Animals sense cold is coming, don't you think?

"Mr. Rabbit" (Iowa DNR image)

This is the time of year when Mom and I would look out our picture windows facing the north, and say of the occasional critters back there "they're getting ready for winter." I'm remembering the rabbits and squirrels. My residence is semi-rural. 

Dad got a little carried away planting trees on our property. Now I have to keep things under control. I'm sure he enjoyed it all as it was developing. 

The trees can be an invitation to nature. Have you ever noticed how a squirrel can sometimes make a loud noise? It's a fact. I was almost fearful one day, as I wondered if some kind of undesirable animal had come around. How to describe? Maybe like a dog. It had a stressed or nervous sound. I walked over with some caution and lo and behold, a squirrel! 

My late mother

Or as Mom and I might say, "Mr. Squirrel." Or we'd say "look, it's Mr. Rabbit." 

Some people really do not want rabbits around. People with gardens I presume. I plant zinnias at the front of the house and have never noticed any predation by rabbits. We had a neighbor once who shot them and I never really cared for that. No one does that now. So I really find rabbits rather charming. 

I'm told our former football coach Jerry Witt had rather the opposite attitude about them! I consider Jerry a good friend. My, the years and years of football exploits with Mr. Witt at the helm. His playing days at UMM were during the "black hole" in my life when I wasn't in Morris that much. I was here often enough to impress with the 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado that our family bought from Bill Dripps of "Dripps Oldsmobile." 

So I guess my reputation was tied up in that along with playing my musical instrument. 

 

School today and "PSEO"

I attended college in the days before college costs got up in the stratosphere. I am now learning that college cost is the big reason why high school kids seek this "PSEO" thing. I have only recently learned about this. I am concerned because PSEO drains talent from the high school. The talent would benefit all the kids and the community. 

I learned recently about the loss of kids in MAHS band, to PSEO. A restaurant waitress recently told me she felt she had no choice but to seek the PSEO thing, due to college cost. 

I have a personal theory that if the government keeps forgiving student loan debt, pressures will mount rapidly on colleges to cut any fat, any excess, any superfluity. And I suspect there is a fair amount in the categories I just cited. We have been through an era when colleges indulged themselves in sort of an arms race. Frankly I see a lot of these "amenities" as being superfluous to a degree. 

College spokesmen would bristle at my observation, as they need such things to "sell." Maybe that's part of the problem: colleges selling themselves. Is that needed at all? Maybe colleges could just make clear what they offer and let the students come who are interested. With costs as they are, we have this PSEO to provide "relief" but a negative by-product of that is for high schools to lose talent and enrichment in their own student bodies. 

I'm rather in line with Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio. He has articulated great concern about college costs. He also pounded the table recently, figuratively speaking, as he questioned this push to assume that all kids should go to college. May I say "amen and hallelujah." 

College is great when it serves the intended purpose. I think we saw the ideal when my late father went to college at the U of M in the 1930s. Another thing about college then, was that it was a celebration of Western culture and values. This is bizarre, but by the time I went to college in the 1970s, the whole thing had flipped: college existed to implore students to reject Western values and to try to learn as much as they could about everything else. The last thing you wanted to be caught doing, was to attend a standard Lutheran or Catholic Church in an outstate town. Such rubes! 

I have read that state colleges were especially bad with impressing the template I just described. Let's not subject our kids to it any more. I suspect it has declined greatly. Today it seems we have to fear the political right flexing its muscles too much. Instead of worrying about such biases so much, maybe we need to tamp down this expectation that so many kids attend college. 

It's great for the ones who are suited. Otherwise I'm on board with Congressman Tim Ryan who is "a conservative Democrat." Yes, a seeming oxymoron. 

 

Animals not created equal

So here we are in late September and you know that that means. Once the cold sets in, we live with it interminably. And it seems more daunting as one gets older. I hope the rabbits and squirrels can have a decent time of it around our property. "Mr. Rabbit" and "Mr. Squirrel." Critters do not dismay me that much but there's one exception: "Mr. Skunk."

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Light to shine on Jim Carlson's memory

(image from UMM's website)

Mark your calendar for the concert to honor the memory of James "Doc" Carlson, Saturday, Oct. 29, 7 p.m. A reception starts at 6 at the foyer of the Ed and Helen Jane Morrison Center. Get ready to enjoy jazz from the stage where Jim held forth for the Jazz Fest.

