I have heard recently that some of our state officials and legislators would like to see the state of Minnesota's drinking age lowered to 18.
Investigating this a little I again found a Star Tribune article on the subject.
The basic idea behind the article was that by lowering the drinking age to 18 it could lessen binge drinking and prevent deaths.
Honestly to me that makes absolutely no sense. I personally can say that I dont drink, and I dont have anything against people that do, as long as they do it responsibly.
I think that these under age people who are going out binge drinking and hurting themselves or even dying are because there at an age where there not fully mature yet. It's just a game to them, there out with their friends and they think its cool to get "hammered" or "wasted" or whatever your preffered term is.
Now you wanna lower the drinking age from 21 to 18 and make it easier for them to get access to alcohol. I could be wrong but I just dont see the benefits.
Yeah, a lot of the times they will probably find a way to get the alcohol anyways, but at least make it tough on them.
Doing this your going to have high school seniors that are 18 able to go out and buy there alcohol and now instead of huge college parties where I think a lot of kids are getting this alcohol your now going to add high school parties where kids are going to be of legal age to buy their own alcohol. Doesnt seem like a good idea to me at all.
I cant speak for everyone but this article bothers me. Alcohol is already abused so much in our society I dont think we need to add to the problem.
I personally think this would do the exact opposite of its intent and only increase deaths and binge drinking.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Earth Hour and Global Warming
Reading the Star Tribune newspaper this morning I came across an article titled "Lights out for Sydney as Earth Hour ticks into Australia" that I found rather interesting.
My initial reaction to this article was that I never even heard of "earth hour" before, and my second reaction was how much do I really do to help control the global warming problem?
This immediately brough to mind something I seen on the home page of AOL the other day about a large ice sheet the size of Manhattan breaking off into the ocean and how concerned scientists were about that.
I've always thought global warming was a huge issue. To be honest I think most of us, at least at times, are guilty of not worrying about it because theres a good chance that it wont effect us majorily in our lifetimes.
I personally believe theres a general attitude amongst many that we should just let the next generations worry about global warming instead of taking all possible prevantative measures today.
Looking into "earth hour" a bit more I found that Minneapolis will be participating in it from 8-9pm tonight, saturday the 29th.
According to an additional article in the Star Tribune today, all lights in the city of Minneapolis municipal buildings will be turned off for one hour except for those that are felt to be necessary for public safety.
I think this is a great move by the city. I think it also shows just how easy it is to help prevent this problem. I think all of us can easily cut out things on a daily basis that would have a huge impact in preventing global warming.
After reading about "earth hour" i plan on participating in it from 8-9pm tonight as well as doing more in the future to help fight global warming.
My initial reaction to this article was that I never even heard of "earth hour" before, and my second reaction was how much do I really do to help control the global warming problem?
This immediately brough to mind something I seen on the home page of AOL the other day about a large ice sheet the size of Manhattan breaking off into the ocean and how concerned scientists were about that.
I've always thought global warming was a huge issue. To be honest I think most of us, at least at times, are guilty of not worrying about it because theres a good chance that it wont effect us majorily in our lifetimes.
I personally believe theres a general attitude amongst many that we should just let the next generations worry about global warming instead of taking all possible prevantative measures today.
Looking into "earth hour" a bit more I found that Minneapolis will be participating in it from 8-9pm tonight, saturday the 29th.
According to an additional article in the Star Tribune today, all lights in the city of Minneapolis municipal buildings will be turned off for one hour except for those that are felt to be necessary for public safety.
I think this is a great move by the city. I think it also shows just how easy it is to help prevent this problem. I think all of us can easily cut out things on a daily basis that would have a huge impact in preventing global warming.
After reading about "earth hour" i plan on participating in it from 8-9pm tonight as well as doing more in the future to help fight global warming.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
As our nation's economy struggles so do many local businesses
By Chris Szyplinski
Recession? Maybe. Tough times for many Lino Lakes businesses? Absolutely.
As our government continues to assure us that we are not heading into a recession, many local businesses are struggling due to the slowing economy.
“From what I see and what I’ve heard from people things are slow at a lot of places around here,” Cathy Seidenstricker, Moundsview High School special education para said, “I work at Michello’s restaurant during the week helping kids with the school work program and I see that first hand…not enough people are coming in to support the business.”
Other restaurants don’t seem to be fairing much better.
“All of my accounts are down right now,” Mike Johnson, sales representative for Reinhart Food Service said, “ People aren’t ordering as much food as they normally do because sales in their restaurants have dropped off a lot in the last few months.”
