"That's a newsy little town you got down there."
That's often the comment I hear when I go to the "Big City" in Minneapolis and St. Paul and they find out I'm a newspaper editor from Mankato.
Well, I must admit, they are right. More so now that in the past 10 years or so.
I recently chronicled the major stories of the 2011 for the Downtown Mankato Kiwanis Club in a slideshow that always provides an eye-opening experience for people who review one year's worth of news in 15 minutes.
Top news of 2011 included worldwide events such as the first attempted assassination of a member of Congress or the president in 30 years, the first worldwide Tsunami hitting a major industrial power, the crumbling of various Middle Eastern regimes, coupled with another short war and military actions. Oh yeah, and we killed bin Laden.
More locally we had a tragic accident where a public worker lost their life, a local soldier was killed in Iraq, a state government shutdown, numerous political meltdowns, and the bizarre instances of girls stealing a goat and an TV anchor appearing drunk on the air.
2012 is heating up as well.
Clearly, the 150th anniversary of the Dakota War will be in the news this year. It has already sparked some controversy. A Minneapolis Star Tribune story recently detailed the dispute over what artifacts from the war should be displayed as historical exhibits.
One noose from the hanging of the 38 Dakota in Mankato is under the control of the Minnesota Historical Society and they have vowed to not allow it be part of the exhibits. Some Dakota want it returned to them, while other historians believe it should be displayed.
As I said, the controversy has only started.
On the lighter side of the news we have locals connected to national television shows in varying forms of notoriety with West High School student Shelby Tweten scheduled to appear on American Idol and Nadine Reibeling, formerly of Janesville, likely to be the next "Greatest Baker" on the cable television show of the same name, run by the famous "Cake Boss" of Jersey.
Not to be outdone, the folks in St. Peter have offered their own kind of big news story in that turmoil surrounding the St. Peter Security Hospital. Seems all the psychiatrists have left in a dispute with a new director.
Stay tuned. We've got a nice newsy little town here.
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I didn't realize all the psychiatrists have left. That is not good news. They are adults. I am not sure what the issue is with the director. What they need to look at is the needs of the patients. If they just leave the mental health patients who are on meds and they are relying on their psychiatrists to help them in finding a balance of stability for them. That is not good for the patients. I guess I need to catch up as to what is happening with this story. Someone needs to step in and be a mediator and come to an agreement. They can't just leave the patients hanging. They have needs and need to be taken care of. The mental health patients need good advocates and not people who are just going to walk out when things go to hell.
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