To get ALL the news from the Edge of the Frontier, subscribe to NORTHERN HERALD. Details on Home Page: http://members.aol.com/nhrld/index.html ****************************************************************** Copyright (c) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 by Northern Herald and Northern Herald Publications, Inc. MEDIA AND OTHER USERS: See Copyright Info and Limited Permission to Use - Revised 9/6/97 - at the end of this file. ****************************************************************** THE LIBRARY - VOLUME 2 (partial) 02/24/97 - 10/12/97 THE NORTHERN HERALD LIBRARY OF ARCHIVED ISSUES ************************************ FULL TEXT FOLLOWS TABLES OF CONTENTS ************************************ There is no index, nor is one needed. If you are researching a particular subject, or person, use the FIND utility in your browser's EDIT menu (at top of your screen) to locate stories dealing with your topic. Contents are in order - are not hypertext - just SCROLL DOWN to find what you want - this file is cumulative and voluminous - you may find it expeditious to FIND (from your EDIT menu on Explorer and certain other browsers) for a keyword in the headline (as listed in these Contents), or to download and then search): CONTENTS - BY ISSUE (DESCENDING): -------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 09/22/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 21 (delayed until 9/24) -------------------------------------------------------- DNR SUED Employee Suit Asks $50,000+ For Firing Due To Whistleblowing on Thefts GRAHAM ASSAILS STRIB EMPLOYEE GRIEVANCES, INJURIES CONTINUE AT BAGLEY HARDWOOD PRODUCTS, INC. FUN FOR ALL AT LEONARD BASH! NEVIS C&C REVITALIZES, ANNOUNCES TRAIL FOR STUDS Editorials - Opinion TAKING BACK THE LIES Letters to the Editor DIVORCE VETERAN ALERTS MEN Guest Column JUVENILE CRIME: A FAMILY PROBLEM? by Scott D. Noble HOME SCHOOL WORKSHOP -------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 09/01/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 20 (delayed until 9/4) -------------------------------------------------------- HOT AIR TECHNOLOGY FEATURED AT EQUIPMENT SHOW BEMIDJI TO SHIP RUBBISH TO SAUK CENTRE Juvenile Convicted in Alleged Rottwieler Hammering Incident TAX GUY FOR EMPLOYERS ONLY TAXES ADJUSTED FOR 6 OF 7 APPEALING BELTRAMI RESIDENTS EDITORIALS - OPINION QUALITY HAS TO COME FIRST Look Closely at School Bond & Tax Ballot Questions Only 36% of Bemidji Students Tested Got "C" Equivalent in Reading BAREFOOT AND PREGNANT Contemporary Ladies' Perspective, Advice and Tips by Wanda Yoemans DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OR ACCIDENT? Letters to the Editor WHAT RIGHTS HAVE FATHERS? ALL IN A NIGHT'S WORK A Northern Herald Special Feature CITIZEN-OFFICERS MAKE BEMIDJI STREETS, NEIGHBORHOODS SAFER An evening in the work of the Bemidji Police Department EVENTIDE "ROUGHING IT" by Mark Twain --------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 08/11/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 19 --------------------------------------------- CASS COUNTY CHIEF SHERIFF'S DISPATCHER CHARGED, RESIGNS MISCOMMUNICATION LEADS TO INJURY AT BELTRAMI JAIL KPRM-KDKK CELEBRATES 35TH AT PARK RAPIDS GRAND RAPIDS DRIVER FACES TOUGHEST RACE. EDITORIAL-OPINION Myth vs. Fact WHAT MOVES THE MEDIA? Northern Herald Answers Common Questions BAREFOOT AND PREGNANT Contemporary Ladies' Perspective, Advice and Tips by Wanda Yoemans FOR PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT QUALITY EDUCATION, HOME SCHOOLING MAY BE AN OPTION. ----------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 07/21/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 18 - CONTENTS ----------------------------------------------- CORRUPT HUBBARD CO. SOLID WASTE WORKER CORRECTED AT BOARD MEET PARENTS ADDRESS BAGLEY SCHOOL CONCERNS BELTRAMI CO. BUMS STRIKE AT PATTEN PLACE BEFORE COMING TO ONE OF NATION'S BEST SMALL TOWNS, BETTER REMOVE HOOD ORNAMENT KUBIAK COLLECTS SOUP LABELS FOR BAGLEY KIDS Won National Award for Playground Label Drive Promotion DOMESTIC RIGHTS COALITIONS OF BEMIDJI AND GRAND RAPIDS (ad) EDITORIAL Really Reforming Welfare LACK OF JOBS THEORY DOESN'T HOLD WATER PRINCIPLES OF CONFEDERACY (ad) WHITE OAK - IT'S THE PLACE TO BE AUGUST 1st-3rd ----------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 06/30/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 17 - CONTENTS Issue delayed to 7/2/97 ----------------------------------------------- MASON BROTHERS HELD AT RED LAKE; QUESTIONS RIDDLE CASE WOMEN'S SHELTER RESIDENT FAILS TO APPEAR ON PERJURY SPIRITUAL WALK AT RED LAKE JULY 2 ROTTWIELER HAMMERING PICKS UP IN NYMORE NH Restaurant Review THE GREAT WALL of Chinese food! WOMEN'S SHELTER RECEIVES, SPENDS OVER $1/2 MILLION IN YEAR Editorials - Opinion BEMIDJI TO ELIMINATE 1/2 OF PARKING SPACES Letters to the Editor WHAT PRICE, OUR LIBERTY? MINNESOTA SUMMER FESTS ARRIVE! MUSKIE DAYS AT NEVIS: JULY 12-14 DINNER THEATRE AT HACKENSACK KICKS OFF 2ND SEASON EFFIE TO HOST 42ND NORTH STAR STAMPEDE CRUISER, DUBOIS TAKE 1ST IN "TASTE OF HACK" CANOES. (AD) Now Available by Direct Mail-The Book: PRINCIPLES OF CONFEDERACY CONNECTIONS . . . E-mail re: The NH Internet site Shooting the Fireworks: Ins and outs of 4th of July photography, from the New York Institute of Photography New on the Net: Golfers can keep track of handicaps WITH A GRAIN OF SAND DOMESTIC RIGHTS COALITION (AD) - Follow-up - DIRKES/DOC-FIRST FED/US LIFE CASE "EVAPORATES" - Follow-up - RUBY HARRASSMENT CONTINUES ----------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 06/09/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 16 - CONTENTS (Issue delayed to 6/11 due to late breaking news on lead story) ----------------------------------------------- ANOTHER KIDNAPPING BY SHELTER CLAIMED Bemidji Evergreen House, White Earth Reservation also Implicated SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT CAUSES INSURANCE CONFUSION -Follow Up- BONITA JONES, WOMEN'S SHELTER RESIDENT, PERJURY SET FOR TRIAL -Follow Up- MONDRY ISSUES SUMMARY JUDGEMENT FOR FIRST FEDERAL PAUL BUNYAN DAYS AT AKELEY TO BE JUNE 27-29 TOURIST'S GUIDE TO AKELEY FOOD & LODGING EDITORIALS - OPINION PROPERTY RIGHTS: THEY SOMETIMES DEPEND UPON WHOSE PROPERTY IT IS. Letters to the Editor DIVORCE - MINNESOTA STYLE -Follow Up- DUERST SENTENCED -Follow Up- HARR PLEADS GUILTY TO DARKHOUSE THEFTS GRAND RAPIDS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TRIES, FAILS TO SILENCE HAMM. Recipe Box WE WOULDN'T HAVE BELIEVED IT: BEEF STEAK HERTER ----------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 05/19/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 15 - CONTENTS ----------------------------------------------- FIREWORKS