Once again the Minnesota Vikings are not in the National Football League’s National Football Conference championship game.

This New Year was spent with family watching Ohio State thump NCAA’s No. 2 Clemson in a 49-28 semi-final and Alabama’s Crimson Tide took care of Notre Dame in lop-sided matchup by a score of 31-14.
It was great to watch the New Year’s Day college football games of 2021 without a thought of 2020.

I was beginning to think Minnesota was a victim state of global warming. Alas, winter finally arrived.
A storm moved into our neck of the woods last week and dumped a payload of the white stuff.

The year had started out as a somewhat normal new year, but by late February the wheels fell off!
Officials in Washington, heads of the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control, Dr. Anthony Fauci and a host of Chinese Communist Party leaders were telling of the coronavirus that was first identified as a result of a “wet market” in a town we in America had never heard of…Wuhan.

It’s been tough year for law enforcement.  
Since the COVID-19 shutdown last spring, our deputies have dealt with an alarming increase in mental health cases – multiple suicides, suicidal threats, domestic assaults, child abuse cases, and more. The cumulative stress of multiple incidents like this over long periods of time can really take a toll on these men and women, especially in this tight community that we love!  

Concerts, Christmas programs, business Christmas office parties and in-person Christmas Eve services for the most part have been cancelled, zoomed or held in a manner that falls within the guidelines of the governor’s orders.
However, during this holiday week – between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day – many will find ways to celebrate.