Poles N’ Holes derby Feb. 11

The Detroit Lakes Breakfast Rotary Club is hosting the 2nd Annual Poles N’ Holes Ice Fishing Derby. The Derby will be held on Little Detroit Lake off of the Rossman Avenue public access on Feb. 11. Participants will be able to enter the fishing area beginning at 9 a.m. with the Derby commencing at noon and lasting until 3 p.m.. Tickets are available for pick up at Nereson Chevrolet, Quality Bait and Tackle, Lakes Sport Shop, Bremer Bank as well as online at our website which is www.icefishingdl.org. Tickets will also be available on the ice the day of the derby. Any ticket purchased prior to Feb. 1 will be entered into a drawing for a $500 cash prize. The winner of the early bird drawing will be announced on Feb. 2 on Lakes Live on 1340 AM.

Winning the oil lottery and Hitting a gusher

Turns out, finding oil on your land is a little like winning the lottery. Everybody dreams they’ll win the lottery, but most all lottery winners soon come to rue the day they bought the winning ticket. Friends expect freebies. The winners’ job becomes meaningless. Their daily life loses focus. Distant cousins materialize overnight. Offspring squabble over their money. Calls come in from worthy causes the world over.

• Talk about this topic

Start wolf hunts with low quotas

They’re out there — seemingly friendly, encouraging and helpful — wanting to help you invest your money for tantalizing returns. But in some instances, they’re not your friend at all. They’re just out to rip you off.

• Talk about this topic

Thanks to M State for hosting BPA competition

M State, Detroit Lakes, hosted our Region 6 BPA competition on Jan. 25, 2012. Region 6 BPA would like to thank M State and Joanie Zirbes for allowing us to use their facilities and staff to run our competition. BPA (Business Professionals of America) is an extra-curricular activity that competes at the regional, state, and national levels. Students compete in various areas of business. — Jeri Sakrismo, BPA Advisor, Detroit Lakes High School

• Talk about this topic

Park Rapids’ KDKK radio is a ‘great’ alternative station

If your readers are looking for a good alternative to talk, shock, rock, and jock radio, I suggest they do themselves a favor and tune in to KDKK, 97.5 FM out of Park Rapids. Did I say “good” alternative? That’s an understatement. KDKK is a great radio station, its format is unique in the upper Midwest (I travel enough to know), and you won’t find anything like it anywhere including on XM/Sirius, Pandora, or your iTunes Radio.

• Talk about this topic

Courage is a test of physical, moral challenges

On Dec. 31, the Utah Highway Patrol reported that a 46-year-old driver with two nine-year-old girls and a four-year-old boy in his car, slipped off an icy road, rolled down an embankment and landed upside down in the frigid Logan River.

• Talk about this topic

Debt collectors are running amok

Ever feel like the deck is stacked against you? Sometimes you’re right. Cheers to state and federal authorities for cracking down on unethical debt collectors.

• Talk about this topic

Hedonism dominates in these hard economic times

Several years ago, I read a wonderful biography, authored by David McCullough, entitled “Truman.” It won the Pulitzer Prize. President Truman had to deal with a “Do Nothing Congress.” Mr. Truman coined the phrases “The Buck Stops Here” and “I’m Not Giving Them Hell, I’m Just Telling Them (Republican’s) The Truth.” Truman also commented that “Something happens to a republican brain once they reach Washington.”

• Talk about this topic

Waking up classic music fans

Provocative Korean-born violinist Hahn-bin pranced and preened his way across the wood floor of the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks last Sunday as a part of the NDMA’s annual concert series. “American classical music audiences are half asleep,” the unusual prodigy said in a recent interview, adding that it is the performer’s obligation to wake them up.

• Talk about this topic

Stop the budget backfills in MN

Last year, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton proposed cutting general funding to state parks by $2.3 million. The Legislature upped the ante and wound up cutting $6.3 million.

• Talk about this topic

User fees the best option for Vikings stadium

The Vikings and the Legislature will be sifting through the five stadium proposals — Arden Hills, Shakopee, the Metrodome site, and two west of downtown Minneapolis. While the artist’s renderings make each one look pretty, there are clearly two overriding factors in determining the site — cost and funding source.

• Talk about this topic

Be aware of radon’s dangers

January has been designated National Radon Action Month in the U.S. and now is a good time to be aware of possible contamination and prevention.

• Talk about this topic

Singin’ the Broke Tooth Blues

If you’re a fan of the blues, you probably know that they now have little mainstream appeal. Observers say the blues are now passé, past their prime, out of date. How can that be? Are pain, betrayal, broken hearts and discouragement out of date?

• Talk about this topic

Politics at its best and worst

As Republicans and the rest of the nation look toward next week’s Florida primary, several startling developments distinguish this caucus/primary season from those of the past. First, history was made when three different Republicans won the first three contests. Front-runner status has changed after every vote count.

• Talk about this topic

Don’t let winter fun turn tragic

It’s devastating when the Midwest’s winter playland turns deadly and claims the lives of those who are just out for some fun. But the tragic fact of those deaths and so many other fatal snowmobile accidents over the years is that they could have been prevented.