apologia to my readers

When I started this blog last summer my thought was to give locals and expats a way to keep in touch with 56572. Janteloven tells me, "I could have done better."

Here's what you might read in next week's Press and what you might not:

56572 has lost sleep about three fatal incidents occuring around Thanksgiving involving locals each of the last three years. The last two had memorials in last week's Press. The memorials were not needed for most of us. The memories are much too fresh.

Pelican Valley Motors-Art Christianson Ford-Rick's Super Valu-Pelican Super Valu is now Pelican Dollar Store. The new BP (used to be Holiday) carwash across the street on the corner has not yet washed a car, but then the Mean Caffeine has never sold a latte yet either. The Calico Cupboard and Lodin's Ben Franklin-Pelican Variety are closed. Northwinds Gifts and Balloons is now the Fabric Stash.

56572 now has three full service banks vying for our savings and our interest. Wells Fargo, Lake Country State and State Bank and Trust of Fargo. Wells Fargo has a drive-up ATM where Latinos, Hmong and Chinese (you can buy a Chinese tractor in 56572 but not a John Deere) can read the prompts in their own language. State Bank is trying to balance their lack of a drive-up ATM with banking hours which make the others seem old fashioned. My online banking hours are 365/24/7. Can they beat that?

56572 now has one full service grocery store (with a small deli but no in store bakery) four C-stores and a Somali grocery with halal meats.

The ISD548 Board of Education will receive a recommendation to proceed with plans to build a new PRHS for $32,000,000. I predict the Board will proceed to try find a novel way to persuade. Once the site is announced and plans formalized, the Bike Trail Boys (BTB) will start meeting. I see no BTB on the building committee. The Board would do well, IMHO, to adopt the slogan the FFHS Building Committee has in Fergus Falls "Doing nothing is not an option." This would take some wind from the BTB's skull and crossbones sails. Whether the present PRHS would be used as a Middle School (or as a community center) is another question. To build, where to build, what to build for how many grades, how to get the taxpayer to buy into the idea.....so many questions, so few answers.

WCT needed more juice. OTP put up some poles along 108 West out to 113. Looks weird and I don't like it.

56572 now has a vision of 56572 over the horizon. Since this was a blue-printed vision you could only see it in the PRPL meeting room, not online. The vision I saw was one of the city growing to the Northeast along the Pelican River all the way to the first bridge at the Prairie Lake outlet. This is good news for a local turkey grower and his son who own much of the land. The river may even get cleaner, who knows? I can see the logic of using our most precious local natural resource, the Pelican River, for parks and for residential building sites. Will the new PRHS be there too? I had expected to see a location for the new PRHS in the plans. I guess the city and the school each do their own thing. Maybe the timing was off? A City Council member shared with me recently his excitement for the vision of three walkbridges connecting Broadway with the PRPL and the new Westbank River Park. The plan is to take out the three culverts we all drive across and drift through to get downriver and to the back of Strand Ace Hardware. That might take more than a crane. Oh, I forgot to mention that the post office has be relocated and the building removed to improve the view? Stay tuned.

56572 looks mighty festive after Phase 1 of the Downtown Streetlight Project. When can we expect Phases 2-3?

56572 comings and goings:
Ron Beck, Branch Manager of Lake Country Bank, has resigned will be re-locating to Menahga.
Richard Jenson's city administrator replacement is Don Solga who lives out on Tamarac Lake.
Randy Skow-Anderson, co-pastor of 56572's largest congregation, Trinity Lutheran, has resigned and will be Campus Pastor at Minnesota State University-Moorhead.
Mike Nettestad has downsized his insurance agency, selling all but his health lines to Greg Johnson of Moorhead who recently bought the Pelican Valley Agency which will be moving to the Nettestad location (in the old Union 76 north of Walt Boe's) opening up more room on West Mill for the Pass It On store to expand into. Mike and Sheri are moving a door north and I don't mean in to Good Sam.