DigElogROCORI

DigElog ROCORI Pick of the Month: "Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown"

Green Day - "21st Century Breakdown"

Green Day | MySpace Video

DigElog ROCORI introduces a new feature that we will run monthly, our pick of the month. This month DigElog ROCORI producer/videographer Dustin Williams chose Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown music video. The video is directed by Marc Webb.

"There are a number of reasons I chose this video. I love Green Day, love the new album, and this video rules. Watch it and truly see how powerful the music video still is... Even if you can't find them on t.v. anymore."

**********************

Dustin has been with DigElog ROCORI since 2007. Outside of his work, he enjoys being outdoors, watching films, and spending time with his new wife. When it comes to viewing videos on the internet, his tastes range from silly youtube sensations, to great sports highlights, to various music videos from his favorite bands. Too see more of Dustin's picks, become a friend of DigElog ROCORI on our facebook page.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIGELOG ROCORI!

       *QUICKTIME         *iPOD          *CELL         *You Tube

On September 1, 2009 DigElog ROCORI turned four years old! Over the years the DigElog Network (which now includes Sauk Rapids and Waite Park) has published over 1700 stories! This is truly a remarkable accomplishment. We would not be where we are today without our loyal audience, our dedicated sponsors, and our wonderful community. Thank you all for helping make DigElog ROCORI what it is today. We look forward to continuing to capture today’s stories so we may be able to preserve our legacy forever and ever.

To Duane, Bette and the community I serve,

Words can’t possibly express what DigElog means to me. Not only have I grown to love the company I work for, and even though I am an outsider to the Land of ROCORI, I view it as my second home. There are so many individuals and organizations that make this community great.  As somebody that walks the busy streets of Minneapolis regularly, I can’t begin to put a value on the friendly “hello” I am greeted with every time I walk past an individual in town. I am so blessed to be a part of the greatness that happens in this town on a daily basis, and it brings me tremendous satisfaction to preserve that greatness through the power of the stories we publish online.  Happy Birthday DigElog ROCORI!


Dustin Williams
DigElog ROCORI 

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Smile

Breakfast at McDonald's

This is a good story and is true, please read it all the way 
through until the end! (After the story, there are some very 
interesting facts!): I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) 
and have recently completed  my college degree.The last class 
I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely 
inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being 
had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called, 
"Smile."
The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and 
document their reactions. I am a very friendly person and 
always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought 
this would be a piece of cake, literally.

Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest 
son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning.
It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.
We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a 
sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even 
my husband did. I did not move an inch... an overwhelming 
feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why
they had moved.  As I turned around I smelled a horrible 
"dirty body" smell, and there standing behind me were two 
poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, 
close to me, he was "smiling". His beautiful sky blue eyes 
were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance.
He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had been 
clutching.The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood 
behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally 
challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.
I held my tears as I stood there with them.

The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted.
He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could 
afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, 
they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).
Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost 
reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes.
That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set 
on me, judging my every action.

I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give 
me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. I then walked 
around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a
resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand 
on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand. He looked up at me, 
with tears in his eyes, and said, "Thank you." I leaned over, 
began to pat his hand and said, "I did not do this for you.
God is here working through me to give you hope."

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. 
When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, "That is 
why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope."

We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only  
because of
the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.
We are not church goers, but we are believers.That day showed 
me the pure Light of God's sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this 
story in hand. I turned in "my project" and the instructor 
read it. Then she looked up at me and said, "Can I share this?"  
 I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.

She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human 
beings and being part of God! share t his need to heal people 
and to be healed.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's, my son,  
instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last  
night I spent as a college student..

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn:   
UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.

Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may  
read this and learn how to
LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS - NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.

There is an Angel sent to watch over you.
In order for her to work, you must pass this on to the people you 
want watched over.

An Angel wrote:
Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true 
friends will leave footprints in your heart.

To handle yourself, use your head.
To handle others, use your heart.

God Gives every bird it's food, but He does not throw it into 
its nest.

CORNER COPY... Cold Spring Record

Sometimes we hear conversations where the topic is how our world has changed . . . never would any from our generation have ever thought to take a gun to school, much less use it there. Never did we dare talk back to dad or mom . . . either way we dealt with dad. We would have never entered another person’s home (whether under construction or not) and take things that didn’t belong to us.

Today’s world seems much different. Why? Probably because when we were young and growing up there were morals and values distilled in us by our parents, grandparents, or anyone else who would qualify as being older than us.

