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Time once again to do a bit of our Cheering and Jeering

By Chuck Hunt - Editor | Jul 16, 2023

It is time for another edition of the ever-popular Cheers and Jeers column. And trust me, there is a lot to Cheer about lately. Of course, there are a couple of things we just have to give a Jeer to.

First off, a Giant Cheer goes out, once again, to the Blue Earth Giant Days Committee for putting on another successful Giant Days celebration. Of course, some beautiful weather all day on Saturday sure didn’t hurt any. As someone who knows how much work and effort is put in by these folks, we should all give a big ‘Thank You’ to the group and say “ya done good.”

And while we are at it, here goes a Cheer out to all the people in all the towns in Faribault County who work hard to put on their town celebrations. Winnebago, Elmore, Bricelyn and Kiester have had theirs already and Wells Kernel Days is yet to come. And an extra special Cheer goes out to the folks in Easton for their big 150th anniversary bash.

Well done everyone.

A Jeer goes out to the fact that the Blue Earth Economic Development Authority has to battle strange laws about veterinary clinics which are hampering their efforts to find a veterinarian for the clinic in Blue Earth. The state needs to intervene or they will find out they will have no veterinarians in out-state Minnesota.

A Cheer goes out to the United South Central High School Clay Target team, and especially their member Zale Bushlack, for taking first in the state recently. The amount of competition and the quality of the competition makes this accomplishment even more amazing. Congrats to all of them for this big success.

We have to send out a Jeer, not to the Faribault County Board, but to the situation they find themselves in with the County Auditor’s Office. The issue of not finding staff for the office is not unique to Faribault County, and has even caught the attention of the State Auditor’s Office. Many smaller out-state counties are finding it difficult to find and keep staff of all types, from auditors and assistant county attorneys to engineers and law enforcement. We hope a solution can be found for this issue.

A Cheer goes out to the Blue Earth Area School Board for sanctioning two new programs for students to be able to travel and have some unique new experiences. An exchange program has BEA kids going to different places in the U.S. for a week this summer, and another is a science study course in the Bahamas. Both seem to have been very successful.

Two other youth trips have also been interesting to read about and deserve a Cheer. Jim Pollard took a Blue Earth youth on an archeological dig recently, and several Blue Earth youth have been on two-year missionary trips through their church.

A Jeer goes out to the fact of losing the Fossil Discovery Center in Blue Earth. It was a tremendous gift to the city. Hopefully there can be a Cheer some day, if a new site for the center can be found.

A great big Cheer goes out to Norma Schmidt, this year’s choice for the Winnebago Hall of Fame award. Anyone who knows Norma knows she is a very well-deserved honoree. Congrats to her.

While we are at it, another great big Cheer goes out to BEA activities director Rob Norman, who recently retired after more than 30 years on the job. His job involved a lot of hard work behind the scenes and he did it well. He will be missed. Thanks Rob, it was great working with you.

A Cheer goes out to the Kiester Museum Board, and their hard work for finding a new home for the museum on Kiester’s Main Street. They put in a ton of volunteer hard work to turn a former ambulance garage into a very nice museum.

Another group which gets a Cheer is Habitat for Humanity, who recently completed a rehab of a house in Blue Earth and thus made a new home for a local family. And, the Wine Walk Committee gets a Cheer for recently donating their proceeds, around $6,000, to Habitat for Humanity. Cheers! to all of you.

A Jeer has to go out to the fact that there have been way, way too many vehicle accidents again this summer. After last week’s column asking everyone to please slow down and be attentive while driving, it still needs to be stressed how important that is.

One last Cheer and Jeer both go out to the weather. While it has been way too dry lately, Mother Nature finally gave us a million-dollar saving rain. The gardens, lawns and crop fields were looking mighty dry, but this rain helped a lot.

And there you have it, some Cheering and Jeering.

Hopefully there will be a lot more to Cheer about, than Jeer about, for all of you in the coming months.