From fall to spring, many area children are on the streets every day making their way to and from school. They walk, bike, ride the school bus or are driven by parents. When a large group of kids converge on one building – or sometimes a complex of buildings – the traffic can be a nightmare and the risks to kids can be numerous. Traffic rule violations put kids in danger. Please be on the lookout for children and be extra cautious when kids are going to and from school. Let’s make the 2010-2011 school year the safest it can be.

I know September 21, 2010 is the last official day of summer but once we pass the Labor Day holiday it feels like summer is over. Our ICTV calendar is less colorful this month. No more summer concerts, parades, or festivals to videotape. School age kids definitely know summer is over because most of them start back to school on Tuesday, September 7. The Bovey Farmer’s Day parade takes place every year on Labor Day. This year the parade begins at 10:30 am. This will also be the last event taped by our summer intern. So what I’m trying to say is get out and enjoy the last big weekend of the summer because the fall season is right around the corner.

Just OutdoorsOn this month’s episode of Just Outdoors host Tom Chapin takes his show outside the ICTV studio. His guest this month is Len Daigle, a retired business owner, who not only loves to catch fish but loves to clean them as well. Len demonstrated how to debone a Northern Pike. Tom and Len agree that many people don’t eat Northern Pike simply because they are unable or reluctant to try to get the bones out of the Northern. Tom mentioned that about 50% of the people he knows are reluctant to eat Northern Pike and the number one reason is because of the bones. This is an instructional video with a step by step demonstration on how to debone Northern Pike. You can look for Just Outdoors to be cablecast every Wednesday evening beginning at 8:00 pm on your local public access channel.

This week as part of our Know Your Community series I interviewed three guests who talked about the Itasca County Habitat for Humanity ReStore. What is ReStore? It’s a home improvement store, selling used and surplus building materials. All profits go toward building Habitat for Humanity homes right in our area. The ReStore is located at 1336 East Hwy 169 in Grand Rapids – across the highway from Midway Bowl There are many ways you can help out the ReStore. You could donate used or surplus materials to ReStore. Your donation will conserve on landfills, eliminate disposal fees and earn you a tax deduction or you could shop at ReStore. When it's time for your own home improvement project, check first at ReStore. They may have just what you are looking for. We also talked about their deconstruction service. This is a service where volunteers come in and take out the items you are looking to replace. Say you’ve got old windows and you want to replace them with new, energy efficient windows. Restore volunteers will come in a remove your old windows and haul them away to the ReStore for future use. Not only do you get the help with removal of your old windows but you also get a tax deduction for your donation of the windows to the ReStore.  read more »