Mary Shannon
Carthage Corner
3 hrs ago
Sandy Black’s retirement bucket list included writing a book by her 80th birthday. Since making that list, she has written the “Fun Books by Sandy” trilogy, with the publication of its final installment, “Oh Those Old One-Room Schoolhouses and the Children They Taught,” coinciding with her 82nd birthday.
Black developed a fascination with old structures, such as barns, churches, the one-room schoolhouses, railroad depots and courthouses. Not merely just the physical structures themselves, but the role they played in society, the activities people did inside them, what may have happened in early America within these buildings that may have helped frame the nation as it is today.
Tuesday offers some residents the opportunity to engage in direct democracy.
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Brainerd Dispatch | ×
Photo illustration, Metro Creative Graphics, Inc.
Some central Minnesota residents will have the opportunity to participate in direct democracy during township elections Tuesday, March 9.
Tuesday, known as Township Day, represents a key gathering for townships across the state, of which there are approximately 1,781 in all, home to roughly 914,174 residents. It’s an opportunity to vote on township tax levies as well as vote on and discuss any major ballot measures at the annual meeting. Some townships also elect town officers.
The tradition of a town meeting has roots in colonial America. New England town meetings gave citizens a way to exercise local authority. Those meetings were especially important in the development of democracy because it emphasized problem-solving through group efforts, a news release from the Minnesota Association of Townships stated.