Unfortunately this problem seems to extend past local restaurants as many businesses are struggling.
“Lately I have had fewer repeat customers,” Katie Allen, owner of Allure Salon said, “What I keep hearing in my business is that people aren’t going out simply because they don’t have the money…and those that do still don‘t because they are worried about being the next laid off at their jobs”
Even work programs at the local schools are being effected.
“Businesses are even beginning to cut down the number of students they let us place in work programs because they can’t afford to pay them,” said Seidenstricker.
One thing these business owners agree on is that they believe their current struggles are directly linked to the economy.
“The economy is terrible,” Shawn Dieringer, Manager at Spirit Hills Liquor said, “Is there really any question that we are in a recession?”
The federal government’s answer to this problem is the new economic stimulus package recently signed by President George W. Bush.
According to the United States House of Representatives website, most tax payers can expect to receive an additional rebate sometime in the upcoming months. This rebate will range from $600 for individuals who earn less than $75,000 per year to $1200 for couples that earn up to $150,000 per year. In addition, families will receive an additional $300 per child.
It is the government's hope that this package will help boost our nation’s struggling economy. But do local businesses owners feel that this will be enough to help?
“Its not even a band aid on a huge sore. It doesn’t even begin to cover what we need to get the economy stimulated,” said Allen.
Other owners were cautiously optimistic about the plan.
“I think it could help some, there are people that will go out and spend that money,” said Dieringer, “But I think it will depend on the situation because a lot of people are having trouble paying their bills and house payments and I think the money will go towards those types of things first.”
In addition to the stimulus plan there are other things these business owners feel could be done to help.
“If the government really wants to help small businesses they should alleviate payroll taxes,” said Allen, “ My tax alone is $2000 every two weeks, to me that cost is astronomical.”
Only time will tell how much of an effect the government’s stimulus package will have on our economy.
Lets hope for the sake of these struggling businesses that it is a positive one.
Recession? Maybe. Tough times for many Lino Lakes businesses? Absolutely.
As our government continues to assure us that we are not heading into a recession, many local businesses are struggling due to the slowing economy.
“From what I see and what I’ve heard from people things are slow at a lot of places around here,” Cathy Seidenstricker, Moundsview High School special education para said, “I work at Michello’s restaurant during the week helping kids with the school work program and I see that first hand…not enough people are coming in to support the business.”
Other restaurants don’t seem to be fairing much better.
“All of my accounts are down right now,” Mike Johnson, sales representative for Reinhart Food Service said, “ People aren’t ordering as much food as they normally do because sales in their restaurants have dropped off a lot in the last few months.”
Unfortunately this problem seems to extend past local restaurants as many businesses are struggling.
“Lately I have had fewer repeat customers,” Katie Allen, owner of Allure Salon said, “What I keep hearing in my business is that people aren’t going out simply because they don’t have the money…and those that do still don‘t because they are worried about being the next laid off at their jobs”
Even work programs at the local schools are being effected.
“Businesses are even beginning to cut down the number of students they let us place in work programs because they can’t afford to pay them,” said Seidenstricker.
One thing these business owners agree on is that they believe their current struggles are directly linked to the economy.
“The economy is terrible,” Shawn Dieringer, Manager at Spirit Hills Liquor said, “Is there really any question that we are in a recession?”
The federal government’s answer to this problem is the new economic stimulus package recently signed by President George W. Bush.
According to the United States House of Representatives website, most tax payers can expect to receive an additional rebate sometime in the upcoming months. This rebate will range from $600 for individuals who earn less than $75,000 per year to $1200 for couples that earn up to $150,000 per year. In addition, families will receive an additional $300 per child.
It is the government's hope that this package will help boost our nation’s struggling economy. But do local businesses owners feel that this will be enough to help?
“Its not even a band aid on a huge sore. It doesn’t even begin to cover what we need to get the economy stimulated,” said Allen.
Other owners were cautiously optimistic about the plan.
“I think it could help some, there are people that will go out and spend that money,” said Dieringer, “But I think it will depend on the situation because a lot of people are having trouble paying their bills and house payments and I think the money will go towards those types of things first.”
In addition to the stimulus plan there are other things these business owners feel could be done to help.
“If the government really wants to help small businesses they should alleviate payroll taxes,” said Allen, “ My tax alone is $2000 every two weeks, to me that cost is astronomical.”
Only time will tell how much of an effect the government’s stimulus package will have on our economy.
Lets hope for the sake of these struggling businesses that it is a positive one.
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