Everyone has a story, especially if they survived WWII

"Age is opportunity no less,
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day." ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I was in Milaca yesterday for a meeting. After the meeting I was at first self-absorbed in what I was doing, loading my camera back in the Jeep and thinking of returning phone messages that came in while I was in the meeting. I didn't notice the elderly man walking slowly, shuffling his feet and using a cane as he walked toward the curb.

He was having a bit of trouble getting his feet and cane to cooperate to lift his leg the 5 inches up the curb so he could walk on the sidewalk.

I hesitated for a moment figuring he'll make it. But then I just walked over and grabbed his arm.

"Can I help you up the curb, Sir?" I asked him politely.

"Oh, why it would be my pleasure to let you help me, miss," he said.

It is wonderful to be called miss instead of ma'am. This cute old gentleman with his wonderfully aged face, lots of gray hair and slow moving body wearing a John Deere ball cap and a Chevy Truck jacket.

"I used to move pretty good," he said. "Didn't need a cane. I could walk just fine on my own until I was in an accident a little while ago."

He pointed to his car and proceeded to tell me all about the accident. It never would have happened if the bank across the street from his credit union didn't have CD's at 2 percent higher than the credit union. He was in a hurry to get there before it closed, and so on.

Well one thing led to another and I stood there in the street while he was on the curb telling me story after story about his life. His eyes twinkled and the expression lines near his eyes and mouth were like a map of mostly happy times.

He is 88 years old. He was on his way to the barber shop to get a hair cut and then off to the casino to play some Black Jack.

He has won more times in his life than he has lost, he said. Not just gaming. He was talking about life as a whole.

He was in the service. A World War II veteran as a matter of fact. I have only met a couple WWII vets in my lifetime. They are becoming harder to meet. But each time has been an honor.

Bernard continued to tell me stories as the minutes ticked by. I stood there listening for nearly 30 minutes. And I could have listened to him for hours. But I knew my editor would not have liked that if I listened to a man talk all afternoon and didn't come back with any copy for the paper.

Still, I listened a while longer, standing in the street.

Finally I regretfully asked Bernard if I walk him to the Barber shop just about 50 feet from where we were standing. He was thrilled. "Won't they be surprised? Can I tell them you are my girlfriend?"

"Sure," I said. And smiled.
He was grinning mischievously.

Bernard has a friend who lives in New York. They were in the service together. Both survived WWII and still talk to each other once a week, he said.

I asked him if I could call him sometime so we could talk some more. I would be very interested in writing a nice Veteran Story on a WWII vet.

"Oh, I don't think you should call me," he said. "It wouldn't be proper." He didn't want people to get the wrong idea.

I understood. So I said. "If I may be just a little forward, then Sir, here is my card. You can call me," I said.

He grinned. And walked into the barber shop.

"Look here!" he announced. "This is my new girlfriend."

I was charmed by Bernard. I love talking to older people because they are walking history books. And don't care about what they say anymore. And Bernard is still planning for a future. He is 88 years old and buying a new CD. That is optimistic.

I am so glad that I took time to help Bernard get up onto that curb. I may never see him again, or have a chance to write some of his WWII stories, but I shared 30 minutes with a hero.

I was honored.

Peace.



“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, But beautiful old people are works of art.” -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Letters to the editor: Garrison walleye

“The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully have been kindness, beauty, and truth.” — Albert Einstein

In this week's Messenger on the Mailbag page you will find politics as usual for 6 weeks before a presidential election. You will also find a little letter from a guy named Jeff Swanson of Saginaw, Texas.

He is complaining about the new paint job on the Garrison walleye. Apparently, Mr. Swanson does not like the new look of the freshly painted statute of the giant fish on the concourse. He disagrees with the caption that was printed under the photo that appeared on the front page of the Messenger on Sept. 3.

Everyone has a right to their opinion, I will give him that much. But for him to go further and state that I miss-quoted a women and her family, I have a problem with that statement.

