Page 4 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 7-8-2015
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Opinion                                                                                                                                                        Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter

Page 4 • Jan. 13, 2016									                                                                                                                             It was the best of
                                                                                                                                                             lists; It was the
                        REMEMBER WHEN                                                                                                                          worst of lists

                                                                                                                                                                    By Guest Columnist Dorothy Rosby

Dreams for peace in 1991                                                                                                                                     	 It was the Best of Lists. It was the                         What a shock! Not only did I not know
                                                                                                                                                            Worst of Lists. Apologies to Charles                            any of those couples had broken up; I
Second graders at Lincoln School displayed an American flag made with their handprints since the fall. In conjunction with Martin Luther King Day, the      Dickens, but over the last few months,                          didn’t know any of them were ever to-
students wrote their dreams for peace on paper resembling candles. The group decided to hang their candles with the flag. The display will hang in the      experts on everything have been rolling                         gether.
school until troops come home.                                                                                                                              out their lists of the best and the worst,                      	 On the list of the Dumbest Crimi-
                                                                                                                                                            and the most and the least of 2015.                             nals of 2015 were two fellows who are
                  25 Years Ago                      Shawn Zimmerman, Mike Andrews and Jason            Lake due to icy streets.                             From the 10 Worst Jobs, to the Top 30                           savvier at social media than they are at
                 January 1991                       Salge all claimed championship honors.             	 Playing at the Lake Theater is “Girl Happy,”       Most Noteworthy Coffees, to the Best                            life: One escaped from jail only to be re-
	 Local people watched closely on Wednesday,        	 The Clear Lake girls fell, 56-50 to Forest       starring Elvis Presley and Shelley Fabares.          Video Games of 2015. I can’t vouch for                          captured after posting his vacation pho-
Jan. 16, as the news came that war erupted in       City. Kathy Walls led the team with 20-points.                                                          the accuracy of any of these, since I have                      tos on Instagram. The other was so fond
the Persian Gulf. Clear Lake Mayor Lois Kotz        Mindy Day added 16-points.                                           60 Years Ago                       a good job, I’m not a coffee drinker, and                       of his wanted poster that he “liked” it on
and Mason City Mayor Bill Schickel have asked       	 The Ventura girls picked up two close victo-                      January 1956                        I don’t play video games.                                       the Crime Stoppers Facebook page. That
citizens to display the American flag on Friday in  ries. The Lady Vikes topped C-W/L, 77-71, and      	 Joe Jensen, appointed by the Clear Lake City       	 I do waste a bit of time wandering                            didn’t end well for him either.
a show of support for service men and women in      North Central, 48-23. Jenni Fey led the Lady       Council as assistant city clerk, assumed his duties  around the internet though and, along                           	 A lot of list creators enjoy pointing
the Persian Gulf.                                   Vikes against C-W/L with 40-points. Megan          Tuesday, Jan. 3, he will work at present in the      with the usual lists, like Best Books and                       out the mistakes of others. There’s the
	 The Clear Lake City Council has voted to          Coe scored a career high 37-points against North   water department.                                    Best Movies of 2015, I found a lot of lists                     Biggest Movie Mistakes of 2015 as well
hire a consulting firm to develop a comprehen-      Central.                                           	 Floor joists smoldering from the heat of           for things to buy, like the Top Ten Skate-                      as the Biggest Web Design Mistakes, the
sive plan to bring city services to the newly an-   	 Grocery specials for the week at Easter’s Su-    a fire in a fireplace above them filled the Forde    boards, the Best Coffee Table Books, and                        Biggest Celebrity Fashion Mistakes, and
nexed areas of the city.                            per Valu include: Prego Spaghetti Sauce, 30 oz.,   Lee home at 1216 Second Ave. with smoke early        the Top 10 Review of Best Snow Shovels                          the Biggest Mistakes of the NFL and
	 For the first time in three years, the annual     $1.29; Snuggle, 96 oz., $1.99; Reames Noodles,     Monday evening.                                      of 2015. I’m not making that up. But I                          the WWE. Conspicuously absent are
North Iowa winter sports and activities festival,   12 oz., $1.14; Minute Maid Orange Juice, 64        	 Myrna Reynolds received the WEGIVWAY               already know what the best snow shovel                          mistakes made by the list creators them-
Winterfest ’91, will be held with ample snow        oz., $1.49; Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, 12-12 oz.      prize at Verna’s Fashion Shop.                       is. It’s the one anyone besides me uses in                      selves. Or by me.
