March 21 Editorial

Short takes


Elderly care cuts?
THUMBS DOWN: It was disappointing to learn that Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposed budget would cut funding to long-term older-adult care in Minnesota, but that was the news brought this week by Gayle Kvenvold, the president and CEO of the Minnesota Health and Housing Alliance.
The governor would cut state funding by almost $32 million, and the MHHA is not only fighting the cut but insisting on an increase in state funding.
She says it would be about time, following several years of funding increases that have failed to keep up with expenses and other costs — putting Minnesota's long-term care providers at a funding gap among the worst in the nation.
We know the state faces a budget problem, but if there are two areas lawmakers shouldn't slice even at tough times they are public education and care for our elderly. So we side with Kvenvold on this: The Legislature needs to be strong enough to defeat the governor's older-adult care budget.
For that reason, Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, is doing a bold and good thing by standing against Pawlenty on the long-term care funding. Seifert said this week he and other House Republicans will fight against the cuts, even if it means bucking the governor from their own party.
This is especially important to southwest Minnesota, home to a large elderly population and a place where small-town nursing homes and assisted-living centers are major employers. Kvenvold's organization says more than 2,000 jobs could be at risk in the area if the state continues to hammer the industry's funding.
For a state that's bleeding jobs at a rate much higher than the national average, such an approach hardly seems wise.
City of Music resurfaces
THUMBS UP: In the wake of the apparent implosion of Sounds of Summer, downtown Marshall business owner Dr. LeRoy Affolter proposes an alternative approach that would further along his personal interest in having Marshall known as the City of Music.
There are many strong music organizations — from schools to community to churches and garage bands — and the city has been host to many well-attended concerts over the years. Some are big-time, like Pursuit of Excellence or when Southwest Minnesota State is host to award-nominated country band Emerson Drive.
Some are regulars, like the Municipal Band every Wednesday night in the summer.
Whatever the case, Affolter said again this week it's a good marketing campaign for the community. Now, he suggests taking it a step further — forming a sponsoring committee that would help coordinate and promote all of the community's music events. Separate groups such as the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council or, one supposes, the Marshall High marching band, would continue to do their own good work, but Affolter envisions a "unified community organization," to spread the word to Marshall residents and beyond.
"Let's work together on it," the doctor said.
No advance publicity for the Chopper
THUMBS DOWN: A subscriber from Lynd was disappointed that the public wasn't given advance notice that the National Guard Patriot Chopper was going to make an appearance Tuesday at Southwest Minnesota State University.
The Chopper, patterned after the Orange County Choppers motorcylcles of TV fame, was designed around ideas of National Guard soldiers, and travels around the country to promote the Guard.
A pretty neat thing, yet, hardly anyone knew it was coming. Neither local Guard or officials at SMSU were aware until they were informed shortly before the Chopper's arrival on Tuesday. One SMSU official called us a little before noon and said it might arrive anywhere between noon and 4 p.m.
Its appearance didn't generate much of a crowd, but probably would have had there been some advance publicity (blame the Pentagon, it seems, which coordinates the Chopper's travels).
"You can say a subscriber from Lynd whose husband is a veteran and whose son is in the military would have appreciated being let known of things like this," the reader said.
She also ventured that since the area has many active Guard members, they, too, would have liked to have seen the motorcycle.
"They said it's a heavy recruiting area, so that must tell you we're a pretty darned patriotic area," the reader said. "Why didn't they share this with the rest of us?"
Live legislative coverage
SIDEWAYS THUMB: Because it is Sunshine Week, which emphasizes public access and open government, a reader e-mailed us, expressing frustration that Marshall's public access cable channels don't broadcast live coverage of the Minnesota Legislature.
The coverage is available on the Internet, but the reader said not everyone has Internet access, so TV coverage would be valuable.
We don't disagree, but city officials say making it happen isn't so easy.
Jess Nelson of Studio One said the process is cumbersome, and hasn't worked the few times he's tried to link up (he doesn’t get much help from the cable companies). Plus, he said, there are already two public access channels on Charter that are generally full of programming and he'd hate to bump them. One of those channels is Tiger TV, which Nelson says is vital for Marshall's schools: It not only shows athletic events and concerts, but is used by the school for announcements and other services. Nelson said it more or less takes convincing Charter or Knology (the former PrairieWave) to open another channel for more coverage.
But he said with the transition of Knology, he's not sure there's a contact for a question like that.
Community Services Director Harry Weilage, whose department oversees cable access, said getting either cable company to cooperate is a challenge. "We don't have any leverage anymore," because of changes in federal law, he said.
And if you ask, "what they'll tell you is 'show us where the outcry is,'" Weilage said. He himself isn't sure there's a lot of public interest in viewing live legislative coverage.
Yet, he said, if a Marshall resident brought in a tape of the coverage, the cable access would legally have to air it.
Told some of this, the frustrated reader concluded that perhaps the best way to get live coverage is to put pressure on the cable providers themselves. Weilage suggested that's something that could be done in Marshall, one of the few fortunate rural communities to have more than one cable option. Most towns have monopolies.
In Marshall, you can vote your preference by dumping one provider for the other, he said.