Opinion

Warning—pro-life opinion ahead. I want to give a warning in case you don’t want to read my political opinion.

During game three of the 1932 World Series, baseball great Babe Ruth made a gesture seen in photographs around the country. With a count of two strikes, Ruth pointed toward center field. On the next pitch, Babe hit a home run into the stands exactly where he had pointed.

I like sports, but I’m not a fanatic. I don’t go nuts for baseball, but I’ve enjoyed taking high school baseball pictures on occasion (like when CJ can’t be there) and do have a basic understanding of the game. That reminds me, thank you to the guys in the press boxes at baseball and football games for answering all my questions— I just want to know what to call a play when I write a photo caption.

This month we are celebrating Linus Van Pelt from Charlie Brown’s Peanuts gang. As many of you know, the character Linus was based off creator Charles Schultz’s friend, colleague, and Sleepy Eye native, Linus Mauer. Charles and Linus worked together in Minneapolis as cartoon artists and instructors. The character Linus had a great obsession with the “Great Pumpkin” which he believed would appear on Halloween. He also celebrates his birthday in October, so we are going to honor both and have a “Great Pumpkin Trick or Treating birthday party for Linus on Monday, Oct. 31 from 3 to 6 p.m. on the north original steps of the library. Come take your picture with Linus and take home birthday cake and other treats.

October is the month where everyone tries to scare me. They plant ghosts and goblins and witches and skeletons in their front yard. And, yes, if you’re into property values, then clutter is indeed a bit scary. Then again, if the goal really is to frighten me, why on earth would you dress these decorations up in funny costumes? I’ve seen skeletons sporting scarecrow garb. Are they trying to scare me or the crows? I’ve seen ghosts donning sunglasses, Goblins rocking Norwegian sweaters, and witches looking less like they’re about to take to the air than they’re about to sweep up.

In a hilarious episode of the classic television series “Seinfeld,” Jerry is trying to have a healthy breakfast and accidentally squirts his grapefruit in the left eye of his friend, George Costanza (Jason Alexander). George goes around the entire day winking at the worst possible times when asked specific questions, causing people to think he is either covering up for someone or flirting.

I am going to explain a couple of different situations that have been popping up lately in this month’s article. I am going to talk about the legal side of this and the safety side as well. My goal is to educate and make these situations safer.