cover for cross country skiing, snow shoeing, and   cans, $4.09; Ground Beef, lb., $1.68; Sirloin      	 John Rutan left Saturday for Paulina, where        my driveway.                                                    	 Here’s what bothers me about the
snowmobiling. Winterfest ’91 will take place at     Pork Chops, lb., $2.39.                            he has been coach for several years.                 	 I saw a lot lists it would be fun to                          whole list making business, besides that
McIntosh Woods State Park.                                                                             	 Mrs. William Bickford, Jr. was installed wor-      be on: The World’s highest paid athletes/                       some of the lists are silly and shallow,
	 Current members of the Semper Fidelis                               50 Years Ago                     thy matron of Park Chapter, No. 35, Order of         celebrities/models, the 500 Richest Peo-                        and nothing more than opinion posing
Chapter of the National Honor Society at Clear                      December 1965                      Eastern Star at the Masonic Temple.                  ple in the World, the Top 10 Smartest                           as fact. They come out too early! I’m sure
Lake are Andrew Hansen, Christi Bauer, Shan-        	 The Clear Lake school system has $21,632.22                                                           People in the World. And I feel more                            the list makers want to take the holi-
non Quigley, Heather Datema, Kirsten Hick-          extra money to spend and ways are now being                         100 Years Ago                       hopeful about my financial future now                           days off, but how can a list of the best,
man, Karla Lewerke, Pam Wilbert, Debra Han-         considered on how to spend it. The money was                       December 1915                        that I know there are more rich people                          worst, least, or most of an entire year be
son, Kirk Sorbo, Brad Whalen, Adam Callanan,        allocated by the State Department of Public In-    	 The school board at Thornton has purchased         than smart people.                                              accurate if it’s compiled before the year
Shannon Berge, Jason Skinner, and Mark Meel-        struction from funds provided by the Elementary    bob sleds for the conveyance of the country chil-    	 The list of the World’s Most Beau-                            is over? That’s like giving someone their
hause.                                              and Secondary Education Act of 1965.               dren to and from school. They will be fitted up      tiful People of 2015 sounded fun until                          report card before they’ve taken their fi-
	 Mike Stensrud, a former Iowa State football       	 A snow mobile rally will be held in Clear        with long boxes covered with canvas, and made        I realized not a single one of the 2014                         nals.
player who went on to play professional football,   Lake Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 22-23.              as comfortable as possible.                          World’s Most Beautiful People made it                           	 What if some celebrity couple broke
read for students at Lincoln and Sunset Schools     	 The Clear Lake basketball team nipped            	 Seventeen railroads out of 100 in Chicago          onto the 2015 list. It must be a tough                          up on Christmas day? Not only would
last week.                                          Clarion, 61-55. The win lifted the league leading  will not hire a man who smokes cigarettes. The       year; they really go downhill fast.                             that be really sad, they’d have missed the
	 Clear Lake wrestlers dominated the North          Lions to 5-1 in the N.C.C. Conference and 7-1      sickening odor of cigarettes is enough to con-       	 There were a lot of other lists I                             list of Biggest Celebrity Breakups of the
Central/Northwood-Kensett High School Wres-         overall.                                           demn them to joblessness.                            was glad not to find myself on. Among                           Year, which came out on December 23.
tling Tournament with six champions. Sean           	 Four accidents occurred last week in Clear       	 Potatoes are 75¢ a bushel at Stenby’s.             those receiving top honors in the Biggest                       	 Steve Harvey named the wrong Miss
Harlan, Chad Whitecotton, Brandon Frampton,                                                            	                                                    Celebrity Scandals of 2015 were Tom                             Universe on Dec. 20. Lucky for him the
                                                                                                                                                            Brady, Brian Williams, and Bill Cosby,                          Most Embarrassing Celebrity Moments
                                                                                                                                                            though “top honors” might be a poor                             of 2015 came out in November.
                                                                                                                                                            choice of words.                                                	 The Most Popular Baby Names of
                                                                                                                                                            	 Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner,                              2015 has been out for months. But it
                                                                                                                                                            Britney Spears and Charlie Ebersol,                             could be completely outdated if all the
                                                                                                                                                            and Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale                             babies born the last few weeks of 2015
                                                                                                                                                            were among those who made the list of                           were named Leia, Han, and Chewbacca.
                                                                                                                                                            Biggest Celebrity Breakups of the year.