Flashback to January and the discussions following Jim's sudden and tragic death. Below I share a portion of an email I received from a retired UMM individual whose name I ought not share here. But then again, maybe I should. I mean, why not? If it's the truth or a well-educated judgment. Oh, but I won't. I quote from the January 23 email. It was a response to my own email. There is a reference to my late parents Ralph and Martha.

 

It all comes down to $$$'s, and the college struggles with enrollment...I think there are around 1300 current students, but all of those are not on-campus. There has been an increase of unfilled positions, early retirements, program restructuring, and early buyouts in recent years. The place isn't much like Ralph & Martha as well as you remember it! Also very sad to watch!

You won't read this kind of assessment in the Morris newspaper. Nothing but puffy white clouds in the Morris paper. "All our kids are above average."

The purpose here isn't to just lionize Carlson. That isn't necessary. His performance spoke for itself. His background at UMM went back to when he sang in the men's chorus under my father. See photo at top of this blog site. I know, having a gender-specific group seems dated today. But it was 1962. I suppose equity would have been accomplished with a female-only group. Groups with men and women then were called "mixed chorus," as if the gender thing always had to be acknowledged. 

Gender has become a very complicated matter in our present times. Informed as I strive to be, I really get bewildered.

Re. Jim's state of mind when he left UMM, I had already explored this angle within days after his passing. He left us at Christmas. I emailed with another individual in position to know the landscape. I pushed the subject because I thought Jim had tread left on the tire when he left here, would have savored a more extended tenure.

BTW Jim's passing was not reported very well in the legacy commercial media. I raised this topic and got the now-standard response that the news was on this thing called "social media." So we're talking "Facebook," just like how the city manager talked about Facebook as where to find updates on snow removal policies. We're supposed to understand these days that there's a Facebook page for such things. I think it was Kim Gullickson, now a mayoral candidate, who pushed back and said that the city's official website should at least inform people where to find the needed information. 

Well I certainly agree with Kim on that. And I felt sorry for the people who had their cars towed, abundantly. Below is the email response from my well-placed source on December 28. It begins by quoting the question I posed.

 

“So, is it possible there's some bitterness in Carlson family, having to do with when Jim left?” I didn’t ever talk to Jim or Kay about that, but it wouldn’t surprise me that they may have been a little bitter by the way things went the last couple of years when “Herman the German” (Martin Seggelke) kind of took over the music dept., wanted to get rid of the jazz program and turn the department into a conservatory. But that wouldn’t reflect on what they thought of the school – after all, Jim did accept that “distinguished alumni” award, and the 2 of them journeyed back to UMM for that banquet a few years ago.

 

At the peak of his powers: Jim Carlson

I remember the banquet for the Carlsons but my family was not there. My parents had become dependent on me for transportation, and I thought it best we not go. 

I had been "tipped" that Kay had a quite negative view of me. So I thought it best we not attend. Mom wanted to go. But I don't want to be present where my presence would be detested. I'm sad about that now. We could have just gone and I could have sulked in the corner. 

My reputation was never good among the people soaked in "academics" at UMM. Also, when I was with the Morris paper, I could only do a hit-and-miss job covering UMM athletics. UMM went many years without having a real sports information department. Actually it wasn't even close for a long time. Mark Fohl would not dispute me on this. So I wrote about Cougar sports on a sort of sporadic basis.

I had enthusiasm on those occasions when I did, for example when I went out of my way to write about the inaugural season for soccer. And the seasons immediately following, as I recall. I can remember the name of the first-ever Cougar soccer goalie, Katie Riba. 

I guess I have a thing about inaugural things at UMM, as it was my father who started the music department and was the only music faculty in the first year. His office was where the multi-ethnic building is now. Sometimes I would stop by and play a John Philip Sousa record real loud. (Jim Carlson would laugh if he were to read that.) 

I should add about Fohl that he was always cooperative and level-headed when I contacted him for interviews about Cougar baseball. He didn't make an issue of anything.

 

Venue with history

"All good things must come to an end." Is this how we rationalize about when Jim left here? Was it fate or destiny? Well I think it was unfortunate. The upcoming tribute concert will revive memories for Edson Auditorium, the long-time home of the Jazz Festival. It was the home for all UMM music when my father started out. I thought the place worked out fine. 

The problem today? Maybe it's that the parking lots are too far away. Today handicapped accessibility is so important. 

