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Our View Long-deferred library dream seems soon to become true A Sartell library is, at long last, again the topic of excited conversation. For at least 10 years, a branch library was comparable to a wishful mirage that would appear and disappear in the minds of so many Sartell residents. More than 10 years ago, some dedicated Sartell citizens formed a group called “Friends of the Library,” a group that still exists. Its members worked hard, contacting city staff and officials, as well as making contacts with the St. Cloudbased Great River Regional Library. That group’s goal was to determine exactly what would be required to build and open a branch library in Sartell. The basic facts are the GRRL would provide all the materials and staff, but Sartell would have to provide an adequate facility and do ongoing maintenance of the building. In several Sartell citywide surveys throughout the past decade, a “library” has consistently ranked near the top of survey-respondents’ wishlists. The construction of a branch library (either new or retrofitted into some other facility) would be paid for mainly if not entirely by revenue from the regional half-cent sales tax. The GRRL has said years ago it’s eager and ready to set up a branch library in Sartell, but it just did not have enough funds to do it, and – besides – Sartell was not ready with a library-site facility. Last week a meeting between the GRRL Board and Sartell city staff, including the mayor, proved to be promising. All present agreed to work together on a conceptual plan that would be considered by the GRRL Board this March. GRRL officials suggest a Sartell branch library would have an estimated circulation of 150,000 items per year, and it should ideally be open 40 hours per week. The staffing costs, full-time, would amount to about $150,000 per year. Meantime, the Sartell City Council is determined to build a library, most likely as part of a community-resources center, sometime this year. If so, a branch library could open its door as early as the beginning of 2015. The GRRL system has 32 branch libraries in its five-county service area of Stearns, Benton, Sherburne, Todd and Wright. Even some very small towns like Royalton, Eagle Bend, Kimball and St. Michael have branch libraries. As Sartell Mayor Joe Perske correctly pointed out in the meeting with the GRRL Board, Sartell’s population has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 20 years. It’s a crying shame a city the size of Sartell does not have a branch library. Today’s libraries, including branch ones, are informational, recreational and social centers that offer more than books. With today’s startling forms of technology, branch libraries now offer computer stations; videos; DVDs; music CDs; reference and research assistance; e-books, audio books; large-print books; community presentations; vision-impaired services; art and history exhibits; study rooms; copy machines; reading programs for adults, teens and children; and much more. And thanks to the Interlibrary Loan program, any branch can get for library patrons any materials the branch doesn’t happen to have. We think a critical mass has been reached – a nearly unanimous consensus it’s Sartell’s time to get a quality branch library. Stearns County Commissioner Mark Bromenschenkel, who represents Stearns County on the GRRL Board, has spoken up on behalf of Sartell’s library needs. So has Mayor Perske and many council members throughout the years. The current council is very progressive and library-friendly. It appears, thankfully, a long-deferred dream is about to come true. Since ancient times, libraries have been a solid foundation of civilization. It’s time Sartell becomes the 33rd library branch of the regional library system.
Sartell Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com
Friday, Jan. 31, 2014
Opinion
Old duffers earned bragging rights You know you’ve turned into an old-duffer Minnesotan when you find yourself sitting at the kitchen table on a snowy day, discussing the nasty winters of yore. The conversation, windy with bragging rights, goes something like this: “Oh, this winter’s nothing! Winter of 1965. Now that was a bad one.” “Yeah, these kids nowadays are spoiled. Closing schools just because it’s cold. How ridiculous. They don’t know what a cold winter is. We had to walk to school when we were kids.” OK, I plead guilty. I’m an old Minnesotan, but I’ve earned my bragging rights, having endured some of the worst winters in history. And, trust me, 1965 was really as bad as we duffers claim. I was a junior at St. Cloud Tech High School. During that raging, brutal winter, I walked 10 blocks to and from school, an acutely painful trek. On the way, other students would join in at various intersections and walk along: Mark, Paul, Billy, twins Judy-Janey, Kay, Delores. The gals’ bare legs were covered only by their nylons. That sight made the howling winter mornings seem even colder. We did have a sweet respite, however – our “short cut.” We would walk, slowly like frozen zombies, through the main hall of our old grade school, Washington Elementary, which gave us a chance to warm up a wee bit before once again braving the Arctic blast that hit us full-force when we opened the school’s west doors. On those frigid mornings, it took
Dennis Dalman Editor me two hours to thaw out once inside the school. My toes and ears felt as if a swarm of bees had stung them. There was a stabbing pain in the middle of my forehead worse than a raging headache. Fortunately, my soft-hearted parents would let us kids stay home when it was really, really cold – like 40-below zero with 30-mph winds. Of the winter of 1965, my most vivid memories are of shoveling snow and more snow, doing homework late nights in my chilly bedroom while hearing winds shrieking at the frosty windows, of rushing downstairs in the morning to huddle around the toasty kerosene-burning stove. That winter, one of many blizzards literally covered our garage with a giant dune of windwhipped snow. I remember that winter with pain and pleasure – pleasure because the extreme cold and relentless snow drew so many friends and neighbors together in homes for happy sessions of board games, cards, jigsaw puzzles and rollicking conversations. The worst winters happened always at mid-decade: 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995. An exception was 2005, which I recall as bearable.
