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Taking pride in renovated City Hall

As far back as the 1990s, it became apparent to city officials the Marshall Municipal Building no longer fit the needs of city workers and citizens. Originally built to house police and fire personnel, along with city administrative operations, the building became steadily outdated. Eventually, the fire operations moved to a stand-alone fire station in the 1970s and the police moved to the Law Enforcement Center in the 1990s. Unfortunately, the extra space left in the lower level wasn’t usable because of major deterioration. The utilities and other parts of the building had also ...

County fairs brighten up summer

The COVID-19 restrictions last year forced us to give up a lot of things that we take for granted — packing into a ball park to watch a town team baseball game, for instance, or going to the movies or out for dinner. One thing that hurt a lot of small Minnesota communities was the shutdown of the county fairs. All the kids working on their 4-H and FFA projects and preparing their animals for showing had nowhere to show them. Adults working on their art, their crafts, their baking, their livestock had nowhere to go. People who enjoyed spending sunny afternoons and warm evenings ...

The odd Olympics

This week the Olympic Summer Games will begin in Tokyo, already a year late and one of the oddest ever to be held. Thanks to COVID-19, the International Olympics Committee and the Japanese government have banned foreign spectators. The athletes marching in for the opening ceremony will have no one to wave to. No chants or cheers from home nation fans as they compete. The streets of Tokyo will be empty, without the tourists that are usually expected to boost the local economy and provide a return for the massive investment in facilities that Japan has made. A vast percentage of a ...

Rep. Thompson should step down

State Rep. John Thompson, DFL-St. Paul, raised questions of racial profiling during a recent traffic stop, when police pulled him over for not having a front license plate. Since then, the questions have all been raised about him. First, why would a Minnesota state representative have a driver’s license from Wisconsin? State law says you have to apply for a new Minnesota driver’s license within 30 days. Thompson said he has never had a Minnesota driver’s license, and has even renewed his Wisconsin license twice since moving to Minnesota. So, either he was lying to the state of ...

Hiding out an old political ploy

The Democratic members of the Texas Legislature are on the lam in Washington D.C. this week, to prevent Republicans in the state from passing more restrictive voting regulations by denying them a quorum. It’s not the first time a legislative caucus has abandoned their session to stymie legislation they can’t defeat. Going AWOL to prevent a legislative quorum is an old concept that has been used from time to time by both Democrats and Republicans. There are even some instances dating back to the George Washington administration. But for sheer nerve, perhaps no legislative quorum ...

No time to relax on COVID

We have been heartened by the drop in COVID-19 cases in Minnesota and Lyon County during the past month and a half. The daily count of new cases has been seemingly stuck, with one or two new cases every couple of days. It is good to see people feeling comfortable going without a face mask, thanks to their vaccinations. But there is still reason to be cautious, especially in light of nationwide statistics. There continue to be hot spots, places where people have been resistant to getting vaccinations, and are falling victim to the new variants like the delta variant that is spreading ...