ERUPT AT TEC FATE OF H.R. 1009 (GUN LAW REPEALER) IS BEFORE HOUSE CRIME SUBCOMMITTEE FOLLOW UP HARR FAILS TO APPEAR, CASE CONTINUED NORTHERN HERALD ISSUES SHARES DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? OKLAHOMA REP QUESTIONS BOMING INVESTIGATION COUNTY MAKES $150 AS EDUCATORS DUKE IT OUT OVER CLAIMED ADULTERY FIRST FEDERAL - USLIFE CASE CONTINUED CASE BEFORE MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT ALLEGES FAKE EVIDENCE BY ITASCA COUNTY OFFICERS EDITORIALS - OPINION FORS: ONLY ABUSE WAS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE GUEST EDITORIAL Taking Responsibility for One's Actions UNIVERSITY STUDENT GETS EDUCATION, SPEAKS OUT ON DRINKING & DRIVING Guest Columns WOMEN ADDRESS DOMESTIC ISSUES A Look Inside the Shelters In Jail for Being Poor NOTICE RECIPE BOX NH Best Buys A HOT ITEM THESE DAYS: MR. LUEKEN AND MISS CROCKER CONSUMER CORNER A SPLENDID CREDIT CARD ISSUANCE SCAM - FROM THE FOLKS AT GREYHOUND(R) TONER CARTS - NEW OR RECHARGED? ----------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 04/28/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 14 - CONTENTS ----------------------------------------------- SUGAR BUSH RUNS AT RED LAKE Maple Sugaring at the RED LAKE NATION of Chippewa Indians NEWS COVER-UP ATTEMPTED IN FIRST FEDERAL BANKING AND SAVINGS MARKETS Hearings set May 5th, 21st HUBBARD HISTORICAL, ART MUSEUMS READY FOR MAY OPENING BOOTH ONE-ACTS RUN AT THE BLACK BOX FOLLOW-UPS: THOMPSON REQUESTS EVIDENTIARY HEARING IN DUERST HARR CONTINUED TO MAY 14TH JIM MASLOWSKI: THE GUY BELTRAMI COMMISSIONERS CALL WHEN THEY WANT TO GET SOMETHING DONE FOLLOW UP: THOMAS SUIT AGAINST ATTORNEY JONES FAILS SEEGMILLER ALLOWED STAY OF ADJUDICATION FOR BURGLARY Worked as Drug Informant EDITORIALS - OPINION: HOW FAR SHOULD AUTHORITIES GO IN PROCURING INFORMANTS? LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: LORY: WORKING ON APPEAL, ASSAULTED IN PRISON RESTRAINING ORDERS CAN BE ABUSED BY ANGRY SPOUSES Reprinted by permission of The Standard-Times, New Bedford, Massachusetts. Copyright (c) 1995 by The Standard-Times MARY BECKER, OFP CUSTODIAL MOM, LOSES 6-YEAR OLD. Beltrami Deputies find near Turtle River home; earlier reports disclose neglect, abuse. RECIPE BOX: COFFEE SPECULATORS MAY PLAY AMERICANS FOR FOOLS - AGAIN PIGGING OUT: Farmland Sausage Links: A NH Best Buy --------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 04/07/97 (partial) - VOLUME 2 NO. 13 - CONTENTS --------------------------------------------------------- NEWMAN PREVAILS IN AUTO REPAIR NEGLIGENCE SUIT DUERST DENIES IMPLICATION THAT HE DIDN'T GIVE DOPE BUYER FAIR DEAL. CHENOWETH INTRODUCES GUN LAW REPEALER TEXT OF HR 1009 - STATES' RIGHTS AND SECOND AND TENTH AMENDMENT RESTORATION ACT OF 1997 JOSHUA WARD GETS TRIP TO STILLWATER AKELEY READIES FOR PAUL BUNYAN FEST LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: The Business of Marriage --------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 03/17/97 (partial) - VOLUME 2 NO. 12 - CONTENTS --------------------------------------------------------- FIRST FEDERAL BANKING AND SAVINGS INSURER ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE STATE FARM: GUNS IN THE BUSINESS ARE A NO-NO. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Out of the Marriage, Back in the System Emergency Dental Services Hard to Find for MA Recipient NO, YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE, AND THERE'S A LOT OF HELP OUT THERE. Men's, Husbands' and Fathers' Resources on the Internet --------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 02/24/97 (partial) - VOLUME 2 NO. 11 - CONTENTS --------------------------------------------------------- BENSHOOF MAY BRING CLASSICAL JURISPRUDENCE TO NINTH DISTRICT BENCH "THIEF! THIEF!" MAY BE NEW LITTLE CAESAR'S(R) ITEM BLACKDUCK MAN, FORECLOSED, TELLS OF MISREPRESENTATION BY BEMIDJI FIRST FED. MARTIN: ALIVE, WELL AND 3.60 (GPA) IN MADISON ***************************************************************** TEXT OF ARCHIVED ISSUES BEGINS: -------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 09/22/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 21 (delayed until 9/24) -------------------------------------------------------- DNR SUED Employee Suit Asks $50,000+ For Firing Due To Whistleblowing on Thefts BAGLEY -- A Clearwater County resident and former third-year employee of the Douglas Lodge restaurant facility at Itasca Park has filed a wrongful discharge lawsuit against Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources, operators of the lodge. The complaint, filed August 13, 1997 in the Ninth Judicial District Court at Clearwater County, by Stacey Bukoski of Shevlin, alleges that she was harassed and finally fired for making reports of violations of procedure, including thefts of supplies, and receiving unauthorized free meals, by park employees. It recites, "1. On July 15, 1996, Plaintiff met with Region Management of Dept. of Natural Resources, Bemidji, Minnesota to report harassment caused by reporting violations of administrative procedure and violations of state law to immediate supervisors and the management while being employed as a food service worker, Douglas Lodge.... As a result of Plaintiff's action, Defendant terminated Plaintiff on Sept. 3, 1996 on the grounds: 'concern with co-workers duties and interactions with co-workers take away from Stacey's ability and time spent performing her job in an acceptable manner'" "2. Plaintiff claims that this is in violation of Minnesota Statute 181.931 subd.(1), para.(a), the state Whistle Blower's Law." The complaint asks damages in excess of $50,000 and re-employment. The state filed their answer September 8, 1997, summarily denying all of the allegations of the complaint, and affirmatively alleging that "Plaintiff met with Foster A. Hudson, Assistant Region I Parks Manager and John Winter, Region I Parks Manager on or about July 15th, 1996 at the Region I office in Bemidji, Minnesota, wherein she stated that she felt she had been harassed in her employment by her lead worker and that she suspected theft occurred at the Douglas Lodge kitchen where she worked." The answer continued, "[Defendants] admit that Plaintiff was employed as a food service worker at Douglas Lodge.... Deny the allegations contained in the second sentence [regarding the termination]. Affirmatively allege that Plaintiff's employment as a part-time seasonal food service worker... began on May 25, 1996, with a 6-month probationary period. [Editor's note: by the time this "probationary period" ended, the employment season would be over. Bukoski had actually worked there for the two previous years' summer seasons.] The answer continues, "Based upon deficiencies in performance