Almost a year ago, the opportunity and pleasure of working here in New Prague became a reality.
There was much to anticipate back then.
One of the neat facets of working in New Prague is the annual Dozinky Czech harvest festival. It’s been said there are points during the coming weekend when the community’s population could swell to well over 12, 13,000 or more people. That will be really cool to see and experience.

There are some things I’ve yet to do such as skydiving, bungee jumping off a bridge, see a production of “A Christmas Carol” at the Guthrie Theater, see the rock band U2 in concert, visit Europe or visit New York City.
This past weekend, I did one thing I’ve never done before, although not from the above list. I went to the Defeat of Jesse James Days in Northfield. Some people may find that surprising with how long I’ve lived in the area. The simple reason is I’ve usually had other events planned at the same time as the annual festival.

The New Prague Area School District’s board of directors is asking voters to OK a levy referendum Nov. 7 intended to bring in money for educational and operating expenses.
We look forward to a vigorous, well-presented, respectful discussion on the levy request in which both the district, its supporters and people with concerns or those opposed to the request present their respective positions based on merits and not rumor, innuendo and misinformation.
Regardless of your position on the request, it is too important an issue to receive anything less.
Not a great start

Certain members of the Minnesota Legislature no doubt thought they crafted a piece of historic legislation earlier this year when they legalized the recreational use of cannabis. They did not.

Next week, over 4,000 New Prague Area School District students will return to their classrooms for the start of the 2023-2024 academic year. With any luck, it will be a good, really good, school year.
The school district has spent the year working to make this school year the best year possible. It has a team of elementary, middle school, junior high and senior high school teachers ready to put a curriculum into place intended to prepare students for college, vocational school and life in the working world.

Town baseball is one of Minnesota’s great treasures. It draws players and fans who truly appreciate what it is – competition for the love of the game and people cheering for their team. It is a blend of passion and community pride reminding us of the local high school team taking on the rival team from the nearby town.

There’s no doubt the New Prague City Council will do the right thing in cleaning up the mess caused by its decision and the contractor involved in razing the house north of city hall. After waiting two weeks for a response from the Minnesota Department of Health, the city will move swiftly to work with the Department of Health and a state-certified asbestos contractor to ensure the site is remediated to standards of the Minnesota Department of Health.
You can bet Steve Roiger, a neighboring property owner, will make certain it will.

There’s plenty of reason to believe former Minnesota Rep. Bob Vanasek of New Prague was correct when he said the current debate over school districts handling the facilities use of transgender and gender non-conforming students is a legislative issue and will not be settled in a school board meeting room in New Prague or any other school district across the state.

It’s almost like they had New Prague in mind. In addition to the biennial funding increase the Minnesota Legislature sent to school districts this spring, public schools were allowed to renew an expiring levy without voter approval. For some, it was a godsend.
In New Prague, the legislation allowed the school board to approve the $246.70 per levy one time for six years without voter approval. This is as close to free money as it gets.

Maybe you read about Larry Olimb over the weekend. If you love ice hockey, you might have heard the former U of M standout defenseman and former professional lost his job as head girls’ coach at Orono High School.
Some say he was run out of the job. Others think he has nobody to blame but the guy in the mirror. The only hope here is nobody in New Prague ever endures the same treatment.
And if it has happened, we hope it won’t happen again.

Summer has officially started. The summer solstice, the longest day of the year, was Wednesday, June 21.
Others may say it was already summer when temperatures were in the high-80s and low-90s Fahrenheit last week.
Another sure sign of summer was the number of outdoor events that were going on this past weekend. Among the events were Elko New Market’s Fire Rescue Days, the Home Run Derby at Union Hill and the start of the Music at the Broz concert series.

Among their many successes, or failures depending on your point of view, state lawmakers in Minnesota passed legislation during the recently-completed session on using recreational cannabis. The new law has left cities and counties looking for how to deal with the the idea some may have long considered unthinkable – the recreational use of marijuana is now legal in Minnesota.

Friday, June 9, there will be a grand opening celebration for Central Plaza at the northwest corner of the intersection of N Central Avenue and Main Street. The program begins at 1 p.m. and will include a ribbon cuttingceremony and remarks about creating Central Plaza.

Being an elected official, either on the city or school board levels, isn’t easy. The issues seemingly always hit close to home and there isn’t the anonymity that comes with representing an area one doesn’t live in.+Monday, June 12, the New Prague Area School Board is expected to address, at least conversationally, two important issues, one potentially impacting the district and its children for years to come. Regardless of their point of view, we’d hope people pay close attention. After all, this is important stuff. And over time, it comes with a cost.

A recent Wall Street Journal poll indicates more than half of Americans don’t believe a college education is worth the investment.
The Wall Street JournalNORC poll findings, as reported by Fox New Prague Times News, shows 56 percent of Americans surveyed don’t see a college education as a good investment while 42 percent of those folks surveyed feel completing a degree is a worthwhile undertaking. That’s a flip from 2013, when 53 percent of Americans surveyed viewed a college degree as a good investment while 40 percent didn’t see it that way.

If you’re a thorough reader of the police blotter we run every week, you may have noticed a few weeks back we included reports of the police department checking licensed tobacco retailers in New Prague to make sure they are not selling products to customers not yet old enough to legally possess or consume the products.