In 1975, I woke up one morning to a front door that could not be opened because of a massive snow build-up on the other side of it. In 1985, I was one of only two of 30 employees who made it to work at the Alexandria news office. I lived in a downtown apartment a block from work, but it took me 20 minutes to body-plow through snow up to my waist to get there. The downtown cityscape looked eerily like a lost civilization, with parts of some buildings peeking out of polar snowdrifts. In the viciously cold winter of 1995, I had to rent a delivery box at the post office because, without access to a snowplow, there was no room left to hand-shovel the mountains of snow by my buried roadway mailbox and thus the carrier would not deliver there. I will probably remember this miserable winter for having to roof-rake tons of snow off of my house, an exhausting job. Thank goodness for Richard the kind neighbor who came to the rescue and finished the job by getting on top of the roof, his snow shovel in hand. He’s an old-duffer, too, but he has the true grit of a Minnesota whippersnapper. It would be fun someday, years hence, to sit around the table on some blizzard day and hear what today’s young-uns have to say about the longago winter of 2014. By then, they will have become dyed-in-the-wool oldduffer Minnesotans; they will have earned their bragging rights.
Letter to editor
Reader urges all residents to attend area caucuses Feb. 4 Jim Graeve, St. Joseph Democrats from the Sartell area are invited to come to Sartell High School at 7 p.m. next Tuesday, Feb. 4. It’s an opportunity to pick the delegates who will go to the Senate District 13 gathering March 15 at Kennedy Community School. These folks help form the party platform. There is no charge or fee to partici-
pate in the process of our democracy. This meeting is called a caucus, which is a neighborhood meeting. This Feb. 4 meeting is as “grassroots” as it gets. Anyone who is 18 or older can be a delegate. High school students are encouraged to come. Sartell is eligible to send more than 50 delegates to the District 13 meeting on the Democratic side. Republicans will meet at Sartell Middle School at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4.
We need good participation at the local level to offset the influence of “Big Money” on our democracy. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision stating corporations have the same voting rights as individuals puts our democracy in jeopardy. We can stop this by getting out next Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans alike, and make our voices heard.
My father has been visiting lately My father has been gone for several years now. Both he and my mother lived long and happy lives. They were married as very young kids and stayed together for more than 60 years, parting only by their deaths. I bring this up because I have become aware of recent visits from my father. In fact, he seems to show up almost every time I look in the mirror. When I shave, he seems to be looking back at me. When I get out of the shower, I can’t seem to hide from his prying eyes. When I was a young man, I never thought I resembled my dad very much. It’s only as I have gotten older and my hair – what is left of it – has grayed that I have seen this uncanny resemblance. The bags that have appeared under my eyes are the same bags that were under my father’s eyes. The skin on my cheeks that used to be tight and taut has recently sagged in the same way my father’s skin sagged. Muscles which once helped me in my hard labor as a young man have softened. My chest which once stood tall in its place has slipped to become a stomach. And a rather substantial one at that.
Ron Scarbro Guest Writer When I was a young man I never thought much about the changes I noted in my father as he aged. I just felt it was a normal progression. It never occurred to me that same change was to be my heritage. Now, I am not saying aging is bad. It certainly beats the alternative. So many of my friends and relatives never had the opportunity. It’s just that age seems to creep up on us. It seems I sleep better in my recliner in the afternoon than in my comfortable bed at night. I have aches and pains in places where I never even knew I had places. Bette Davis once said getting old was not for sissies. I can attest to that. My father lived into his 90s, and insurance actuarial tables suggest I will probably do the same. The last two years of my father’s life were difficult for the family because he only visited
our world on occasion. I hope I can pass peacefully into that gentle sleep and not be a bother to anyone. Lately my wife and I have been examining our lives. We have been together for more than 51 years so I think we can say we will probably stay together for what’s left of our tour on this earth. Like so many, we have tried to plan our finances around taking care of ourselves until the last days. We have planned for the future but have decided recently we might as well try to enjoy the present more. We are going to treat ourselves better. There are restaurants we haven’t visited. There are places we haven’t seen. This kind of crazy thinking would never have occurred to my father’s generation. I don’t know if they would have approved. This is my plan. The next time I look into the mirror and have yet another visit from my dad, I will look to see if there is a disapproving stare. Who knows, that mirror might be on a wall of a resort on a beautiful beach, or in the home of an old friend I haven’t seen in too long a time. I think he will approve. Maybe he will even smile. I know I will.