which were identified and discussed with Plaintiff during her performance review which were not corrected, Plaintiff was not certified in this position. Plaintiff was informed of the non-certification decision and the reason therefor by letter dated September 3, 1996...." The answer recites, "DNR further asserts the defense that the Defendant had legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for each of the actions and decisions challenged in the Complaint and the actions and decisions challenged in the Complaint were based on reasonable factors other than motivation to retaliate to alleged whistleblowing activities." DNR further asserted that the complaint was subject to "provisions, limitations and exclusions set forth in Minnesota Torts Claims Act, M.S. 3.736 et. seq.," and that "the Plaintiff's Complaint, claims and causes of action are barred by Common Law doctrines of qualified official and good faith immunities." The Answer was signed by Cassandra O. O'Hern, Assistant Attorney General, for the Office of "Skip" Humphrey, Minnesota Attorney General. The matter has been assigned to the Honorable Judge Paul T. Benshoof, Ninth District, for procedures and trial at Bagley. In interview, Bukoski said that she was never given an opportunity to "correct" her actions after the performance review; as there were no work days between when it issued and when she was fired. Asked about the incidents, Bukoski said that she witnessed employees taking "petty stuff" from the restaurant, "bottles of steak sauces; waitresses filling up their pockets before leaving," she said, adding that employees were supposed to pay for their meals, but she observed employees cooking food for themselves, and other park employees, from outside the lodge, without payment. She said that employees and people related to Douglas Lodge employees were allowed to eat there free, in violation of the policy, and that she observed an employee loading boxes into her car after hours. Bukoski first reported these incidents to her supervisor in 1995 and was told, "If you don't want to lose your job, keep your mouth shut about it," she said. In 1996, she took it to upper management and was fired. Bukoski is seeking an attorney as her case was turned down by Legal Aid. DNR refused to comment. In recent weeks, parts of a set of valuable antique (the original Douglas Lodge set of) silverware have been suspected to be missing from the Douglas Lodge. ------------------------------------ GRAHAM ASSAILS STRIB BEMIDJI -- Minnesota Republicans convened in Bemidji Saturday to hear from prospective candidates for next year's elections and to cast a "straw vote" of support at this very early stage. The actual vote for party endorsement will be at next year's convention, comprised of a new slate of delegates who will be selected at local caucuses in early 1998. Among already announced candidates for Minnesota Attorney General, the convention heard from Doug McFarland, Hamline law professor, Charlie Weaver of Anoka and John Remington Graham, former Crow Wing County Attorney (at Brainerd) and co-founder of Hamline Law School. "In support of my candidacy," said Graham, "I offer a career of thirty years, including work as a law professor, a practitioner in fifteen jurisdictions, a public defender, a county attorney, and a constitutional scholar of international standing." "When I was a county attorney," he said, "felony prosecutions in my county increased by 79% and child protection suits increased 23% in only two years. Our incarceration rate was 76% higher than the rest of the state. And we cut office expenses by 29% across the board over four years." Then Graham took a different tact, speaking of possible inappropriate influence by the media, and saying, "...our real adversary is not the Minnesota DFL, ...but the Minneapolis Star Tribune," which he said, "by illicit means has gained undue influence in our political life." Graham cited "groundless accusation" and "smear" tactics which he said were used by the STrib against Jon Grunseth and Al Quist, and followed up by citing the case brought by John Derus against the STrib. "When [Derus] ran last year ...the Star Tribune published a scandal story. Derus was in no way involved. Yet the Star-Tribune printed his photograph with the text and headline to associate him with the story. He was discredited unfairly, and defeated by a narrow margin," said Graham. Derus had sued for a new election at the STrib's expense. Graham cited that, in the Derus/Star Tribune case, which reached the Supreme Court, "The vote was 3-2 in favor of the Star Tribune. The decisive vote was cast by Justice Alan Page. It so happens that, during the previous six years, the Star Tribune had funneled not less than $45,000 to Page's private 501(c)(3) charity." "David Cox, president of the Star Tribune, sat on the advisory board of [Justice] Page's foundation. Page's wife had recently enjoyed a consulting contract with the Star Tribune." Graham continued, "This case shocks conscience, and is far more serious than [another] ...case in Pennsylvania... in which eight judges were removed from office for receiving mere $300 gratuities. When Derus went to the Judicial Standards Board," said Graham, "his complaint was brushed off by the Excutive Secretary whose wife works on the Business Editor's desk of the Star Tribune." Associated Press Omits Result. The most insidious way certain journalists or journalism organizations manipulate elections is by just quietly not telling you who's running. That is, preventing a candidate from developing familiarity with the electorate, early on, by printing lists of candidates, with glaring omission of those, particularly those with strong electable potential, that they'd rather you didn't find out about. After all, if you don't know the name when you get to the polls, you probably won't vote for it. Although John Remington Graham gave a powerful address, drawing applause several times, and almost a standing ovation at the finish, before the GOP convention at Bemidji, Associated Press, whose canned report was carried by most of the major papers and broadcasters throughout the state, conveniently "forgot" to include his straw vote results, and even the fact that he was there or running. This may signal the start of a year-long election battle between Graham and certain elements of the media. We correct AP: The straw vote results among contenders for the GOP nomination for Attorney General were: Charlie Weaver, 504 (56.7% of 889 ballots cast); Doug McFarland, 254 (28.6%); John Graham, 58 (6.5%). Graham has predicated his campaign on running against "Skip" Humphrey for the AG post. "I've said that at all the conventions," said Graham. But many believe