To Mayo Clinic Health System administrators.

Pies in the face were a fun way to raise funds in the workplace for the United Way. The local medical center told employees departments had to achieve 90 percent or more participation to have pies in the face of department heads. Kudos to Tim Madson, physical medicine and rehab manager in Albert Lea; Ramona Hobbiebrunken, clinical nurse manager in Albert Lea; Greg Davis, operation administrator in Albert Lea and Austin, and Tricia Dahl, operation administrator in Albert Lea and Austin and Ann Austin, executive director of the United Way of Freeborn County. Getting a pie in the face sure is going the extra smile for charity.

 

To banning Adrian Peterson for the season.

It may seem capricious and out of line with the NFL’s previous policies regarding forms of domestic violence, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was correct in banning the Minnesota Vikings’ star running back for the rest of the season without pay, in light of the severe beating he gave his son with a switch.

It signals that the NFL henceforth will take domestic violence, such as beating wives and girlfriends or abusing children, much more seriously than in past years. We hate to see one of our favorite players become an example, but we hope his discipline represents more than a mere example. His level of punishment, we hope, is the beginning of an NFL standard.

That said, we indeed believe in second chances and lessons learned. Like many Vikings fans, we desire to see Peterson suit up in a Minnesota Vikings uniform once again. Let’s hope we can see him in 2015.

 

To a University of Minnesota study on pre-kindergarten education.

It sounds pretty obvious: Recent research from the University of Minnesota finds children who attend all-day preschool are better prepared for kindergarten than those who don’t. The Associated Press wrote: “Researchers compared students who attended preschool seven hours a day to those who attended three-hour programs, and then tested them to see if they were socially and academically prepared for kindergarten. The U of M team determined 81 percent of all-day preschoolers were ready, compared to 59 percent of half-day preschoolers.”

Kindergarten must be one of the most difficult grades to teach because the children show up at such varying levels. Some children actually can read and some maybe can spell their own names and some don’t even know what the letter A looks like. Some are used to being around other kids. Others have been isolated from people their age until the first day of school. A good pre-K foundation gets kids on a fair level on multiple levels. The best way to bolster test results is for the state to boost its support for early childhood education.

And, as other studies show, society benefits later on with pre-K students being less likely to end up behind bars. And pre-K classes, whether half-day or full-day, are cheaper than jail.