We remember sitting together with our family and eating breakfast – every day – whether we had school, or not; whether we were off to church, or not; or if we had plans with friends, or not – we always sat at the table with our family for breakfast. When we were home for summer vacation we ALWAYS sat down at the dinner table for a meal with our family. Nearly everyday, the rest of the year, we sat down at a specific time to eat a meal with our family in the evening; some called this meal dinner, our family called it supper.

We ALWAYS said a prayer before EVERY meal, and every night before we went to sleep. We weren’t allowed a whole lot of television time before our homework was done – yep, we had homework – almost every day when school was in session.

We were given rules we had to live by. We were told when to be home; if we were late, we didn’t leave the yard for at least a week. We were expected to tell our parents where we were going when we left the house, who we’d be with, and what we were going to do.

If we ever got in trouble . . . of any sort, we knew we’d be dealing with one or both of our parents in answering for our actions. Yes, we were spanked. Mom didn’t have to do a lot of it, dad usually had the duty, but mom wasn’t afraid to raise her hand to our rear when it was necessary. We didn’t dare smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol because we knew we’d be in trouble if we did.

If we went out to eat at a restaurant with our family we didn’t dare leave our chair, or raise our voice. We knew better than to scream or run around the room because mom and dad would have never put up with it – why is today so different? We (our better half and ourself) went out to eat the other day while we were doing some shopping, and got stuck next to a table with three kids and three adults . . . the kids screamed the whole time we were there and the parents never said a word.

With all of that we learned to respect our parents . . . and anyone else who we considered an adult. That respect was there for our family and friends as well.

It’s true, we lived in a simpler time. There weren’t as many illegal drugs as there are today. Things that weren’t good for us, morally or otherwise, weren’t as easy to get our hands on as they are today. We’ll call this social decay . . . for lack of a better term. How did it happen? What follows might give you some answers.

DRUG PROBLEM

The other day someone at a store in a small town read that a methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farm house in the adjoining county, and he asked me a rhetorical question, “Why didn’t we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?”

I responded that we did have a drug problem when we were kids growing up on the farm or in the city. I had a drug problem when I was young:

I was drug to church on Sunday morning.
I was drug to church for weddings and funerals.
I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter what the weather.
I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults.
I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or preacher, or if I didn’t put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.
I was drug to the kitchen sink if I uttered a profane four letter word. (I know what lye soap tastes like.)
I was drug out to pull weeds in Mom’s garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of Dad’s fields.
I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline or chop some fire wood, and if my mother had even known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins; and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack or heroin, and if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America might be a better place today. If you have children who don’t seem to behave, give this piece some thought  . . . if YOU don’t give them a “drug” problem, there’s a good chance they’ll find one of their own.

Have A Good Week!
Mike Austreng

CORNER COPY... Cold Spring Record

Voters once again have said a resounding “NO” to giving our school system more money. We can’t say we were too surprised when we consider the fact that this isn’t the first time. We’ve been asked several times “what do they (the voters) want?”

The obvious answer is “no more taxes”.

Another question that’s been repeated to us is “what went wrong?”

We’ve spent time thinking about that one and it might have more than one answer. First we are living in a time of war – that has effects on our economy. Then there are the natural disasters that, although many miles from here, have had an effect on our own pocketbooks with higher prices for things like gasoline, food – well, this list could go on, but let’s just say we’re paying more for nearly everything because it either costs more to deliver it, or there’s a short supply. Then there’s the news that our heating costs will be MUCH higher this winter. These are probably too many negatives facing everyone being asked to approve an increase in property taxes.

Another thought might be that voters were being asked too many questions. Maybe one or two might have had a better chance, but not three. Yes, we could pick and choose with three questions, but when people added all three together it might not have been a good picture. Obviously it wasn’t. Although the votes weren’t far apart, the nays prevailed – again.

To be honest, we wouldn’t want to be faced with the problems our school system will face in the coming months. There are serious issues with building maintenance, rising costs, and we can’t forget the space concerns. Are there answers – there always are, but what the failure to get more money is going to mean to the school system is that eventually programs are going to be cut. And class sizes will increase. Fees may have to be added for what’s been offered at little or no cost to those participating in extra-curricular activities.

