Publisher’s Perspective

By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune

The midterm general election is tomorrow (Tuesday).  It’s seems like each year the election season gets longer and longer. If you haven’t yet voted, don’t pass up your opportunity on Tuesday.  Polls generally open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

This year, all state elected offices are up for election and with redistricting it should be an interesting election.

Locally, we have races for a few positions on Minnewaska Area School board as well as for Pope County Board in District 5. Most of the city positions in the county were unopposed, but luckily the positions will be filled with those willing to serve.

In Pope County District 5, Paul Wildman and Bruce Harvey are vying to represent that district.  District 5 includes a portion of the City of Glenwood, City of Long Beach, Reno, Leven and Westport Townships and the City of Villard.

Paul Gremmels and Larry Lindor are both running unopposed for their respective seats on the Pope County Board.  

Six candidates are vying for three, four-year positions on Minnewaska Area School board.  Those candidates include incumbents Zach Lagred and Ted Reichmann, as well as candidates Miriah Cassidy, Will Harvey, Amanda Opdahl and Randall Sander.  Incumbent Justin Zavadil and challenger Lisa Martin are vying for the two-year position on MAS board.

Those local races will be reported as soon as possible tomorrow night (Tuesday night) as the results are finalized.  The report will be on the Pope County Tribune website: www.pctribune.com as soon we can after the polls close at 8 p.m.

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On a statewide note, it was good to see the Vikings win a tough road game over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.

It wasn’t an easy game, but could have been a bit easier if not for a collision between a back judge (referee) and defensive back Camryn Bynum.  The back judge collided with Bynum just as he was sizing up the ball to make an interception.

Things like that are very rare in professional football so when it happened to the Vikings, many fans were shaking their heads and saying “you just can’t make that up.”

Instead, the play was a touchdown and put Washington ahead.  Even if Bynum had dropped the interception, it would have forced a punt and the game would have progressed differently.

Still, Bynum kept his sense of humor in comments after the game.  

“Running there, triple coverage.  He throws up a duck and it’s an easy interception, but the ref is somehow playing free safety better than me,” Bynum said.

As it was, the Vikings had to come back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win the game 20-17 on a field goal with just 12 seconds remaining in the game.

There were a number of bright spots in the game, especially the quarterback play, but it wasn’t the emphatic win the Vikings needed to get people (other than Vikings fans) talking about this team as a contender.

Even Vikings fans are skeptical, me included, I guess.  Still, I’m an optimistic fan, especially about this particular team.  The next four games will be tough ones and we’ll see where the Vikings sit after those games.  Still, it’s great to have a 4 1/2-game lead in the Central Division with the Packers tied for the basement.