that DFLer Humphrey won't be a contender this year, opting instead to run for Governor. The vote may have been reflective of this. Also, McFarland and Weaver are both from the metropolitan area and may have come to the convention with pre-committed support from Twin Cities precincts. Graham's residence is Brainerd. None of the three contenders is a newcomer to the political circle. McFarland and Weaver have been previous candidates; in his run against well-supported incumbent Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson last year, Graham polled a respectable 39% statewide. Graham stated that he drew his 1996 votes on a campaign budget of less than $1,000. Graham is the author of the book, Principles of Confederacy, an exhaustive 800+ page treatise on the American Constitution. U.S. Senator Rod Grams (name similarity is a coincidence) also criticized the Minneapolis Star Tribune at the Bemidji convention. Other Issues. Prior to his convention speech, Graham touched on other issues of concern to him, such as Minnesota's unreadiness for the new federal mandate requiring interstate-tracking compatible computerized child support collection systems. If this system is not implemented by October 1, Minnesota could lose part of its federal child support funding. At the beginning of September, only 16 states had working systems. Graham spoke of a conversation he had with an unnamed child support worker in St. Paul to the effect that the Minnesota agency planned to have a system in place to comply with the mandate, but that it was not ready for use and later system failure was likely. The employee had expressed concern that lower level employees would get blamed or fired when the defective system failed. Addressing family law, Graham said, "Every distinction in the law, based on sex, is unconstitutional. ...The courts should get over their sexist bias against men... [it] gives women power over men that they shouldn't have and it ultimately has the effect of harming women and it is posing a serious threat to our family structure. ...We have a regime of statutes that are destroying the family unit." Graham has expressed opposition to the manner in which Orders for Protection are used in Minnesota and has stated that, if elected, he intends to use to opinion power of the Attorney Generals office to discourage orders that can be used by a wife or co-habitant to throw a man out of his house without "notice, evidence, and hearing." ---------------------------------------- EMPLOYEE GRIEVANCES, INJURIES CONTINUE AT BAGLEY HARDWOOD PRODUCTS, INC. She had brought the newspaper to work because her union steward, her supervisor and another employee had said they wanted to see an article about the difficulties she and her husband have had collecting child support from his ex-wife, Debra Gerbracht. So Anita Peterson didn't think anything of bringing a copy to the break room, where newspapers are routinely permitted. But seeing the article, Dan Fultz, the supervisor, suspended Peterson for two days without pay for bringing the paper. Marlene Gerbracht, sister-in-law of Debra, as well as a relative of the Social Services worker criticized in the article, worked at the plant, and in the suspension notice Fultz said, "Anita knew this article would create a hostile work environment between herself and Marlene Gerbracht and Teryl [Waughtal]." That hostile environment may have preceded our coverage, though. According to Peterson, prior to the report, Marlene Gerbracht had been circulating false and groundless rumours in the plant that Peterson was being charged with child abuse. Peterson said that she reported this malicious defamation, to Bagley Hardwoods, on three separate occasions, but "nothing was done." It is not known why Gerbracht was receiving preferential treatment from the Bagley Hardwoods management. She is the only employee there allowed to work only part-time. "If she doesn't like somebody, they're out of there," said Peterson. As reported last spring, (Bagley Hardwoods Suspends Employee for Bringing Paper, NH of 01/20/97) Bagley Hardwood Products declined to be interviewed on the matter and threatened to call police (For what, is anyone's guess). Peterson said that she didn't bring the paper for Gerbracht's benefit, or show it to her, "It was shown to [the union steward] at 6:30 in the morning, that's before work starts... I was upstairs and [Gerbracht] sits downstairs... [the paper] was not brought down to her at all," Peterson said. Peterson was entitled to arbitration on whether the suspension was inappropriate and whether she should receive the back pay. The arbitration was scheduled for October 8th. But instead, "Wes [Renneberg, plant manager] called a plant meeting and told everybody that he settled my grievance and decided to pay me for one day [of the two] that [Peterson was suspended]. Nobody notified me," Peterson told Northern Herald. She said she wouldn't have settled for one day's pay, "because I shouldn't have been suspended; I didn't do anything wrong," she said. Several employees have complained about safety at the plant. Peterson said, "Their dust bags in their air cleaning system haven't been changed in two years. It's been reported to me that there's been such a big cloud of dust in that place, you could hardly see." Peterson said Bagley Hardwoods prepares for OSHA when they come; and three people had tripped over pallets in the 4 years she was there. Asked about other injuries, Peterson said that the saws don't have guards required by OSHA and spoke of two women who have had fingers severed. The most recent was Laurie Hanson, who was picking up a wood scrap near the unguarded saw blade last July. Nobody had shown her the tongs which were to be used for that. Apparently, her glove got caught in the blade which cut her thumb and middle finger and almost wholly severed her index finger. Now on worker's comp, she has had two surgeries and may need a third; she has, at least for now, lost the use of the finger. Jolene Very, a former employee, is now again working for the employer she had before Bagley Hardwoods. "They're very pleased with the work I do," she said. Very quit when Dan Fultz called her into the break room and chastised her because her daughter had called to ask if she could stay home from school [due to illness]. In 9 months, "I believe she's called me three times," Very said, adding "A lot of preferential treatment goes on there" She said Fultz told Peterson "that she had to wear earplugs when OSHA came through." Peterson is now working at Cass Forest Products for "more money, better benefits" and merit-based treatment, she said. ---------------------------------------- FUN FOR ALL AT LEONARD BASH! Photos and Story by