To the Editor, Every thriving small town has one thing in common: people who are willing to step up, invest their time, and work alongside others to make their community better. Strong leaders don’t just keep good work moving forward. They inspire others, build momentum, and help shape a brighter future for everyone. However, communities… Read More

5 years ago Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021 Al Berube has spent the better part of a decade being an advocate for community banks across the state of Minnesota. That advocacy culminated in August when Berube wrapped up a one year term as chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota Chairman. As the chairman, Berube… Read More

Although we all hope for the “good old days,”  meaning, those days when people could be people and behave accordingly, perhaps those days weren’t all that good. Here are some of the medications we used to take a hundred or so years ago. They’re not listed in any order, because all of them are about… Read More

5 years ago Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021 Bonnie Dykhoff thought God put Cris Gaspar Garcia in her path to help him find a better life. When he fell ill with congestive heart failure and died, it all became clear­­—God put her in his path to help his parents. But it wasn’t just Dykhoff that provided… Read More

Now that summer has given way to the start of school and fall is in the air, we can no longer ignore the fact that election season is heating up in a big way. Perhaps, one of the best parts of the fact it is already the second week of September is that we are… Read More

To write about this is probably a combination of old-age retrospection with an added dash of conceit that anyone is interested in the things I did as a young boy on a farm so long ago, but then, maybe some of you haven’t participated in a real cattle drive. Each spring, we would have to… Read More

by bob garver The dialogue-free Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons are my favorite of the Looney Tunes. No jokes centered around annoying accents or speech impediments, just pure physical comedy about a hapless carnivore and his Ahab-like obsession with catching and eating a skinny flightless bird. Although the cartoons are ridiculous, they follow strict rules,… Read More

New York Mills School Superintendent Adam Johnson is planned to meet and hold a listening session with the following townships, community events, community meeting spaces and city councils concerning the upcoming school building project referendum.  September 14: Bluffton at 1 p.m., Newton at 6:30 p.m., Otto at 7 p.m., Leaf Lake at 7 p.m. (near… Read More

The prairie spy I remember a time when the Post Office delivered a box the size of a six-pack of beer that had 16 baby chicks inside, each one of them as happy as if they had a brain, cheeping and peeping merrily inside a world that barely measured six inches to a side. Then—two… Read More

5 years ago Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021 Have you ever wondered what some of New York Mills’ most important landmarks look like carved in corn? Well, the Otter Berry Farm in rural NY Mills has spent the better part of 2021 planning just how it will carve a giant Lund boat and the iconic farmer… Read More