Happy July 4 – Independence Day! Have a safe holiday. Pat and I will be volunteering at the museum on Saturday, July 4, so if your in town, stop by for a visit. The museum is open 1-4 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

***

The Class of 2020 parade, held Wednesday night June 24, gave them a small amount of recognition, but was absent the crowd that a normal ceremony draws. It was however recognition that all graduation classes deserve. Congratulations Class of 2020. Hopefully, there can still be a formal ceremony giving you normal graduation recognition, with friends and family present.

***

Did you know? According to a National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report, it has been found that 1 in 4 Americans over the age of 65 is socially isolated. Social isolation has been found to increase the risk of conditions ranging from dementia to heart disease. To fight social isolation, why not get involved in volunteering with a community organization, or join a church group, that you can become active with? +++ U. S. insurance companies have $770 billion in reserve. 40% of U. S. companies have business interruption insurance, that should cover any interruption during the pandemic. I wonder how many businesses will double dip – getting both a government payment and an insurance payment? +++ Here's an eye opener! 800 million people watch live video, Instagram and Facebook daily. By comparison, about 102 million watched this year’s Super Bowl in the U. S. +++ I was introduced to Zoom meetings back in March. Since then, I learned that 200 million people participate in daily meetings via Zoom. Zoom started in 2011 as a private endeavor, and stayed that way for eight years, before it became popular among businesses and their customers. Zoom family meetings have also become popular.

***

The number of COVID -19 scammers has increased drastically during the pandemic. Here are a few ideas for dealing with COVID -19 scammers: 1.) Get rid of unsolicited offers no matter where they come to you from – a telephone call, the mail, or on your computer. 2) Don’t trust strangers no matter how nice they are. If they mention financial issues of any kind, you need to be on increased alert, as that is usually the first step in trying to get at your money. 3.) Use your family, friends and neighbors as a sounding board if you are tempted to take anyone up on an offer. 4.) Verify any claims that someone is from the IRS, or a particular bank, when they are asking for any personal information. It has been reported that there have been 18,235 scams since COVID-19 and these scams have resulted in the loss of $13.44 million. Don’t be a victim and become a statistic.

***

Corner Booth talk occasionally includes cars and fuel mileage. In the past year, several of the participants have purchased new automobiles. Here are a couple of AAA items related to fuel. 1.) Should you keep your gas tank at least a quarter full? The answer is yes. Most vehicles have the fuel pump in the fuel tank to help prevent vapor lock, which can occur at high temperatures. So, you need enough fuel in the tank to keep the pump submerged, which helps extend its life and keep the engine running smoothly. 2.) Is it better to fuel up in the morning? No. According to the myth, when the air is cooler (early morning), gas is more dense and can provide more “oomoh” in your vehicle engine and fuel system. However, because most service stations store their gasoline underground, fuel remains the same temperature throughout the day.

***

According to material I recently received at the Annual Meeting of the Clark County Economic Development Corporation and Tourism Bureau, direct visitor spending in Clark County was $32.4 million in 2019 and that was a 5.48% increase over 2018. 362 jobs, with a total personal income of $7.2 million, were supported by visitors to Clark County in 2019 and that was a 2.35% increase over 2018. Visitors to Clark County generated $3.2 million in state and local taxes during 2019, which was a 4.5% increase over 2018. Tourism is a much bigger business than most of us think or realize! This meeting celebrated 30 years of Service and Partnership of the corporation and was held at the Munson Bridge Winery near Withee.

***

Since 1995, the West Central Regional Planning Commission has been administering the Revolving Loan Funds, that had previously been operated on a city by city basis. Now it is known as the Regional Business Fund (RBF), and is a non-profit economic development corporation, whose purpose is to promote business and economic development in west central Wisconsin, by providing business financing tools. The Fund serves the counties of Barron, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Eau Claire, Polk and St. Croix. Recently, the RBF published their 2019 Annual Report, which included the following regional statistics: 45 low interest loans were awarded to 39 businesses in the amount of $3.3 million, to assist with financing in West Central Wisconsin. +++ 591 jobs were created, or retained, from businesses receiving RBF assistance. +++ 24 start-up businesses, who traditionally have had difficulty accessing credit, were able to obtain credit. +++ $23.9 million in private funds were leveraged. +++ Three downtown buildings were renovated via the Facade Loan Program. Information on any of these programs is available at City Hall or staff there will refer interested businesses to the staff operating these funds at the regional level.

***

Smile time. A police car pulls up in the front of Grandma Kathy’s house. Grandpa gets out and the police officer explained that the elderly man said he was lost in the park and couldn’t find his way home. “Louis,” said grandma, “you’ve been going to that park for over 25 years, how come you forgot how to get home today?” Getting close to grandma, so the police officer couldn’t hear, grandpa whispers, “I wasn’t lost, I was just too tired to walk home.” +++ From a home-school parent: If you see my kids crying outside and picking weeds just keep on driving. They’re on a field trip. +++ From Lauren Graham, “Life doesn’t often spell things out for you, or give you what you want exactly when you want it: otherwise it wouldn’t be called life. It would be called a “vending machine.” +++ Ego is just an overdressed insecurity. +++ Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. +++ No matter where you are in the world, somebody will be worse off than you. And if you think like that, you will always have the mind-set to give back. +++ “Are you aware all jobs require you to do things you’d rather not do? That’s why they have to pay you.” ++ “Managers are like cats in a litter box. They instinctively shuffle thing around to conceal what they’ve done.” +++ Here’s one that sounds familiar: A guy changed his password at work and didn’t write it down. He called tech support and was asked to hold while the tech looked it up. A minute later he came back on: “Does stupid sound familiar?”