Wanda Yoemans, NH staff writer Mother nature provided an absolutely beautiful day for the Leonard Bash held in Leonard, Minnesota on Saturday, August 30. For those who have never been to a Leonard Bash, it is a cross between a family reunion, community picnic and a street dance. The day began at noon with traditional games for the children. The three legged race, wheelbarrow race, water relay, and raw egg toss were as much fun for the spectators as they were for the participants. Prizes were awarded to all who joined the fun. The Clearbrook Community Club and the Clearbrook American Legion, Post 256, donated $200 worth of nickels that were mixed with sawdust and poured out into piles for the young and young-at-heart to search through. Musical entertainment was provided throughout the afternoon by a jam session in the Pavilion. The Country Playboys took over in the evening and the Pavilion was converted into a dance hall. Our Savior's Lutheran Church provided a reasonably priced lunch during the day. An old fashioned barbecue supper was served in the Pavilion. The New Leonard Cafe was kept busy until the wee hours of the morning. Two concession stands were also available. A Scavenger Hunt sent participants all over town looking for goodies. A volleyball tournament was held next to the Side TrackTap. Across the street, sharp shooters competed in the Turkey Shoot, with the best shot out of ten taking home a frozen turkey. Local residents and business provided over 30 entries for the Parade that cruised through town at around 3:00 p.m. The Kelly Christensen Family won the prize for the most humorous entry with their "Griswald Family Vacation", featuring a station wagon with Gramma riding on the roof, a dog chain and collar dragging behind and a sign asking "Where is the dog?" A big thank-you goes out to the organizer's of this annual event for providing a truly entertaining day for all. Hope to see you there next year! ------------------------------------------ NEVIS C&C REVITALIZES, ANNOUNCES TRAIL FOR STUDS Nope, this doesn't mean that you'll find the Bemidji bar crowd waiting around down on the Heartland Trail. They'll still be standing around at Bemidji's downtown bordellos. But it's good news for snowmobilers who've had their studded vehicles banned from recently paved trails throughout the Northland. For many years, Nevis C&C has been the driving force behind area commerce, tourism and the promotion of Nevis's many resources. Their yearly event culminates in Nevis's annual summer Muskie Days, which draws visitors from across the country. C&C also sponsors a Boy Scout troop, the Gene Cirks Memorial Fishing Tourney and the Student of the Month program at Nevis High School. Some have attributed the very high quality of Nevis public schools, in part, to interaction between the business community, through C&C, and the school, with the kids encouraged to participate in community activities and allowed to see the community at work. School Superintendent Richard Magaard was at the C&C meeting, which was well attended by about 45 residents and business people. Steve Frank, of member Northwoods Bank, presided over part of the Sept. 11th meeting which convened at 7:30 p.m., at Bethany Lutheran Church, Nevis. C&C voted to reorganize its leadership, adopting a structure which calls for a new 7 member board. C&C will accept candidate applications through their next meeting, when a vote will be held. A new, lower, dues structure was also adopted with dues ranging from $15 annually for individuals to $50 for businesses. Nevis Mayor Ray Melander, taking the floor, said that the city council had passed a resolution in support of C&C's reorganizing and continuing, "From the City's standpoint, thank you very much," he said. On the Heartland Trail, which runs from Walker to Park Rapids, and through Nevis, Ted Luetgers said, "We are developing an alternate trail that will be along the paved surface. It will be much more scenic, more in the woods, than the existing Heartland trail." The next meeting of Nevis C&C will be Thurs., Oct. 9, at the Nevis Senior Center, with pot luck dinner at 6:30 and meeting called to order at 7:30 p.m. ------------------------------------------ Editorials - Opinion TAKING BACK THE LIES About 25 people came to the 15th annual "Take Back the Night" rally, September 22nd at the pavilion by the waterfront. The event is staged annually by the Northwoods Coalition of Battered Women (NCBW), Bemidji. Press reports attributed the low turnout to cold weather. But it was only in the 40's that night, and this is Minnesota. Many of us, if we were going, would have gone in shirt-sleeves. Perhaps, as with the little girl who cried "Wolf!" the years of lies, illegal activities in the name of law and terrorist propaganda have simply caught up with the Northwoods Coalition, eradicating any credibility they may have at one time had. No one questions the idea of helping truly battered people. But that has never been what the Northwoods Coalition has been about. It has been about a few women, who for various reasons might not have been employable elsewhere, finding lucrative jobs in the "battered women's business." The organization learned quickly that the more cases, statistics and claims they could generate, the more money they made. In their 95-96 fiscal year, NCBW paid $310,136 in salaries, and afterwards, was left with a net change in fund balance (similar to "net profit" of a business) for the year of $82,580, largely from county (taxpayers') funds. To justify their existence, NCBW has claimed that women are the prime victims of domestic abuse. But the statistics were found to be skewed by the fact that police officers, mostly, only are told to compile stats on domestic violence involving a female victim. If the victim is male, the report is often not forwarded. We now know, from the Strauss and Gelles report, that, in fact, women instigate domestic violence a little more frequently than men (it's almost equal). NCBW claimed to work with the law; their advocate could often be seen in courtrooms with women making claims or seeking "protection." But their actual regard for law was more shown when Karen Janov, Executive Director, in mid-1995, was charged with obstructing justice for taking records out the back door and trying to conceal the whereabouts of a women who had fled to Bemidji, and the shelter, to conceal a child from it's father, the custodial parent. Police had come to the shelter with a search warrant and warrant for the women; a shelter employee "whited-out" shelter records while the officers were detained and Janov removed other records. The shelter and advocate have assisted many women in procuring Orders for Protection (OFPs) or in making