Prior Lake Opinion

It was 9 a.m. Saturday morning as we watched two wranglers with helpers load our gear and supplies onto four mules, 150 pounds on each for our trek into the Bridger Mountain Wilderness of Wyoming. Son Steve’s plans for the trip included a granddaughter and grandson, plus three friends with c…

Saturday, Sept. 14, is the second anniversary of the Pleasant Street Art Walk. This year there will be over 45 local artists and exhibitors, some from the neighborhood, along with food trucks and music. The city plans to close Pleasant Street from Main Avenue to the Ballard-Sunder funeral ho…

Last week I witnessed two businesses demonstrating great customer service from two very different points of view and by two very different methods.

It is exciting to visit the new cultural center, Hocokata Ti, developed and presented by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. We have all watched the construction of this magnificent building with its imposing size, shape, and beauty — and with the glorious white tepees near by.

The torches and pitchforks came out at the July 15 Prior Lake City Council meeting. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there, but I read about it in the July 20 American. It seems a developer wants to build 100 homes with lake access on 65 acres of land on the west side of Spring Lake. The developer ma…

Our City Council, citing the lack of proven impact in our community and lack of a guaranteed payout, voted no to filing claims against drug companies that manufacture opioids. It was the right decision. Another reason is that class-action type lawsuits generally never hold individuals accoun…

Two words, Caligula and orgy, came to mind when I saw the photos and the TV and newspaper accounts of the July 4 party at “Cruisers Cover” on the shores of Big Island on Lake Minnetonka. As Star Tribune columnist Jennifer Brooks reported, not only did attendees leave behind piles of trash fo…

There are steam locomotives, and then there’s “Big Boy.” At 604 tons and 132 feet long and with a 4-8-8-4-wheel arrangement, it is the largest, most powerful steam locomotive in the world.

Nexus, Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools’ controversial consultant, has now been paid over $20 million since initial hiring — not a bad gig for a company that didn’t exist until hired by the district, but not good for taxpayers who foot the bill.

At this time of the year around the Fourth of July, we Americans rally around the flag and appropriately take pride in our country and patriotism. The United States is a great country. Every time I return home from my frequent travels, I marvel at just how lucky we are to live where we do.

About a week ago, as we do on most summer evenings, my wife, Marcia, and I were out on our front porch discussing the issues of the day, the fate of the world and the failings of the younger generation. Retired septuagenarians do that sort of thing.

Scott County is one of the best places to live in Minnesota.

Promontory Point is a desolate spot on the high desert above the Great Salt Lake roughly 60 miles north and west of Salt Lake City. It’s no vacation Mecca, just rock, sand and sagebrush, but on May 10, thousands showed up for a special celebration.

These are challenging times. Our southern border is being overrun by thousands of undocumented, illegal immigrants. Iran and North Korea continue to pose potential nuclear threats. Our nation is adrift, floating toward socialism, abandoning the foundation upon which America was built. These …

Go to Rapid City, South Dakota, and you’ll find the face of President Theodore Roosevelt chiseled on Mount Rushmore. T.R., as he was affectionately known, succeeded William McKinley when the latter ran afoul of an assassin in September 1901. Roosevelt was the 26th President and today ranks h…

Climate change didn’t begin with the smoke and soot of industrialization. It’s been a constant component of our planetary history. It was here before we evolved and will be here long after we move elsewhere in space and time — assuming we don’t destroy the planet and ourselves before we vaca…

A whole new field in the study of economics has developed in recent years, that of behavioral economics. This involves how our unconscious biases affect our economic decisions and result in choices that are not optimal. For example, most people avoid losses more than they seek gains, even if…

When people think about the relationship between science and faith, the question that often comes to mind is: So which is right? Faith or science?

Our second president, John Adams, wrote, “Remember Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself.”

I saw them pull it down that summer of 1962. I’d just finished high school and had a job downtown earning extra money for college in the fall. I took the bus from Bloomington, and every day, morning and evening, I’d go by the corner of Second Avenue and Third Street in Minneapolis and watch …

This is the week when state legislators returned to St. Paul and began the grinding process of going through the legislative proposals of our two political parties — DFL and Republican — to see about areas of agreement.

