FROM MY BACKYARD

By Byron Higgin, Mascot Publisher

Last week I got an unexpected surprise email.
It reminded me of a special young lady from this area who turned the head of this old newspaperman.
Her name was Jodi McLain when I met her. She is now a teacher in the Siren, WI school system and is married to a Grantsburg, WI boy, John Richards. They have a baby daughter.
The email began, “I have been enjoying your additions to the paper.  My husband was raised in the area and has been a long time subscriber and we will continue.”
It went on to say,
“We live near Taunton and I still remember the day that I came home from work in Marshall and sat down at the kitchen table for a cup of coffee and some wind down time with the days mail.
“The weekly papers were laying there waiting to be read and I picked up the Mascot. While going over the headlines of the front page I noticed that the paper had been sold to this Byron Higgin.  
“Thinking this just had to be a different person than the one who's name I knew from Wisconsin!!  But no, it was the same person ... (now how does she know me you are asking)  Well, I am the mother of Jodi McLain who worked for you for a while.”
Immediately I remembered Jodi’s mom and I began to think about Jodi and her influence on the paper in Grantsburg.
Her mother wrote, “I remember the time the tornado went through Siren. I could not reach either of my girls who lived up there and was very concerned. I called the newspaper office and was lucky the call went through.  You answered and assured me that you had talked to Jodi and that she was OK. You have no idea how wonderful that was for a Mom from so far away to hear. My husband thought that we would have to buy new carpet from the pacing I was doing.”
I must tell you about Jodi.
The moment I interviewed her I knew I would hire her. She was heads and shoulders above the other three top candidates I’d interviewed.
Jodi went right to work and uncovered a huge story of work place incompetence that stands as one of the best journalist pieces done in Burnett County.
She also did a political piece on mis-use of political fund donations that turned heads during a vital election year.
So when Jodi’s mom brought this up, I had warm memories about Jodi.
Her mom went on to say, “It was a very proud moment for us to read the nice comments about our grandson Jon Anderson this past week in the paper.  While it is a very tense time for us when he is on those bulls, we are very proud of him.  He has a special talent not only in riding the bulls but also in handling horses.  He spent the summer breaking horses and has a talent for knowing how to work with them.”
So Jodi’s mom also has a connection to bullriding Jon Anderson. Wow!
Her final comment was:
“Welcome (back) to our corner of the state ... enjoy the special people and events.”
Signed:
Rose Anderson (Mrs. Nils Anderson,
have to make sure that Grandpa is included too)

LAUGH A LITTLE: A soldier was given the job of hunting for buffalo.
To help him, he hired an Indian Scout. The two of them set off on their journey to find buffalo.
After riding awhile, the Indian gets off his horse, puts his ear to the ground and says "Humm, buffalo come".
The soldier scans the area with his binoculars, but sees nothing.
He is confused and says to the Indian, "I do not see anything, how do you know buffalo come"?
And the Indian replies, "ear sticky".

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: As my Ole Pappy used to say, “The journey is the reward.”
Ole Pappy knew what he was talking about. The longer we live in life, it seems the more we are rewarded for what happened in the past. Thanks Ole Pappy.