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How high or low

Local Columns

We've all heard or said the phrase: “How high or low can you go,” right? To answer that question is interesting, so here are some personal insights. Back in my younger years on the farm, we always grew corn. Naturally, we had a small patch of sweet corn (yum!), but the largest fields of corn were planted, tilled and harvested to feed our livestock. We didn't grow to sell, but grew to feed — a big difference between today's farmers and the farmers of my youth. The ongoing motto was that the corn should be knee high by the 4th of July. Usually, the corn plant eventually grew to ...

What it takes

Local Columns

As I had hoped for in the humid waning hour of summer sun, the schools of bluegills — quality fish in that eight- to nine-inch range — began swarming all sides of the pontoon, akin to the mosquitoes emerging in the twilight foliage surrounding the lake. Safe from the winged hordes on ...

An airborne joyride

Community Voices

The exotic-looking gizmo sat on the tarmac, its bone-white paint gleaming in the summer sun. It’s a peculiar gadget, with two wings that are roughly the same length. Oddly, its elevator is located at the front of the fuselage instead of on the tail. It seemed out of place sitting on the ...

Klein hits the sweet spot when it comes to entrepreneurship

Community Voices

You never know who you are going to run into when you attend Eats and Beats events held on Third Street Thursday evenings. It’s really been a successful venture by Visit Marshall. As advertised, there’s good music, food and even beer. Each time I have attended, I see lots of people — ...

Nuclear energy remains a risky technology after almost 50 years

Community Voices

In the past few weeks I’ve read several editorials about nuclear energy which say that it should maybe become part of our future. One by a libertarian columnist claims that nuclear power has run into too many political obstacles. It states that no one was hurt by the near disaster at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania in the late 1970s. It says that people are exposed to radiation in many ways, air travel as well as other everyday activities. A more objective political editorial states that Minnesota’s moratorium on new nuclear power plants might be an issue in Election 2026. Many ...

Recalling the day my dad lost his right arm

Community Voices

Writing a column isn’t usually physically challenging. Unless you count wracking my brain. Sometimes I pull a muscle in my cerebellum. Today I’m having to work at this. Wednesday morning, I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to type after that. But here I am, plunking away with a giant, clompy wrap around my right hand. Credit to Tylenol. My post-op instructions mention no strenuous activity for that hand. I’m not sure writing counts as strenuous. Finding the right words and pounding them together to build a sentence are heavy ...