Hub Club Anniversary

THUMBS UP: The New Ulm Farm-City Hub Club is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It will be holding a celebration event on Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Courtland Community Center.

The club was formed 40 years ago to bring the towns people and farm people together. You would think in a rural area like this there wouldn’t be that much of a distance or difference between the two groups, but a little effort can create a lot more understanding and cooperation, to the betterment of both.

So, congratulations to the New Ulm Farm-City Hub Club. You’ve been working for the betterment of New Ulm and the area all these years, and we appreciate it.

Parking ticket policy

THUMBS UP: It’s probably not the most earth-shaking policy decision the New Ulm City Council has made, but the decision this week to issue warnings to first time overtime parking offenders is a good one.

Before, the city issued $5 tickets for the first time someone parks longer than two hours downtown, then $10 and $20 for the next violations. Certainly $5 is not a major fine, but there have been plenty of outrage from visitors to New Ulm who have found a yellow ticket under their windshield wiper. We’ve had letters from people vowing to never visit New Ulm again if that’s the way we’re going to treat people who come and spend their money here.

So a warning ticket is a good idea. The city will still soak those of us serial offenders who ought to know better.

RIP, moose

THUMBS DOWN: The story of the moose on the loose near Sleepy Eye took a sad turn on Thursday when the young bull moose was found dead in farmyard of Leonard and Vera Wendinger, where it had been hanging around for the last week or so.

Unfortunately, that was the most likely end for the young moose who had wandered so far from its northern haunts. Most moose that wander so far south are troubled by some parasite or disease that drives them to wander.

We’re glad that the young moose found a friendly family who watched out for it in its final days.