It has been since the end of October that I have filled this space with a few Cheers and Jeers, so it must be time to do it again. And, I think I can safely promise it will be the very last time you have to put up with all this Cheering and Jeering.

For this year, anyway.

Our first Cheer goes out to a group of guys who have been Cheered a lot in the past. It’s that dedicated group of campers who are at the You Can Make A Difference Campout each and every year, for the past 25 years.

Norm and the guys have raised a pile of money and food donations for the Faribault County Food Shelf over the years, as well as tons of toys for the Western Faribault County Toy Drive.

They more than deserve every Cheer we can give them.

The next Cheer goes out to the fact we are now attending sports, concerts, events and activities without having to wear a mask or social distance, unless we want to. We Cheered this sense of normalcy back at the end of October, but it deserves to be Cheered again.

However, it has to be followed by a Jeer, to the fact that COVID is still with us, and the evidence is that it could be for a long time. And there is yet another COVID variant. Plus, there have been six Faribault County residents who have died because of it, two each week in the past three weeks.

Still, there are those folks who just will not be vaccinated. Some may have a valid reason, but most do not. That decision, which affects not only them, but their family and their community, earns them a Jeer.

Cheers go out to those folks who are willing to invest in their communities by starting up businesses, or keeping existing businesses going.

We particularly refer to the restaurant business. Blue Earth has seen a couple of new ones, Average Jo’s and Farmer’s Daughters Kitchen, while Wells is having a new Jake’s Pizza built and Winnebago has a new restaurant in the works, according to information in a recent Winnebago EDA story in the Register.

Thanks to some hard work and a lot of financial investment, these folks deserve some big thanks and the support of all the people in the community.

Cheers to the Blue Earth City Council for being willing to invest in the recreational facilities in the city. Last time we Cheered them for investing in playground equipment in the park on the east side of town. Now it is for planning for new tennis courts, as well as basketball and pickleball courts.

Sometimes those types of facilities are ignored, because city government can be so focused on items such as streets and utilities.

Jeers to the number of rollover vehicle accidents which seem to be happening regularly in Faribault County. Have you noticed the number of rollovers that have been reported in the Register lately? It almost seems to be one a week.

Law enforcement officials say the causes include speed and inattention while driving. The solution, of course, is to slow down and pay attention.

And wear a seat belt.

You knew this one was coming. Jeers to those heart-attack kids, the Minnesota Vikings. I know, I wrote about them just a week or two ago, so maybe I should let it go and move on. But, I can’t.

You would think that they should get a Cheer because they won the game against Pittsburg last Thursday night. They do deserve a Cheer for the first half, I suppose, but then they earned a Jeer for their performance in the second half.

I mean, really. How can they look like world champions in the first half, have a running back rush for over 200 yards in the game, and yet fall apart in the second half and dang near give the game away…again.

I mean, being “Minnesota Nice” should only go so far. The game before they felt sorry for Detroit and let them win their first game all year.

This will be a season for the record books, with almost every game decided at the very last play, practically.

OK, enough of that, let’s move on and give a Cheer to the Catholic Daughters organization, for celebrating 100 years of service to their church and the Blue Earth community. That is quite an accomplishment. and worth Cheering about.

While we are at it, here is a Cheer to all those folks who are involved in putting on winter fest-type events in their communities.

Blue Earth’s Holiday Sampler, Wells Does It Bright and Winnebago’s Frosty Fest were all lots of fun and had large turnouts of people, despite sometimes chilly temperatures and a bit of wind.

These events are just one of many reasons why it is nice to live in a small town, and we are very glad there are folks willing to step up and help put them on. They are a bit of work to get done, but well worth the effort.

Our usual final Cheer is next. Cheers to all of you who read the Faribault County Register each week and give us your support. We appreciate it.