State Debate: Crestfallen? Young Brewers will just get better

A 10/6 roundup of editorials in state papers

Compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  10/06/2008 8:54 am

Crestfallen? Young Brewers will just get better, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

It was quite a ride. Let's do it again real soon.

The Brewers' season ended disappointingly Sunday but Wisconsinites should take comfort -- and no small amount of joy -- that the team went postseason for the first time in 26 years.

Much of the credit goes to newish owner Mark Attanasio, who pledged to spend money to build a winning team and actually did.

Thrills? CC Sabathia pitching a full game, on too little rest, to clinch the wild card berth in a win made all the more gratifying because it was against the Cubs. Tempted to beat up an obviously weary CC for a disappointing start in the second game in Philadelphia? Who got us that far? CC.

Don't forget the Brewers' No. 3 and No. 4 batters, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. Braun finished the season with 37 homers and 106 RBI; Fielder at 34 and 102. Our hope is that next year the Brewers can develop their small-ball skills to complement their proven home run prowess. And remember: It's a young team that will likely just get better.

Thanks, Brewers, for a fabulous season.

British go graphic in smoking battle, notes the Kenosha News.

As Kenosha residents prepare to vote on an advisory referendum on banning smoking in workplaces, the British are using a different tactic in the battle against cigarette smoking.

Starting last week, cigarette packs carry photos of all the awful things that can happen to you from smoking -- lung cancer, throat cancer, heart surgery, and gum disease.

The campaign comes at a good time because London's high-flying investment banks and brokerages have been hit as hard as our own and, as a result, according to the Associated Press, cigarette and alcohol sales are rising.

Countywide smoking ban for all workplaces is right choice, says the La Crosse Tribune.

Just do it.

That's more than a shoe company slogan, it's good advice to the La Crosse County Board on the topic of enacting a law to create smoke-free workplaces throughout La Crosse County.

The "just don't go there if you don't like it" argument doesn't work in the case of workers who have to go to such places to earn a living. It's simply not fair and not right to expose employees to such an unwanted health hazard.

We often hear the "it will put me out of business" argument. We can't find much evidence to support that conclusion, but in some of the smoking ban states there is evidence some businesses see increases in revenue by making themselves more appealing to non-smokers.

The residents of La Crosse County shouldn't have to wait for state legislators to clear the air. Not when we can do so ourselves.

Private agreements shouldn't scuttle rights, says the Racine Journal Times.

Scott Zuniga is only the latest victim. The Mount Pleasant resident, who was threatened with action by his property owners' association because he flew a Mexican flag, joins the people in New Jersey who sued to place political signs on their property and the boy in Tarpon Springs, Fla., whose family sued because association rules there prevented him from playing outside. It is one thing to make sure that neighborhoods are well kept; it is quite another, and quite wrong, to intrude in areas which are already and better governed by state and federal constitutions.

The reason we have a Constitution and state constitutions is to make sure that individual rights are not trampled by a small group of would-be dictators or political fads, and these public rights should not be subject to elimination through private contracts.

Compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  10/06/2008 8:54 am