Frankly, I think UMM should have held the normal Jazz Fest last spring. It has been scaled back since Jim's departure. But it wasn't held at all last year, and it's my understanding that if we had gotten Dusty Retzlaff signed on the dotted line, it would have been. Dusty was more or less all set to jump on board here, legend has it, then the UMM administration low-balled him re. $. 

At the peak of his powers here too!

I can't control these things, sorry. Jim is gone and life must go on. I'll quote Warrenn Anderson who said "talk about a guy with a positive attitude." My words to Del Sarlette: "Jim had more impact on me than any other human being I've been around." 

Del took two of the photos you see with this post. Thanks a bunch.

Let me add that I shouldn't just type "Edson Auditorium." The place is part of the larger venue named for Ed and Helen Jane Morrison. The Morrisons set the example for yours truly in terms of being benefactors. Why was I at the Morris paper for 27 years? (I wrote for the Hancock paper too.) Well I suspect it was because of Helen Jane, who is quite the example of resilience in life now, over age 100! Not only that, she gets around, is conversational and clearly enjoys life. 

Thanks a bunch to Helen Jane and son Jim for coming over to sit with me at the Homestead snack area for Crazy Days. My social life is limited. I was not impressed with the "Crazy Days Special" there, thought it was a ripoff. But that doesn't matter as I savored the company of Helen Jane and Jim. We should all seek such resilience as what Helen Jane has demonstrated. 

What's up with UMM music website?

Why am I having to inquire about this? Sharper people than me should be in charge of this. Here I share an email I sent to Warrenn Anderson on September 16. The music website looks, well, vestigial. Warrenn and I have each carved out our niche for supporting UMM. Or is it UMN?:

 

Hello Warrenn - I am disturbed by how the UMM music website has been neglected. During the last academic year there were already signs of this, and when I gave a heads-up to Erin Christensen, she got back to me and said the problem was that "they were designing a new website." I guess that's always a fall-back line: "we're designing a new website."

Here's the problem: it hasn't happened. Yes I'm being a pain by writing this email, sorry, but why can't UMM get its act together? Am I asking too much? A couple days ago I went to the music website just to see if any concert dates were posted yet. I clicked on the handy link for that. There were no concerts announced. I'm sure they at least have some events on the schedule by now. But it was the same old website as last year, with photos of faculty members who have departed like Miller and Campbell. I started pointing out the out-dated photos to UMM a long time ago. Don't they have anyone keeping the websites current? Look what our high school does with YouTube: so dynamic.

Let me say this: the UMM sports website is 100 percent top-notch. This appears to be a "new website" and it had some confusing aspects at first, but then I got on top of it. I blogged about the Cougar football game at Hamline. At the bottom of the post I shared some memories of when I attended a Cougar game at Hamline back in 1981. (Our quarterback was Craig Larson, a tall guy who unfortunately had kind of a sidearm throwing motion).

The UMM sports site has to be top-notch for recruiting purposes! But isn't it important to recruit for music too? Remember, last spring the big concert featuring symphonic winds/choir was in ALEXANDRIA and there was no repeat concert here. What would my father say about that? My theory: the recital hall would have such congested seating and that's a problem with covid? The recital hall has always been too small. I remember when I worked with Jim Carlson to promote the "Godzilla concert" of the symph. winds, and they ended up having to turn people away. 

I couldn't attend last year's Homecoming concert because I forgot my mask. I rode bike out to campus. I have masks in my car. (Name withheld) left his in the car and he literally had to run back to the lot to get back in time.

Back in '81 we joked about "Norton Field" at Hamline. Someone thought it might be named for the Art Carney character in "The Honeymooners."

It will be a long winter for me because I cannot really blog about Tiger athletics this year. My main (but not only) source for info has been the West Central Tribune website, and they have a real rigid paywall up now. Leave it to Forum Communications to do something so pissy-ant like this. The coaches should quit calling in.

I checked the UMM music website again this morning, no change.

- Brian Williams

 

Caribou Coffee closed all day!

My, what a jolt to start the day, this Monday as September plods onward toward you-know-what: colder temperatures. Thought I'd grab some coffee and a bagel bright and early. Not so fast. I entered Willie's and could see that Caribou Coffee was dark, plus the sign making clear they're closed. I usually look for Betsy there. She has such an uplifting laugh! But no-go today, so I trod over to DeToy's. 

