opinion

By Commissioners Dr. Edward Ehlinger, MDH; Mona Dohman, DPS; and Charlie Zelle, MnDOT, St. Paul, MN The tragic death of a mother bicycling with her two young children in Rock County is a horrifying reminder that distracted driving is a growing problem in this state. According...

Growing up, I’ve never been what people call “normal.” What usually happens when someone meets me is they see a plain Jane, all-American, girl next door. They pigeonhole me as a bubbly, ditzy blonde, but then get surprised and, dare I say, confused when the many layers of me...

10 years ago July 20, 2004 The Rev. Mark Bateson, who served the Church of Peace in Fergus Falls, was recently appointed as the minister of United Methodist Churches in Osakis and Villard after the retirement of Alice Tobler. Osakis Onward still plans to push forward with at...

By Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman, Bloomington, IN These days, the scandal involving long wait times at VA hospitals can feel like some made-in-Washington spectacle generated by politicians looking for headlines. But it isn’t. It had its genesis in a late-April report...

10 years ago July 13, 2004 As Miss South Central, Jennifer Hilde, the daughter of Steve and Leilin Hilde of Osakis, competed with 13 other young women and was named first runner up In the Miss Minnesota Scholarship Pageant. The Osakis Ambulance Service will no longer renew its...

Last week, an auto-tune-free version of Britney Spears’ latest album was leaked to the world. As a 90’s kid, I couldn’t help but be drawn in to listen to the pop icon’s struggles with pitch and harmony. The album infected the Internet overnight. In a matter of hours, every...

My parents – bless their souls – met in a bar. A bar called Shenanigans to be exact. It’s actually quite a cute story. My mother was the cute 18-year-old who just wanted to dance; my father was the tall, baseball player in cowboy boots who just wanted to dance with her. Sounds...

Politics should never trump sound policy, particularly when it comes to our kids. Four years ago, Congress, in a strong bipartisan effort, committed to America’s children that they would enjoy healthier and more nutritious meals at school. Sadly, just as we are beginning to see...

10 years ago June 29, 2004 Osakis was recently invited to participate in the Symposium on Small Towns at the University of Minnesota, Morris. It was a presentation of city projects and how they work. At the annual Osakis Summer Festival, children spent hours digging for medallions...

When I was growing up, there was a lot of time that it was just my brother and me. We lived out in the country so play dates with other kids were kind of out of the question. So, whether he liked it or not, he became my best friend. I can only imagine how annoying I truly was when...

By State Rep. Paul Anderson, District 12B Starbuck, MN The excess moisture and flooding situation grew worse this past week as more heavy rain hit parts of Minnesota. Areas around Mankato and other parts of southern Minnesota were especially hard hit, with rainfall amounts...

10 years ago June 22, 2004 Runners filled the streets of Osakis for the annual Just Like Grandma’s 5k race. Local runner Kirk Bottleberghe crossed the finish line first for the men’s division and Rachel Grundman of Osakis took first place in the women’s division. Two Osakis...

Last weekend, an intimate, four-year relationship I was in shattered into a million pieces in a matter of seconds. The four years were long years, but they were good years. I remember being a bit hesitant to initiate the relationship. It seemed all too over the top and unnecessary....

10 years ago June 15, 2004 With the help of many donations, volunteers were able to complete a beautification project at Gordon-Pleasant Hill Cemetery, replacing a deteriorating fence, clearing brush and seeding new grass. The extension of Fourth Avenue to the Highway 27 project...

Age has never meant much to me. Sure, turning 18 and 21 was cool and felt like some weird milestone, but when it came down to it, I never felt much different regarding the years I had spent on the planet. So when it hit me, like running into a brick building, that I would be turning...