At some point the school is going to need more money; if not for a new school, at least to keep operating. If not, things will have to change in what’s offered to our students. Maybe one answer would be to go to full-time schooling – utilize the building space that sits empty three months of the year. That too could mean higher costs (we don’t think we could expect students and teachers to attend school in the summer heat without air conditioning; teachers would have a year-round job and would have to be paid more). But, year-round school could help with space problems.

Something has to happen with our school system budget. This area has grown tremendously in the past several years – one of the reasons is the reputation of our school system. It’s a reputation worth protecting.

****

They come out at night . . . climbing out from the rock they live under . . . they’re slime, and come in different colors and shapes. What are they? Nope, they’re not slugs, not snakes, nor are they any other bug God created, they are thieves!

As we’ve mentioned before, we are in the process of building a home in Cold Spring. For reasons we won’t take the time to explain, we decided to finish sheetrocking the few walls that were left when the delivery of a couple bathtubs took longer than expected – not a problem generated by anyone local, the manufacturer ran out of gel-coat.

We knew this would take us a few evenings to complete and would gain us two or three days toward the completion of the home because the sheetrockers were busy with other things and couldn’t get back at ours soon enough.

The Thursday night before the deer hunting opener was spent hanging a few sheets – we decided we’d leave the tools needed at the house. Sunday we went back to finish and discovered our front door open, and tools missing. Almost $600 worth (replacement cost).

We were not happy. It wasn’t so much the $600, but it meant we had to take time to go to St. Cloud to get more tools so we could finish since the tapers were coming back Monday expecting the sheetrocking to be done. This is important because there are things we intend to do in the finishing of our home, and we gave our notice to our landlord that we’d be moving out before the first of the year.

It also irritated us because we felt violated. Some scum entered our home and took the few things of value that were there. We know we aren’t the only ones this happens to. While at the store we were told by an employee we were the second that day, and the sixth that week that had things stolen from a construction site.

It would be fun to catch these predators . . . proper punishment might be to require they finish the job they interrupt. Then they should try finding an honest way to make a living, rather than being scavengers and taking advantage of people who tend to trust others.

We know it could have been worse, there are things this individual (or more) could have done while they were inside the home, but that doesn’t make this any less irritating. Maybe someday they’ll grow up and mature enough to hold a regular job.

Have A Good Week!
Mike Austreng

For more comments on why the referendum failed and to share your own opinion check out:
WHY DID THE REFERENDUM FAIL?

CORNER COPY... Cold Spring Record

It seems we’ve made a mistake . . . we printed a letter without a
signature. Now people aren’t happy about it. We’re not sure if they are
more concerned with who wrote the letter, or what the letter said.
It’s been a long-standing policy to not print letters that are not
signed by the writer. In the past 20 years we can recall twice that we
decided to wave the policy. One was when a mother wanted to address
some bullying issues with her child and feared retaliation if anyone
knew who wrote the letter – the message was extremely important and we
certainly understood her concerns. The other was the letter from a
couple weeks ago about the police issue in Richmond.

When we received the letter we really would have preferred a signature
. . . our first intent was to toss the letter in the garbage and wait
for a phone call from the writer, questioning why the letter didn’t
appear. Fact is, we dug the letter out of the garbage and read it
again, thinking we could use the jest of it in this column. Then we
changed our mind and decided the message was strong enough to let
others read it.

Our first, and strongest, feeling about the letter was that there was a
good message – Cold Spring and Richmond worked together on something.
And accomplished something for the general good of the people.
We’re not sure how long the Cold Spring/Richmond discontent has
existed. We don’t even know for sure what started the alleged squabbles
. . . on a personal level we’ve never had any problems with any
Richmond people. From our corner of the world we’ve gotten along with
those to our west rather well. There will always be those who don’t
agree with some things we say in this column . . . we’ve known that to
be true of ALL our readers, not just those living in Richmond.

Fact is, in the construction of our home we contracted with a Richmond
plumber for our plumbing; a Richmond company for our heating and air
conditioning; and we ordered our appliances from a Richmond hardware
store. We do some banking in Richmond, eat out in Richmond, and in the
past have purchased several boats in Richmond. We’ve had a Richmond
company do landscape work for us; we buy gas there . . . this list
could go on. Not that we don’t spend our share of money in Cold Spring,
the point is that we think it’s important to patronize our customers
everywhere we can, and Richmond is one of those places where we do
business.