DeToy's has been such a reliable place through the pandemic and onward. Looks like the exterior of the building could use some work. But the business inside goes very well. The place opened as "Country Kitchen" many moons ago. I believe the first manager was Rich Meiss. Meiss was an oboe player in the UMM band. I played with him for a few months. My "axe": French horn.

What's the story with Caribou today? Well, "they can't find anyone to work." Familiar malady all over, it seems. Maybe getting worse with school having started, n'est-ce pas?

 

Addendum: If back-biting or politics contributed to Jim's exit from UMM, maybe the matter should have been tossed up to the chancellor. Keep a clear path for Jim and his program, IMHO. However I am only like Mongo: "Just pawn in game of life."

 .

Addendum #2: Hell's bells, I have complained to several pretty well-placed people over the past several days, yet nothing has been done with UMM's music website. I show a greater commitment with my blogs. I just called up the UMM music website and it's dead as it was last week. When I was with the paper, I was expected to be on the ball all the time.

UMM was not Jim Carlson's only "gig"

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

I scan wreckage of 2022 America

Mimieux and Taylor

Remember the "talking rings" from the sci-fi classic movie "The Time Machine?" Rod Taylor in the starring role and a very young Yvette Mimieux as the ingenue. As the Taylor character probed his mystifying new surroundings in the distant future, he and Mimieux came upon the rings. The rings if spun on a table emitted narration about humanity's downfall. The rings are on the table in the image at left.

So it was a world of the docile and sheep-like people of the Earth's surface, versus the hideous "Morlocks" who were underground. The Morlocks periodically lured the regular humans down to be consumed. 

Anyway, this little sojourn into movieland is prompted by what I see as the current state of affairs in America. For sure I know people in my town of Morris MN who would dismiss me as a totally irrelevant writer. To an extent I cannot dispute them. Shall I put myself forward as a "voice in the wilderness?" I'll suggest a better depiction. Maybe I'm a writer whose words, if unearthed someday, will come across as prescient. Not just prescient - I am describing what is happening in real time. 

The collapse is most likely underway. We see it with the shocking erosion of civilized standards. My writing could well be likened to the "talking rings." We can only guess who might discover my aroused commentary someday. And I'm taken aback by how so many around me are just clueless about the disturbing stuff. They go about their routines as if nothing is amiss. 

Not only that, an incredible percentage of these souls buy in to the outlandish stuff that is dragging us down, perilously. An excellent barometer is the "Mediaite" website. So as I'm writing this, the top headline informs us "Trump warns there will be 'big problems' if he is indicted." 

Shouldn't society just coalesce to shut this blowhard ignoramus down? Shouldn't that be more or less instant? How often have we been through this: an outrageous and dangerous bit of behavior/rhetoric from this man named Trump? 

 

Miscalculation, always

Maybe Laura Ingraham of Fox News thought it was nearing an end. She had bent over backward for MAGA. She attacked the D.C. cops when they testified, accusing them of "theatrics." "Theatrics" is the argument you can use in these situations if all else fails. Then she accused them of "partisanship" because one testified he was a Biden voter. As if that's a disqualifier. To simply have voted for the Democratic Party candidate for president of the U.S. 

Didn't an awful lot of people across the U.S. actually vote Democratic, or did I miss something? Is it purely illegitimate now to be Democrat? Is it dangerous to put a Democratic bumper sticker on your car, to have a Democrat lawn sign? If you watch a considerable portion of the media now, you might think the answer is "yes." So many gullible souls consuming this. So many older white men gathering in their coffee klatches like right here in Morris - listen to them equate Democrats with sheer stupidity along with other non-flattering qualities. I hear it quite often. Enough for me to change where I go out to dine sometimes. 

Ubiquitous, yes

Eventually, will there just be no escaping it? This is the fear I'd address in a manner like the "talking rings" of the movie. If Trump were to be indicted on purely reasonable grounds because of having done something clearly over the top - seizing highly classified documents that didn't belong to him - what on earth would be wrong with that? He after all had argued that Hillary Clinton "should be in jail" because of her emails. 

The media bought into "both sides-ism." If Trump were seen to have done some terrible things, well then Clinton had to be reported on the same way. Find something that looks improper, jump on it. 

Trump "promised" in 2016 that he'd appoint a special prosecutor re. Hillary's emails. Then he didn't do it. It is black and white, you knaves. And of course he didn't do it because there was no potential for prosecution there. James Comey bent over backward, painfully, to keep Republicans calmed down re. all that. He made a special point of saying that Hillary was really a little careless. It was unlike the FBI to behave as such. Really, no laws broken equals no charges equals silence. 

