This story has little to do with anything, but hopefully you’ll find it amusing. As I’ve explained in previous columns, our news people follow the five W’s in our reporting - Who, What, Where, When and sometimes, Why. Back in the 1990s there was a contentious period in Langdon when some community members raised their voices to the school board and administration in regards to high school sports coaching positions. Our radio station news director at the time was Bruce Allen.

Politically, I prefer to keep my opinions to myself and to publicly sit on the fence because, as I’ve mentioned in this column before, this is what those of us in local media should do. I feel an obligation, however, to acknowledge last Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. I was shocked as I watched the events unfold on TV. Yes, shocked, but not surprised, nor do I think it was unexpected given the state of political discourse in our country. We Americans don’t disagree a little, we disagree period.

In our last issue, I wrote about my wonderful small town week. Now, let me tell you about a rough small town week; don’t worry, there’s a happy ending.

Twenty years ago in September of 2004, I visited Germany for the first time. My sister, her husband, and their five-monthold daughter, my niece, Hannah, were living there in a little town called Erfelden. My sister, fresh out of the army, had landed a job as a civilian working for a company with a homeland security contract. Their overseas adventure provided an excellent opportunity for Greg, me, and several other family members to take turns visiting them and exploring a small portion of Europe.

It’s Rendezvous Region Musicfest weekend hosted by the Langdon Area Chamber of Commerce! It doesn’t seem possible that it’s mid July already, but we can’t control the calendar. The lineup of activities looks great, and the weather is going to be awesome as well. I’m looking forward to the vendor show at the Senior Center and, of course, the music. Oh, and the food trucks, too. There’s some other really cool stuff, too.

So recently I approached members of the Langdon School Board about allowing us to upgrade the microphone system used to record the meetings. For those who are not familiar, some time ago a taxpayer requested the meetings be recorded, and the law states that if just one taxpayer requests the meetings be recorded, the meetings need to be recorded.

It’s been a wonderful small town week for me. I especially enjoyed the amazing parade Walhalla put on for Saturday, July 6.

I have a love/hate relationship with our leaf blower. Actually, we have two; hopefully, one is charged when you need it and charged enough to finish the job you’re starting.

By Bob Simmons, CEO, Simmons Multimedia Like my friend, Sara, who is usually right above me but is on vacation this week, I, too, am a runner.. Before Covid, I ran marathons. At one point I was averaging five or sometimes six marathons a year, often logging nearly 50 miles a week in training. Training runs might be 20 plus mile loops that would lead me on gravel roads out in the country.

Accepting the fact that life will not always go as planned is just a part of, well, life. Monday, July 1 should have been a special day for me, but it wasn’t.