assault reports. The nonprofit organization can't provide lodging to just any woman on the street; it has to be justified (this is paid by tax money); she has to have been battered. The shelter has the forms for procurement of OFP justifying the "placement" for protection. So when Bonita Jones took residence at the shelter, on several occasions, she was assisted in OFPs against Jeffery Hubbard, her cohabitant. In December, 1995, she told the court, "All the OFPs that I --that I did were false accusations." She was charged with perjury, and failed to appear in court thereafter; nonetheless, NCBW assisted her release on "furlough" from jail to attend her daughter's birthday party earlier this year after arrest on the fugitive warrant. In the Jones matter, the shelter had even persuaded Jones' young child to make compelling accusations against Hubbard. But police noted inconsistencies in the statements that betrayed their falsehood. Similarly, a news account of the "Take Back the Night" demonstration a few years back carried the compelling stories of youths who claimed to have been abused. Events which, had they happened, couldn't have failed to evoke sympathy. But a credible source close to the story has said, "they were describing events that never occurred." Per the source, the mother of the children had also brought assault complaints against an individual who could not have committed the assaults because he was, in fact, in jail at the times when she said the assaults had occurred. Why the propaganda? Why are women coming into the shelter told that OFPs and divorce are the only way to go? Why are children at the shelter told to lie to police? Because every family destroyed, every woman terrorized is money in the bank to the shelter workers and directors. In June, 1996, NCBW had total assets of $422,375, mostly paid by tax money. Terrorizing women and making them believe they're victims means big money and big salaries for the shelter and its sister, the Sexual Assault Program. Every woman they scare the bejeebers out of is money in the bank. Every home broken up improves their financial statement; never mind what happens to the couple and the children. And the real victims now become the women themselves, who are scarred by the indoctrination experience, thus lessening their chances of a normal and healthy marital life, and the children who are denied their best opportunity for success in the home of their two natural parents. But fortunately, it doesn't happen so much any more. People are realizing the motives, tactics and lack of credibility of the Northwoods Coalition. Very recently, Jacklyn Jones, a worker at the shelter and cousin of Bonita Jones, is reported to have called Cass County authorities reporting drugs and guns in the van of her step-sister, Mindy Ruby. As it turns out, Ruby and Jones were having a family argument and Jones wanted her van stopped. It was. Neither drugs nor guns were found. Ruby later stated that she doesn't even own a gun. The lies aren't working so well anymore on the public, though; and the American Family, the medium in which women and children, as well as the husbands, do best, is alive and well in Northern Minnesota. There are a few disillusioned cases left, about 25 as of last Saturday at the Pavilion. ----------------------------- Letters to the Editor DIVORCE VETERAN ALERTS MEN I was glad to see in your last issue [a letter] ...written by Mark Weaver of Backus, Minnesota. I'm sure many men who have gone through a divorce would say, "Amen" to his article. If you are a man, beware. There is a false justice program out there that is staffed by women. When you are "entitled" to pay child support, you get to pay it to Beltrami County Child Support offices headed by a Laurie Hoglund and if you can't afford to pay what Judge Rasmussen has ordered (more than you paid for the whole family to live, in the home that you built and you were living in before you got evicted [by the divorce]) he will then confiscate your savings certificates to pay it. I had written a letter to Greg Lewis, County Administrator, and the [Beltrami] County Board on July 28, 1997 asking them to look into the unfair [Social Services] department and asking them to put a man in charge, rather than a woman, so a man could get some fairness. - Not even a reply to my letter. Men, you had better get some laws changed and some officials elected who will operate in your favor or you could lose the money you had [put] ...aside for retirement to a woman who used to love you. Palmer Berg, Bemidji ----------------------------------- Guest Column JUVENILE CRIME: A FAMILY PROBLEM? by Scott D. Noble One of the issues most consistently on the minds of Americans is crime, particularly violent crime. While the adult crime rate has steadied and even declined in the past few years, juvenile crime has risen at a dramatic pace. This issue, maybe more than any other, gets to the essence of the traditional family and its benefits. During the past thirty years, America has seriously struggled with the decline of the two-parent family. Numerous social indicators regularly demonstrate that the America of the 1990s is markedly different from the America of the 1960s. Possibly the most damaging aspect of this decline has been the pervasiveness of single-parent families at the expense of two-parent families. The deleterious consequences of this decline, however, have only recently begun to manifest themselves more noticeably in society. One example of this declivity has been the prevalence of juvenile crime. Indeed, the increase in violent juvenile crime over the last thirty years has been astonishing. Nationally, the number of violent crimes committed by juveniles has doubled over the previous decade, and the FBI predicts another doubling in the next 10 years. In Minnesota, the situation is much the same as it is nationally. In 1971, according to the Minnesota Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Center, the juvenile arrest rate was 34.4 per 10,000. By 1991, the rate had more than tripled to 116.3 per 10,000. In just twenty years, the arrest rate for juveniles has exploded in Minnesota. Many criminologists and demographers are warning that America could very well encounter a juvenile crime explosion in the next ten years because the population of juveniles will become much larger. In fact, according to Andrew Peyton Thomas, the Assistant Attorney General for Arizona, over the next 10 years, the population of 14 to 17 year olds will grow 23 percent. This is coupled with the fact that the current generation of juveniles has brought about the worst juvenile crime rates in recorded history. The correlation made by experts in the field is that with the increased