SENTINEL TRIBUNE
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Wednesday, June 2, 2004 Page'
BETWEEN
THE
By Tom Merchant
Sentinel Tribune
LINES
Busy weekend
For most of you Memorial Day
weekend is just another weekend.
For those of us in the media it is
another weekend of extra work. To
make matters worse we also have
to add in high school graduation.
In some ways that is a good thing
because instead of two messed up
weekends we only have one
messed up weekend.
Don't get me wrong I am not at
all saying Memorial Day or gradu-
ation are bad things. In fact I view
Memorial Day as a very special
time as a veteran myself. Also it is
not all work and no play, I did man-
age to talk best friend into taking
off Monday afternoon for an after-
noon at Okoboji to browse the
huge flea markets there.
Getting back to graduation
and Memorial day. I must say I
really enjoyed Nathan Swanson's
senior address. Although I sort of
wondered where he was going
when he started talking about
World War I1. But then I thought
well it's Memorial Day weekend so
it is probably appropriate. But
Swanson masterfully turned the
focus towards the direction this
.class should take so that they too
might become as great as the
'q'he Greatest Generation".
But I must make my own com-
ments, in order for that to happen,
this generation must realize great
things cannot be done sitting on
the couch watching television or
playing video games. It may be
good for their eye, hand coordina-
tion (which I am quite bad at) but it
will not solve the problems of this
world.
Swanson indicated there are
great challenges that lie before us,
and he is confident his generation
can meet them. I must agree but it
will take a lot of hard work and total
dedication on their part.
Mr. Theisen gave some out-
standing words of advice that will
help these young men and women
meet the challenges they face.
My advice is to learn to accept
disappointment, nothing in this
world comes easy, but the rewards
of hard work will be very gratifying.
Whoops -- I must apologize to
the seniors and their parents for
the misprint of the graduation story
last week. The right version is
being run this week.
I also have been corrected
about Charles Barkley, I got him
confused with another sports per-
son on Fox. But I still think Fox,
and for that matter the rest of the
networks, are very short on sub-
stance.
Have a great week!
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Reader likes photo
Dear Sentinel and Tribune friends
Thank you for the joy the photo
brought of the baby robins in their
nest. This is a picture not often
seen. And now we have a picture
to keep!
To the many who made this come
to pass, Thank you! We wait to see
them in full color, and hear their
song all summer.
A blessed summer to all.
Sincerely,
Flossie Mitchell Gertner
Reader comments about
Sentinel/Tribune
While reading the WWG com-
mencement story in last week's
paper, I found that not much had
changed in a year's time. Mr.
Richards is still principal. Mr.
Kronback will be handing out
diploma's again. Mrs. Knott and
Mr. Vondracek are directing the
choir and band, respectively. Hold
on, aren't those the same songs,
senior speakers, and commence-
ment address I heard last year?
Sure enough, they are. I bet there
won't be too many Mommies and
Daddies clipping that article out
for the scrapbook.
Let's check out "BTL" and see
what Tom is thinking this week.
Yep, Timberwolves had a good
year. I agree, "Barkley isn't too
bright. Fox programming-- aren't
Cops and American Idol on Fox?
There's nothing wrong with those
shows .... wait, I thought Sir
Charles was on TNT. Aren't they
owned by AOL Time Warner? I
better check.., why yes, they are.
That would mean that TNT, and
Charles Barkley, are in no way
affiliated with Fox Sports. Must
have been an oversight.
When doctors foul up an opera-
tion or diagnosis, malpractice law-
suits, and sometimes even deaths,
are the result. Engineers have
specified improper tires for vehi-
cles, and people have lost control of
their cars, and in some cases their
lives. Pilots have had a '%ad day"
and crashed their 747's on final
approach. Fortunately for the
Sentinel Tribune and it's readers,
mistakes in a newspaper normally
do not result in a loss of life or seri-
ous economic harm. However, bad
surgeries and airliner crashes are
not the status quo, in large part
because corrective actions are
taken after these incidents to
decrease the likelihood of re-occur-
rence. I wish I could say the same
about the errors in this newspaper,
but I cannot.
The Sentinel Tribune, by calling
itself a newspaper, assumes an
obligation to provide timely and
factual content to its paying sub-
scribers. Like any other business,
it should also be dedicated to con-
tinuous product improvement. For
me, product improvement must
include more than a full-color front
page.