To us the most important part of the letter that apparently has people
talking is that our two towns were working together. That what was
done, did some good, and that at least some people are happy about it.
For those upset about the letter, take a second to consider the
positive. Because the city of Richmond and the city of Cold Spring
worked together to get more police presence in Richmond, there are
nearly 9 pounds of marijuana (about $50,000 worth) that will not be on
the streets. That’s a lot of pot that won’t work its way into our
schools and homes. There are also two individuals facing jail time.
We had hoped that part of the letter would have been the main focus,
but apparently it isn’t.

In the letter the writer complained about a lack of police presence. In
defense of the Richmond police department we’ll say this. Having your
own police department is very important to a small town. It’s also very
expensive and difficult to hire enough people to man the department. To
our knowledge Richmond has two officers. Those two can’t be everywhere
all the time. With just two police officers the town has to have times
when there isn’t an officer on duty. There will be times when that officer is busy
with something and cannot return calls immediately (in cases of
emergency the officer would contact the sheriff’s department for
assistance).

Police work involves a tremendous amount of paperwork as well.
Paperwork takes the officer off the street and puts him (her) behind a
desk; sometimes for hours at a time.

In a town with just two officers there are going to be circumstances
that leave the town without an on-duty policeman. Just the fact that
two people cannot provide on-duty time 24 hours a day/7 days a week is
something to be considered. Add to that vacation time, illness, and
personal matters, and you’ll have more off-duty time.

If you think there is a problem with police protection, or any other
issue concerning the city, talk to your city council. They are the
people responsible for the day-to-day issues of the city. This is true
in any city.

As far as we’re concerned we hope the cooperation between the cities of
Cold Spring and Richmond continues.

****

From the phone calls and what we’ve heard of the talk going around,
we’ve learned that there are a lot of others who would prefer letters
were signed so they know where they come from. That is still our policy
. . . we promise we’ll do everything we can to not waiver.

Have A Good Week!

Mike Austreng
Cold Spring Record Publisher

      

CORNER COPY... Cold Spring Record

There are a lot of uses for email these days . . . some of those uses have even made our work life a little easier . . . it’s also more convenient for customers to send artwork, ad copy, pictures, and stories right to our computer. No more envelopes, no more stamps, just attach your message or document and click your mouse, and magically what you wanted to get to our office is here . . . at least in theory. The funny thing is, you have to have the address EXACT, or it won’t get to our computer; it may not get to any computer.

It’s amazing how many times we give our email address out. We’ll be asked what it is and respond csrecord@mywdo.com. Some will have trouble keeping the letters in order; others will ask “What’s mywdo!?” They understand when we tell them it’s short for my warpdrive online – the high-speed connection provided by US Cable.

Email is so easy to use that there are literally hundreds of letters we get each week; some are simply forwarded messages others had received and passed along. Some are from people hoping to sell us something. Some are from people (or companies) hoping to get free advertising in the newspaper. Still others are jokes or stories sent from people who think we may find them interesting.

Some we’re very happy to get because we believe the content is something our readers would enjoy.
We have a broad range of age groups that read this weekly newspaper. From the rather old to the rather young. The young ones might not relate to what follows, but anyone from the age of 30 and up will get a big kick out of this because you’ll relate to everything stated:

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate bleu cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick-up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms   ..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. 

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!

****
If you’ve read this before, excuse us for repeating it, we seem to remember one simular, but figured this one was worth repeating.

Have A Good Week!

Mike Austreng
Cold Spring Record Publisher

CORNER COPY... Cold Spring Record

Sometimes small towns don’t want notoriety. Our town was in the national news after the shooting at the high school – not a way any of us want to be recognized.

Now Eden Valley is in the news . . . maybe not nationally, but there’s quite a bit of talk locally. Why? Because a “business man” came to their town saying he intended to open a canvas manufacturing company.

As time went by the renovation (or remodeling) of a building revealed a stage and with a couple brass poles. It didn’t take long to figure out that what he really intended to open in Eden Valley was a “gentleman’s club”.

The editor of the Eden Valley paper commented on the new business; his editorial leaned toward where we’d have to imagine most residents would lean, not in favor of it. He mentioned not wanting that type of business in his back yard. We’ll bet if you polled the people living in Eden Valley you’d find the majority agree with what the editor said.

Then, much to our surprise, a neighboring newspaper did what we call a total market coverage (mailed out a lot more newspapers than normal – to subscribers and non-subscribers alike) – and the front page of that paper was dominated by a story about the new Eden Valley business.

