Off with the pilgrim hats,
I’m ready for Santa suits
This time of year, columnists typically write about how Christmas comes too soon and Thanksgiving is lost in the shuffle. … Blah, blah, blah.
I can’t help it, but I’m one of the guilty people who starts thinking about Christmas by about the beginning of November — what to eat, what to give, what to get, even what board games to play with the family.
Just because I look forward to Christmas doesn’t mean that I support the idea of merchandising jack-o’-lanterns next to reindeer, though.
It’s more fun to anticipate the season, even if it’s a little early, than to have it forced on us for half a year.
One way I won’t get into the Christmas spirit is by venturing out the day after Thanksgiving. Even in Luverne the crowds can get a little feisty.
I know a few people in retail (outside Luverne) and they had some interesting things to say about the big shopping day. An elderly woman was trampled in a store aisle, and in another case, store doors were broken by a mass of people inching their way to the entry.
I admit that I get sucked into consumerism as much as the next person, but my defenses to overindulgence are up — even though I love Christmas and everything it means.
I’m not the only one who goes through this thought process. The Friday after Thanksgiving is International Buy Nothing Day, sometimes called No Shop Day.
The purpose of the day is to encourage people to reflect on their spending habits and to think about the effects of consumerism on society and on each of our finances.
Even though I’m not ready to jump into a spending frenzy, I will spend my Christmas budget in our local businesses, and I hope our readers do the same.
About that column
on conflicts of interest…
It looks like some people who saw my last column may be reading between the lines to get messages I didn’t intend. I’ve gotten verbal comments from people who understood my point, but the paper’s letter writers may differ.
I did not write about my opinions on utility collection policies. In fact, I don’t really have an opinion on the topic. The interpretation that unpaid utilities are a form of landlord subsidy came from a qualified attorney, not from me.
What my column did cover was conflicts of interest. I said that city councilmen should be open about them when conflicts arise during official discussion.
Wanting them to do so shouldn’t be seen as me becoming a barking watchdog or subscribing to some unattainable, lofty ideal; it doesn’t ask that no one speak on topics of which they are knowledgeable.
Disclosing conflicts of interest is the law, which I also didn’t write.
I held up Mayor Glen Gust as an example of some things that can be interpreted as conflicts of interest. Gust said he didn’t think it necessary that I write about the topic again, but I think it’s fair that I do.
In the column, I pointed out that he was a firefighter and landlord, two issues that have been discussed at recent council meetings. The problem is, that at the meeting when Gust said he was a landlord, he meant in the past.
Even though he has property that other people live or work in, it’s not a technical landlord-tenant relationship. And he’s sold or is in the process of selling properties that could have generated any utility costs for him, which makes the conflict of interest a stretch in that example.