Mr. Swanson, were you there? Umm.... no. That women I talked to and her two daughters were truly excited to be there and yes, they did say the fish was pretty.

Perhaps you were trying to be funny, Mr. Swanson. But I am not laughing.

Mr. Swanson has a cabin somewhere in the area and lives in Texas. He stated that he disagrees with the statement that it is better than new. He disagrees, along with most of the people living in and visiting Garrison, he said. I guess he has asked most of them.

That is a pretty bold statement for a non-Garrison resident to make. "Most" of the people? I don't even know the opinion of "Most" of the people, Mr. Swanson. And I talk to a lot of people in and around Garrison. Everyday. But certainly not most.

According to the Census bureau in 2000 the city of Garrison has a population of 213, 113 households, and 48 families. Then there is Garrison Township in which there were 796 people, 355 households, and 246 families residing in 2000. Add in the people just passing through town driving right by the walleye: according to MnDOT the average number of vehicles that pass through Garrison on Hwy. 169 on given day is 8,200 — on a busy summer Sunday afternoon that number jumps to 15,800.

That is a lot of people, Mr. Swanson. I am glad you have the time to pole "most" of them when you are visiting from Texas.

The folks I have talked to are glad that the walleye has been fixed up — repaired and painted. Did you know he was missing a couple fins for the past several years? The paint was faded and chipped and the stand was practically falling over. Comparing pictures of the fish before and pictures of the fish after, there is definitely a difference. He is definitely in better shape now, than he was before.

I truly believe there are not a lot of things better in life than getting new clothes, a new hair cut and color, and most definitely new shoes. Those are a few of my favorite things that always brighten my day.

Change is good for the soul. Take hair styles for instance. In the 80s we had mullets for the guys and big hair for the gals. Now? I don't know too many guys still sporting a mullet — not even Billy Ray Cyrus — and not too many gals have wild permed-looking hair and spray their bangs stiff-straight with AquaNet.

I understand that walleye is not alive. But the people I have talked to who live in the area are happy that someone took the initiative to put a fresh look on that old tired fish. I think that walleye does seem to be a little brighter.

Mr. Swanson ended his letter with this statement: "I hope that when I come back to my cabin again that they repainted our walleye to look like a walleye."

"Our" Walleye? I think our walleye looks fabulous.

Before:
After:

What do you think?

Peace.

“For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.”
— Ivan Panin

Goldfish and groceries

I am not much of a Wal-Mart fan. There are some political reasons, but mostly because I don't get that warm-fuzzy feeling when I walk into the local Wal-Mart — which is only when I have to.

Mostly, I get a creepy feeling. I have only been in the local Wal-Mart a couple of times. Once, I needed a Halloween costume for my son and we had exhausted all other stores in the city. We walked in to Wal-Mart and found the perfect thing for $1.87 and we were out the door. We saved some money and rolled back down the highway.

Another time I was in there, was midnight when I was told in no uncertain terms by a 10-year-old, and 11-year-old and a 13-year-old that we needed bug spray and coolwhip. I know, an odd combination. It was some project the kids were planning for the next day and the mosquitoes had been terrible. We ran out of Off. And the coolwhip was some sort of trap set at their top-secret-kids-only-fort. Anyway, where can you get bug spray and coolwhip at midnight? Yep. Wal-Mart.

There are some odd ducks at that store at midnight. I am sure I looked a little odd myself carrying a combination of bug spray and coolwhip. But I had a logical explanation for those items. I think.

Still, I was a little creeped out by some of the strangeness. I didn't think I would ever go back.

Well, on Friday afternoon, Shark died. He had been one of the 29 cent feeder goldfish I bought my son three years ago. He had definitely outlived his life expectancy, but it was sad for my son nonetheless.

So yesterday, I needed to get a replacement goldfish and some groceries. Where else can you go to get a goldfish and groceries in one stop? Wal-Mart.