number of juveniles will come an increase in crime committed by them. This may well be the case, but it fails to get at the issue of causation. Why have so many young people turned to committing crimes? The past thirty years have witnessed a multitude of changes in society. The most important, in relation to the increase in juvenile crime, has been the increase in births to unmarried females. In 1960, Minnesota had a births to unmarried females rate of 2.8 percent of all births. By 1991, the rate had jumped to 22.4% Nationally, one-third of all births now occur out of wedlock. [Note: In Beltrami County, which has one of the state's highest crime rates, the illegitimacy rate is 44%, also one of the highest in the state -- Ed.] As a society, we are now raising more and more of our children in single-parent homes. The two-parent family, as the basis for providing the best opportunity for success in life, has become, to some people, an outmoded idea. Social scientists now proclaim that the best predictor of a young man committing crime is not his race, income or neighborhood, but whether or not he has a father. What a message we are sending to our children when we choose to bear and raise them, in ever increasing numbers, in homes without the benefit of two parents! Single parents know more than others do just how difficult it is to raise a child successfully on their own. For thousands of years, the two-parent family has proven to be the most beneficial institution for bearing and raising children. That is why it has become readily apparent that this journey away from the two-parent family has resulted in dire consequences for the nation, and most significantly, for the nation's children. The prospect of a juvenile crime explosion in the next ten years may well occur because of this bulge in the juvenile population. The real concern, however, is whether we, as a society, will make a commitment to our children ensuring that they will be raised in two-parent families. Population surges have and will occur at various times in the history of a nation. Merely bracing for the consequences of these occurrences will do nothing to strengthen our society for the future. Providing children with the best opportunity for success can and will prove successful for our future. Scott Noble is a Field Representative for the Minnesota Family Council. The Minnesota Family Council is Minnesota's largest nonprofit, non-partisan pro-family organization. Editor's note: Legislatively, we need to no longer look at the single mother as a disadvantaged object of pity. We need to look at her as someone who, by her own choosing, may be the source of a crime surge that in future years may victimize your property, home and family. ----------------------------------- HOME SCHOOL WORKSHOP A home schooling informational meeting for parents interested in exploring this option for their children will be held October 5th at 7 p.m. at Naomi's (formerly Hitchin' Rail restaurant), Shevlin. It is free and the public is invited. For Info: 218-785-2509 ------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 09/01/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 20 (delayed until 9/4) -------------------------------------------------------- HOT AIR TECHNOLOGY FEATURED AT EQUIPMENT SHOW ITASCA PARK --No, Senator Grams wasn't there. Neither was Skip Humphrey or Bemidji Mayor Peterson. This technology goes back much farther. Thousands attended the annual Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers' Threshing Show and Hot Air Engine Reunion near Itasca Park, August 15th-17th. "For Friday, I feel we have record attendance," said Gary Johannessohn, of Bagley, President of the association, "we have exhibitors... who brought their [working] hot air engines from [as far as] Arizona. When it comes to hot air engines, we have the worlds most complete display," he said of the Hot Air building, which was filled with exhibitors and operating antique, as well as contemporary, engines of every size and sort. The event also featured antique tractors and implements (including tractor pulls) and home arts. Exhibitor Olaf Berge explained later that there are three types of hot air engines: 1) The Sterling Cycle, where changes in temperature take place at a pair of constant volumes; 2) The Ericsson ship engine, where changes of temperature take place at a pair of constant pressures; and 3) The Roper or Shaw engine, in which heat is received and rejected at a pair of constant pressures. Berge said that only at this annual event can all 3 classes be seen at the same time. (PHOTO CAPTION - PHOTO IN PRINT EDITION ONLY) Olaf Berge's Roper Caloric hot air engine, above, photographed while operating, is one of only three known in existence, and is the only running model. The other two are in Texas and England. (PHOTO CAPTION - PHOTO IN PRINT EDITION ONLY) Above, Olaf Berge stands beside one of his restored and operating hot air engines of a type that was used to power ships. He said that even today, there are at least six submarines, worldwide, that are powered by Sterling cycle heat engines. Contemporary heat engines, he said, use helium rather than air, due to greater power output. Berge's collection of working engines can normally be seen at his business, Berge's Stoves, of Cass Lake. (PHOTO CAPTION - PHOTO IN PRINT EDITION ONLY) At left, Bruce Walworth, Chelsea, Mich. exhibits a contemporary hot air engine he built, which runs on body heat. The engine cycles as it rests on Walworth's hand. (ILLUSTRATION CAPTION - SECTIONAL ILLUSTRATION IN PRINT EDITION ONLY) This engine was produced by the Rider-Ericsson Engine Company about 1900. Antique Engine rebuilder and exhibitor, Olaf Berge explained, "These were widely used in the 1890s by railroad companies for pumping water" into their steam boilers at refilling stops. Contrary to popular belief, the hot air engine was used concurrently with, rather than preceding, steam technology. Although producing less force than steam, the hot air engines were safer than the early boilers. It was this factor that led Rev. Sterling to develop and patent his first hot air engine in 1816. HOW IT WORKS 1. Compression piston (C) first compresses cold air in the lower part of the compression cylinder (A) into about one third of it's normal volume. 2. The upward motion of power piston (D), together with completion of the down-stroke of compression piston (C) transfers the air, without appreciable change in it's volume, through the regenerator (H) and into the heater (F), where the heat causes expansion and a great deal of pressure impelling the power piston (D) up to the end of it's stroke. 3. The pressure still remaining in the power cylinder and reacting on the compression piston (C) forces it upward until it reaches the top of it's stroke. 