“There’s a little good in the worst of us, And a little bad in the best of us. It scarce behooves the most of us, To talk about the rest of us.” I don’t know who the author of that quote is. I can tell you that my uncle quoted it to my cousin so many times and for… Read More

Over the years, I’ve been told many things by my Elders and Betters that have turned out to not be: 1. True, or 2. Fun, or  3.Beneficial, and maybe 4. Physically possible.   One of the first things that are memorable was one of my parents saying: “Open up. This will make you feel better.” Although… Read More

Question: When driving on a road that has a bike lane to the right. Can you turn onto the bike lane with your vehicle to make a right turn? Thank you. Answer: Yes, but you always need to be aware of your surroundings and the rules of the road.  Whenever a bicycle lane has been established… Read More

In the past 11 years I think I have called in sick to work a total of one time. That instance occurred with what I like to call the Chow Mein Hot dish fiasco in which I got sick from eating hot dish with an Asian flare. Of course, when you are the boss and… Read More

To the Editor, As the Shrine philanthropy centers around the well-being of children, and with the name of safety in mind, we will not be having our Annual Birak Shrine Circus in 2021 due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Our Shrine Circus is mainly sponsored by small businesses in the area, we would like to thank each and… Read More

By Tucker Henderson Special to the Dispatch Once you get to a certain skill level in family history research, you start to notice and find things that were formerly unknown. I guess I have achieved to that level, because while searching old newspapers online for any and all variations of “Piippo” (which is misspelled more often than… Read More

Sometimes, you just have to sit down and list some of the  occurrences that happened during the past week or so. By doing that, you find out whether or not the “plusses and minuses” come out your way. Or not. It does sometimes boil down to an old saying: “Sometimes you eat the bear; sometimes he… Read More

By Rod Bernu Special to the Dispatch Living in a small town like New York Mills in the 1930’s was a quiet life without modern conveniences, but great farm products. My father, being a farm boy loved buttermilk. Often, on Saturday morning he would send me on my bicycle with an empty syrup pail to buy buttermilk… Read More

By Tucker Henderson Special to the Dispatch After attending the Finn Creek annual meeting on the 13th, having purple doughnuts for St. Urho’s Day on the 16th, and speaking with Finns all week long, I thought it was appropriate to write about the story behind the Finn Creek Open Air Museum south of town. The Minnesota Finnish… Read More

The last time I had any commentary on my occasional instances of doing harm to myself was from one of my children. I had slipped and chipped two front teeth as I was climbing onto one of my tractors on the farm. “Look,” one of The Young Girls said to me—(and they’re not that young anymore)—“We’ll… Read More