The term climate change is an impersonal, ambiguous one with negative impacts to “humanity” around the world. But on a recent trip to Tanzania in Africa, I met some of the innocents who will be most affected by the increased droughts caused by the changes in climate resulting from increased …

A couple of years ago I asked a Metropolitan Council planner if the council had ever taken a critical look at the costs and benefits of suburban growth. I was underwhelmed with the response in the negative. Nor, to the best of my knowledge, has the state, or a county, or local government in …

While national politics seem to dominate the news cycle in most venues, I want to talk today about our state government and the work that is going on right now in St. Paul.

In his recent column, John Diers provided background about the $25 million burden that may hit taxpayers in Prior Lake. A decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court brought this issue to a head.

Twenty-five million dollars is a lot of money. It could end up on the public tab if developers are allowed to fatten their profits and unload the costs of their projects on Prior Lake property taxpayers.

Health care in Minnesota and the United States is broken and in need of major repair.

We have many options on what to do about our world’s changing climate. Among them are the following:

Today, water and the water supply are uppermost on the minds of metro planners, the Metropolitan Council and state officials. Check out the Met Council’s 2015 Water Supply Plan or search “Minnesota Water Supply” online for articles and reports. I’ve read them, and there’s reason for concern.…

Arguably the most challenging job in the world is president of the United States. If there were a job description, it would spell out the experience necessary to serve as CEO of the federal government’s 4 million employees and $4 trillion annual budget. The job requires administration of law…

With the current winter beginning to fade behind us, many are asking, “Where is global warming?” Others may ask, “Is climate change real?”

“Failure on our part to prepare for demographic change will have substantial adverse effects on the economic welfare of our children and grandchildren and on the long-run productive potential of the U.S. economy.”

Political party stereotypes stayed consistent through the 1950s. Republicans were the party of business and the Chamber of Commerce. Democrats were the party of labor and the little guy. Then came Vietnam and the civil rights movement, and the political parties were pushed apart by the ideol…

On Dec. 3, City Manager Frank Boyles announced Police Chief Mark Elliott had resigned effective immediately and that an outsider had already been appointed as interim chief. The announcement raised some eyebrows. Since Boyles is in a lame-duck period of management with retirement scheduled t…

Last Saturday, I moderated a second national issue forum on immigration at Wescott Library in Eagan; the first was in Prior Lake. It is interesting to see where people from all across the political spectrum find common ground and where they differ. While the sample is small and certainly not…

Drive between Savage and Lakeville and you might glimpse a weed-covered railroad right-of-way that hasn’t seen a train since 1980. It’s a remnant of the Dan Patch Line, also known as the Minneapolis, St Paul, Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company, a railroad that achieved distincti…

President Trump calls the news media an enemy of the American people. He’s dead wrong. Without a free press, our democracy as we know it would crumble.

There’s an old curse that says, “May you live in interesting times,” and we do.

My wife, Marcia, has been reminding me for many years to sort through and thin out my library and associated books, files, photos, magazines and papers. They go back decades, and I keep adding to them. She says I’m a stacker, not a filer — and to that charge, I’ll plead guilty. Organizing pa…

The holiday season is a time when we can celebrate the people and the opportunities around us. It is a time to recognize the organizations and people that make Prior Lake the great community that it is and will become in the days ahead.

In March of 2005, while walking into Prior Lake High School at day’s end to tutor math students, I was met by three oversize guys taunting a much smaller boy. They were enjoying themselves, calling him names I can’t print. The smaller boy was crouched over cowering as I walked into the school.

More than 2.5 million Minnesotans went to the polls on Nov. 6. It was the largest turnout for an off-year election in Minnesota history. Scott County set its own record with 77 percent of eligible voters showing up at the polls.

It’s budget season.

I’m writing this on Nov. 5, election eve. It will appear in print sometime after the election. Out of good sense, and cowardice, I have no predictions or prognostications for the outcome, even though I’ve spent the day and a good part of the last several weeks watching all the news programs,…

We are seeing the greatest polarization and demonstrations of hate of “others” that I can remember. We can do better as a country.