We have to admit we were surprised by the spin of the story. It came across as supporting the business and its owner. It was called news, which is what us newspaper people are supposed to print.

Now there’s some backlash. People from Eden Valley are not very happy with what they are calling an “advertisement disguised as a news story”. There are letters being written, and we would imagine an awful lot of talk.

When we look at the story we wonder why the businessman (an attorney) would have to deceive the city fathers by saying his intent was to start a business that had nothing to do with the one that actually opened. We think we know why, he knew that there’d be opposition if he were honest in the first place. We’d have to believe he checked the city’s ordinances and knew he could get by with what he did. He may have checked other cities in this area too.

Not many small town people want a “gentleman’s club” in  their midst.

It isn’t that a gentleman’s club is illegal, fact is we’d have to imagine that a city cannot legally forbid that type of business, but ordinances can make it much more restrictive than it is in Eden Valley. We checked with Cold Spring, Richmond, and Rockville and found each has its own “adult entertainment” ordinance in place. These ordinances place rules on where this type business can be operated along with other restrictions, making it less attractive for anyone wishing to open a gentleman’s club.

While it’s true a gentleman’s club does employ people, it pays taxes on its property, and the patrons may have to purchase other amenities (gas, food, beverages) while they visit the town, it remains a fact that the majority of small town people would much rather see a canvas manufacturer move to their town – and we’d have to think it’s a slap in the face when someone has to be deceitful in order to open a business in any town.

****

Many of you may not know it, but sometime in early June we decided to look into the sale of our home on the Chain of Lakes with the intent of building a new one in Cold Spring.

We made sure we had a lot that we’d be happy with before we put our home on the market. Once that was secured we struggled with who to list our home with – most all of the realtors here are customers and it wasn’t easy to choose one over another. Our home went on the market and in less than a month we had a very good offer.

We moved out in late August, to an apartment in town, something we never imagined doing was the apartment living, but it’s not bad, and it is temporary.

While the construction was slow to get started, what with the development being new and paperwork not quite complete, it finally got going in late August. Things are progressing well. LumberOne is our builder, and we are the general contractor, getting bids from various companies for different things.

Some of the things we decided to do in our new home was to build a larger garage than we had, make some of the rooms a little bigger than our past home, and put granite countertops on our counters.

After picking out carpet, tile, and bathroom fixtures, it came time to pick out granite.

This is quite an experience. But it was made easy (if not fun) with a visit to Stone Holding in St. Cloud. Stone Holding is a company that supplies granite slabs to places like Capital Granite, C & D Granite, Stone Crafters, Chain of Lakes Granite, Granite Tops, to name a few.

It started with a really warm welcome by a former Cold Spring resident, Tom Weber. Tom took the time to explain how unique granite is and some of its characteristics and what we should look for in the companies warehouse.

Tom told us that as we go through the warehouse looking at various slabs, he’d keep track of what levels of excitement we registered with certain stones. If you’ve never picked out any granite for anything, you’d be amazed at what nature creates with different colors and textures. Some stones looked like someone took a pile of rocks and cut a slab out of it. Others looked like you were flying over a mountainous landscape. Many had very subtle hints of colors amongst a mainly black (or very dark) background.

We were amazed by the variety we had to choose from. Stone Holding has stone from all over the world and while some of it may not be appealing at first, it’d be fun to see some of the really detailed stones made into a table top or a conference table.

Not that we had any reason to doubt that Mr. Weber could keep track of what we liked and didn’t like, we were glad he was right about registering our reaction to certain colors because we’d have never remembered exactly which stone appealed to us more than other. Tom did, and he brought us right back to the ones that really caught our eyes and from there we were able to get our choices down to the three we liked the best.

For anyone thinking granite is way beyond your budget, you might want to take a look at that option. Manufacturing techniques and machinery has made the production of granite countertops much more reasonable than in the past – yes, it’s more expensive than formica, but it might not be as far out of your reach as you might imagine.

We know Tom reads our paper, and we extend a sincere thank you to him and Stone Holding for the time spent making what might be a difficult decision, an easy one.

Have A Good Week

Mike Austreng
Cold Spring Record Publisher

CORNER COPY... Cold Spring Record

Within the next few weeks the people residing in the ROCORI School District have important decisions to make.

