Editorial: Tribune Thumbs

To painted signs downtown.

Of all the kinds of signs, it seems the painted signs seem to fit in best in downtown Albert Lea. Backlit signs are popular, but they have the connotation of freeway off-ramps. The painted signs look like they belong, like they are historic. After all, most the downtown building were built long before backlit signs — the kind with fluorescent bulbs inside a box with the words on the front — came along.

Some great examples of painted signs downtown are found at The Rock, Brick Furniture and 4 Seasons. Awning and block-letter signs found at few businesses look in character, too. Sure, backlit and other electronic signs can grab attention, but do they really send the right message a business wants to convey in a historic district? It’s worth pondering. Being the loudest student in class doesn’t equate to the brightest student in class. We appreciate the subtleties.

 

To the Albert Lea High School marching band.

We agree with letter writer Brad Wedge, whose letter on Thursday thanked the band and its director, Suzanne Mauer, for appearing in the Memorial Day parade and playing patriotic songs.

There just is something special about patriotic marches and the deep connection they have had to American history, such as “The Liberty Bell,” “The Washington Post” and “Stars and Stripes Forever” all by John Philip Sousa. Charles A. Zimmerman composed “Anchors Aweigh” and Robert MacArthur Crawford wrote the lyrics and music for the march “Army Air Corps,” which later became the “Air Force Song.” Another good patriotic march is “National Emblem” by Edwin Eugene Bagley.

Imagine if popularity of songs were still determined like in the 19th and early 20th century — by the sales of sheet music.

 

To transporting zebra mussels.

The invasive species was discovered in a remote lake in northeastern Minnesota, just 10 miles from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Biologists from the Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa found the zebra mussels on an aluminum can in Crooked Lake. It is 70 miles from the nearest lake where zebra mussels were known to exist, meaning someone transported them there. The mussels remove key nutrients from lakes, harming fish populations. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has worked hard to urge people to wash their boat hulls and clean equipment but the creatures continue to move lake to lake due to negligence.