Greetings as we enter the heart of summer here in Morris MN. It is par for the course that your friends and neighbors may be "gone" for various reasons. "The lake" is a top attractor. Isn't it a shame that Lake Crystal does not have recreational qualities?
As a kid I took swimming lessons at the Pomme de Terre Lake chain. You may be aware that's several miles north of Morris. Some people might live here a long time before even hearing about it. Less recreational value now than when I was a kid. It's still kind of a neat spot, a wide spot along the Pomme de Terre River.
The river makes its way to Pomme de Terre City Park east of Morris. There you'll find the "splash park" which is nice, but still no substitute for the real lake experience. Swimming was once possible right on the river in front of the shelter, and I remember a diving raft out there. I also remember a female classmate of mine who got my attention with her scant swim attire.
I am 67 years old and I need to be given some slack for making an observation like that. It's like when Brent Musburger, the venerated broadcaster, actually got into trouble by gushing over the looks of a star quarterback's girlfriend. Such talk was innocuous in an earlier time, probably even mainstream. Well, public smoking was once mainstream.
So, we in Morris are rather water-deprived for our recreation today. So we often head east to the real lakes country. Those of us who hold down the fort here in Morris should not feel ashamed about it.
Forget about "tactile"
So this morning a customer at DeToy's left behind a Morris newspaper. Got a little ink on my fingers paging through. I remember when the Internet first started making inroads, cutting into newspapers, people who sympathized with the plight of the papers would talk about the "tactile" experience of reading a paper, like that was really a good or special thing. I doubt they were serious about that.
This talk was simply apprehension about how we were entering a new and somewhat uncharted age. The specter brings fear.
A recent front page of the Morris newspaper had the name of our governor in it. Our governor's last name is "Walz." He's a Democrat so I assume he's pretty unpopular in these parts. But it would be nice to see a person's name spelled right. The Morris paper had his name spelled "Waltz," like the dance tempo.
Maybe you prefer schottisches. I know the crowds at the old Lakeside Ballroom in Glenwood loved schottisches, would always call for more. But please, our governor is "Tim Walz." He is a Democrat and I respect him for that.
Silly rabbit, all you people who might want to blame Democrats for inflation: go sit under a cow. That kind of talk is just for sport. If you pry open the issue, you'll discover that this thing called the "Federal Reserve" is the true governing entity of the United States. Haven't you noticed? When you tune into the media at the end of the day for economic analysis, almost always there is a laser focus on "the Fed" and its machinations.
To help you? Do you really think that's what it's all about? There are signs now that the Fed with its leader, Jerome Powell - a banker, not an economist - is starting to monetize the nation's debt. This would be massively inflationary, beyond what we've already seen. The Fed is run by unelected people. It appears they'll do anything, even with deeply inflationary consequences, to keep the stock market "up."
But do you really care if the stock market is up, if you find at the store that a loaf of bread costs $30? Too late you will realize that you have been victimized by a cabal of big shots. Your 401K will end up like a bill of goods that you were sold. We will all probably discover this too late.
The "Dragnet" music
Back to Morris MN and our quality of life in midsummer, 2022. For those of us who are actually here, not at the lake or some other preferable place, we see there is an issue with law enforcement. Running out of police officers? Some of us might snicker at that. How many of us really fear serious crime?
Our first thought might be that with fewer officers, there will be fewer "ambush" opportunities of citizens caught not wearing seat belts. By now the seat belt habit is actually pretty well established. But for a series of years, people of my generation could really be jarred by this. A Meals on Wheels volunteer in Morris got a ticket. My church secretary got a ticket when she was merely crawling from one parking area to another downtown.
The South Dakota attorney general strikes and kills someone along a highway. He ends up with minor traffic violations and got to keep his job a very long time, even with defenders (Republicans of course) on his behalf.
But, get seen without seat belt in downtown Morris MN? Just imagine the "Dragnet" theme song. Ridiculous. So I shed absolutely no tears about losing police officers. They make me nervous even when they're in a local cafe. They have "qualified immunity."
The police are jittery because there are so many guns circulating in America. Republican Party intransigence prevents nearly all meaningful gun reforms. The Republicans kowtow to a certain "base." You might see these guys in the middle section of DeToy's Restaurant between 6 and 8 a.m.
People are killed because of jittery cops. I have said "no" to being a Meals of Wheels driver because of fear of being pulled over.
So, Stevens County might have one law enforcement entity? That's where the discourse is now. Well, whatever.
I refer to the "Morris newspaper" but technically it's called "Stevens County Times." I know a great many people think there's way too much emphasis given to Hancock. This week's issue adds insult to injury regarding that. There's a page 1 headline that tells of a mayoral proclamation. You start reading the article and you realize it's the Hancock mayor, not the Morris mayor.
A headline of this type should specify "Hancock," just for clarity. Unless, Hancock is actually becoming the premier community in Stevens County. I know their school has had to turn kids away, such is the demand for getting in that school.
When I first started full-time at the Morris paper, back in 1979, the "talk on the street" was that the days were obviously numbered for both the Hancock and Chokio-Alberta schools. Isn't that amazing?
Morris was "the big school" and behaved accordingly, just assuming that our sports teams could crunch the smaller schools. But aha! Things did not develop that way, not at all, and finally pressure grew to get the Morris school standards up to snuff. What an ugly controversy that became. You might say I'm the guy who knows where all the bodies are buried.
One final note on this late June day: For a great many years, we'd all be getting ready for Prairie Pioneer Days. I swear that the whole community had its heart in this at one time. I loved going over to the park right away on Saturday morning. It is incredible that Morris allowed this whole event to die, just die, and we wouldn't even be subtle about it. We just announced to the world that it was no more.
The event was a rare occasion for the Killoran stage to be used. This morning I noticed that a large tree branch was resting on the roof of the place. It costs money to remedy these things, and for what purpose does the Killoran building exist today? Why are there bleachers there?
The weekend that would normally be Prairie Pioneer Days in Morris will be deader than a doornail. I know Kevin Wohlers is concerned about this.
Go to the lake, I guess. Visit grandchildren somewhere. Go to the Cities? But to be in Morris? Well, I'll be here.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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