Comey subsequently went through misery, make that hell, because Trump found his way into the oval office. What does Trump exactly mean now when he says there will be "big problems" if he is indicted? Sounds exactly like a threat.

 

The promise of Cassidy

Why do we all keep taking this? I hoped and prayed that after Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, it would be over, this absurd and dangerous chapter in U.S. life with Trump at the forefront almost every day. So there's a picture of Trump at the top of the Mediaite site today, Sept. 15, as the routine goes on and on. Nobody cares what Laura Ingraham thinks. I never cared for her anyway, obviously. She "dared" to say it was time for us all to "move past" Trump. I wonder if she has tried to backtrack. 

I keep repeating my concerns about the nature of the media today. We so easily forget how different it is compared to the pre-digital times. The old media would not have let so much of the outrageous stuff see the light of day. We took that world for granted for a long time. Today the barriers have largely vanished. 

A firebell in the night

People flock around Trump because people always flock to where power is. Think of the people around Hitler. Do you think they were all really born bad people? Well I don't think so. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I was telling a friend of mine in the clergy last week: Look up a picture of Martin Bormann. Look at him. Doesn't he look like the most ordinary, boring person, who could be selling insurance in main street America? I'm just trying to describe a common occupation, nothing wrong with selling insurance. 

So Trump pounds his chest, in effect, and proclaims that the people of America will not stand for him being prosecuted. He added that people "will not sit still and stand for this ultimate of hoaxes." So he's back on the "hoax" theme for describing the 2020 election. He uses the same word for climate change theory. And the interviewer Hugh Hewitt just sits there and digests all this, without just rejecting the guy, maybe laughing at him and cutting his mike. 

I can share all about this for the "talking rings." And Lindsay Graham warns there will be "riots in the streets." Graham's newest headline-grabber is about how he'd like to see a nationwide abortion ban. Mike Pence says it's more important to beat down women's rights than it is for his party to win in the mid-terms. How would I describe all this in the "rings?"

 

Addendum: The "Morlocks" of the 1960 "Time Machine" movie had me keep the light on in my bedroom for a few days. What movie did that for you? I have often read that the Laurel and Hardy "Babes in Toyland" had a scene that terrorized kids. The big robot of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" stuck in my mind in a menacing way. Actually that was pretty minimal special effects/costuming. The movie's black and white format helped us overlook that.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

At the pinnacle of nice weather now

Here's a favorite fall picture I took several years ago.

What a perfect Saturday morning. These times can be the most pleasant of the year, weather-wise. My church of First Lutheran is having a picnic at Pomme de Terre City Park Sunday afternoon. No trace of wind this morning, even. 

Not only is this the fall season, it is road construction season for Morris. It was an adventure for yours truly walking home after the MACA football opener on September 1. Iowa Avenue is all torn up, so bad it's almost impossible to walk along the edges. It helps to have moonlight if you're walking home! The area around the old Heartland Motors is known to have a few critters out and about, skunks and raccoons. 

I got home without falling into a hole. 

So we're forced to use a couple of road alternatives. It's not a simple decision. There's the dirt road going to the west toward Dan Sayles' dog kennels. Then you take a left and head into town. But the dirt road up until just a few days ago was in quite poor condition. The issue was the old "washboard effect" that can develop with dirt roads. Think of dirt roads and you think of country music songs, eh? 

Those of us on Northridge Drive, close to the soils lab, have another alternative for getting into town, and that's an old non-maintained road that has been there for time immemorial. It's the former private driveway from when venerable diversified farm operator Earn Julius lived out there. It was the classic diversified farm, could have been subject for a Norman Rockwell painting. Ducks in the barnyard. Neighbor kids would fool around and play games over there in a way that would be harrowing to ponder now, from the standpoint of liability. People must not have been worried about getting sued much in those bygone times. Swinging on ropes in the "hay mow" like Tarzan? 

Well, the old Julius driveway remains but it's part of the U of M field that you see across from Pizza Hut and other familiar businesses. It's a non-public road but people have always availed themselves of using it. In my case, often with a bicycle or just plain walking. 

