Each week, Citizen-Tribune staffers take turns writing a column.

Their focus is the choosing of the writer and subject matter can range from local garden features and families of historical significance to getting the gremlins out of our souls; from burying longtime pets and . . . submitting an opinion about that’s going on with our President in Washington, D.C.

That’s what the pre-occupation was in the Citizen-Tribune office this week, resulting from a lot of ‘occupation’ of the column by you folks out there.

People, irate and not irate, called and emailed. People, mostly not irate, stopped in to say their piece. Some felt their response was important enough to warrant letter-to-the-editor space in this weekend’s paper. And those letters are contained herein.

My take on all this?

Our constitutional fathers felt it of utmost importance that the press be allowed to write stories without the government leaning over their shoulders.

Our only rules? To be as accurate and as fair as possible in our coverages.

Expressing opinions? A whole  wider ball field.

My obligation as the local editor?

To ensure my staff writers the protection to do their stories and write their columns. 

And I will defend those liberties to the death.

My obligation is also to ensure those wishing access to our publication to voice their opinions.

And, I will defend that to the death.

Thank you, visitors and callers and e-mailers and letter writers, for stepping forward and being part of the newspaper this week.

You are democracy in action.

A Shoe Cobbler

I’ll bet a hundred horse saddles most people under age 50 don’t know what a shoe cobbler is.

This throw-away society just about ensures the cobblers’ lives on this planet are nearly at an end.

Why? People don’t fix their shoes any more. And a guy who fixes shoes is called a shoe cobbler.

I’ve used cobblers for repairs in the past, but apparently not for the last six years, because I found two worn, very old pairs of shoes stored in a plastic bag in a storage room in my house. Apparently, I’d forgotten to take then to a shoe cobbler for repair.

This week, I decided to try again. I first found a list of repair people in St. Cloud and Central Minnesota and started calling to get an appointment.

Five of the first seven businesses listed in St. Cloud were out of business. The two Buffalo repair firms were out of business. I wasn’t going to travel to Albany or Milaca for a shoe job. (Bob, my longtime cobbler at Shoemenders in Elk River, had gone out of the repair business last fall. At age 80, his hands weren’t up to the tough work any more.)

I finally got a referrall to a fellow in East. St. Cloud, and he returned my call. But he only works on shoes part-time, as his two regular jobs allowed. He asked me to submit pictures of the two pairs of shoes so he could determine if they were worth fixing. That I did; and he called back within an hour, explaining his repair and billing process.

His price tag? Mountainlessly high! But I think I will opt for it to see one remaining shoe cobbler at work.

(No.  You don’t cobble sneakers and thongs.)