Opinion

Now that my Carhartt jacket, overalls, hat, gloves, earmuffs, scarf, boots, flannel socks and long underwear are packed away, I am ready to get outside without the risk of literally freezing to death. Moving south for a few years made me weak, but I’m proud to say I made it through...

Some of you may have noticed that the Pioneer Journal website got a face lift this week. Similar to the Perham Focus, Park Rapids Enterprise and Detroit Lakes Newspapers, which are all owned by Fargo-based Forum Communications Company, the Pioneer Journal now features a cleaner look,...

I’ve read once too often how God isn’t present in our public schools. As a teacher in the public schools for 36 years, I can say that nothing is farther from the truth. God is present in the teacher who sits in a student’s desk after school and prays that things will improve...

State Sen. Rod Skoe and Rep. Roger Erikson recently held a town meeting in Park Rapids to discuss Gov. Mark Dayton's 2014-2015 budget proposal and to obtain citizen input on several legislative issues. Respectful public debate on important issues is a positive process, and should...

The letters expressing fear, anger and self-righteous indignation over any attempt to limit multi-round ammunition clips, semi-automatic assault weapons, etc., continue to show the paranoid, delusional attitudes that exist about this issue! The letter expressing an analogy between...

Be careful out there. Never assume the ice is 100 percent safe and don't think it's always "other people" who fall through the ice. This winter has been a deadly one in Minnesota. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reports that the 2012-2013 season, November to April, is on...

Guns don't cause death and violence. People cause death and violence. When there is a shooting, the gun is always held by a human being. Our country guarantees a basic right to "bear arms," and it's that right that keeps us free. Elaine Byman Wadena

The God who made everything out of nothing (Genesis 1:2) also wrote on stone tablets the Ten Commandments and gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1-17). They are God's will for the spiritual and moral conduct of man, crated in God's own image (Genesis 1:27). God wrote these...

It is nearly the end of February, the "Monday of months," I read somewhere. It's the month of my birthday and Groundhog Day - both fall on the same day, actually. But let's face it, February's main event is Valentine's Day. That day those of us without a "sweetheart" deliberately...

Pre-Labor Day school starts and photo cops: I stand firmly against each of these proposals and continue to voice my concerns at the Capitol. The Labor Day issue is a huge factor in parts of the state like ours, where tourism is a key component in the local economy. Labor Day is one...

I joked on Facebook that my husband and I had decided to capitalize on our toddler son's destructive capabilities. We'd market him as a weapon of mass destruction. Enemy forces would never see him coming. My status update was soon commented on by a chorus of moms offering up their...

Between 1973 and 2012, the United States experienced 65 cases of rabies, while the National Institutes of Health offered 89 major research grants to tackle the subject. There were 266 polio cases during that time as well, and the NIH made 129 major polio research awards. Between...

Zebra mussels, Eurasian watermilfoil and other aquatic invaders are causing enough problems on lakes in Douglas County. Let's not add Asian carp to the mix. That's why we were glad to see a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers is addressing the problem with vigor. Last week, U.S....

In the recent Senate committee hearing regarding the president's nominee for secretary of defense, Sen. John McCain pilloried and badgered his old friend, former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel. McCain was determined to force the view that his opinion on the so-called "surge" in Iraq was...