Publisher’s Perspective

By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune

The weather news has been much of the talk around Minnesota in the past few weeks.  First it was the speculation that we were likely to have a “brown” Christmas.  Then, it was the warm weather devoid of any real precipitation.

Then the Christmas rains came.  For two to three days the rain fell steadily and some in the area recorded nearly 3 inches of rainfall by the time it was finished on Tuesday, Dec. 26.

That’s when a completely frozen Lake Minnewaska began to open up.  First, a large area west of Priest’s Point on the Starbuck side was open water.   Then ice receded from the shores in front of Peters Sunset Beach Resort on the east side of Lake Minnewaska.  There was a large area of open water toward the middle of the lake as well.

After the rain, the talk was how much snow that would have meant had it been cold enough to snow instead of rain.  If you figure 10 inches of snow for each inch of rain, much of Pope County and the state would have received close to 27 inches of snow.  Then, the weather talk would have been about the most snowfall over a Christmas holiday.

Although it’s nice to get a delay in winter, most of us would rather see some more winterlike weather, especially if you ice fish, ski, or snowmobile.

Most of the fishing before Christmas was being done by anglers walking out with portable shelters or just sitting on a bucket on the ice.  It looks like its going to be that way for a while.

But the cold will come, and ice fishing will probably be just as popular as ever once the ice gets to the 10 to 12-inch depth.  Until then, anglers will need a boat, or at least be careful walking on what ice is out there.

* * * *

After four months of discussion and more than 2,000 design submissions, Minnesota finally has a new state flag and seal.

Members of the State Emblems Redesign Commission on Tuesday before Christmas chose a flag design with an eight-pointed white star in a dark blue abstract shape of Minnesota on the left, and a field of light blue on the right.

The final design emerged after multiple rounds of elimination by the 13-member commission and several final tweaks by professional designers, including the removal of green and white stripes.

Why those final changes? Simplicity, said commission chair Luis Fitch, a brand designer by profession who led the panel through the process. Now that there’s a new state symbol, it’ll take time for it to settle in, but Fitch said his hope is the flag will bring the state together.  But first, legislators need to come together and approve the new design.  I’m sure that won’t happen as easily as it should.