By Cliff Buchan It’s only been in recent years that I’ve become fully aware of the need and personal responsibility to say thanks to Vietnam veterans. It’s the war of my generation and in the years that it raged to its most brutal levels, I was safely removed, a college student watching from afar. In [...]
Final Draft by Cliff Buchan
Stadium debate, funding plans way too complicated
Cliff Buchan Final Draft Is it just me or is everyone getting tired of the seemingly endless stadium stories and funding plans bouncing from the north metro to downtown Minneapolis? This issue is getting way too complicated than it need be. There should be a couple of clear threads that we can all agree on. [...]
Hope grows for a permanent FL History Center
Cliff Buchan Final Draft Hope may yet be alive for a permanent Forest Lake History Center. Signs are pointing up as a group of concerned citizens from the Forest Lake area is brainstorming to find a way to create a foundation for a history center or museum. Local volunteers found out last summer there is [...]
Saying good-bye and giving thanks
By Cliff Buchan Final Draft It’s a short two-minute drive from our house to the vet clinic. And that was a good thing. When it came to vet trips for Jake the golden retriever, they were frequent. Some were routine, others not so. From the time Jake was an eight-week-old pup, he was a regular [...]
Levy vote shows public supports FL schools
Cliff Buchan Final Draft What a difference a year can make. After seeing its operating levy proposal soundly defeated a year ago, last week’s ballot question on the operating levy renewal passed easily. It was a disaster a year ago as the district’s levy proposal was defeated by more than 5000 votes. On Nov. 8, [...]
Some Halloween fun for a good cause in FL
Cliff Buchan Final Draft No, there wasn’t a gorilla running loose in Forest Lake last month. There was a story about just such a creature over four issues of The Times, but it was all in fun. It was something we may not do often enough. Some may have taken the four-week installment a bit [...]
Local leaders are proof FL schools have performed well
Cliff Buchan Final Draft All too often we hear and read about the poor condition of our schools, its students and the products the school turns out in form of graduates. Some of the criticisms are valid. No institution is perfect and there will be bad apples in every barrel. There is no other way [...]
Marching band spirit far from dead in FL
North Lakes Academy marchers carry on tradition If anyone in the Forest Lake area has concluded that the tradition of marching band is a thing of the past in this community, don’t tell that to the staff and students of North Lakes Academy Charter School here. The public charter school’s marching band program is alive [...]
Let’s find a way to keep FL’s museum
For parts of the past two months, the Forest Lake area has been treated to a taste of the past. But will that taste treat now be lost? After its June and July run at space in the downtown courtesy of Lake Area Bank, the Forest Lake History Museum will end this Saturday. If you [...]
Don’t let this music man pass you by
2nd summer play now on stage at FL High School By Cliff Buchan There are many advantages of living in the Forest Lake area. You can start with the lakes and the schools. It is a solid area for retail shopping and services. Overall, the quality of life here is good and the population growth [...]