Driving it? That's less practical now. It no longer hooks up with the state highway that goes in front of Pizza Hut et al. The connection to the highway was eliminated when the new service road was put in. The service road is where you see the Greeley's building, excuse me it's Morris Electronics now. What happened with that? The Chamber of Commerce was there for a while. I should say "alleged" Chamber of Commerce because I have not been too impressed with its performance. The Chamber let the old Prairie Pioneer Days just up and die. 

We experience many changes these days and some I find difficult to grasp. 

Now, the old non-maintained road has "sort of" a connection to the service road. However, it is designed to really discourage vehicles crossing over. There's an incline. I went down that incline on my bike once and wiped out. The front tire got lodged in a little hole or rut. So now I can understand why helmets are recommended for bike riders. I survived with a pretty big scratch on my face, but no concussion to my knowledge. 

And to think football players experience collisions like this all the time! Did you read about that poor kid from Bloomington who got paralyzed at the shoulders from a routine tackle in a football game? Do I need to keep writing posts where I seek to ring alarm bells about football? I have been doing this for ten years. You are taking a concerning chance every time you let your son go out onto the field. 

Don't just smile when I bring this up - some people do that just like some smile when I try to make a point about Donald Trump being terrible and a disgrace. They smile as if to just show amusement with what they see as my misdirected concern. I'm so upset about that, I'm in a mood where I probably will not write a new original Christmas song this year. Our country could be headed toward truly dark times due to MAGA. 

 

City of Morris responds

Oh, I have some follow-up on the dirt road going to the west. I emailed city manager with concern about the washboard condition of the road. This was on Saturday morning of Labor Day holiday weekend, and would you believe Mr. Hill answered very promptly? Life has its pleasant surprises. He said "a blade" was the answer, and it wasn't long before we got some work done. The road is at least usable now, yes not ideal. 

The Iowa Avenue project is expected to conclude in the middle of next month. The skunks and raccoons might want to make a note of that. We won't need to hope for a full moon anymore. 

I told my neighbor that I am an asset living among them, for getting City of Morris response, because I BLOG. I noted that "I have been aware of power of the press since I was in the cradle." 

 

Tigers defeat Monte

So it's Saturday morning and I can at least find the score of the Tiger football game at Montevideo. A win, 48-26. As of this morning I cannot find any other game details in the available media. Media issues always interest me. The West Central Tribune sports website has been off-and-on with its (nagging) "paywall." First I'll share an email I sent Wednesday to an old newspaper compatriot/friend in Central Minnesota:

 

Hello Randy - It's 6 a.m. and I'm getting ready for the biscuits and gravy special at DeToy's. I just made a check of the West Central Tribune's sports site. I was curious to see if the paywall was up. For the past couple weeks, they have had a paywall and it is now the type I cannot get past with the "incognito" trick. So I was ready to write off this site as a sports info source. They were really just asking for a negligible amount: $2 for six months in a "limited time" offer!! Wow, just like the Ginsu knives. "Operators are standing by." A friend sort of sniffed at me and suggested "what's two bucks." I guess I was addressing the principle of the matter. I think information should be free, unless it's in newspaper form where the paper has overhead with printing.

So this morning I made a check and - guess what? - THE PAYWALL ISN'T THERE! I went right in and checked the volleyball update from Tuesday. The Morris match was not covered. You see, when you force people to pay something, they will complain if their favorite team isn't there. The Forum is always in retreat, always trying to wring money out of people and then having to continue with retrenchment. Here's another example. They drop their "limited time offer" and then just open the site up to everyone - bad form obviously.

When I left the Morris paper, there was big talk about how we'd be shooting video at sports events. The following fall, I noticed there were in fact links to watch little snippets from games. That's not there now. A big reason is that kids at the school have taken this over themselves. They are known as the "YouTube geniuses" locally. So the paper's efforts with its little snippets would be useless, pointless. So there you go: the continued retreat by newspapers. We once had access to the all-powerful printing plant. That advantage has eroded substantially.

It is questionable how much Morris sports coverage will even be on the WCT site this year. Starting last year, Morris was no longer in the WCT official coverage area. So, Jackson Loge not on All-Area team etc. However, I found during the spring that a fair amount of Morris info was still getting on the site. Some maybe was called in by opposing coaches. Or maybe the WCT continues to take the calls from Morris coaches regardless, at least those coaches who bother. It looks like the Morris tennis coach (my neighbor) emails complete match results to the radio station which puts them on the website - very nice.

