News Republic Editorial: Thumbs up to educators, business, Summit

Thumbs up to Sauk County employers, educators and business leaders who gathered last week to discuss solutions to the challenges facing the county’s future economic development.

More than 60 people gathered at the second annual Sauk County Workforce Development Summit, hosted by the Sauk County Development Corporation.

Sauk County is blessed to have a diverse business community and an enduring, aggressive economic development effort. Those assets are especially important at a time when the economy is struggling.

Merlin Zitzner, president of the economic development group, aptly summed up the county’s efforts:

"I think the sun shines on Sauk County because of economic development."

Among the highlights of the meeting was the unveiling of a new Web site devoted to connecting users to information ranging from interview protocol to student test preparation sites (www.scdc.com and click on the Workforce Education Resources link). Creation of the site was spurred by discussions at last year’s workforce education summit.

 

— Look up the word "moron" in the dictionary and you might find it illustrated with a photo of some loser vandalizing trees in Baraboo’s Campbell Park.

And — we shudder to imagine — it might be a group photo, assuming there is more than one sicko among us who would commit such a vile deed.

Too harsh? Perhaps.

Accurate? To be sure.

There are other names for such people, but we’ll spare you. This is, after all, a family newspaper and we are on the cusp of the holiday season.

But we do thrust emphatic thumbs down to the person or persons who recently damaged or destroyed several trees in Campbell Park.

Why would someone do this?

Well, vandalism has been around since the beginning of time, so we really don’t have an explanation. Nor do we have a medical degree that would allow us to pick apart such a twisted mind.

But some people, it seems, have no regard or respect for nature, beauty, public property or a wonderful gesture by an anonymous donor.

Baraboo is blessed by a humble benefactor who chooses to remain anonymous. This benefactor designed a plan for planting a variety of shade trees in the park, purchased them at $175 each and put them in the ground.

But on November 9, Greg Wise, president of the Baraboo Parks and Recreation Commission, said he visited the park to find several of the new saplings had been severely damaged and one killed.

"To see them vandalized like this is a little disheartening," said Rick Luther, Baraboo’s recreation supervisor.

Wise appealed for community members to be alert for this kind of destructive behavior and to take a stand against it.

He encouraged people who know anything about the crime to report it to the Baraboo police.

We agree, of course, and we come away with strong feelings for anyone who would do such a thing.

We feel sorry for them.

 

— Thumbs up to Wisconsin’s annual 9-day gun deer hunting season.

Hundreds of thousands of hunters will don their blaze orange and head to the woods to enjoy this sport that is steeped in tradition.

The season has a huge economic impact on the Wisconsin economy and the end result — 350,000 or so tagged deer — helps keep in check one of the state’s many natural resources. Many of the deer also are donated to local food pantries, which helps feed families in need.

Here’s to a safe and productive hunt.

 

— We offer this thumbs up for praise and directional purposes.

We point our thumb to tonight’s 10th Annual Holly Jolly Light Parade, which has become a special tradition in our community.

And history tells us it will be worth a big thumbs up.

This event begins at

5 p.m. with street entertainment. The parade, to follow at 6 p.m., will circle Baraboo’s downtown business district, starting at the corner of Birch and Third Avenue and ending at the library.

This year’s theme is "Christmas Around The World."

The Holly Jolly Light Parade is just one of the many things that sets Baraboo apart from other small towns in America.

So do yourself a favor and be there from beginning to end.

If you miss a little, you’ll miss a lot.

 

 

What’s your take? Send e-mail to bnr-editorial@capitalnewspapers.com