Cheers…to a ‘Crazy’ success
When you think of the word “crazy,” what comes to mind? There are probably positive as well as negative images that float across your brain, but on the positive side, if you’re thinking about something that’s kind of crazy and fun, it more than likely involves a lot of people.
And that’s what we had with the annual Crazy Days last week in Crookston’s retail sector: A lot of people. Without numbers, after all, what would be so crazy about Crazy Days?
Well, we know the “Crazy” title is meant to reference deals on merchandise that are so good they’re crazy. But you have to have people willing to come out to check out those deals in order for an event like that to work. And last week, according to anyone who took a look around downtown and, yes, elsewhere in town, it worked.
There was more than shopping, too. There was a lot of food, and the two KROX auctions that liven things up.
It’s a good, mid-summer retail draw in Crookston. Congratulations to those who make it happen.
Jeers...to those few rotten apples
No one likes the few rotten apples, that are famous for spoiling it for everyone.
But, when it comes to officials being cautious about something, they often don’t have actual rotten apples to lean on as an excuse, they’re simply afraid that if they don’t proceed with caution, a few rotten apples might eventually do something bad and ruin things for the populace at large.
That was the thinking going into a discussion at this week’s Crookston Park Board meeting. City council member Wayne Melbye wanted to know why the restroom facilities at Highland Complex weren’t open to the public more often, and why portable bathrooms were needed when there’s a building with restrooms right in Highland Park.
It didn’t take long for Parks & Rec administrators Scott Kleven and Scott Riopelle to mention the few “rotten apples” that might abuse increased access to the restrooms, specifically, by vandalizing them.
Turns out, though, the Scotts weren’t simply afraid that might happen, it’s actually happened, when an attempt was made last year to keep the restroom facilities open to the public longer in Wildwood Park, down in the Woods Addition. Two sinks were busted up, apparently by a person or persons swinging a hammer, and a toilet was damaged, too.
Rotten apples? That’s far too kind of a label for people who commit such destructive, inane acts. How dim-witted does one have to be, how completely disrespectful, to bust up a public bathroom? What’s your major malfunction?
It looks like the city will make an effort to keep the restrooms at Highland Complex open to the public more than they are now, with the hope that some security cameras in the building – not specifically in the restrooms – will serve as a deterrent to those apples, and what makes them rotten.