If you are counseling the Morris paper's sports person, it has not yielded any improvement yet. I checked the SCT site a couple times in the last few days. Because of the Labor Day holiday they probably went to press early. I expect their sports service so far in the school year to be almost nil. Meanwhile, for what it is worth, I've done just fine with my online efforts. I'd be lost without a platform for doing this. A top MACA athlete recently had the torn ACL bugaboo and is out for the whole school year. That's Cate Kehoe, daughter of the principal.

Such an irony: SCT has someone paid to write sports, and I don't get paid. But I am relieved of the overwhelming pressure which was crushing me at the end. It was really almost comical. About a month after I left the paper, Sue Dieter actually called my home because they were in a pinch for a driver on short notice. Well sorry Sue, maybe you'll have to drive the van yourself. As for Tom, he must have needed the job awful bad to be willing to behave like such a horse's ass. And this behavior came on so sudden. Doesn't take a genius to know he got some order from higher up in the (expletive) Forum chain of command. They gave up on Morris.

- BW

 

And, here is an email I sent to a different friend Friday morning covering some of the same stuff. Hey, this is pertinent!

OK, both Wednesday morning and this morning, I checked West Central Tribune sports site and the paywall is gone!!! I got right in. However, Morris volleyball hasn't been appearing. There's always hit-and-miss there. I have to believe that the WCT was getting negative feedback on the paywall. Otherwise, how embarrassing to have people sign up only to have the wall come down. Maybe coaches and athletic directors were saying "take down the wall or we won't call in information any more." The price wasn't the issue, it was the hassle. It's an instant turn-off. What's happening is that step-by-step, newspapers are losing the privileged position they once had. Look at video coverage: it is not done through the newspaper. The YouTube geniuses wouldn't think of working with the paper, and certainly there is no "paywall" for that, and we don't want them to get ideas! I think it will stay free.

Another thought: maybe a few years from now, sports parents and fans will be satisfied with video-only coverage. There's no excuse for the Stevens County Times website being so "dead." You'll probably want to stick up for them. Who cares if it's Labor Day weekend? That shouldn't matter anymore, people want to see coverage in the media.

Well, Friday night 2nite so I go to Don's about 5:15 p.m. and get a chocolate shake in big metal cup along with grilled cheese sandwich, no fries, $12.26. I wonder how the steak restaurant is doing, or if it's having effect on Stone's Throw or Old No. 1. Shoeshine guy say anything?

 

Did I comment to you about the Edward Jones FDIC-insured certificates of deposit? There's an ad in fishwrap, I think page 2, and it jumps out at you. They only promote their two-year CDs. You should go online and look up their 5-year CDs too. So there's hope with CDs now. The main street banks can go sit under a cow.

The main street banks brag about "free checking." Well my goodness. Bremer doesn't even have that. It's $10 a month to have a debit card.

 

Again, you'd be welcome at Sunday picnic at PDT Park, app. 11:45 a.m. Come fill your plate two or three times, to honor memory of Allen Anderson.

- BW

Here's a Minnesota fall picture from Wikimedia Commons.

  

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Volleyball needs to sustain its better efforts

West Central Area 3, Tigers 1

Fans could feel upbeat through game 1 of the Thursday volleyball match at MAHS. The Tigers took the opening game of the match against West Central Area, score of 25-15. It would not be a preview of things to come. The WCA Knights picked up steam. They took the second through fourth games by scores of 25-20, 25-23 and 25-17. 

The outcome left the orange and black at 0-2 going into Labor Day weekend. Both of the Tigers' matches to date have had the promising start. They need to keep it together after that. 

Against WCA it was Brianna Marty leading the team effort in kills with nine. She was followed by Maddy Grove and Taylor Kill each with seven. Whitney Bruns was busy in set assists where her total was 25. In serve aces: Lauren Hottovy with two. 

The visiting Knights evened their record at 1-1 on the young season. Their Macy Grosz was a cog with 36 set assists and 28 digs. Mya Foslien came at the Tigers with 23 kills.

 

BOLD 3, Tigers 2

The Tigers' season opener was in Morris too. The day was Tuesday. Fans were excited to see the new prep sports campaign get going from Tiger Center. MACA fans were buoyed to see their team get up 2-0 over the BOLD Warriors. Just one more win would wrap it up. Alas, it slipped out of reach. BOLD found the winning approach in games 3 through 5, thus it was BOLD that went home happy. 

