By Melanie Brubaker Mazur

Times editor

I love Independence Day. We honor our past and have a good time, but there is an important theme underneath it all - we live in the country with the most liberties guaranteed to itS citizens, and those freedoms are written into our U.S. Constitution.

Can't beat that.

To everyone who helped organize the 4th of July: I thought it was a bang-up event this year. I even had nice visitors stop in the office Monday and rave about our little town and how much fun the 4th was. It takes a lot of town time and volunteer effort to get everything done, and I hope we can acknowledge everyone who worked hard on this year's events.

Bayfield Parks and Recreation and town staff, the Lions Club and Pine River Rotary, the pie sale at Calvary Presbyterian, all of the folks who work on parking and along the parade route - there are a lot of people doing their part.

So whether you came downtown or retreated to the mountains, I hope you had a wonderful holiday.

One more note on the trespassing incident I discussed last week. A property owner on County Road 510 had a bicycle tour stop and use his place for a pit stop, without his permission. I ran into the property owner on Sunday at Mini Merc, and he said he had tracked down the bicycle ride in question. I can't remember what it was called. Anyway, he said he called the tour organizer, who apologized and said it was an oversight, and they had meant to call and get his permission before pulling onto his property and setting up portable toilets.

At least he got an apology. Maybe we should organize a bicycle tour to raise funds to increase awareness of property rights.

Joe McIntyre, marshal in Bayfield, also said he still hasn't identified the little angels who were captured on a homeowner's security camera in Dove Ranch on June 23 going through his pickup. If you have any information, please call the marshal's office at 884-9636. The footage can be viewed on our web page, www.pinerivertimes.com, and facebook page.

Thanks for reading.