said Burch. approved 7

Credit where

it’s due

So, the summer is half over. Have you done anything fun? How about a trip or at least a day trip, even if it is to your back yard?

Experts tell us we need to take some time off and relax. Heck, I might even do it myself.

We have been working on something fun and hope you all want to help us. With the coronavirus and its fallout putting a damper on everything, we decided it’s time to let businesses, professionals and organizations in our community know we appreciate what they do, day in and day out. We are launching a Reader’s Publisher Choice contest later this week on our website and we need your

Tom Stangl help. There are over 90 categories on our nomination ballot and we want to hear from you. The groups are: eating and drinking; arts and entertainment; health and fi tness; local; services; shopping and sports and recreation.

Here’s how it works. Starting this Friday, go to www.osceolasun.com/bestof and nominate the place with the best appetizer to the best local park. You don’t have to nominate in every category, you can only do one if you like. The website has a tool that will fi nd the correct spelling and location of the place you are nominating.

The nomination period runs from July 24 – Aug. 3. After we have our ballots set, we will move on to the actual voting to determine who has the best hamburger in The Sun and Country Messenger area. If we receive two or more nominations in a category, that category will appear on the ballot. If only one nomination is received, the category won’t be on the voting ballot. It’s not because the one person who was nominated isn’t deserving, we believe to have a contest, you need to have more than one participant. So if you are nominating in a category where there might not be a lot of choices, perhaps nominate a second person or place.

Voting on the ballot will run from Aug. 14 – Sept. 10. The ballot will be in the same spot, www.osceolasun.com/bestof. You will be able to vote once every 24 hours.

When voting closes on Sept. 10, we will tally the results and prepare a special section of The Sun and Country Messenger to announce the winners. All winners will be announced October 21.

What will the winners get? We will provide a certifi cate and window cling to the winners and a logo that the person or business can use to promote themselves.

More importantly, they will have what everyone truly wants in life: bragging rights.

When coronavirus entered our lives this spring, we learned to appreciate the local people who do so much to make our community a great place to live. There are many ways we can support them, nominating and voting for them as the best at what they do is a simple, yet meaningful gesture.

The entire contest will be conducted online; there are no paper ballots.

The contest is meant to be good-natured fun and a way to recognize all of the little things that make our area special. Please join me in taking some time to nominate your favorites, starting Friday.

We will be holding more contests in the months to come. Let me know what you think of the contest and your experience.

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@theameryfreepress. com, telephone 715-268-8101 or write me at P.O. Box 424, Amery, WI, 54001.

Thanks for reading I’ll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.

The joys of being a dog owner, take two

For 14 years, my wife, Michelle, and I were the proud owners of a Black Lab named Casey.

I know a lot of people say they have the greatest dog, but for those who ever met Casey, they complimented us repeatedly on his demeanor, his overall attitude and his love of

Editor vanilla ice cream and peanut butter.

Jason Schulte However, like everything else in this world, when it comes to aging, hi ld h Father Time wins every battle and for Casey, his last breath came in 2018.

Not having a dog around felt weird and sad, because he was integral part of our lives for so long (maybe the only positive about not having a dog was going somewhere and not having to fi nd a sitter or having to come back the same day).

Anyway, earlier this year, discussion about having another

Letters to the Editor are published with priority given to letters that are concise (400 words or less) and exclusive to our newspaper, from readers in our general distribution area.

All letters are subject to editing for grammar and clarity and must contain the undersigned’s full name and their address and daytime telephone number for verifi - cation. (Addresses and phone numbers will not be printed.)

Letter writers must live, work or have another connection to The Sun’s coverage dog returned. For partial reasons, I leaned toward Black Lab. Black Lab was a favorite of other family members, but they preferred other breeds.

Getting a dog from a shelter was at the top of the list for everyone, and luckily, Michelle found a shelter outside of the Twin Cities. We passed their tests, the dogs passed our tests (it was pretty much telling our daughters, Lauren, 13 and Hannah, 9 we were getting a dog and it was at least part Black Lab).

A couple of months ago, we made the trip to the shelter to decide the newest member of our family. It was between two girls and a boy.

The backstory on them was interesting. They came from Texas where they apparently weren’t welcomed or didn’t receive much attention, which is the goal of the agency we found. Once the dogs were ready for adoption, they were transported to Minnesota using volunteer transporters.

After some hemming and hawing, we settled on the boy dog who was more than happy to come with us.

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Letters may be emailed to: editor@osceolasun.com no later than noon Friday the week preceding publication.

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We put him in the kennel and as we started heading back home, my mind fl ooded with questions.

Casey never did this, will this dog do that? Will he chew? How will he handle the kennel? How much does he want to be around us?

Those questions could wait, we had a bigger question that needed an immediate answer: A name.

What about Archie? Between the four of us, it wasn’t universally loved, but not universally hated at the same time. It was a name we could grow to love, just like him. So Archie it was.

Today, a couple of months into being a dog owner, those earlier questions have some clear-cut answers. Does he chew? Yes. We are on our third leash already because he chewed through the fi rst two (maybe, he has more hound than we think). He also loves chewing on socks and paper.

Does he like the kennel? Strangely enough, yes. When he’s in trouble or has to go in there for the

SEE SCHULTE, PAGE 14

The Sun accepts election letters endorsing or advocating for or against a ballot measure, party or candidate as paid advertising announcements. The fee is $25 minimum for up to 250 words and 10¢ each additional word. Like other letters to the editor, the writer’s name, address and phone number are required. Phone numbers are not published. The Sun has the right to reject letters which don’t meet publishing standards and will determine if the letter qualifi es as a paid endorsement. Paid letters will be identifi ed with a label and may or may not appear on the opinion/letters page.

HOW TO REACH US: Our office is located at 108 Cascade Street, Osceola, WI 54020. We are open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday. Call: (715) 294-2314, (715) 755-3316, or fax at (715) 755- 3314. Wednesday. One year subscription in Polk County is available for $29, two years is $51. A subscription outside Polk County is $34 for one year, $61 for 2 years. PLACING AN AD: ads@osceolasun.com Display advertising must be in The Sun office by noon Friday. An advertising representative will gladly assist you in preparing your message. Classified ads must be in the office by noon Friday also. subject to editing and are not guaranteed publication. Tom Stangl, Publisher Jason Schulte, Editor Carrie Larson, Production Manager Eric Buelow, Graphic Design Elise Bourne, Advertising Rick Brandt, Delivery