Publisher’s Perspective By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune What’s the official Bird of the United States? If you guessed the Bald Eagle, you’d be wrong. The United States does not have an official bird. That’s why U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced bipartisan… Read More

Simply not logical… From Jim Thoreen, Glenwood Some aspects of life simply cannot be explained logically:    • Why the Dakotas are North and South and not East and West.    • Why men sweat and women perspire.    • Why Louis DeJoy remains U.S. Postmaster General.

Minnewaska Musings By Paul Gremmels It is difficult to think about winter in the month of June. But, I’ve been burning wood to help heat the homes I’ve lived in since I was a kid. Over forty years of cutting, splitting, stacking and burning wood. And if you burn wood, you have to think about it… Read More

Stoneage Ramblings By John R. Stone Sometimes it is fun to try to travel back in time and we did that recently with attendance at the Kingston Trio concert at the Paramount in St. Cloud. In the late 1950s and early 60s the Kingston Trio was the hottest group around. They were a folk group that… Read More

The Outdoors By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist I find it quite unbelievable that some folks can recall facts and figures from 40 years ago. I can remember the snow storm of 1976 like it was yesterday. Names and faces appear to often be chiseled in granite. I can only wonder if those same facts and figures… Read More

Growing Green By Robin Trott, Extension Educator The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has confirmed emerald ash borer (EAB) in Pope County for the first time. There are now 52 counties in the state, including Pope, with EAB. A county ag inspector noticed several declining ash trees with woodpecker holes on a landowner’s property in Glenwood… Read More

View From a Prairie Home by Hege Hernfindahl, Columnist Why Ireland, you might say. Why would you want to celebrate your 50th wedding anniversary there? Why not here, in Minnesota, where your family lives and you have lived for most of your married life? Or Norway, the country of your wedding and early married bliss? The answer… Read More

From Where I Sit By Pat Spilseth, Columnist Minnesotans often take a summer vacation up to the lake or drive out to South Dakota to see the Black Hills and the presidents on Mount Rushmore or fly to Disneyland with the kids. Parents in Minnesota are largely education minded and hesitate to take their kids out of… Read More

Publisher’s Perspective By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune In modern times, most of us have viewed politics in the U.S. through the lens of the two-party structure–Democrats and Republicans. Is that still accurate?  Do independents suddenly play a much bigger role in deciding who wins a presidential election? Increasingly, the national media, pollsters, pundits… Read More

Fortunate to have local paper From Allene Giesen Sieling San Francisco Bay Area The people of Pope County and Starbuck where I grew up are extremely fortunate to have a local paper like the Pope County Tribune (and The Starbuck Times).  I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1972.  At that time there… Read More