Ken Harty

It’s that time of the year again, construction time. Remember we have five seasons around here, spring, summer, fall, winter and road construction. While road construction certainly is the most noticeable of improvement projects it is not the only kind of construction that picks up when spring arrives. According to the Home Improvement Research Institute, homeowners spend nearly $300 billion per year on remodeling projects. Hiring the right contractor is the key to spending your hard earned home improvement dollars wisely.

The “Yard of the Week” is back! The Daily Journal and the city of Fergus Falls Police Department are again promoting the “Yard of the Week” program and it starts May 29 and goes each week through Sept. 25. The Daily Journal, along with the city of Fergus Falls Police Department and other community minded sponsors will be honoring a community member with an outstanding yard. Here is how it works. The yard is chosen by a member of the Fergus Falls Police Department. The Daily Journal takes a photo of the yard and publishes it in the paper each Wednesday in a color display ad format and it is also published in the Daily Journal digital newsletter and posted to our Facebook page. To honor the yard, a sign designating it as the “Yard of the Week” is placed in the yard for one week and will then be moved to the next chosen yard the following Wednesday. I think it’s a great idea to have the police department choose the “Yard of the Week” because they see the community every day and have a unique insight and that’s why we thought it made a lot of sense to have the police department involved to help showcase their role in the community.

Now that we are headfast into the summer season and the 4th of July holiday (Independence Day) is just around the corner and many of you may be heading to the Lakes Area for fun with friends and family. As part of the festivities there may be some boating involved whether it be for fishing, cruising or water skiing. It is important to remember that boating, fishing and other water sports are great fun if done safely. However, an accident on the water can turn a great day into the tragedy of a lifetime.

A few years ago a story in the New York Times came out about the labor practices of Amazon — and it was not flattering. Probably most revealing was their management approach to long-term hourly workers.

A few years ago a story in the New York Times came out about the labor practices of Amazon — and it was not flattering. Probably most revealing was their management approach to long-term hourly workers.

Mosquito season is officially here. I found this out last evening when a hoard of mosquitos appeared out of nowhere and decided to check me out. When I was living down south there were mosquitoes 13 months of each year. Crazy as it sounds, I could live with that because those mosquitoes had manners. By manners I mean they were not nearly as vicious as the mosquitoes we are accustomed to here in the area. I would actually be surprised when bitten by a mosquito down south; they just were not a big problem. Of course the folks down south think the mosquitoes they have are bad. They also think 40 degrees is cold. It all depends on what you’re used to.

As the new publisher, I have been visiting Madison here and there and this week I feel like I finally have a good idea of how Madison is. It seems like everywhere I go people have a smile on their face and are very friendly. Sometimes it’s even situations where you would not expect that.

Ever heard the saying “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?” I’m sure OJ Simpson had heard that saying also. Jokes aside, the reality is what happens on the internet stays on the internet and is accessible to anyone including prospective employers. Times have completely changed and the use of social networks has skyrocketed including the use of blogs. With changes come consequences and sometimes that means getting fired.

A few years ago, I saw an article on CNN.com about fonts being political and it instantly caught my eye, as I have never heard of that before. Being in the newspaper business, I found this very interesting and strange all at the same time. After all, fonts are only a style of text and their face value shouldn’t be taken as political. However, in the current atmosphere of the political world we live in, it appears they can be liberal or conservative. For example, Times New Roman is seen as a conservative font and Gill Sans MT is more liberal — and the most conservative font is Broken Planewing.

The Daily Journal recently launched on our website fergusfallsjournal.com our annual promotion called “Best of Otter Tail County” or “BOTC” for short.