I don't know my way around that store at all and went up and down the isles several times looking for my items. I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in a while and met her sister. We laughed and exchanged jello recipes and were on our way.

I saw another familiar face and her daughter, we said "hi" in passing and were on our way.

Seems a lot of people I know shop at Wal-Mart. But I am still not convinced it saves money. Or time. Even for one-stop trips looking for goldfish and groceries.

And then I passed another couple I knew. I smiled. They didn't smile back. I know I am not on their top ten list of favorite people. But maybe they didn't see me and that is ok with me.

Charlie and I had all of the groceries in the cart and had used the instant hand sanitizer several times since we walked in. All we needed was the goldfish. We had to wait 10 minutes for help in the pet department.

We got the fish ($4.98) and waited in line 10 more minutes and we were out the door. Loaded up the Jeep with the stuff and my son was happy with his new fish.

So far, at least this morning, the new fish, named M.T. (kidspeak for Mark Twain (Charlie's favorite story right now) was still alive.

I just don't get that warm-fuzzy feeling from that store.

Vigilante mayor?

I write a lot of the crime beat, police blotter stuff for the paper. Last week I wrote about a local Mayor (Bock Mayor Dennis Girard) who was caught on tape tampering with a vehicle and disabling it so that it wouldn't run. When a deputy asked him about it, he admitted to the deputy that he did it. His excuse was he got the wrong car. He thought it was somebody else's.

Hummmm....

At the time the story was published, no criminal charges had been filed. Somebody sent us a tip regarding the incident and I gathered my information from the Sheriff. A citation was issued after the paper had gone to press, and formal charges are pending.

Well, in this weeks paper you will find a letter to the editor from a woman in Bock defending the intentions of the meddling mayor. She wrote that his heart was in the right place.

The letter states the Mayor and his wife "regularly" drive sober cab for people who have had too much to drink and that they have opened their home to allow people a place to sleep it off when libations have been excessive.

Apparently, she stated, that the Mayor was trying to keep a drunk driver off the road this time as well. This time, he didn't drive the person home, he disabled the car so she couldn't drive herself.

Only he got the wrong car.

The letter states that the Mayor tried to apologize to the woman whose car he messed with.

Sometimes, the words "I am sorry" have no meaning.

The letter states, "Dennis Girard's heart was in the right place. Its unfortunate that he may be punished for trying to do a good deed."

On the surface it appears from the letter to the editor that this mayor is a good person and was trying to do a good thing.

But if he was in the habit of giving sober cab rides to people why didn't he just drive the person whom he was trying to save home in the first place?

Word on the street is the driver refused his help. So the mayor took matters into his own hands. In a vigilante move, he decided the person shouldn't drive, so he tried to make it so the person wouldn't, couldn't drive.

Only he got the wrong car.

Now he thinks he can just say I'm sorry and move on.

What if the person whose car he did disable, an innocent person, was in a hurry to get to work. What if the driver had been told by the boss, "If you are late one more time you are fired. No excuses." What if the driver of the disabled car was on the way to an emergency doctor's appointment or to pick up a child from school, or a friends.

There are a lot of what ifs I could come up with. The bottom line is the meddling mayor messed with the wrong car when he tried to play cop, judge and jury.

Dudley Moore once said, "The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it." Perhaps the mayor should have called one. Some people need to see the bars to stop drinking too much at the bars.

Peace.

A bully in the Senate?

“You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

Abraham Lincoln American 16th US President (1861-65)


There has been a lot going on around the area that had me more than a little exasperated. I haven't blogged for a while because my mom always used to tell me if I didn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Well, I guess that hasn't stopped me much before, so I can't let it stop me now.

I don't often voice my political views. I like to think I am not a democrat, nor a republican, nor an independent, nor green, nor any other party affiliation. I don't vote for a party -- I vote for a person.

So, here is a major quandary in the Republican party -- at least in the Senate District 16.

