Cheers and Jeers on Owatonna

Jeers to the Owatonna Parks and Recreation Department for what may be one of the most boneheaded promotions we’ve seen in a long time. Earlier this month, in an effort to promote the River Springs Water Park, Park and Rec started selling pass books to the aquatic center. The more passes a person purchased, the bigger the discount to the pool. But wait, there’s more. For every 10 passes purchased, the buyer’s name would be put in a hat for a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Best Buy. Now, we don’t have much of a problem with the discount passes or even with the concept of a $50 drawing, though given the way the pool lost money last year, that $50 could come in handy. No, what was most disappointing was that the drawing was for a business that doesn’t even have a store here in Owatonna. You would think that officials in city government would want to do everything they could to encourage folks to shop locally rather than sending them out of town. After all, we have a lot of great businesses here that deserve the public’s support. Once the word got out about the promotion, several local entrepreneurs rightfully voiced their opposition. To its credit, Park and Rec officials saw the error of their ways and repented. The drawing is now for $50 worth of Chamber Bucks, good at many businesses across Steele County. Let’s just hope city officials learn this lesson and don’t repeat the mistake.

Cheers to 10-year-old Austin Grayson of Medford for leading an effort in that community to collect toys for Toys for Tots. For the second year in a row, young Austin spearheaded the project to help other children and their parents at Christmas. He contacted family members, friends and parishioners at the church he attends asking for their help. He also sought and received permission to put donation boxes up at a couple of businesses and a church, all with the goal of collecting at least 100 toys. When he reached that goal the first year, he decided to do it again this year. And this year, he surpassed the goal. That sort of generosity of spirit and concern for others is an inspiration not only at this Christmas season, but for the entire year. Nice work, Austin.

Owatonna People’s Press editorials are the opinion of the Press editorial board. Other editorials, columns, letters and cartoons appearing on this page are the opinions of the authors and artists and not necessarily the People’s Press.

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Member Opinions: By: NoteTaker on 12/19/09 Is that actually a "Jeer" I see up there? And...it's a "Jeer" of local government??? Well...these ARE strange days. By: secretsquirrel on 12/19/09 LOL I was surprised to see that too. Would really like to know whose brainchild that one was! By: indian on 12/19/09 A quick call to Park and Rec would have told anyone that the card was a donation at the end of construction from one of the companies. Now that we know that can we talk about where the editors of the press have done their Christmas shopping? I know for a fact that some or maybe all of it was done out of town. I personally saw one of the editors making purchases out of town. Hey yea thanks for supporting the local community. While we are at it could we look at the press purchases? Do they buy local or purchase from out of town? Check out the trucks that unload at the press. It doesn't look local to me. By: secretsquirrel on 12/19/09 I see it more as a marketing faux pas than a major league screw up. It's amusing to me. Great update Indian! Makes it even funnier. LOL ALL of the major businesses get their goods from somewhere and it's not always from anyone here in town. Even when they DO buy from local businesses, where does anyone think those businesses get THEIR goods...? Money HAS to go outside of town or you wind up with a local economy that would look something like the ancestry of a farm cat... in a short time you would would be handing that same dollar back and forth between your left hand and your right hand and it would hold no value. Even the Amish come to town to make purchases of materials and goods to sustain their communities and you will not find a more self-sustaining group of people than they are. Neither the paper nor the city can possibly make all of their purchases exclusive to the communities they are in. By: JaneDoe on 12/21/09 My sentiments exactly Indian! The OPP editorial board should be ashamed of themselves for what they call "reporting", wouldn't that call for some investigating before printing AND OPINIONATING on somethings so stupid? Did they bother to call and get their facts before printing such a stupid paragraph and find out that the $50 card was actually a donation to Park n Rec? By: Dallas on 12/21/09 But remember, indian, the OPP is a private business. The OPP and those who work for it can spend their money wherever they please. We have no right to look at their purchases as you suggest. Many business owners purchase where they can get the best deal. Why not? Nor do you know how much of one of the editors purchases were made out of town. How would you know how many purchases he is making for Christmas? Just because you saw him making some purchases out of town does not mean he was making 100% out of town. Don't jump to conclusions. It is none of our business how much anyone else spends in town or out of town if it is our own private money. Lighten up a little! By: indian on 12/21/09 Dallas, my point was and is how can the editors be critical of something that they are doing themselves. If they truely believe in supporting Owatonna retailers should they not set the tone by doing it themselves. I would think that it would be embarrasing to one day take ad money from a local buissiness and turn around the next day and spend money supporting an out of town store that does not advertise with your paper. By: Dallas on 12/21/09 indian, I had not thought about the OPP taking money in ads. I'm sorry, I should have given it more thought before I wrote that. I tend to respond without thinking it through. You are absolutely right about the ads.
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