water under the bridges

After passing under the Rotary Suspension Bridge, over the Mill Pond Dam, under the Broadway Bridge, through the three cement culverts, under the new First Street NW Bridge, the Pelican River does a sharp left and heads noisily south under the Midway Avenue Bridge on its way to the Otter Tail River, then west to the Red River, then north to Hudson Bay.

Progress or status quo?

• Misinformation or just information you don't care much to hear?
• Kudos to the Editor of the Pelican Rapids Press for your courage in taking a positive stand on the upcoming Bond Issue Vote in today's Editorial. With some editing it might have been printed in its entirety on this page. The fact that there will be no opinion letters allowed in the paper the day before the vote shows how outdated weekly published print media is. Send the letters you reject to me and I will publish them here.
• Kudos too to Mr. Marcil, publisher of The Forum in Fargo, for hiring the Forum's first female Editor.

Knights of the Rapids Round Table - Princes of the Pool Hall
Yesterday in Otter Tail County's largest newspaper our Chief of Police was quoted as saying that statements made to that media by the Knights and Princes of the above named 56572 restaurants (where you can smoke to your heart's content by the way) were "ignorant."

A Chief of Police in a town the size of 56572 needs all the friends he can find. I'm sure his name has been mentioned in vain already a few times this morning. I'm equally sure the Royalty revelled while reading this morning's Press and seeing that the PRPD is being sued over a DUI.

Let me try to help you out of our common "ignorance."

May I suggest you come out of the smoke into the fresh air of Pelican Rapids Public Libraryand Multi Cultural Learning Center and see your tax dollar at work. Ask the Librarian if you can use one of the Gates computers with high speed internet. Most of these computers are used by 56572's newer citizens, if you're lucky you might meet one - even invite them in to the Rapids or the Pool Hall. The newcomers are using the computers to find out what's going on in the world outside 56572. They read, listen to streaming audio and watch streaming video, often in their native language. They also listen and talk back to the Rosetta Stone, an interactive computer program to teach them English. Better would be to interact with you.

While you are in front of a screen and keyboard go to this website at Harvard University and take the Implicit Association Test called Race IAT. It will take you ten minutes. Or try the one called Arab-Muslim IAT. If you need help finding these tests ask the person sitting next to you to help you. Letting them help you is a great way to break the ice.

I'll be the first to admit I didn't know I had Guatemalan neighbors. All I know about Guatemala is that some of the coffee they brew at the Riverside Coffee Shop comes from there. Shows you how ignorant I am. Even the Chief of Police didn't mention Guatemala on his list of countries he read off to the reporter. Do you suppose he knew?