Maybe the good ol' Birches could inform

I went to high school with "Mr. Culligan," Craig Birch. He had the image of an athlete through much of his school life, and then he transformed into theater. I congratulate him on that. He has a younger brother Cary who I didn't know as well, or rather I didn't get familiar until later years.
Let's credit Cary for being ahead of his time, when as a Boy Scout he envisioned a biking/walking trail for Morris. This eventually came into being and is now a treasured recreational asset for Motown. A grant effort has failed in getting the trail extended to the golf course. We should redouble our efforts. I have noted that since Morris is not one of those communities associated with lakes recreation, the bike trail ought to be seen as a special gem. The more it can be expanded, the better. Cary Birch with his youthful wisdom could see the benefits.
Water quality was the Birch family's stock-in-trade. I have written way more than I care to, recently on this. I have become jaded. I'm sitting here wondering if we should empathize with Ebeneezer Scrooge, the pre-Christmas Scrooge, who had somehow gotten very suspicious of everyone, crusty.
I was so innocent in jotting down "water softener" on my list of matters to take care of, not long ago. I had heard out and about regarding this ballyhooed new water treatment plant. That's part of my problem: I hear too much. This was not an acceptable basis for acting.
I called Mohr Plumbing to see if they might investigate the status of my softener - they visit each fall anyway for the furnace check - great pros. The answer was no and that's understandable, as it's not a specialty they have. Doesn't hurt to ask. A friend suggested I call Todd Valnes. Again, I should not rely on personal acquaintances or "street talk" to advance my interests. If the city wishes to declare that a particular action needs to be taken, I'll take it. I consider myself a proper citizen or I try to be. I told Mr. Valnes that I had a Kinetico water softener and wondered if he should come or if I should call Kinetico. He suggested the latter. That's fine.
So I assumed that a visit by the guy in the Kinetico truck would surely take care of things. So, appointment made. He arrived on schedule, went downstairs and informed me that our softener was too old for him to evaluate. I asked him if it would be prudent to just leave everything as is. He seemed to agree, or did not dispute it. I figured, "well if I use a little extra salt, I can live with that waste." It was not a physical burden for me to handle the sacks. Isn't it something how easily those blue sacks of salt at Willie's break open, just with very little contact with something?
I had no desire to keep my water softener on the front burner of my life. It is about the most unglamorous subject. It's the sort of thing you hire people for. The Kinetico guy was apparently just a service tech because he didn't try to sell me a new softener. I was later told by Eco Water - yes, a rival - that Kinetico would have quoted me a king's ransom, which I would not have paid. I was happy to put the subject on hold indefinitely, as I could at least claim that I had the company come and look at it.
Then I made the mistake of looking at the front page of the Morris newspaper. The paper these days likes to get on its high horse about the need to cover government well. This should not mean that they just sit back and let government issue its "party line." I would argue this is what the paper did. I thought for sure the next week's paper, or perhaps the one after that, would have meaningful follow-up. I saw none. A new issue comes out today (Tuesday, Dec. 31) but I'm not much of a mind to even look at it anymore.
If the City of Morris wishes to communicate something important with me, it can send out an official communication, postcard or whatever. I would respect that. The newspaper is not connected to government.
The newspaper article used stark language to talk about the trouble you'd get in, if you had issues with an old softener.
Who wants to get into the weeds on this? Hell's bells, I certainly don't. (I learned the expression "hell's bells" from the late Don Chizek for whom the local ballfield is named.) We are getting pulled into the weeds on water quality whether we like it or not. I do not like it.
I did act as a result of the newspaper article, and put Eco Water to work installing a new on-demand softener. At least I don't have to worry about getting into legal trouble now. Really though, I'm not sure the city is going to get too threatening on this, even though they talk with bluster. And why would they talk with such bluster? An apt question.
