Open Forum

Forty-three thousand five hundred and ten Americans die each year from automobile accidents. Fifty-three thousand non-smokers die each year from second-hand smoke.

This Thursday, May 31, is World No Tobacco Day. What a great opportunity to celebrate being smoke-free! One way to celebrate would be to treat yourself to dining at a smoke-free restaurant. We have numerous restaurants here in our area that offer a smoke-free dining experience every day and several more who will provide a healthy environment this Thursday in honor of World No Tobacco Day. With your support and encouragement, there may be even more restaurants offering a smoke-free environment by this time next year.

Here is a list of restaurants in our area that are smoke-free all the time.

Brainerd/Baxter - Arby's, Burger King, Coco Moon, Cousin's Subs, Dairy Queens, Finders Keepers,Hardee's, Ivy Room, McDonald's, Mickey's, Morey's Seafood Cafe, Northwest Pizza and Boardwalk Bread and Bagel, Northwind Grille, Papa John's Pizza, Rafferty's Pizza, Subway, Taco Bell, Uptown Deli and Cheese House, Wendy's.

Nisswa - Dairy Queen, Rafferty's Pizza.

Pequot Lakes - Scheela's Shanty, Sibley Station, You Betcha Cafe.

Garrison - Dairy Queen,McDonald's, Taco Bell.

Crosby - Dairy Queen, Papa John's Pizza, Subway.

Crosslake - Dairy Queen, Subway.

For more information on World No Tobacco Day or additional second-hand smoke information, contact Neal Wass at 894-5467. Enjoy the day!

Arla Johnson

Lake Shore

Tobacco Free Community Coalition

Moronic acts

What is it that excites someone to tip over tombstones or smash a beautiful urn full of flowers, placed lovingly over the grave of a loved one?

Do those who do these unspeakable acts go and brag to their peers about the thrill of seeing all the damage?

Do they sit and wait for the newspaper account of their dastardly deeds and toast each other over another beer or through the smoke of another joint?

They had to be riding a high of some kind, because no one in his right mind would do something like that.

When they are caught I sincerely hope that the judge they face in court will not listen to a plea of "I must have been drunk or I wouldn't do those things." I personally will appear as a witness to the destruction and ask for the maximum penalty of hard jail time, long-term probation and complete restoration, no matter what their age. Let their parents pay through the nose if indeed they are still juveniles.

I don't suppose these moronic acts are done while the perpetators are thinking at all about the final results. Little do they know the pain they leave in the hearts of the families whose graves are desecrated. Nor do they think about the cost of the repairs and replacements of damaged sites. We who donate our time to help operate the cemeteries are faced with the daunting task of finding extra money to pay for those repairs. We are constantly seeking funds to maintain our beautiful cemeteries and certainly don't need the set-back of having to make repairs for the senseless acts of some thrill seeking imbeciles.

To paraphrase the old Irish blessing -- May the Devil find out you are dead and take you, half an hour before you may have had a chance to enter heaven.

Yibby Knudsen

Chairman Building and Grounds Committee

Evergreen Cemetery Association

The following letters were written by Brainerd High School students.

A whining culture

As I prepare to graduate, I find myself less and less opinionated about issues that used to matter to me. It's not that I don't care -- just the opposite. But the fact that I'm probably not going to see a lot of the people I've grown up with ever again makes all the petty differences seem very insignificant. In realizing this, I recognize that I do have one strong-felt belief I can write about here.

Many times I've felt the urge to read The Dispatch's Open Forum, to reassure myself that my town isn't undergoing any radical changes that I should know about. Once in a while I'm confronted with something that piques my interest, but for the most part it's a plethora of citizens looking for an outlet for complaints.

I haven't been very offended by any of the letters, but in perusing the multitude of pointless lamentations, I realized that we are a whining culture. What happened to the ageless maxim of the "old days" you baby boomers so fondly recall, "Grit your teeth and bear it?"

I'm a realist, I know that most will just disregard this as some cocky kid trying to offend. But I would like to point out to all the chronic whiners out there how very good we have it here in the Lakes Area. We have a low crime rate, with little or no violent crimes. We live in the middle of over 45 beautiful lakes and resorts, with snow in the wintertime and sandy beaches in the summer. Pollution is minimal. So next time you feel a whimper or complaint itching in the back of your throat, get a drink of water. And realize how fortunate you are.

Josh Couch

Life is just beginning

I cannot believe that 18 years of my life have just flashed before my eyes, and a 13-year-goal is about to be accomplished. On Thursday, May 31 the Brainerd High School Class of 2001 will be graduating.

It seems like I have been living in a fantasy world for the past 13 years, with a bunch of people my own age waiting to be thrown into the real world, where millions of older people spend the rest of their lives working in a place they hate.

The way I see it my life is just beginning. I don't want to be stuck at some job I despise. That is the reason I'm going to college. I'm hoping to find a job that I enjoy doing instead of cursing every time I have to go there.

I am really looking forward to this coming summer and getting out on my own, but the real reason I'm writing this letter is because I chose Journalism as one of my English electives this year, and I am very excited to say that this is my final homework assignment.

As a procrastinator and person who hates homework, Journalism has been one of the hardest courses I've ever taken in my life. I now have a great deal of respect for all of those who work at The Dispatch, what you do is not easy. Keep up the good work.

Preston Nelson