To Small Business Saturday.

We like the idea of a day in the holiday shopping season dedicated to shopping at small retailers. After all, despite all the madness and the big retailers, often the best and most cherished gifts — the kind that people keep for decades — are found at mom-and-pop stores and specialty shops. That said, many older folks have lots of belongings and prefer something that goes away eventually, such as food, drink or even memberships to golf courses. Small retailers often have the best tasting food and beverages around. We thank all of our readers who supported small businesses on Saturday.

 

To media madness.

Sure, the start of the holiday shopping season after Thanksgiving is an annual American tradition. And, yes, it now starts on Thanksgiving, primarily as a mean to compete with online shopping. But what seems strange to us is all the media hype over it. After all, it’s not the biggest shopping day of the year. That honor falls to the Saturday before Christmas, which this year is Dec. 21. (Isn’t that when all the men shop?) We don’t see reams of stories and TV footage on people racing to get gifts on that weekend. It doesn’t even have a color name like Periwinkle Saturday or whatever is somehow appropriate. (Note our sarcasm.)

By the way, Black Friday is a term created by the Philadelphia police starting in 1961 to describe how bad pedestrian and vehicle traffic was. We have no clue where the silly term Brown Thursday comes from. We intend to continue calling the fourth Thursday in November by its true name: Thanksgiving.

 

To not allowing chickens.

The Northwood City Council told the Leo and Jerilea Hendrick family to fit in. Actually, Northwood needs to fit in and become like other cities, allowing people to have a small amount of livestock in appropriate pens. People commonly have dogs, cats, snakes, ferrets and even canaries, pigeons and parrots as pets. Animals are part of living in any city. So what’s the difference between a pet pigeon and chicken, other than the chicken is going to be eaten? The fact remains that government — including cities — have a role in improving the health and well-being of citizens. As families look for more ways to stay healthy, including eating non-processed foods, it makes sense for It makes sense for cities to encourage gardening and, by the same token, to allow a small amount of small livestock, such as chickens, rabbits or even a goat. What also seems odd is that Northwood is in Iowa, a state filled with people who have strong agricultural backgrounds. It once claimed to be “a place to grow.” Save the taxpayers from spending money on lawyers and allow the family their chickens.