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Et Cetera ….

Garden tour returns

The MOSS garden tour returns today, revitalized and with a worthy goal. The local event features a luncheon and tour of eight gardens. Proceeds will help build an inclusive playground, open to all children regardless of their physical abilities.

We encourage those interested in gardening or a good cause to join the tour. Tickets are $20 and available today at the Fairmont Knights of Columbus Hall. Tour hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the KC Hall.

Schools have options

Minnesota has a new law in place that could help public schools solve the teacher shortage that many face. The bill allows professionals to serve as instructors at schools, even though they are not technically considered a “teacher” in the sense of training and certification.

Our area schools could benefit from finding instructors to teach a vocational class, such as electrical or construction.

Obviously, not every teaching opening can be filled this way, but giving schools more options is a smart way to go.

Strips will protect water

Martin County this week embraced its role as the authority when it comes to enforcing the state’s new buffer strip law, which takes effect in 2018.

The law requires landowners to create and maintain buffers along public water tributaries and drainage ditches, so it will have a major impact on our rural counties. (The strips are meant to serve as filters to prevent agricultural pollution.)

There has been controversy surrounding the new law, but we believe it will help clean up waterways. We hope regulators and landowners can work together, rather than at odds, to implement the law.

Obama created problem

The U.S. Senate this week unveiled its health care reform plan. The reaction is curious.

Obamacare is crumbling. Soon it won’t be there for those who rely on it. Republicans in the House and Senate want to repeal Obamacare and offer something in its place to help as many people as they reasonably can.

Their plans do not, it is true, cover everyone, pay out as much to help the poor, or demand the extent of coverage in Obamacare. Obama himself says the Republicans are being “mean.” Maybe they should do what he did and create a system that will collapse within a few years of its establishment. Apparently Obama believes failure and false hope is not “mean.”

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