No complaints here

THUMBS UP: We’ve heard some people complaining about the lack of snow in New Ulm Friday after weather prognosticators spent the week predicting a major blizzard for the area. Since Monday we’ve been hearing predictions of six inches to a foot of snow. District 88 declared a snow day for Friday, and sports events in the area were postponed in anticipation of the big blow. Then, after a trace of snow fell Thursday night, there was nothing.

Well, if we had to choose between getting a foot of snow and getting no snow, we’ll take no snow every time.

Weather forecasting is not an exact science. The fact that they can look at a front forming in the Pacific Ocean and predict within a few hours and a few hundred miles where it will be a week later is pretty amazing. In the meantime, we’ll keep the snow shovels handy, just in case.

Golf carts issue

THUMBS UP: The New Ulm City Council will conduct a study of an issue that came up before — whether to allow people to drive around town in golf carts.

There is a big advantage to golf carts in getting around town. They are a lot cheaper than cars, both in purchase price and operating costs.

But there is a disadvantage as well. A collison between a golf cart and a car or a pickup truck is not going to end well for the golf cart.

So the question is, how do you define golf carts, and what makes it street legal? What kind of lights and bumpers do they need? Should they have roll bars or cages to protect their passengers? Should there be certain roadways, like Broadway or Center Street, that are off limits to golf carts and smaller vehicles?

It will be a challenge to come up with an ordinance that satisfies these and other questions. We wish the council’s study committee well as it seeks the answers.

Happy Fasching

THUMBS UP: Fasching, the German version of Mardi Gras, is taking place today at the Best Western Plus in New Ulm. It is one of those celebrations that come from a time when kings and princes carried on with pomp and ceremony, at the expense of the common people. Fasching was a chance for the people to turn the tables a bit, to dress up in costumes, thumb their noses at the rules and the rulemakers and make merry.

We hope everyone has a good time, and celebrates in the spirit of Fasching — in a responsible manner, of course.