OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES

It should be no surprise to anyone reading this column that I am a fierce advocate for the First Amendment to the Constitution, which protects the Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, and a Free Press.

So last week, instead of spending the morning and early afternoon eating way too much food, or drinking more beer than I do in a year, I spent time volunteering at the Newspaper Museum at the Minnesota State Fair.

Admittedly, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but after years of hearing about the museum from Rick Bussler, the publisher of this paper and board member of the museum, I decided it would be worth volunteering.

I was a little nervous going into it, after I found out from Bussler I would be rolling up posters and making hats out of newspapers.

Those who know me well know I am a bull in a China closet, as I have been told since I was a little kid, and arts and crafts aren’t my expertise.

But it was a small price to pay to promote, in my view, the most important amendment to the United States Constitution.

For starters, the freedom of religion is literally what my home state of Rhode Island was founded on.

Nearly 150 years before the founding fathers signed their names to the Declaration of Independence, Roger Williams founded Rhode Island in 1636 to become a place for religious freedom.

Then there is the freedom of the press, something that is under attack currently at every corner of this country and this world. It’s much easier for some these days to yell “fake news” or retaliate against “unfriendly” news outlets, than to tell the public the truth.

For a few short hours, it was refreshing to hear from so many folks who support the First Amendment.

When I got there, I learned I would be paired on the “Editorial Desk” with Joe Spear, a longtime editor of the Mankato Free Press.

I’ve known of Spear for a long time, going back to my days covering St. James.

At that time, the Free Press had a larger staff and was able to cover more regional news, including places like St. James in Watonwan County, which had half the population of Mankato.

My mother-in-law also has been a subscriber to the paper for the vast majority of her life, so I continue to read it when I visit.

Spear is also a major advocate of the First Amendment, winning prestigious awards for his advocacy.

He is retiring soon and told me he plans to get more involved with advocating for more open governments and the press. What a refreshing treat it was to hear this. Here is a man who spent his whole life protecting a free press, and instead of putting his feet up and washing his hands of it, he wants to get back into the fight.

Throughout the day, I sat and rolled up First Amendment posters, which seemed to be only less popular at the fair than Sweet Martha’s Cookies.

I couldn’t believe how many people were in awe of the beautiful First Amendment posters hot off the press at the museum.

A whole bunch of people came up to me and asked for a poster, to the point I was at times distributing them right from the table I was working at, while Spear answered people's questions about newspapers.

My wife worked from home and stopped by the fair close to the end of my shift and waited for me so we could get a late lunch.

While sitting on the bench outside the museum, she had many people come up to her thinking she was a volunteer and thanked her for helping and for standing up for 1A. 

My day ended around 2:30 p.m., when  Al Lohman, a longtime journalist and editor of the Sun Patriot, a community paper in the west metro, came to relieve me.

I spoke with him for a few minutes, learning he has been in the business over four decades.

Lohman and Spear have each spent over four decades in the business. They’ve seen a lot, and have been through even more.

But they proudly helped at the museum last week, with smiles on their faces, because the First Amendment is worth protecting.