Breaking News

Local Columns

The Vietnam War – Marland Burckhardt – Vietnam deployment and 5th Special Forces Group

We have been following Marland Burckhardt, a Russell High School graduate who served in the Army in Italy before returning to college, marrying his sweetheart, and graduating with an Army commission. Marland and Barb completed a year-long assignment in Germany before returning to the States where Marland completed the Army Counterintelligence Course, Airborne training, and the Special Forces Officer Course. He was not surprised when he received deployment orders for Vietnam in January 1970. “There was no doubt in my mind I was on my way to Vietnam even before I got to the Special ...

Stay aware of breast cancer this October

Pink ribbons, pink hair and pink T-shirts are signs of the season this October, yet more importantly, these colorful reminders can save lives. Did you known that breast cancer deaths have steadily decreased by 44% since 1989, thanks to better screening and early detection? This strong track record is a reminder that all women age 40 and over should have regular mammograms, the gold standard in breast cancer screening. Because breast cancer is most treatable when discovered in its earliest stages, we are grateful to have the latest screening mammogram equipment here in Marshall, so we ...

Looking at empathy

The word empathy is used a lot. Sometimes it is confused with sympathy, but they are different. When you feel sympathy for somebody those are your feelings, experienced by you. Sympathy involves what you feel when you witness another person’s suffering or terrible misfortune. You may feel compassion, pity, sadness, or sorrow for him or her. So what is empathy? Empathy is your ability to understand someone else’s feelings. In a way, it is something like putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. It involves recognizing, understanding, responding to, sharing, or even ...

Focus on mental health first

When tragedy strikes close to home, it leaves a mark that, hopefully, never fades. The recent shooting at Annunciation church and school has shaken Minnesotans to our core. Parents, teachers, neighbors, and all of us are asking the same question: how do we make sure something like this never happens again? Gov. Walz and many Democrats in the legislature have been quick to use this tragedy to focus on what kinds of guns should be banned and what new gun ownerships restrictions can be put in place. I understand why that is the instinct, but I believe we will be more effective if we ...

Squirrel!

There’s nothing more powerful in the outdoors on a calm day than a squirrel for those of us who find ourselves on the deer stand. Whether it’s the scuttling in the leaves on the floor of the woods, or the rustling of small branches coming with a leap from tree to tree in a shelterbelt along a farm field, the big sounds generated by these little animals sets all hunters on edge. For me, they’re welcome company in the slow hours, watching them move with relative grace, ascending and spiraling around the trunks of cottonwoods, boxelders and oaks, before descending upside down along ...

A time for reflection

Every so often, we should take time to reflect on the past and the present. It’s important for me to live my own advice so here are some thoughts on the past and the present. During a recent conversation with a friend, we found ourselves mentally and verbally meandering about our respective families history. As it turns out, we both share a good amount of Norwegian ancestry. And,both of our paternal grandfathers were from Norway, and surprisingly, my grandfather came from a Norwegian town just a few miles north of my friend’s grandfather. Wow! We wondered if maybe they knew ...