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I hope you had a chance to take in one of the many Memorial Day services on Monday. There was a service at virtually every cemetery in the county. I had the pleasure of attending two of the services. I was amazed when I got to the first one which was held at Memorial Park in Chisago City. It was raining and thundering all morning long, but that didn't stop people from coming out to show their respect for our Veterans. There had to be 75 to 100 people standing in the rain paying homage to our fallen soldiers. Towards the end of the ceremony, a (forgive me if I have the wrong plane) C-27 Army airplane flew just over the trees and dipped its wing as a sign of respect. It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen.

The All County Memorial was terrific as usual. Congressman Chip Cravaack gave a great speech about the men and women who have served our country.

I do need to take a moment and apologize to the Vets and our readers. We inadvertently forgot to list the All County Memorial service in our list of Memorial Day services. You have to believe me when I say it was a total accident. There is no one group that I have more respect and adoration for than our local Vets. I apologize if for some reason this prevented anyone from attending the ceremony.

Speaking of ceremonies, there are a couple of big days coming within the next week. North Branch and Chisago Lakes will be saying goodbye to their seniors. This year's crop of seniors is one of the nicest group of kids you would ever hope to meet.

I usually take a moment to wish them well in their future, but with this group, I think they are going to be fine. Make that better than fine.

With graduation, comes grad parties. Times have really changed since I graduated. Back in the late eighties, it was pretty relaxed as far as hosting a party for a recent grad. Now, there are ordinances that prevent homeowners from crossing the line with underage drinking. Some people might view this as a bummer, but the Social Host Ordinance was put in place for a few reasons. One is to protect the homeowner from serving a minor and thus being sued. The other is the most obvious, and that is keeping our youth alive. People always say that the government is reaching too far into our lives, and usually I am in agreement. But this issue is real, and the ordinance will save lives.

If your son or daughter decides to go to grad parties, and by chance there is drinking, please let them know that it is alright to call you and for you to pick them up. I would rather have tired, sleepy eyes for a day than have eyes filled with tears because your child was in a accident while driving impaired.

Summer has officially begun, and with that comes concerts in the park. Lindstrom is proud to announce its Harmony in the Park concert series is underway. The concerts take place every Wednesday evening at 6:30 in Lions Park. There will be a "Get to know your community" event before each concert as well. We have a list of all the concerts in each and every edition of the County Press and Search Shopper. There are a few benches for sitting, but it is recommended you bring a lawn chair or a blanket to sit on. Now that the weather has improved, let's get out and enjoy it.

I don't mean to keep harping on the weather people, but they did it again on Monday night. There was a line of severe storms that stretched from southern Kansas up through North Dakota that was slowly heading towards the east. Every channel was telling us to batten down the hatches because we were going to have severe weather for sure. Now, I don't know about you, but I slept the entire night never once waking to the sound of thunder. Now I did enjoy the weekend, but not to the point that I wouldn't wake up if it were storming.

I am not complaining about the lack of severe weather, I AM complaining about the over urgency and dramatization on the part of our meteorologists. I appreciate technology and being able to foresee bad weather, but it seems like a foot race to see who can be the first to blow the weather into epic proportions.

The Chisago Lakes Rotary asked me to mention that this is the last call for golfers. The Rotary 18 hole golf scramble is June 7th at Chisago Lakes Golf Course with a Noon shotgun start. As of this edition of the paper there are only two foursomes open. Thank you to the community for its great response. The main recipients again this year will be Baby Blanket and Rotary community and international projects.

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