Bulletin letters to the editor

Talk about it

Good job, city

I’ve been a member of the Cottage Grove community for almost 35 years now, and I just wanted to send to our hard-working public employees a big thank you for the fine job all of them did for our community throughout this terrible winter season. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.

Our snowplow drivers were fantastic and out of this world. Our police and fire people were unbelievably helpful, plus our medical response people were totally outstanding.

I also want to thank all the unsung heroes in the background who also worked many long hours to help make everything go as smoothly as it did during those cold and snowy days.

It’s always nice to know that the main roads are cleared for us when we make it out of our driveways after 16 inches of snow. I also want to mention how careful the snowplow drivers were in our area by slowing down around the mailboxes to not knock them over. Good job, everybody.

Bob Beskar

Cottage Grove

FoodShare month

a great success

The Friends in Need Food Shelf wants to thank our amazing community for helping us have a very successful FoodShare Month in March. The total money raised was $60,914, and this will qualify us to get a partial match from Minnesota FoodShare and the Feinstein Foundation.

We could never continue to serve the hungry in our area without the support of this generous community. Thanks so much.

Michelle Rageth, Director

Friends in Need

Food Shelf

City streets need

more stop signs

Sometimes you look at things and think, “What were people thinking?” There are many intersections in St. Paul Park that do not even have a stop sign, and it just amazes me that drivers don’t even slow down or look to see if anyone is coming from the cross street.

My main concern is 11th Avenue in St. Paul Park by Oltman Middle School. It is a tragedy waiting to happen given the traffic and lack of stop signs in this area. There are no stop signs on 11th Avenue between Fourth Street and Sixth Street. There are businesses down on Sixth Street and their workers are speeding down the street with heavy equipment. They need to remember there is a school there with athletic activities going on. There are a lot of children of all ages in this neighborhood. I have heard several trucks lock up their brakes and slide across the pavement. You wonder if the child or animal that might be in the street is OK. I have made several phone calls in the past to local businesses asking that their drivers slow down, but have never had a response.

Here’s another kicker. You can only park on the south side of 11th Avenue. So when you are on Fourth Street or Fifth Street and come up to the corner of 11th Avenue, you cannot see to turn onto 11th because of all the parked cars from activities at Oltman Middle School. So now think of a child who rides right out onto 11th Avenue. One of these times someone will be driving too fast and won’t be able to stop or won’t see the child and there will be a serious injury or worse yet.

I propose that stop signs be placed on 11th Avenue at the intersections with Fourth and Fifth streets. Have “No Parking” signs on the south side of 11th Avenue and allow people to park on the north side. This will eliminate speeding and cut down on blind spots. Let’s make the neighborhood safe for every child, adult and pet.

Traci Makarenko

St. Paul Park

Volunteers give

to community

On Tuesday, April 12, Community Thread engaged the Washington County Board in recognition of volunteers who have contributed valuable service to our communities.

Community Thread is Stillwater-based and serves residents throughout Washington County. Annual awards recognize volunteer service for the following: Lifetime, Outstanding Adult, Outstanding Youth and Outstanding Group.

As a recipient of the Outstanding Adult Volunteer Award, I would like to thank FamilyMeans’ volunteer coordinator, Margaret Irwin, for nominating me. I also thank everyone at FamilyMeans for creating and sustaining an organization which meets significant family needs in Washington County.

My parents introduced me to volunteerism. My family inspires and fuels my passion for youth development, the environment, for caregiving, and for supporting music education.

Community volunteers are successful because of the strength and focus of purpose of organizations like FamilyMeans, 4-H, Lakes Area Youth Service Bureau, Great River Greening, Forest Lake Area Family Partnership and Community Thread.

Education volunteers succeed because of the passion instructors share with fine arts students that draws us to provide support. This award isn't about me. It's about the people in youth and family service-based organizations that coordinate volunteer services.

I caution the Washington County commissioners, and other funding agencies, that every dime denied to organizations that support youth and families makes every hour of a volunteer's time less effective.

The award has value to me because, for a few minutes, everyone will think about youth and families and the organizations that serve them. For 60 seconds, the commissioners will know what's important to me about the job they do in governing Washington County.

Thank you. I am thrilled to accept the Community Thread 2011 Outstanding Adult Volunteer Award on behalf of all Washington County volunteers who give so much to our community.

Susan Edseth

Forest Lake

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