Fox hunting is often thought of as a primarily British activity in which trained dogs pursue Red Foxes, followed by human hunters who are usually on horses but sometimes on foot. A traditional equestrian activity, many animal welfare campaigners object to it as a barbaric "blood sport", while many proponents and participants view it as a crucial part of rural history in England, vital for conservation, and a method of pest control. In other countries where fox hunting is practiced, including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia and India, it may be traced back to British influence. There are many differences between American hunts and their English counterparts.
(Photo courtesy 56572 photographer Roland Jordahl)
"ATVs are out everywhere. Walleyes going good on Lida and Prairie Lake, 3-5 pounders are being caught lots of sunnies and crappies on Prairie. Northerns are hitting the tipups on suckers everywhere. Good ice for walking, check it as you go, even if you know the lake. 6-8 inches of ice is the norm for most lakes."The story of the week in 56572 may have occurred not in the basement of the Old REA, but instead in Worthington, Minnesota, where on Tuesday two hundred and thirty undocumented workers in the Swift & Company meatpacking plant were arrested by ICE. There are pages of comments by residents to the Worthington Daily Globe newspaper which make for fascinating reading. Worthington is worried that the Swift Plant may close. This article today from Minnesota Public Radio talks about the ramifications of the raid. That Swift and Company knew the raid was imminent and what they did to stop it, is interesting. The last sentence in Mark Steil's report "Just how important immigrant labor is for meatpackers is demonstrated in Swift's court filings. At one point the company told the federal judge as much as 40 percent of it's work force at the six plants might be removed in the federal raid. The final result was under 10 percent. Still the company's original number is a good indicator how important illegal immigrants are in the production of meat in the U.S." raises the question of Jennie-O's hiring practices. There have been ICE raids at West Central Turkeys in the past, have there not? Would Don Cole, WCT Plant Manager, care to comment, perhaps to Kelley Gorman, about the status of WCT's workforce? We are not sitting on a time bomb like Worthington was, are we? Are Hormel's corporate hiring practices better than Swift and Company? We assume that meatpacking and poultry processing plants are different, no Muslims in the former, yet there must be some similarities. Is there an expansion planned for WCT in 2007? 56572 has most, if not all, its eggs in one basket. Who can blame us for being nervous? Ask him Mr. Gorman. Talk to us Mr. Cole. Talk to all of us who depend so greatly on the viability of your company for our own livelihoods. While we're talking turkey, 56572 hopes that 56572 City Fathers remembered to express our community's condolences to the Earl B. Olson family. Howard, you must have attended the funeral. We hope you let the family of the founder know that Jennie-O is very appreciated by all of us in 56572.
(This paragraph for archival purposes and future 56572 Trivial Pursuit board games) 2006.50 was a Super Week. The Part-time Associate Superintendent (previously retired) chaired his first School Board Meeting, while the Superintendent stayed at home writing his monthly District reports, while the Retired Superintendent cared for his new grandson. 56572 congratulates the Kleins.
In Ghana there is a huelga general. 56572's Peace Corpser extraordinaire will be back in 56572 next week.
Enfin, as we sneak up on the longest night and shortest day of the year, these words this week from Minnesota's own Garrison Keillor, meant for those 56572 readers far from shores of Lake Wobegon, on what it means to be a Minnesotan...... in a nutshell:
"I come from Minnesota, where it's considered shameful to be shameless, where modesty is always in fashion, where self-promotion is looked at askance. Give us a gold trophy and we will have it bronzed so you won't think that we think we're special. There are no Donald Trumps in Minnesota: We strangled them all in their cribs. A football player who likes to do his special dance after scoring a touchdown is something of a freak.
The basis of modesty is winter. When it's 10 below zero and the wind is whipping across the tundra, there is no such thing as stylish and smart, and everybody's nose runs. And the irony is, if you're smart and stylish, nobody will tell you about your nose. You look in the rearview mirror and you see a gob of green snot hanging from your left nostril and you wonder, "How long have I been walking around like that? Is that why all those people were smiling at me?"
Yes, it is.
So we don't toot our own horns. We can be rather ostentatious in our modesty and can deprecate faster than you can compliment us. We are averse to flattery. We just try to focus on keeping our noses clean."
Enjoy the predicted aurora borealis this week and the final week of the Halcyon Days.
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