Seifert's announcement

Sideways thumb: District 21A Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall announced Thursday he would not seek another term in the Minnesota House, even if he lost the race to be the next governor of Minnesota. This is sideways because the Legislature lost a veteran member and because the Republican Party lost a big voice in the Legislature, that is, if Seifert loses the governor's race. Kudos to Seifert for making the announcement early to allow the party to get good candidates and to remove any speculation on what he might do after the governor's race. Agree or disagree with Seifert on the issues, this is one point on which most should agree: Seifert is respectful of process and policy issues related to the Legislature and the Republican Party, which is why he made his announcement Thursday.

Coyote ugly

Thumbs down: Yellow Medicine County Commissioners said this week coyotes are or were becoming a problem in the county. While concerns about incidents involving livestock and declining wildlife population are valid, it seems it's difficult to offer more than anecdotal evidence for it. It seems statistics on the coyote population don't exist or are minimal at best. County sheriff's departments aren't getting numerous reports of incidents involving coyotes. The discussions by the Yellow Medicine County Board could, at the very least, prompt those who believe coyotes had been involved in incidents to report them and the Department of Natural Resources to consider monitoring the population.

First line of defense

Thumbs up: Health care workers such as those in emergency rooms and those in ambulances are among the first to receive the vaccines for H1N1. That's a common sense move because if the public gets sick, it will be the personnel at the clinic, the hospital or in the ambulance who will care for us. If health care workers are out from work because of H1N1, who will care for us?

The weather, another round of rain

Thumbs down: Optimistically, we may be glad we've received all this October rain when May, June, July and August come next year. For now, the rain that falls is causing anxiety for farmers and those in ag-related jobs. Chances of decreased yields increase with each day of harvest delayed by rain. If rain continues to narrow the harvest window, farmers may be tempted to put in even more extreme hours in the fields in a rush to get the crops out. It sure would be nice to see some sun, and even some wind, to dry out the fields. It would be nice to have farmers be able to return to those fields.