Editorial: Determining safety of island wise

Published 12:00 am Friday, August 12, 2005

The Albert Lea City Council acted wisely in deciding to find out how secure Katherine Island is before spending money on a new bridge to it.

The council was informed that part of the island is eroding. Before spending a lot of money to get people to the island, it only makes sense to find out if the island is secure enough.

Katherine Island is an area that the community identifies with, so it only makes sense to find out what the best alternative is for it at the best cost. We as a community want it to continue to be the beautiful feature that it is. And if it’s possible to get funding for its reinforcement through the state’s bonding bill, so much the better. The city needs time to look into the possibilities.

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In the meantime, residents need to use common sense on the bridge. It can still hold up to 10 people at a time. Don’t overload it. Continue to enjoy it.

Building the island and bridge project into the 2006 budget and spending the rest of this year doing a study on the island and bridge are wise decisions.

A little more time and study will, in the long run, give us something to enjoy for much, much longer.