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To the idea of eliminating public notices for transportation projects at the Freeborn County level.

We were disappointed to again hear the notion brought up during a Freeborn County Board of Commissioners workshop Tuesday of eliminating public notices in the newspaper for the county’s transportation-related projects.

Freeborn County Highway Engineer Phil Wacholz said as long as the notices are posted on the county’s website, they are not required by law to be published in the newspaper, and he would rather use the estimated $5,000 that would be saved from not publishing the notices and instead use that money on projects.

He said he was not aware of how many contractors were looking at the newspaper for the notices but noted he believed most of the contractors were made aware of the projects on a separate website that the county posts its project on.

While we recognize that highway and transportation-related projects are expensive and that there is never enough money to get all of the needed projects completed, we believe this would be a mistake in the name of transparency to remove them from the newspaper.

County leaders should keep in mind that these notices are not only for contractors but also the entire general public as a whole, and they help establish transparency between government bodies and the public.

To the Albert Lea Salvation Army’s toy distribution.

Hats off to all of the Albert Lea Salvation Army employees and volunteers in the community who came together this week to help parents of more than 800 children with toys for Christmas.

The toy distribution is the culmination of the organization’s Angel Tree program each year.

Parents had the opportunity to sign up ahead of time and then walk through the toy shop with a volunteer to pick out gifts for their children from the toys that were donated by community members.

The event is no small feat, and it takes many hands to make it possible.

To convictions this week in large-scale drug crimes.

Two major drug cases that originated in Freeborn County came before judges this week at the federal level with the sentencing of Cortez Ananais Williams and Adonis Adolph Dorman.

Both men pleaded guilty to and were convicted in cases involving large amounts of fentanyl, cocaine or methamphetamine. One involved drugs that were being transported from California to Minnesota, and the other involved the sale of drugs in our own community.

With drug trafficking clearly an issue in the community and on the surrounding interstates, we are glad to see the drugs in these cases off the streets and these individuals held responsible.