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Wow, time really does fly. We once again are in the midst of our early renewal campaign. The early renewal special will end pretty soon, so I encourage you to mail the coupon on page 2 along with your payment so you can start saving. It's a very easy way to save $1.50. Please be sure to include your printed mailing label so we will have all the correct information we need to assure you that your renewal gets credited properly.

In the coming weeks, we will be mailing out renewal notices to all who did not take advantage of the early renewal special. I need to remind you that all subscriptions expire May 1 of each year, and if you have not renewed prior to May 1, you subscription will be halted until payment is received.

Once again this year, we have decided to keep our rates the same. I get the business every now and then about people paying a dollar for a paper. Here is the sole reason the County Press costs what it does -- postage. If we could lower the postage rates (I don't see that happening anytime soon.) we could lower the cost of the paper. That being said, we feel that the amount of news the reader gets as opposed to some other papers, is quite substantial, and we are quite proud of that.

We appreciate the support of each and every subscriber and hope that we can continue to earn your support by making this a better newspaper. We hope you renew soon so that you don't miss any issues.

Speaking of the Press, we had a small mishap last week. Our label machine broke at the very beginning of running labels. We were forced to use every imaginable person to help manually apply the labels. In doing so, somehow there were some labels that either were destroyed or lost in the shuffle. I have spent the last three days running reader's lost copies to their mail boxes. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

March madness is here. Once again, thinking I know something about college basketball, have joined an office pool. Once again, after the first weekend of play, I am sitting at the bottom in last place. I have got to start saying no to these pools, for it is blatantly obvious I have no clue. Oh well, at the very least I get to watch Chuck from Koehn Auto order everything off the breakfast menu grinning because he is eating for free. Priceless.

March is Minnesota Food Share Month. While the need for food donations is constantly casting a shadow over the local pantries, this month is in the spotlight because it is statewide. The good folks at the food shelf, along with the Lions Club, have set up drop bins around the area for your convenience. They are asking for non-perishable food donations of any sort. If you are like me, you have plenty of cans just sitting in your pantry that you will probably never eat. Why not take a minute to clean out your clutter and help someone at the same time?

Here are some of the places where you can make a donation: RiverBank, US Bank, Security State Bank, Lake Area Bank, Mainstreet Bank, Chisago Lakes Library, Chisago Lakes Chamber of Commerce and the Chisago County Press. In fact, if you are thinking about placing a classified ad in the Press or Search, we have a deal for you. Just bring in a non-perishable food item and receive $2 off a classified ad. You can clean up your pantry and clean up your clutter all at the same time.

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