You must be aware that the city is under what appears to be considerable pressure from higher levels of government, to get chloride emission reduced. You could say it's a pollutant that ends up in the river. Not sure how serious a problem this really is. Apparently the city is going to have to show at some point that appreciable progress is being made. To get funding? Well maybe. City spokespeople appear nervous about this. And while they will hector us and threaten with the "legal" language in the paper, they themselves are not totally on board with the simple step of disconnecting their softeners. Some are and some aren't.
Please be aware that water quality affects your home life quite a bit.
How simple this would all be, if the City of Morris were to just make a bald declaration to "disconnect" and it was a no-brainer. Oh, they'll try to tell you now it is a no-brainer. But we wrinkle our foreheads as we wonder why all of them aren't taking the step. What do they know, that they don't want the rest of us to know? I wonder if Craig Birch would answer an inquiry I might make to him.
We're stepping into a thicket of some confusion. Agendas clashing maybe? Watch your back whenever you're dealing with government machinations. So I'm veering off to Ebeneezer Scrooge territory now, not wanting to give much benefit of the doubt. Well, life certainly pulls in that direction, quite often.
Kudos to the radio station website for having an article update. The radio station is certainly out-performing the paper now with its online news. The headline: "City and water softener companies argue semantics." Oh, it's not really about semantics. It's always about facts. The city makes claims about what the water quality companies are asserting now. The city says the companies dispute some of the city's terminology.
A city council member personally told me the city is now offering "soft water" to everyone. Is this just a ploy to get people to ditch their softeners, so to satisfy government on the chloride matter? The city is offering water softened to five grains of hardness. The term for this quality of water is "moderately hard." It is not "soft." If it were soft beyond question, why should certain people with the city keep softening their own water to a certain degree?
The city council person informed me the new city water will be good enough for some people, not good enough for others. Deeper in the thicket we go. Why would I want to accept water not judged good enough for other people? Simple question, I'd like an answer.
The city attributes the following to the water quality companies: that the industry standard for softened water is one grain of hardness or less. My own research shows that up to 3.5 grains can be considered sufficiently softened. Is the city trying to make the companies seem too narrow? I detect a scent of ax-grinding in the language. Even three grains is of course under the five as specified by my city council contact. So it appears we have a problem here.
"(The water quality companies) don't like us saying that we're softening water," the city manager says.
But, I don't think those companies are claiming that there is no softening going on. The bone of contention is the degree. It would be super for the sake of healthy contrast to see an article quoting the water quality people. Who wants to assume anything at this point? So while I credit the KMRS-KKOK people, they could reach out more.
The Eco Water people were very friendly and informative when they came to my home - that's more than I can say for the city.
According to the city manager, the water quality companies are arguing that the city doesn't have a softening plant. Are they really arguing that?
I would suggest the companies are fully aware that the city has taken a meaningful step, but that it's questionable whether a rank and file local citizen should go softener-free.
I called Eco Water as a follow-up and Holly gave me considerably more background, gave me her name and said I should call back if I had any more questions.
Here's an interesting sentence from the radio station's coverage: "The city will leave it up to each individual as to what they want to do with their current softening system." That's interesting in light of the legal threat the Morris City Council projected through the page 1 newspaper article.
The newspaper deserves a grade of "F" for not digging and asking some questions. Maybe something is in today's paper. I might not look at it anymore. It looks like the paper has opted for a totally "token" website with just a handful of teaser items, not real timely. Boy, that sure wasn't the direction when Sue Dieter was there.
I think it will be hard for the paper to hire - it's my impression the benefits aren't good. Maybe the owner won't want to put a lot of pressure on the news department to post ambitiously on the site. Nothing halts the retreat of the print media. When will Willie's end its weekly printed circular? Maybe we won't have to get ink on our hands any more from that. I thought it might happen by now. The cost gets passed on to customers. Food inflation is happening.
BTW Chet Birch was mayor of Morris. Cary was a UMM football standout who got a shot in the NFL. I wrote all about it.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com