About 25 years ago, my wife and I bought a home 30 minutes west of the Twin Cities. It was nestled between dairy farms and at the end of a gravel road. Thelonger drive to work seemed worth it. Over the next five years, several more “city people” built on our dusty country road. Much to the irritation of the local farmers, the new city people didn’t like the dustiness of the gravel road and campaigned for asphalt roads. My farmer neighbor made the astute comment, “I don’t mind city people moving in, but it seems that no sooner do they get their furniture unpacked, they start trying to make it just like the place they moved away from!”
I’m a transplant to Cook County myself, and when I hear other transplants campaigning for certain improvements I think of the farmer’s comment. Granted, we all want education and communication technology to be the best it can, but let’s be realistic. We’re in a remote area of Minnesota with limited financial resources. The communications and school system probably won’t offer the same opportunities that we had in Minnetonka, Apple Valley, or St. Louis Park. We all knew that when we moved here, right?
Jim Bacon
Grand Marais
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