By Tim Penny President/CEO Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation Continuing education in a business or profession is critical for future growth, but trainings can be difficult to participate in when events are held far away or are too costly. At Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) we take pride in hosting a variety of high quality, low-cost training … [Read more...]
Letter to the editor about photo ID
Letter about photo ID is not voter suppression... To the Editor, The commentary claiming voter ID is voter suppression reminded me of a fall 2013 trip to Norway during their general election. In the Trondheim library I happened to observe early voting. The voter would present their ID to a lady behind a table and she would give them a ballot. When the lady was not busy I … [Read more...]
Letter to the editor about please get vaccinated…
Letter about please get vaccinated... To the Editor, Nearly half of Republicans say they are unlikely to get the COVID vaccine. A recent Gallup Poll found that only 45% of Republicans have confidence in science. Many conservatives have a long history of not believing in evolution, climate change, and now the COVID vaccine. With hundreds of thousands of Americans dead … [Read more...]
Chatfield invites interested residents to apply for council seat
At the July 13 Chatfield City Council meeting the process to appoint an interested resident to fill the city council vacancy was discussed. The vacancy was created with the resignation of John McBroom. Three options were considered: to advertise for interested residents that would like to contribute, to recruit a former councilor or mayor, or to review active people in the … [Read more...]
Voter ID is voter suppression
Rushford, MN In recent years, the GOP has introduced, in many states, various Voter ID laws purporting that for an election to truly be fair and valid, we must have some sort of government provided identification to show our individual citizenship status. This push is designed to force citizens to jump through unnecessary hoops to prove their status all under the pretense … [Read more...]
Letter about “Only TRUTH should rule the day” and “Declining population?”…
To the Editor, Many thanks to Kathie Haynes for putting Stan Gudmundson’s outlandish rant in perspective. Facts have been endangered recently, but I think and hope that they will prevail. Re: declining population: It’s not a pretty sight to imagine wholesale death of those who get old. But nobody owes us 20 extra years past our “use by” date. I am 75, an age unheard of a … [Read more...]
Letter about brave voices…
To the Editor, I know of a young man who’s mother slapped him across the face and said “Don’t you ever say that again” when he told her what a priest had done to him. The priest that molested him wasn’t just a pervert but his real problem was that he was a tyrant. The young boy could have prevented dozens of other boys from getting abused by this man if he had stood on the … [Read more...]
Letter about declining population…
To the Editor, In response to Jason Sethre’s concern about a declining population in the editorial of July 12; it seems a little short-sighted worried about a declining population that could interfere with our way of life, when we already have about 7.5 billion people on this earth and are increasing by about 100 million each year. (Ruchir Sharma - The Rise and Fall of … [Read more...]
One Moment, Please… Declining population?
You may have read in the news that the world population is on the decline. According to a July 15, 2020, article on BBC News, “Falling fertility rates mean nearly every country could have shrinking populations by the end of the century. And 23 nations – including Spain and Japan – are expected to see their populations halve by 2100. Countries will also age dramatically, … [Read more...]
Only TRUTH should rule the day
By Kathie Haynes Canton, MN I just read Stan Gudmundson’s latest screed. He must be living in another world. For some reason he believes that the goal and purpose of the Democrats was to create contempt and loathing for Trump. He accuses the Democrats of doing “everything in their power to create hatred for him.” Well, they did not need to have that goal, because … [Read more...]
Investing in our region’s smallest communities
At Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), one of our central tenets is a commitment to the future of rural Minnesota. While we continue to make our programming and resources accessible to communities of all sizes in our 20-county region, we know that many of our smaller towns can benefit from additional financial resources to help them grow and address challenges. … [Read more...]
Hate won
Peterson, MN Usually, after a presidential election, there are all sorts of editorials and letters saying how terrific the newly elected president is. There is generally a list of “wonderful” things they stand for, what they plan for the future, and what they are doing. Prior to this presidential election there were countless letters and endless editorials about the … [Read more...]
One Moment, Please… USPS postage increase
Publisher Fillmore County Journal jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com Building materials, vehicles, real estate, and gas prices have been on the rise. Inflation, some might say. Add postage to that list. Effective January 24, 2021, the United States Postal Service implemented their regularly scheduled rate increase. That January rate increase happens every year … [Read more...]
One Moment, Please… Honoring essential workers beyond the pandemic
Publisher Fillmore County Journal jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com On August 15, 2020, Bill Funk (owner of Bill Funk Trucking in Chatfield, Minn.) led a convoy of truck from town to town: Canton, Harmony, Preston, Ostrander, Grand Meadow, Spring Valley, Wykoff, Fountain, Chatfield, Eyota, and ended at St. Charles. It was a great success, and even raised over $3,000 … [Read more...]
The ballot box is the soul of democracy
Lanesboro, MN A year after the Solomon Islands became independent from Great Britain in 1978, my wife and I went to the Melanesian country in the South Pacific as Peace Corps volunteers assigned to three small villages on north Guadalcanal. And the following year when provincial elections came our villagers walked to the polling station from their villages along the gravel … [Read more...]