Publisher’s Perspective

By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune

I was standing on the Highway 29 bridge that overpasses CP Railway and Highway 55 last Monday when Pope County Commissioner Gordy Wagner, with the MnDOT Commissioner as his passenger,  drove the first car over the bridge.  His vehicle was followed by Greg Meyer of  the Glacial Ridge Ambulance, Dale Danter, Glenwood Police Chief, Glenwood Fire Chief Bruce Cerney and Pope County Sheriff Tim Riley.  The vehicles following Wagner  were included to symbolize the important impact the new overpass will have on emergency response. 

After the  ribbon-cutting ceremony on the bridge on Monday, MnDOT officials said crews were starting to wrap up the work on the Hwy 29 overpass. 

Paving started Wednesday and will be finished up this week, and crews are slope paving (concrete from abutment to the piers) underneath the bridge. Guardrail, final seeding and striping are all on schedule for next week.

As long as the weather cooperates and nothing unforeseen pops up, the bridge is on schedule to open this Friday, Oct. 28, it was stated.

If you’ve traveled through the area recently, you’ve probably noticed that the Hwy 29 roundabout is open for local traffic use.  The detour remains up and thru-traffic should continue to use that official route. But if you plan to visit a local business in the work zone, or are traveling to Glenwood, you can now access 160th Street and the Hwy 29 roundabout.  That makes it much easier to get to Koep’s and Marthaler Chevrolet, a couple of businesses that have been most affected by this year’s construction of the bridge and roundabout on Highway 29.  

         

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It is interesting how something what started as an internet hoax and that has been debunked many times as blatantly false continues to get traction even in Minnesota.  

We’re talking about the use of kitty litter boxes in schools for students’ use.

The StarTribune recently ran an editorial titled “Litter boxes and Batboy, oh my.”

The editorial talked about  what used to be the staples of checkout-lane tabloids like aliens, Elvis still walking among us and “Bat Boy,” a human hybrid who exited a West Virginia cave to conduct a nation-wide reign of terror.

“We don’t recall any warnings about Bat Boy’s perilous perambulations , for example, from friends, family or elected officials,” the editorial stated. 

In fact, the reports tended to trigger a “this is not credible news” and few readers ever took those accounts seriously.

Now, add the internet and, apparently, we’ve lost our filter.  Everything is true, even if its been debunked by countless reliable sources. And NBC News’ disinformation reporting team deserves credit for its stellar debunking.  In an Oct. 14 story, it followed up with politicians who spread this rumor and the reporters came away empty-handed when asking for evidence.

The team also uncovered  a grim grain of truth that may have inspired the hoax that started this wild claim, it was reported.  The Colorado school district in which the Columbine High School is located “had been stocking classrooms with small amounts of cat litter since 2017.”  It’s part of the emergency supplies kept on hand if there’s a shooting and students are locked inside a classroom without restroom access.

As it was stated in the editorial, it is disturbing that one school district’s heartbreaking preparation could have metastasized into the belief that schools are encouraging kids to use a litter box.

Where’s our filter? Where’s the common sense?

Politicians especially need to step back and take a closer look before repeating such wild stories, and we need to step back and do the same.