4. By the cooling of the charge of air, the pressure falls to it's minimum. The power piston descends and compression begins again. 5. In the meantime, the heated air, in passing through the regenerator, has left the greater portion of its heat in the regenerator plates, to be picked up and reutilized on the return of the air toward the heater. The 10 inch cylinder Rider engine is capable of generating enough speed and power to pump 3,500 gallons of water, to a height of 50 feet, per hour. It is capable of pumping water to a recommended maximum height of 350 feet. Information presented here courtesy of Olaf Berge, Berges Stoves, Cass Lake, Minnesota. Some of the information is sourced in The Improved Rider and Ericsson Hot Air Pumping Engines first made available by Rider-Ericsson Engine Company (1906) and reprinted, from the original catalogue with permission of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, by The Robert B. Huxtable Co., Box No. 1104, Lansing, MI 48904. -------------------------------------------------------- BEMIDJI TO SHIP RUBBISH TO SAUK CENTRE Juvenile Convicted in Alleged Rottwieler Hammering Incident BEMIDJI -- Yep, we usually send our solid waste to Fosston, but this time, we'll be shipping about 100 pounds of it to the juvenile facility at Sauk Centre. Richard Mix, Jr., 17, of Nymore, was charged in an incident in which he allegedly seized and kept, for several days, a Rottwieler belonging to Olen and Ernest Watts before giving the dog to his neighbor Jeremy Olson, who then allegedly hit the dog on the head with a hammer and shot it. Mix later showed Watts where the dog was buried in Olson's yard. He was found guilty in a hearing, August 20th, in which members of Mix's family, and a friend, testified on his behalf. Mix had maintained that he was just trying to find the dog's owner. But, over the several days he had the dog, he never contacted the Police Department or animal control to ascertain if the dog had been reported missing. The dog, running off-leash, wasn't lost until Mix took it. When it didn't come home, the owners had promptly notified authorities. In the course of the hearing, per unofficial sources, Mix's mother, testifying for Mix, was asked when she first saw her son with the dog. She responded that it was on a Thursday at 1 am. Prosecutor Sheri Schluchter retorted that, in other words, he'd broken his curfew from probation from Sauk Centre (on a previous matter) by being out at that time. Because of the admission that he'd broken his conditions of probation, Schluchter recommended that he be immediately taken into custody to be returned to Sauk Centre. Accordingly, he was immediately incarcerated following the trial. This may be an end to one prime source of juvenile crime in the Nymore-Bemidji area. Although juvenile records are confidential, unofficial sources have spoken of Mix having a massive juvenile offense record, and said that he was scheduled to appear in court on two other unrelated matters, disorderly conduct and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the same day as for the Rottwieler incident. Olson fails to appear. Charged with mistreating an animal, under M.S. 343.21, Jeremy Olson, 21, failed to make his first scheduled appearance August 20th before Judge Benshoof, who then ordered a warrant for Olson's arrest. Olson was arrested on August 25th, and posted bail of $500. His next appearance is scheduled for September 5th. In an unrelated matter, Olson is currently pending sentencing on a charge of robbery stemming from a 1996 incident. He pled guilty August 19, 1997. ---------------------------------------------------- TAX GUY By our Editor, who is an Enrolled Agent (authorized to practice before the IRS). Information given here is of a general nature, and is not intended to be used for the preparation of any specific return. If you think the information presented applies to your tax situation, you should discuss it with your accountant or barber. FOR EMPLOYERS ONLY If you're in business, you probably don't particularly look forward to April 15th. For businessmen, it usually means writing a check, or getting a small refund of what you've overpaid through quarterlies during the year. Imagine, for a moment, having a $5,000 or so credit balance in your IRS account. Not having to pay a cent, and even having some left over to cover future years' taxes. If you're an employer, this is within your reach, with virtually no effort, with the Work Opportunity Credit. But there are some things you have to do precisely to get it; the most important is being sure your employee is certified as eligible by the appropriate agency (usually your local Minnesota Job Service or CEP office) before you hire him/her/it. Put simply, the Work Opportunity Credit allows you to take a direct, dollar-for-dollar tax reduction (not merely a deduction from income) for 35% of the first $6,000 of first year wages you pay to an agency-certified employee from one of certain targeted groups. Even at minimum wage, this will get you a tax credit of $2,100 per employee within the first full year. And you can carryover the part of the credit that you can't use immediately. The groups include qualified AFDC recipients, qualified veterans, qualified ex-felons, high risk youths, vocational rehabilitation referrals, qualified summer youth employees and qualified food stamp recipients. Employees who qualify for the credit are not hard to find. You can find your own, or your local Job Service will generally refer qualified applicants if you ask. The most common error, though, is not getting the written certification before hiring. If you don't do this, you don't get the credit even though the employee is qualified. Although it will probably be extended by Congress (it has been, in some form, every year since before 1980), the Work Opportunity Credit currently applies to employees hired before October 1, 1997. ------------------------------------------------- TAXES ADJUSTED FOR 6 OF 7 APPEALING BELTRAMI RESIDENTS BEMIDJI --Going before the County Board, sitting June 17th as the Board of Equalization, paid off for six property owners as their assessed valuations were reduced when County Assessor Duane Ebbighausen subsequently personally inspected the properties. Ebbighausen explained, "We measure the building, then we'll get into the house ...for condition ...and make the adjustment accordingly. The following persons who appealed to the Board saw the following reductions in assessed property value: Roger Janssen, from $27,160 to $23,600 due to demonstration of lower tillable acreage; Kenneth and Patricia Johanneson, from $175,200 to $166,400; