To Khalette Meeks-Radke.

Being a hero before your first birthday is not a bad start in life. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that crying is annoying or wrong. Crying saved the lives of your mommy, daddy and grandma. You woke them up so they could escape a house fire and what so far appears to be the explosion of an oxygen tank. The sound of you crying anytime for the rest of your childhood is no doubt music to their ears. Your crying sure made a lot of firefighters very happy, too. No one wants to arrive at the scene of a fatal fire. Perhaps you might consider a career in firefighting when you grow up.

To tornadoes.

A weak tornado struck the Kiester area the evening of May 4, following a path strikingly close to the path a strong tornado near Kiester took the evening of June 17, 2010. Memories from that date are not pleasant. Many farms and homes in the Kiester, Walters, Conger, Alden, Armstrong, Manchester, Clarks Grove, Albert Lea, Geneva, Ellendale, Beaver Lake and Hollandale areas were devastated, and many people’s dreams were ripped apart. It was the most tornadoes to ever strike in a single day in the history of Minnesota. By no means do we want a repeat of that in any form. Go away, tornadoes. We’ll take only the rain, please.

To gold tees.

More and more golf courses are adding tees aimed at senior men golfers. These are called gold tees. Wedgewood Cove included them when it was built, and Green Lea added them in time for this season. Gold tees allow the longtime golfers to compete fairly against each other rather than starting where the young bucks tee or where the women tee. This encourages them to stay active and healthy playing a sport they love, and having gold tees speeds up the round. We encourage other area golf courses to consider adding gold tees, too.