HOTTEST LOCAL TOPIC OF CONVERSATION

1st Place: Jail expansion
2nd Place: Budget cuts
3rd Place: Sand plant in Chippewa

Honestly, the winners of this year’s hottest local topic came as a complete surprise to us, probably because the only people we really talked to were our mothers, and we have a year’s worth of newspapers in the closet that we really meant to get to, but you know … So anyway, apparently someone wanted to build a jail on the river? What the heck? Didn’t anyone think that maybe that land could be used for more attractive construction? And, get this, everyone was slashing budgets. That totally sucks! The schools, the city, local businesses – jobs and services were lost all over the place. And you’ll never believe this – some Canadians want Chippewa Falls’ sand! For what?! Giant sandboxes? Someone should probably point out that that would bring lots of heavy truck traffic, and would probably leave a big hole when they are done. Good thing we learned about all this in time … – Eric Rasmussen