounds like a winner, right?

Sylvia Leitzen: There is still much to do before summer ends

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Wed, 07/31/2019 - 8:10am

August! Where did the summer go? It is time now to start thinking about getting the kids ready for school and all the fun autumn activities. But, don't go there yet! There are plenty of warm-weather things to do in this coming month.

Bill Bentson: Minnesota has highest number of ‘Town Ball’ teams

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 07/30/2019 - 3:47pm

Heading out for the southeast again this weekend. I have a Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame meeting on Thursday and then, on Saturday, I’ll be announcing the Fountain 150th celebration parade. Monday and Tuesday our Hall of Fame members will be working a girl’s high school basketball tournament at Anoka-Ramsey Community College.

Letter: Military celebration was moving part of 2019 Fillmore County Fair

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 07/30/2019 - 3:45pm

To the editor:

The 2019 Fillmore County Fair started with a very moving and memorable military celebration on Tuesday, July 16, to recognize the reconstruction of the 100-year-old World War I Memorial entrance at the fair grounds. The entrance was first used on Aug. 26, 1919, to welcome home the soldiers from WWI where 48 Fillmore County soldiers had lost their lives.

Letter: Racism is a distraction, but also dims America’s greatness

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 07/30/2019 - 3:43pm

Racism has always been an unwelcome companion in our society. But we had made incredible progress in recognizing racism as evil and reducing its impact. Until now. 

Now we have a president saying certain congresswomen of color should go back to their own country, and his supporters chant “Send them back, Send them back” during campaign rallies. The congresswomen are obviously all U.S. citizens, so this isn't about legality. This is racism. This is about trying to divide our country into “us” and “them.” And this is very, very frightening.

Iris Clark Neumann: Fresh Summer Salads

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Mon, 07/22/2019 - 3:15pm

We have reached a point in the summer season that I always look forward to. Garden wax and green beans are ready to pick, so are the cucumbers. 

       Tonight, we ate leftover pizza for supper, served with two fresh salads, a remake of three-bean salad and marinated cucumbers. Both recipes highlighted fresh herbs, one had parsley and the other, dill weed (the leaves on a dill plant). 

       All the rain we've had has made me focus more on weeding than the harvest. Weeds reach unbelievable proportions in a short time. 

Al Batt: Turkey vultures can be found throughout state of Minnesota

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Mon, 07/22/2019 - 11:37am

Edward Abbey wrote of the turkey vulture, "Let us praise the noble turkey vulture: no one envies him; he harms nobody; and he contemplates our little world from a most serene and noble height."

Abbey also penned, "If my decomposing carcass nourishes the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture — that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves."

Dr. Jan Meyer: Random thinking can be just rambling

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Mon, 07/22/2019 - 11:36am

Random thinking to me is closely related to what could be called “chatting,” that casual conversation that happens between both strangers and people we know well. Every human engages in both, and chatting leads to private thinking and vice versa. That thinking is part of what is labelled our “internal monologue,” or IM, which is that conversation which we have with ourselves inside our heads.