A review of the scores with the MACA numbers first: 25-22, 25-22, 14-25, 12-25 and 6-15. 

Our kmrs site points out that the tipping point was in game 3. The score stood 10-10 during that game. Then you might say the bottom fell out for MACA. 

Maddy Grove fueled the MACA attack with 14 kills and seven digs. Brianna Marty powered 12 kills and dug up the ball eight times. Kaylee Harstad was a factor with her seven kills. In assists it was Whitney Bruns with 30. And Lauren Hottovy came through with ten digs. The BOLD kill leaders were Mari Ryberg with 19 and Mackenzie Visser and Adyson Knake each with 11.

 

Cross country: Appleton meet

Appleton was the site for the Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd Invite on Thursday. Is there really a "valley" over there? Anyway, it's a nice place to visit as I was reminded over the summer when I took in the Swift County Band performance at the Appleton park. Nice little community. I did not notice if they still have the "do not pick up hitchhikers" sign. The place used to have a prison. 

Remember at the start of covid? Remember the major belief making the rounds that the former Appleton prison would be converted to a major covid treatment center? Always be skeptical of rumors, I guess. That got nixed. We were all so consumed with anxiety back then - I was worried if a south wind might bring covid here from Appleton. 

Remember how at the start of covid, you didn't dare cough even softly if you were close to other people? We all have to cough sometimes, even if we're healthy. 

Hailey Werk has been a prime performer for MACA cross country in the early-season. At Appleton she was No. 4 to the finish chute. The MACA girls were third on a team basis. Kendal Fischer was tenth to the finish chute for the Tigers. Hanna Shutz took 13th and Alayna Perkins 15th. 

Minnewaska Area had the top two female runners: Lauren Ankeny and Kierra Wilmes. 'Waska exceled with three runners in the top 10. 

The MACA boys had Gavin Stallman take seventh, then we see Matthew Giese in 21st and Jacob Buhl in 26th. MACA was fifth in the boys team standings. The individual champion was Maeson Tank of Minnewaska. LQPV-DB had the No. 1 team and 'Waska was second.

 

Tennis: MACA 5, Sauk Centre 2

I'm proud to say my neighbor Britney House coaches the MACA tennis Tigers. House's squad impressed in its early-season win over Sauk Centre, 5-2. Oh no! The match review on the kmrs site does not specify which players are Tigers and which are Streeters. I'm sure I could recognize some of the Morris names. Still, it's not good to assume stuff like this. Some new names are always on the way up. 

Looks like Tiger athletics will be without the talents of Cate Kehoe for a while. I'm told it's the torn ACL bugaboo, always heartbreaking.

I invite you to compare my coverage of MACA sports with what you see on the Morris newspaper website.

 

It's Labor Day weekend

Is Labor Day observed in any official way locally other than for people to get a three-day holiday weekend? 

The significance of the holiday? Well, mostly it seems a "goodbye to summer" and a signal that school is starting. Varsity athletic events are held in the week leading up. When the Tigers take the field at Big Cat, you know that "school days" are on. The Tigers had a heartbreaking first game, losing by two points as time ran out on them, excruciatingly. Did time really expire? Well, in the judgment of the referees it did. 

I noticed some protest - it was to no avail. We had to accept the outcome, which is more than you can say about Donald Trump accepting the outcome of the 2020 presidential election! Rimshot, I guess. Yes, we had to get a little political. 

Adults like Trump are supposed to set an example for young people: accept the official results which are overseen by the proper authorities. Is Trump really an adult? You laugh. Hey, the guy might make another serious run for president. But hey, isn't it a slam-dunk that he could be charged with criminal offenses now? Seems to be consensus on that. 

The conventional wisdom (CW) has it that formal charges against political figures should not be made just before an election, to affect the election. We have the mid-terms coming up where there are a lot of Trump-endorsed loony, crazy MAGA candidates. So whether or not Trump is charged would seem to be impactful. Here's my question: Would the failure to charge Trump affect the election in an unacceptable way? I mean, what if this Mastriano in Pennsylvania wins? America might start tilting toward Third Reich territory. Just though I'd mention it.

 

Addendum: The Swift County band which performed in Appleton is directed by Wanda Dagen. She's the MAHS director for the new school year, has held the spot for a very long time now. She has been dealt rather a wallop by covid. We hope she's progressing toward a complete recovery. Maybe there could be a Stevens County band someday that could have her with baton. I'm rooting for that. 

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com