Editorial: Thumbs

To Bryce DeBoer.

The unranked senior heavyweight wrestler last weekend surprised all of Minnesota by pinning Champlin Park’s Gjullian Flemister King in front of 18,000 people at the state meet at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, capturing the state title. Makes you question the ranking system for wrestlers, doesn’t it? This was his first year out for wrestling, a testament to DeBoer’s determination but also to the quality of the Albert Lea High School wrestling coaches. Working with raw talent and turning it into successful results simply is what coaching is about in any sport, and Albert Lea’s wrestling coaches never seem to lose that passion.

 

To scam artists.

If you want to sell your car, there are many ways to do it these days. Doing it through car-trading websites often means dealing with an automated system. There isn’t a person who vets the sellers for possible scams. However, newspaper classified sections still use real-live people to assist sellers with placing the ads. This ensures the sellers get the best wording and cuts out the possibility of scam artists trying to rip off buyers.

 

To a Dakota War memorial.

Whether we like to recall it or not, southern Minnesota was the site of a war, one that ended with the ugliest execution day in American history. There are markers that note how gallantly the U.S. soldiers resisted and a buffalo statue to symbolize reconciliation, but there is nothing to memorialize the American Indians who died in the war — nothing that memorializes the 38 men hanged the day after Christmas in Mankato in 1862, men given phony trials in a kangaroo court, men who just wanted to stay on the land so their grandchildren could live there, too. It’s time for a memorial. In fact, it’s way past time.