To the idea of a community center.

The list is long for agencies that would benefit from a community center on the Blazing Star Landing: Albert Lea Family Y, Albert Lea Area Schools, Albert Lea Parks and Recreation Department, Albert Lea Community Education, Senior Resources, Mayo Clinic Health System and every civic-minded organization in town. The center would have meeting and recreational amenities. But the list is even longer for people who would benefit from a community center: every child who grows up in Albert Lea. We aren’t saying the city ought to build it. But we are saying the city ought to pursue the idea.

 

To feasibility studies.

Why is it the Albert Lea school board needs to spend between $12,000 and $15,000 on an assessment of the proposal to adjust the calendar and other questions before the board? Isn’t it the job of school board members themselves to reach out to the voters who put them in office and find out what the pulse of the community is? Why ship thousands of local dollars out of town while teachers often pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets as it is? The calendar proposal is a fair idea worth consideration, to be sure, but we feel often local governments, from school, city and county, spend too much on feasibility studies conducted by out-of-town consults to determine the obvious. We don’t like that the city feels it needs a feasibility study for the community center idea, either. Aren’t there more reasonable methods for learning what a community wants?

 

To neighbors not being neighborly.

You’ve probably heard this one in the news, but let’s recap: Police arrested a 57-year-old man in New Brighton on May 5 for allegedly shooting his 46-year-old neighbor and that man’s 48-year-old longtime girlfriend. The man was declared dead at the scene and the woman survived. The shooter lived across the street and was upset at the neighbors for feeding deer. He previously had notified his neighbors about the risks of feeding deer and a feud was simmering over the issue.

Here is our view of the shooting: Being a longtime Minnesotan, the man probably went to church, or at least went to church as a child. Didn’t he ever learn anything from the lessons of Jesus? When Jesus said to love your neighbor, he didn’t mean shoot them.

It’s a good example for the rest of us to be civil when disagreements arise. American success relies on a civil society. Don’t sweat the little stuff. In this case, it was just some deer. Sure, there probably are risks, but nothing worth killing over. Living in Minnesota, even in New Brighton, means encounters with wildlife, with or without feeders. Get used to it. Appreciate the beauty.