Jeers to the Northfield News’ Cheers and Jeers

In this week’s Cheers and Jeers editorial in the Northfield News, the editors give

Jeers to:

… those motorcyclists who blast through Northfield and residents’ lives, both outdoors and indoors, and an additional jeers to city authorities who do nothing about them, though a host of other cities enforce ordinances against excessive noise. (Submitted by a reader.)

Cheers to:

… the organizers of the Northfield’s first-ever Girls Nite Out retail promotion. The successful event brought hundreds of women into downtown Northfield for a night of food, fun and socializing, not to mention the shopping that helped local businesses.

frowny-face_150.jpgI think some jeers are in order, flavored with some suggestions.

I didn’t submit the comment to the News but we’ve had a motorcycle noise blog post and discussion topic going here on LG since Saturday. I’d be delighted to have the News’ editors acknowledge this with a link to help citizens get more informed on the issue.

If I was a downtown retailer who participated in last Friday night’s hugely successful Girls Night Out, I’d be wondering why the News had zero news coverage of the event — not even one photo. Nothing in last weekend’s paper. Nothing in this week’s paper. A smiley face cheers is all. I’d be delighted to have them ask to use one or more of my photos of the event. I’m sure many of the retailers were taking photos, too.

13 Comments

  1. Anthony Pierre said:

    The fish wrap factory, in this town, has always been a place where purple haired old ladies write about their cats.

    May 17, 2007
  2. Nick said:

    I agree it’s like sitting in the middle of a Nascar race…. not. Get over it! You ride your bike, I’ll drive my loud car.

    Have a good day.

    May 17, 2007
  3. Mary Rossing said:

    Regarding lack of coverage on girls night out by
    The Northfield News; it’s just a good thing that there are
    other news outlets…and by the way, KYMN dedicated a lot
    of time to promoting and also recapping the event–for free.
    Diane and Alley were interviewed, Dusty did a news story
    before and after, and I talked about it on my Friday morning
    show, and also did a recap on Saturday morning.

    May 17, 2007
  4. Griff Wigley said:

    Nick, you hot rodder bad boy. I’m going to have to speak to your mom. 😉

    Mary, good to hear that KYMN delivered. But do tell us about your Friday morning show. With no KYMN website, how are we supposed to know?

    May 17, 2007
  5. Marie Fischer said:

    Nick, I heard you talking about this very post today. The jeers against the motorcyclists is definitly a strange thing to complain about. Being downtown, it should be an expected thing, whether its a city or a small town.

    May 17, 2007
  6. John S. Thomas said:

    Some of you may have noticed a post that was present under my name about the Northfield News yesterday. I have requested that those comments be withdrawn. I still stand by my comments, but they should not have been posted publicly in that manner.

    I should have taken those comments to Mr. Gett personally.

    I do wanted to say, that I got in touch with Mr. Gett today, and we had an excellent conversation about the current status of the paper, and my issues. I also accepted an offer to be put on a reader advisory panel, so that I can work as a part of a team to improve the paper.

    I have also renewed my subscription.

    I try to live by the motto that one should not complain, unless one is willing to do something about it. Well, I will take my complaints internal, and work to help get them resolved.

    Thanks for your time. Griff, Ross, and Tracy, thanks for your help.

    -J

    May 18, 2007
  7. Mary Rossing said:

    As to motorcycles, I would like to encourage riders to visit our downtown ANYTIME. They are good customers, willing to spend some bucks when “on vacation”. Day-trippers get us through the summer, and this retailer enjoys seeing them pull up in front of my store. Regarding noise, cars and trucks are worse as far as I’m concerned.

    As to the KYMN Radio entertainment show, it’s “What’s Happening Downtown. I shamelessly steal (with permission) information from By All Means Graphics’ Entertainment Guide but add my own information and personal editorials and stories. The show is live on Friday mornings at 8:45 am with rebroadcasts at 5:00-ish and then again on Saturday mornings at 8:45 am. It is sponsored by the NDDC, By All Means and the local places that sponsor music (pubs, bars, etc) Tune in!! By the way, Paul Grandquist follows on Friday mornings with her shw, Art Zany–Radio for the Imagination, which is a wonderful celebration of art and music and creativity in Northfield–so there’s some swell programming at 1080 on your am dial. (Not to mention Wayne’s show every week day from 9-11. but that’s another story that needs to be told)

    May 21, 2007
  8. Griff Wigley said:

    Mary, you’ll hear on today’s podcast that my co-hosts agree with you, ie, loud cars and trucks are more of a problem than motorcycles.

    Thanks for the info on your KYMN show. I had no idea. Why not create a podcast for it for those of us who can’t listen at those hours? I’m sure KYMN would give you an MP3 of the show. That’s all you need, other than a little geeky-type work.

    May 21, 2007
  9. Mary Rossing said:

    Sounds great, Griff, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. Please elaborate what I/KYMN need to do to make this happen. Of course I’m all over the idea of being all over the media…

    May 22, 2007
  10. Griff Wigley said:

    Click this link, Mary, and then let’s connect via email to talk about podcasting. Coffee at the HideAway!

    May 22, 2007
  11. Curt Benson said:

    Anthony Pierre wrote:

    The fish wrap factory, in this town, has always been a place where purple haired old ladies write about their cats.

    This annoys me for two reasons. First, “fish wrap factory”–if one is being critical of someone’s writing, I’d expect a comparison less tired than “fish wrap” for a newspaper.

    More importantly, the put down of Maggie is uncalled for. She’s a treasure. Check out this exert from her column from her last column. Maggie recounts this from May 1957–you can’t beat this:

    “The killing by police of Ytterboe, dog who had been adopted in 1946 as the official St. Olaf campus mascot, caused a massive protest in downtown Northfield. Although a city ordinance required that dogs be tied up during the month of May, Ytterboe was digging in the flower garden of a home adjacent to the college campus. When the owner’s seven year old son tried to shoe him away, Ytterboe nipped the child’s forearm. It was not a serious bite, but police were called. They tried to trap the dog with a snare, but he alluded them, abetted by numerous college students. While about 50 students watched, police then shot and killed Ytterboe on the lawn of Rolvaag Memorial Library and hauled the dog’s body to the city dump.

    About a half hour later, throngs of students protested at police headquarters in the Community Building (now the Northfield Arts Guild headquarters in downtown Northfield) and a fabric dummy representing the policeman who shot the dog, was burned on bridge square. The following day an impressive funeral was held on the St. Olaf campus and the dog was buried on the library lawn, attracting national news coverage.”

    May 25, 2007
  12. Griff Wigley said:

    Curt, I would agree, Maggie’s a treasure. But remember, we’re near-geezers. Tony’s a young 30-something pup and probably has no clue about her skill and contributions over the decades.

    So Tony, you can join me in my upcoming blog post criticizing the paper but if you apologize for your Maggie remark, we won’t send Guido over to your house with a baseball bat.

    May 26, 2007

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