On one of the ballots voters will be asked to cast at the polls will be to elect three (3) school board members. This is an important election because school board members have a direct effect on nearly everything that happens in our school system. From hiring new teachers to operating budgets and teacher salary negotiations, the school board is the voters’ representation. They speak for us.

This year’s outpouring of candidates forced a first-ever primary election in our school system. Eleven candidates have been voted down to six. Of those six we will be asked to select three. This vote alone is important to all of us.

The other ballot at district polling places will be one with three referendum questions. The first is asking for approval of a $105 per pupil increase so the schools can fund technology.

The second is asking for approval of a $145 per pupil increase to fund capital outlay projects.

The third asks for approval of a $121.37 per pupil increase to fund ongoing student operations.

These issues will be explained in much more detail than we could even attempt, by Superintendent Scott Staska in his “Your Schools” article over the next few weeks.  If all three questions are approved the school would receive a $371.37 per pupil unit increase in funding; each of the three questions have very specific applications. Each has its own merit.

School funding is a very complicated subject; one perhaps we shouldn’t go too deeply into, but we’ll attempt to explain some very basic points.  School funding comes from a couple sources. The state sends the school district $4,783 per pupil unit – a pupil can account for points (pupil units) ranging from .557 per pupil to 1.3 per pupil. This is a complicated numbering system designed to assign points to each person (pupil) based on the effort and material required to teach each student. Part time kindergarten students require less time and material to teach than a junior or senior high school student does.

The other source of income comes from local levies (taxes paid by school district property owners). Our school district voters approved an operating referendum in 2001 in the amount of $128.63 (it began at approximately $126, but state formulas have allowed it to raise to the $128.63). This referendum was approved for a ten-year period.

Over the years the school system has seen the need to ask for more money for several different reasons. Technology requirements, building maintenance, etc. As stated earlier, those reasons will be explained much better by our Superintendent in his column within the pages of this newspaper. Each of the ballot questions are separate issues to allow us (the voters) the opportunity to say yes or no to one, two, or all three of the questions. Each question approved will man a tax increase (this too will be explained in information sent to area voters by the school district). Each question, if approved, will give the school authorization to levy for a five year period.

This is an important election year for our school district and its students. School board members are important to all of us, as is the funding of our school system. Be sure to read everything you can, and attend informational meetings about the referendum so you can make an educated decision, then be sure to vote on November 8th.

Have A Good Week!

Mike Austreng
Cold Spring Record Publisher

CORNER COPY... Cold Spring Record

With this week’s column we’ll be trying something different . . . this will be sent through the magic of email to the DigElog ROCORI website where nearly anyone in the world (anyone who has a computer, that is) will have access to it.

This “small town newspaper” currently reaches over 3,600 homes – using a formula provided by the Minnesota Newspaper Association, the 3,600 homes translates to over 8,200 readers. That in itself is amazing. Now, with the magic of our electronic world, this opinion column has potential to reach millions more – Okay, we’ll be a little more realistic, – perhaps thousands more.

When we purchased this newspaper 20 years ago, we vowed to write this weekly editorial because we felt it was an important part of the newspaper. With very few exceptions, we’ve done just that – that means this column has reached readers somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 times. There are too many small community newspapers that don’t have an editor (or any other staff member) dedicated to writing a weekly editorial and in our opinion those papers are missing a very important part of communicating with their communities.

Although we’ve had complaints about things we’ve written in this corner of the newspaper, we’ve also had compliments. Thankfully the compliments have far out-weighed the complaints. We learned a long time ago that what words are printed here will never please everyone. No matter what we write, there will be those who like what’s said, and those who don’t. We also know for a fact that there have been occasions when a reader or two have decided to cancel their subscription because they didn’t agree with our opinion from time to time.

In conversations with many of our readers, we’re flattered to know that this corner of the newspaper is the first section many of you turn to. That’s humbling, to say the least. Maybe even a little frightening. Although we try to be somewhat careful with the thoughts we put in print, there aren’t too many things we’re afraid to write about. We definitely try not to offend too many people, but we’ve always felt it imperative to have our opinion, and express it here for our growing number of readers.

We have full intentions of continuing this weekly column, and reaching more readers through the DigElog site can only be considered an added benefit to this community newspaper. Have A Good Week!

Mike Austreng
Editor/Publisher
Cold Spring Record Newspaper

DigElogROCORI would like to welcome Mike Austreng and the Cold Spring Record as a weekly contributor to the "Stories of ROCORI".  Thanks for your contribution Mike!