Sen. Betsy Wergin resigned her position to take a different job on the Public Utilities Commission. I like Betsy. While I didn't agree 100% with everything she did (I don't often agree 100% on anything) I think she tried to do a good job.

So now Mark Olson is running for a seat in the state Senate on the republican ticket. This is rather alarming to me.

He was representing district 16B in the House of Representatives since 1992 and then expelled -- kicked out -- by the House Republican caucus in December 2006.

He was asked to leave the party.

Why?

Apparently a jury of 12 of his peers agreed with the County Attorney that Olson assaulted his wife. He was found guilty of domestic assault. Although he was convicted of a misdemeanor and not a felony, the cause should set off some alarms in people's brains. He assaulted his wife.

He was convicted of one count of misdemeanor domestic assault by intending to cause fear of bodily harm. He was acquitted of intentionally inflicting or attempting to inflict bodily harm.

He said he didn't intentionally hurt his wife. That he merely grabbed her by the shoulders and placed her on the ground.

On Nov. 12, 2006 Olson's wife, Heidi, called the sheriff's office. She told deputies that her husband pushed her to the ground three times. Apparently in her words he pushed her to the ground -- "placed" her on the ground in his words -- so hard that he left bruises. Deputies noted the bruises in the initial call report.

Mrs. Olson testified in court July 2007 that she feared for her life during the confrontation. She also said he pushed her down and that he told her she ruined his life.

The incident occurred when Heidi challenged his point of view about the treatment of her 13-year-old autistic son, according to the Elk River Star, August 2007. Heidi has five children from a previous marriage.

Here you have a couple in an argument. Couples argue. That is they way it is. Apparently, this couple does not see eye-to-eye on parenting techniques. That happens, too. But, when Mark was challenged by his wife, a woman, and the mother of children that are not his biological children, and one of those children is autistic, he got angry.

Anger happens.

But he didn't stop at anger. He used his hands to hurt another person -- his wife. He used his hands to reinforce his thought process.

I take issue with any man who takes his anger to another level and hurts a woman or a child.

And get this, in the trial, his attorney tried to say that HE was the abused spouse. Heidi hit him several times in two years, the attorney said. If that was really the case, why had he not reported it? Perhaps because he was not afraid of his wife. He was not afraid that she could physically hurt him.

She did admit in court that she hit him once in the chest. Most likely a defensive action.

Olson was quoted in the Aug. 27 issue of the Messenger saying, "If I believed that I assaulted my wife, I would have resigned from the Legislature."

Hmmm.... dictionary.com says:

as·assault –noun
1. a sudden, violent attack; onslaught: an assault on tradition.
2. Law. an unlawful physical attack upon another; an attempt or offer to do violence to another, with or without battery, as by holding a stone or club in a threatening manner.
3. Military. the stage of close combat in an attack.
4. rape1.
–verb (used with object)
5. to make an assault upon; attack; assail.


He hurt his wife. She said so. She said he hurt her and that he scared her so that she feared for her life. The deputies saw bruising on her body.

He was convicted of causing fear.

He believes his conviction is unconstitutional. He doesn't believe that our court system actually helps families. He doesn't believe that we should have laws that convict people for getting angry.

He believes that couples involved in an investigation of abuse or whatever, should be allowed to be together while giving statements to law enforcement. (Perhaps so that one can continuing threatening the other?)

Apparently the defining word for Mark Olson is what he believes.
I am not sure what color the sky is in his world, but it is blue in mine.

What matters on election day is what you believe.

There are other issues on his list of positions Olson outlined in his newsletter to which I do not agree. Fortunately for him, I am not a constituent in district 16. But if I were, I wouldn't vote for him on his positions regarding abortion and global warming alone. But physical abuse is never OK. Causing someone fear for their life is never OK.

But the main issue is he is a hot head who resorts to violence when he is angry. He is a bully by definition.

Do you want that in the Senate?

Do you want that guy making laws for you?

Peace.