Hungry for festivals

Thumbs Up: Bavarian Blast is looking to have one of its best festivals ever, judging by big crowds Thursday and Friday. That’s due in part to pleasant weather, but another reason has to be the hunger for getting together and celebrating that developed over the past year.

That hunger for social contact developed over the past year as people realized the truth of the old saying, “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.” This summer, with restrictions lifted, people are flocking to opportunities for celebration. And Bavarian Blast is just what they need.

New County A-T

Thumbs Up: Congratulations to Kelly Hotovec, who was selected this week to take over as Brown County Auditor-Treasurer. She replaces Jean Prochniak, who retired this year.

Hotovec is the first appointed auditor-treasurer in county history, after the Brown County Commissioners voted to convert the historically elected position to an appointed one. It’s a move that recognizes the intricate nature of the position, which involves not only financial activities, but elections and other activities in the county.

Hotovec has served as an assistant to Prochniak, and is well versed in the dealings of the office. It should be a seamless transition.

Anti-vaxxers

Thumbs Down: It’s hard to understand the antipathy many conservatives feel toward the COVID-19 vaccines, and the government’s interest in getting more people vaccinated. After all, these are the people who have insisted that former President Donald Trump deserves all the credit for the Warp Speed program that developed the vaccines.

Now they are suggesting that the vaccines are dangerous, that they might not even work. At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference, anti-vaxxer Alex Berenson was roundly cheered by a CPAC audience for saying the US government had failed to “sucker” 90 percent of Americans into getting vaccinated.

Of course, they are free to refuse the vaccine, but as the saying goes, it’s their funeral.