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Keith Olson both gave the invocation and led us in songs. Announcements included Zach Stach reminding us of volunteer opportunities at the United Way on October 7th (8:00 a.m.) and October 19th (9:00 a.m.), and I think the 20th too. Tim Hunt led off the bragging, happy he tested negative for COVID. Brian Tjaden was more than happy to be done with installing an ingress and egress window in his basement, although it took three days and is something he never wants to do again. Katie Johnson was paying for forgetting her pin the prior week but gladly doing so because she was just back from a weekend in Montana with her children and their significant others; she was also happy that her daughter, who is attending NDSU, was offered a job with an interior design firm. Zach Stach told us he was paying ahead for a trip to coastal Maine this week and also for having to leave the meeting early. Ken Harty introduced our program, Katie Schroeder from The Daily Journal. Her position is Journalism Product Manager and she has previously worked with the company that owns the paper in Wahpeton. With a college degree in journalism, she is in charge of the paper's NABUR effort, which stands for Neighborhood Alliance of Better Understanding and Respect. It is a local social website focused on issues in Otter Tail County, including news as well as light-hearted items (hiking spots has been a frequent subject of posts). In its infancy, NABUR now has 176 members and we were encouraged to enroll and ask our family and friends to do likewise. The site allows anyone to ask questions of journalists who look into the matter, talk to people with expertise on the subject matter as necessary and then provide the appropriate feedback. Katie monitors the website and make sure that submitters are following the guidelines, which basically consist of being nice and respectful to others. Some of the questions the site has fielded include why are our streets not being swept and if there are any writer groups in Fergus. NABUR is designed to give journalists more personal interaction with community members and alert the newspaper to issues that is should cover. There is no charge to join NABUR; it is so easy, one of our members signed up during the course of Katie's comments. The newspaper will continue to maintain a Facebook page but hopes NABUR is a friendlier, more informative option for people to express their opinions and move the community forward. |
