Thumbs

Published Saturday, January 24, 2009

DOWN - To people who toss litter from cars.

We saw a passenger in an orange Toyota pickup throw out his paper coffee cup and food wrappers on Front Street near Budget Blinds early Friday morning. What do you do when you witness someone litter? Get as much information as possible. Get the license plate. Get the vehicle description. Get an idea of what was tossed out. Try to determine whether it was the driver or a passenger in a front seat or back seat. Take note of where it happened and what time it is. If you can, get a look at the litterbug so you can describe the person. Then call your local police. In Albert Lea and Freeborn County, the dispatch can be reached at 377-5215. Many states have a hotline for reporting litter and have had much success: Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Washington, Tennessee, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Do these states value their landscape more than Minnesota? Our state needs a litter hotline, too.

UP - To the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals of Phoenix, Ariz., deserve kudos for finally making it to the Super Bowl. They are, after all, the oldest continuously operating professional football club in the United States, having formed in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club in Chicago, and yet had never been to the Super Bowl. The team has been a doormat. The 1998 Cardinals won a playoff game, which had been the team’s first postseason win since the 1947 NFL championship it garnered. It’s hard to root for the Pittsburgh Steelers because they already have won five Super Bowls.

UP - To President Obama.

It was a memorable inauguration. Americans heard Barack Obama speak as a president, not a candidate and he set a tone of sure-footedness and trust. As with any new president, it’s interesting how quick opponents are ready to block him, but that’s OK. That’s politics in America. The everlasting debate only makes us more informed and smarter.

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