Columns

My desk looks like a tornado hit it. This morning I had one ceramic coffee cup, two travel mugs and a water bottle on my desk, along with a candle holder (just for the scent, no burning) a half eaten bag of Hersey Kisses and a whole lot of paper. Last week is a blur. We just completed the Winter 2012 Zest for Living. This quarterly edition with a former staffer, Jan Haralson, stepping up to the helm to help us produce this product, which we hope will appeal to "zesty" people. There is always room for improvement but we think there are some interesting and informative stories and features included. We are reaching out to our readers, in all the areas we serve, to please let us hear what sorts of information you would like to see included in Zest for Living. You can email your thoughts and suggestions to zestforlivingpub@gmail.com .

It sounded like whale calls coming from the ocean until you heard the unmistaken crack of the ice. January is ice forming season on area lakes and the sounds you hear seem to be from something that's almost alive.

One of the many things I do while working the Scandia contract is teach DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) to the sixth grade students at Scandia Elementary. DARE started in 1983 in Los Angeles, Cal. and has had many changes since its inception. Today, DARE is a 10 week program that focuses on alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and other illegal drugs, over the counter prescriptions, peer pressure and making positive choices.

Pheasant tracks in the snow showed us birds were around. We had hunted this area before and always had good luck with wild birds and escapee pheasants from a nearby hunt club. The temperature was perfect, in the low thirties, and the dogs were eager to chase up a few fast flyers. My son Josh decided to head downhill and hit the cattails along the marsh while I took the higher road along the harvested cornfield.

It there is any doubt that money influences policy in Washington, citizens need not look further than the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Since the beginning of the 2010 election cycle, the 32 sponsors of the bill have received approximately four times as much in campaign contributions from the entertainment industry backing the bill as they have received from the technology industry, which believes the language in the bill has gone too far.

Through my years in the newspaper business, I have instigated, created or perpetuated any number of Christmas promotions to stimulate readership, promote local shopping, and let's face it, sell advertising. We have to do that, you know? Sell advertising, because we need to pay rent, pay the printer, pay the staff, pay the taxes, pay the insurance, pay the post office and on and on and on.

I decided to take a break from deer hunting and chase some pheasants. Pheasants are by far my favorite, as they provide a challenge for dog and hunter teams in the field. Pheasants are a tough quarry when you are hunting them in our neck of the woods as compared to the Dakotas or Iowa. You have to work to get them around here.

Just before Thanksgiving, a student from Hill-Murray School was stuck with me for half a day after agreeing to participate in a job shadow exercise through her school. As an aspiring writer and potential journalist, Claire Freier of Scandia seemed eager to tail me for the afternoon and see what the life of a small-town newspaper editor is like.

Doug Sharfenberg of St. Croix Falls shot four deer in a couple days near the start of the Wisconsin deer season. All were doe, nice sized and good eaters for him and his family to enjoy. That included a double, shooting two deer in succession seconds apart - a rare feet for deer hunters.

For years China has operated a censored Internet much different than the free and open Internet we have come to know and love, but all of that could soon change. This week, Congress, under pressure to take acting against the theft of intellectual property, is considering misguided legislation that would bring features of China's censored Internet to America.

There may not be snow on the ground yet, but the Christmas shopping season is already in full swing. In a direct reversal of years past, I made it a goal to get my Christmas shopping out of the way early this year. No more last minute runs to Home Depot or waiting by the door for the UPS man on Dec. 24 hoping UPS pulls a Kris Kringle and delivers my last-minute online order.

They had been pushed too far. Government was unresponsive and ignoring even basic elements of fairness and justice. They described how they had suffered under a long train of abuses which seemed designed to reduce them to living under absolute despotism. They could stand it no more and so they assembled, in the heat of the summer, to do something about it. Is this Occupy Wall Street or The Tea Party? It is neither, it is the summer of 1776 and it is the American colonists assembling in Philadelphia.

Most people would agree Scandia is a great place to live and work in. It is generally a safe place.

The ghosts and goblins have been out today along Cascade Street outside our office. Such an exciting day for the trick or treaters! With Halloween almost over, the holiday season will soon be in full swing. The annual turkey giveaway publishes this week. When you drop an entry into the boxes at the participating businesses, be sure to say hello and thank them for participating with the Sun and Country Messenger to give away all these turkeys. Look around their business, too. They would appreciate your interest in what they have to offer. Who knows, you might find a great Christmas gift in the bargain.

The archery deer season is over. Gone are the warm days and the green leaves that hide both hunter and deer. Many have fallen and changed color and are dropping to the forest floor. With the leaves coming down, we can move to pre-rut status, because the bucks are just starting to get excited and soon the rut will be on.

It was not the worst fortune cookie I've ever received. "May you have great luck," it read as the final cookie of my afternoon lunch crumpled away.