giving a dam*

Today I was reading windomnews.com trying to keep up with the worthy news around town (and no, I'm not being paid to talk about windomnews.com). I figure if I'm going to transform Windom I better know what's going on around this place and who has the mind for national news these days; I can only hear about Mel Gibson's character revealing rants and Lindsay Lohan's overdue jail time for so long. Can we move on from these celebrities already? Please? As I was making my way through the top stories and sports I noticed the box titled "Most Viewed" and "Recently Commented". I was pleasantly surprised to see my letter to the editor made the most viewed box (very excited), but what I really wanted to read was the recently commented tab, so I clicked on it hoping to find something of interest. The one thing that caught my eye and has been of interest to me in the past is the Windom dam. I'm not saying anything new when I say something needs to be done with the dam and, to point out the obvious, it doesn't have the same appeal it had when I was a child. I don't think the lack of appeal comes from the dam itself, but from the uninviting, orange plastic fencing right in front of the very bench I'd once wasted nights sitting on. It is now, for lack of better words, nothing spectacular. As I was reading the short article about Windom seeking bonding to help the dam, I was happy to see comments. I read the comments, taking into consideration both sides I was reading, but what was so exciting to me is that I felt people actually, well, giving a dam* (pun definitely intended here) about the town we live in. What was written wasn't the most pretty or optimistic. In fact, I think there were some fingers being pointed and maybe even the tallest finger on the hand being pointed toward the sky in some of those words written, but I was happy to see someone actually caring and sharing opinions. I'm not going to give any of my opinions about the dam or what we should do about it, but I am going to encourage people to give a dam*. Let's find the facts and help Windom finally come to a conclusion about what we need to do to get rid of that hideous orange fencing and "Dangerous: Keep Out" sign in front of our part of the Des Moines River, which is one of the important keys to making this city a destination hot spot.

I also encourage you to become a Follower of this blog (if you haven't already). It is real simple and would help me out greatly. It will take a minute, just ask you a few simple questions, and like that, you are supporting my efforts. Because I have to be a goal setter in this project, I would like to see at least 50 official followers by the time I have to meet with the CVB and Chamber in mid August. Can I do that? I'm thinking this to act as a petition of sorts. Remember, just a short minute of your time and I promise they don't ask for your social security number.