Question: I am a school bus driver. I love my job and I love the kids, but some of the drivers we encounter on a daily basis are really getting to me. People act like they don’t see the bus, and they don’t slow down when they are coming, so we can’t let the kids off the bus until we know they are going to stop. The ones that bother me the most are the creepers. They stop initially, but then they keep creeping towards the bus, violating the 20 foot restriction required for them to stay back from the bus. This creeping causes big problems.

It’s Friday, and I am at one of my usual Thursday and Friday “offices.” I spend those days skipping from bakery to coffee shop to café, to restaurant or anywhere in Pine River with a wifi signal. Honestly, the wifi here is better than the Internet at our Pequot Lakes Office, so if it weren’t for the fattening effects of chai tea and sawdust rolls, I would have it made.

I am drinking my very first pomegranate oolong tea, and it reminds me of when I didn’t care for tea at all. Nine months in China can tend to make a person more tea savvy. Big surprise.

An excellent example of government at its best occurred right here in Pequot Lakes last Saturday afternoon. Sadly, only a very few local citizens attended. There were nearly more elected officials than citizens.

Our local state representative, John Ward, scheduled and conducted a town meeting at city hall, open just for the occasion. The event was hosted by Mayor Nancy Adams, who personally assured that doors were open and the meeting room comfortably set up.

On Tuesday of this week the Minnesota House Committee on Governmental Operations was to consider several bills that would alter the way in which some county elective offices may be made appointive.

Since 1973, Minnesota statutes have allowed a county to appoint a county auditor, county treasurer, sheriff or county recorder if the offices have not been abolished by the adoption of other options.