Oh our first couple games at least go fine. Sub-section is usually played at our local "complex" where unfortunately fans struggle to get a good and comfortable seating position. Maybe they would deny this but I'm sticking to my opinion.
We were sold this complex being such a grand facility. The city said "no" to a second request for funds from the project's promoters. The city was nice enough to make an initial contribution. I would actually question the wisdom of that.
IMHO we needed assurances that the facility would live up to original conceptions. The announcement at the start was with a flourish, including a row of supposed VIPs with shovels as if there'd actually be a lot of digging out there.
Let me remind you that I cannot help but pay attention to all this because Prairie Lane is on my daily walking route, both coming and going. It's great to head out east of town to the wild surroundings, away from the trappings of civilization. I spent 27 years in the rat race of writing for the Morris newspaper. A day doesn't go by where I don't wonder what it would be like to try to do it again.
The odds are slimmer for me having any kind of repeat of that, mainly because my eyesight is diminishing. We resist the effects of aging until finally we capitulate. God sees to it.
Again, nice to see MACA softball performing so well in the regular season. Good chance we'll roll through the season this way. And then we'll wonder: can MACA break the "jinx" (or whatever it is) of playing the teams from southern Minnesota? Surprising how long that handicap has gone on.
Sharon Martin gave me an interpretation once: The Tigers "play in a weak conference," she said. The Tigers would benefit from being tested by a higher caliber of competition. And why would our West Central Conference be hindered in this way? Seems like a respectable conference overall, at least that's my impression.
Well, I have no idea about the weakness that Ms. Martin alluded to. These days she's the smiling presence at the Willie's bakery. The Martin name and groceries go hand in hand. I think the stresses of teaching were getting to her and I fully understand. And look at the stresses being added on at present for our Morris Area school system. Phenomenal, earth-shaking and no hyperbole with those descriptions.
Holy cow, over a hundred members of the public at the school board meeting last Monday? The number I first heard was 100, given by the superintendent himself on the radio station website. The website offered just two brief snippets of interview comments by the super. But was it really an "interview?"
Hard questions? Well I'd say the interviewer just tossed softballs to the super. Maybe it wasn't even that much - I think the radio station just gave him a platform to take over for a minute or two and give us his carefully massaged comments about how, well, the board just had to make some cuts and it's all so routine. Life goes on as if a breeze. That's what we were supposed to take away from it.
Well I didn't of course. I'm a cynical old journalist who came up during Watergate. And I know that if 125 people turn out for a board meeting to show concern about the significant staff cuts, we cannot describe it all as "routine." I heard from my friend Randy Olson of Bonanza Valley on this:
Hello Brian, I tell you what: having 100 people (hell, having TEN people) at a school board meeting is nothing to sneeze at. Something must be happening.
I've been covering B-B-E school board meetings for over 10 years now as publisher. In that time, I can't add up to 100 the number of visitors from the public at a school board meeting. Back in 2017(ish) we probably had 15 to 20 regarding class sizes for a kindergarten section. That would be a high water mark.
As a newspaper, you have to keep the public informed, and when things get tough - they may get upset but at least they won't be looking for their pitchforks.
I suppose if I go to the library today (Tuesday) to look more at the Morris paper, I'll see Anne Barber back as director there. Given the length of her suspension from duties, I was almost assuming we'd never see here there again. The whole thing started out as "allegations of misconduct" which were awfully strong words, almost pushing us to a bias of some kind.
So the suspension was carried out and now she's back as if everything was so routine? Well I guess we'd have to suspect "yes." But the city (led I presume by the city manager) dragged us through a most unpleasant episode. And if Anne can now resume duties as if not missing a beat, are we to assume then that there was no serious misconduct, misjudgment, oversight lapses of whatever?
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| Barney Fife |
What will come of the school staff cuts? Can Supt. Monson sell us on the idea that "it's just one of those things?" "Nothing to see here?"
Will the remaining members of school staff be bitter in the aftermath? I have seen this consequence before. The teachers are a hugely powerful political bloc in the community, if past is precedent. Of course, "past" for yours truly goes back further all the time. Maybe people are more civilized today. I cut my teeth during Watergate.
The place to look for uncivil behavior and ignorance now is Washington D.C. The congressperson MTG wanting to celebrate the Pope's death, coming right out and saying it. No uprising to try to get her to resign from Congress. So maybe a whole lot of Americans agree with her? How do Catholics in Morris feel? Of course MTG represents a state of the old Confederacy.
There's plenty of ignorance in the Upper Midwest too. We have a MAGA congressperson.
Follow the Tigers
Can MACA softball beat the likes of Jackson County Central this year? Stay tuned. Are the fans having to place their own chairs in the muddy ground by the softball complex again? Way out by the outfield fence? This is progress?
As I write this, MACA softball is 10-0. Way to go Tigers! Sharon Martin attends the games. Looks like she hasn't got a new dog yet to replace the never-to-be-forgotten "Goldy." "All dogs go to heaven."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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