                                                                                                                                                            Amanda Ragan

                                                                                                                                                                  State Senator

                                                                                                                                                                  515-281-3371 or 641-424-0874
                                                                                                                                                                  [email protected]

                                                                                                                                                            	 With the 2016 legislative session                             educators to do more with less. By giving
                                                                                                                                                            getting under way, I remain committed                           our schools the strong investment they
                                                                                                                                                            to my constituents in Butler, Cerro Gor-                        deserve, we can continue Iowa’s winning
                                                                                                                                                            do and Franklin counties. My primary                            approach to preparing students for col-
                                                                                                                                                            job is listening to you and to ensuring                         lege and career.
                                                                                                                                                            the state honors its commitments to                             	 •Ensuring Iowans have access to
                                                                                                                                                            Iowa families.                                                  high-quality, affordable health care. The
                                                                                                                                                             	 These commitments include:                                   Branstad-Reynolds Administration has
                                                                                                                                                            	 •Standing up for workers and invest-                          made drastic changes to the health care
                                                                                                                                                            ing in skills training and job creation.                        of Iowa’s most vulnerable citizens over
                                                                                                                                                            	 •Creating more educational oppor-                             the last year through privatization of
                                                                                                                                                            tunities from preschool through college.                        Iowa Medicaid and the closure of metal
                                                                                                                                                            	 •Supporting Main Street over Wall                             health institutes. We must minimize the
                                                                                                                                                            Street when investing Iowa’s resources.                         harm to Iowa families and health care
                                                                                                                                                            	 •Maintaining high-quality health                              providers.
                                                                                                                                                            care and mental health services.                                	 •Improving Iowa’s infrastructure,
                                                                                                                                                            	 Working in a bipartisan way, we can                           economy and job creation through in-
                                                                                                                                                            achieve our goals by:                                           centives and programs that work with
                                                                                                                                                            	 •Continuing to balance the state                              local businesses on technology, market-
                                                                                                                                                            budget in a fiscally responsible way. Be-                       ing and entrepreneurship.
                                                                                                                                                            cause of our efforts, Iowa has a surplus                        	 •Making quality of life a prior-
                                                                                                                                                            and more than $700 million in our re-                           ity through investments in our environ-
                                                                                                                                                            serve funds, the largest amount in state                        ment, arts and culture, and recreational
                                                                                                                                                            history.                                                        opportunities.
                                                                                                                                                            	 •Expanding education and training                             	 Focusing on these priorities in
                                                                                                                                                            that prepares Iowans to fill jobs—those                         2016, we can improve Iowa’s economy
                                                                                                                                                            that are currently available and the ones                       and help more families join the middle
                                                                                                                                                            we want to attract. Affordable college                          class.
                                                                                                                                                            tuition, job training, apprenticeships,                          	 Please stay in touch throughout the
                                                                                                                                                            high school completion, skills certifica-                       session. If you have ideas or concerns
                                                                                                                                                            tion will put more Iowans on the path to                        you’d like to share, call me at the State-
                                                                                                                                                            good jobs.                                                      house (515-281-3371) or at home (641-
                                                                                                                                                            	 •Boosting student achievement and                             424-0874). You can also e-mail me at
                                                                                                                                                            teacher quality in our schools. Several                         [email protected].
                                                                                                                                                            lean years for K-12 funding have forced

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