Thumbs up: To the Mankato Area Foundation and organizers and contributors to the Miracle League of North Mankato for an impressive effort to raise $600,000 for a new, one of a kind Miracle League field next to Caswell Park in North Mankato.

The Mankato Area Foundation announced this week a donation of $100,000 toward the field, and that comes after an earlier donation of $40,000. Much of the funding for the field came from an endowment from the late Al and Erla Fallenstein, who were killed in a car accident in 2003. Taylor Corp. and owner Glen Taylor also made a $100,000 donation to the park as well, according Miracle League of North Mankato President Justin Mathes, the Fallenstein’s son-in-law.

The Fallensteins had left an endowment supporting the field through the Mankato Area Foundation. Al Fallenstein, who was confined to a wheelchair after an accident in 1960, was a top executive and friends with Glen Taylor. Their teaming with the community to raise the money will bring the region one of the best Miracle League fields in the nation.

It will not only accompany handicapped children who want to play baseball, but is big enough to accommodate handicapped adults as well and will include lighting for night games. It’s another community asset and one that will be appreciated by those individuals with a passion for America’s pastime, whatever their disabilities.

Don’t chip away at smoking ban

Thumbs down: To Minnesota House members who late this week backed a plan that would allow smoking shacks outside bars and restaurants.

The measure, approved 73-59, was tacked on in the 11th hour to a large budget bill.

Since the smoking ban in bars and restaurants went into effect six months ago, some have been pushing for the Legislature to loosen the rules.

Under the House bill, people could smoke in outside buildings where no food or drinks would be served.

Lawmakers should not be retreating on the smoking ban, an important health improvement measure that is widely supported by Minnesotans.

Allowing outdoor smoking buildings would, as one lawmaker noted, lead to “mischief.” Some would find ways to allow food and drinks inside. It would also put most bars — that don’t have the physical outdoor space to build a smoking building — on a different playing field, no doubt leading for calls for further relaxation of the rules.

The health and environmental benefits of the new smoking restrictions are clear and appreciated by most Minnesotans.

The Senate and Gov. Pawlenty need to say no to back-peddling on the smoking ban.

Forty years later, King still revered

Thumbs up: To the commemorative events staged throughout the country to remember slain ’60s civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who was cut down 40 years ago on April 4, 1968, by an assassin’s bullet. King’s impact on America will be discussed passionately for at least another 40 years. April 4, 2008, showed us that millions of Americans remain touched by his life and his tireless efforts to bring the American dream to everyone regardless of race or social status.

The Memphis motel where King was shot was turned into something of a shrine on Friday, as Americans throughout the day came to remember what occurred there 40 years ago and to ponder the meaning of King’s life.

Much is discussed in 2008 what King — had he lived — would have thought about the Iraq War, about the present state of race relations, about how far we have come. Well, we have indeed come far. But there remains many dreamers, like King, who believe we still have far to go. The events of Friday remind us that no one quite like Martin Luther King has been able to step in and fill the leadership vacuum.