Jim Kleven
Walnut Grove
Mission Statement
The Sentinel Tribune serves the
residents and business community
of Cottonwood, Redwood, Murray
and Lyon County and southwest
Minnesota by-"applying its available
resources to accurately and consis-
tently produce a quality newspaper
which thoroughly covers the news
of the area, stimulates thought and
conversation, delivers advertising
messages in a timely manner, and
provides information of general
value to its public. In so doing con-
tributes to the overall quality of life
and economic health of its readers,
advertisers and community in gen-
eral while stimulating the profes-
sional development of its
employees.
FRONT
BACK
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,11 Bart...
"Stories from the Batt Cave"
Sam's Club
When it comes to shopping, I'm
satisfied to let the rest of the world
go buy.
My preferred method of shopping
is to run through the store like my
hair is on fire and grabbing what I
need like it was an extinguisher.
I tell my wife that I enjoy shopping
with her. She knows better, but is
too kind to question my veracity.
I am reminded of a fellow I once
knew who loved to hunt pheasants.
He had a great dog, "Filly, that pos-
sessed a genius for finding the game
birds. "Hlly would locate the pheas-
ants and then assume the point posi-
tion. The dog would literally point out
the pheasants.
The man had owned the dog for
many years. The canine had
become a mere shadow of the hunt-
ing dog it once was.
/walked with the two as they hunt-
ed one day. The dog moved on stiff,
arthritic legs, yet managed to do so
in an enthusiastic manner.
The dog sniffed the ground before
assuming the point.
The man watched his dog frozen
in place before firing his shotgun
twice into the open air.
There was no sign of any pheas-
ants.
I asked the fellow why he shot.
"Shucks, I knew there weren any
birds here," he said. "Tilly's nose just
isn't what it used to be, but we've
had so many good times together. I
know that she's still doing the best
that she can. It wouldn't be very nice
of me to call her a liar at this stage of
the game."
My wife knew that I was only pre-
tending to shop, but we have been
married so long that my wife just
doesn't have the heart to call me a
purveyor of falsehoods.
We were at a Sam's Club.
I had been given a free, short-term
membership to the big store.
My wife and I had been visiting
someone in a hospital and decided
to visit a Sam's Club not far from
there.
I stumbled through the aisles filled
with people.
People talking on their cell phones
clogged traffic in the grocery aisles.
The store's public address system
gave traffic advisories.
"You might want to avoid aisle 7.
• Traffic is backed up to the canned
soup."
I looked at everything in the store
like it was a math problem.
Shopping makes me as nervous
as a cat in a room full of rock!ng
chairs.
I don1 like to shop. So whenever I
have to shop, I pretend that I am
someone else.
I stopped by an impressive display
of toilet paper. The store was selling
toilet paper in the lifetime size. It was
like looking into the supply closet of
the diarrhea ward of a hospital.
"Idiot in aisle 4!"
I was in aisle 4.
Everything came in large
amounts. Macaroni and cheese the
size of a Honda Civic and Twinkles
in the 500-count package.
The express lane for checking out.
catered to the 100 items or less
crowd.
It was easy to pick out the frequent
shoppers to Sam's Club. They all
had huge, bulging biceps.
I meandered about the store. My
condition could have been best
described as dazed and confused.
I saw so many t
pounds and implements tha
me want to go home and
dust bunnies. The dust
ing under my bed are big
choke a vacuum cleaner. _
Why buy any of this stu ff?.
make the beds, do the disheS,
the house and then a year
have to do it all over again.
What's the point?
There were lots of
better you cook, the less
freeloading guests will leave.
I. inspected some of the
.like to eat eggs. I think it's
I can remember when
eggs and sunshine were
to be good for me. A neigl
shared her method of
that there were no chicks in
she used. She only
eggs.
I overheard a lady
cell phone. She was saying
would never again fry
she put on her clothing.
ed her yelling into the
entire store could enjoy her
sation.
I saw a pile of clothes
]'he countless wire
were so tangled that the
Guard would need to be
separate them.
We left the big store
ing a thing.
We did get plenty of exerCiSe"
--AI Batt
71622 325 St.
Hartland, MN 56042
SnoEowl@aol.com
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Sentinel Tribune
Thomas Merchant
Roxy Soil
Tom Merchant
Junette Merchant
Nancy Goring
Joan Spielman
(ISSN 8750-3905)
Managing Editor
Ad Layout & Office Manager
Advertising Sales
Westbrook Office & Production
Production
Production
Carolyn Van Loh assignment reporter
Ted Herder Walnut Grove news correspondent
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