By Mark Jacobson Peer Support Specialist Winona, MN Although the majority of people who have depression do not die by suicide, having major depression does increase suicide risk compared to people without depression. The risk of death by suicide may, in part, be related to the severity of the depression. Recent data on depression that have followed people over long … [Read more...]

Letter about Let’s keep our democracy... To the Editor, Today’s Republican Party, centered in rural America, has strongly moved towards anti-democracy, anti-voting, anti-history, anti-facts, anti-vaccine, anti-mask, and is perhaps more pro-death than pro-life. Many have manufactured outrage over teaching factual history to high school students. Without understanding the … [Read more...]

Katherine Baarsch Spring Valley, MN To the Editor: A meeting was held in Spring Valley on September 11, 2021, to educate and interest people in becoming involved in the Convention of States Project in Minnesota. There were 76 people in attendance, which surprised me - people of various walks in life and most of us didn’t know much about Convention of States (COS). It was … [Read more...]

By Ann Mraz Harmony Area Cancer Support Group Facilitator Harmony, MN The Cancer Group was formed some years ago when Marv Wilt was the mayor. In the agreement at that time and we still follow today, (40 plus years later) the group could do planting and landscaping as they felt necessary and the city would cut the grass and do the trimming.  After the bakery was removed … [Read more...]

By Jason Sethre Publisher Fillmore County Journal jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com Starting in June of 2021, our newspaper published a ballot each week in which readers could vote for their favorite businesses in our region in various categories. We’ve been coordinating the Reader’s Choice Awards since 2013. This annual tradition encourages readers to show their … [Read more...]

Letter about honor... To the Editor, It is only one word. And it has power. That word is honor. I grew up in the midwest farming community of central Michigan. As an adult, I’ve lived in the Pacific northwest and the desert southwest. Though I’ve felt like I belonged wherever I’ve lived, when I moved to Lanesboro in 2010, it felt like I’d come home. For a while, I couldn’t … [Read more...]

Letter about Shot or Not... To the Editor, I cannot keep quiet anymore. Opinions are like other things; everyone has one. This may draw fire but here goes, as I do not care who it upsets. Why do you not want to get the vaccination? It is proven safe and it works? Why have we not seen cases of whooping cough or measles until recently. I wonder why? Could it be religous belief … [Read more...]

Letter about prejudice... To the Editor, In the Fillmore County Journal of September 6, 2021, Catherine Glynn wrote an excellent commentary regarding prejudice against race and religion. In the Fillmore County Journal of September 13, 2021, both the Fillmore County Discussion on Race Group and the Rev. Pam Seebach addressed these same issues. As most of us know, this issue … [Read more...]

By Ron Scheevel Preston, MN If this above title confuses you, let me explain. The 4-D isn’t some new video technology. It’s this old soldier’s thoughts and emotions as I watched the recent events of the ending of the Afghan war. D-isgust in the poorly planned and executed manner of the withdrawal. It brought back memories of our Vietnam exit so many years ago. The vision … [Read more...]

By Eric Leitzen Hokah, MN Smartypants and online weirdos who care way too much about “owning” someone in a debate love to talk about something called “logical fallacies.” Basically, this is a fancy way of referring to what comes out of the back end of a bull. One of them is called the “Golden Mean Fallacy” which again is saying the middle of two arguments must always be the … [Read more...]