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Russian brutality should count as war crimes

Local Editorials

Russian troops that have besieged the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol have waged a kind of war that should be considered crimes against humanity. They bombed a maternity hospital. They have shelled schools and hospitals where civilians have gathered to seek shelter, including a theater where 1,300 people are believed to be inside the destroyed building. Refugees fleeing the city have run a gantlet, dodging Russian artillery and guns to escape. The city behind them is being destroyed. The siege will “be remembered for centuries to come,” because of the terror tactics of the ...

Et. Cetera

Local Editorials

Council hears appeal for Ambiance addition This week the Fairmont City Council heard the appeal of a variance request. Ambiance on Albion had asked to put a shipping container against the bluff of Hall Lake in order to offer snacks and drinks to boaters in the summer months. The council heard from owner Troy Menke, as well as from Peter Bode, planner/code enforcement technician, and from a member of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. We’re glad the council is gathering information. Let’s try and make this work. ECI looks to partner for community events The Early ...

Readers' Views

Letters to the Editor

St. John Vianney School raises $16,550 in just six weeks To the Editor: 2022 brought another successful Catholic Schools Raffle at St. John Vianney Catholic School. Teachers, staff and the surrounding community of Fairmont united with students and their families to raise an outstanding total of $16,550 for the school. Since Jan. 14, students of St. John Vianney Catholic School have been selling $5 raffle tickets as part of the Catholic Schools Raffle, a fundraising program provided free of charge by sponsor Catholic United Financial since 2009. St. John Vianney Catholic School is one ...

Legislature failing

Local Editorials

With its inability to pass even the most basic and common sense legislation in a timely fashion, the Minnesota Legislature has hit Minnesota’s employers with a huge tax increase. This increase could have been avoided if the state had just agreed to repay the debt in the Minnesota Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, a $2.7 billion deficit that arose due to the unexpected unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government stepped in with enhanced federal unemployment payments, but the bill has come due and Minnesota has to refill its trust fund. The state is sitting on ...

Readers' Views

Letters to the Editor

Remember the abandoned pool? To the Editor: In 1969, citizens of Fairmont voted for a new indoor swimming pool. It was the 3rd largest pool in the state. Racing lanes ran width-wise rather than length-wise. It was located at the Middle School (now Fairmont Elementary School). Where is it now? Filled with concrete and used as a gymnasium. Why? Lack of use by the school district as a phy-ed station and by the general public. And because of enormous up-keep cost/repairs and ongoing energy cost, the City of Fairmont and the Fairmont School District decided to abandon the indoor pool. Why ...

Is this what Texas lawmakers wanted?

Local Editorials

The State of Texas, like a lot of Republican dominated states, passed voting restriction legislation that they claimed would “make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.” So how is it working? In the March 1 Texas primary this year, the state threw out 23,000 mail-in ballots, roughly 13% of the mail ballots cast in the counties surveyed by the Associated Press. The rejected ballots indicate that voters were having a hard time complying with the new rules Texas installed, including providing a personal ID number, such as a driver’s license number or Social Security number as well ...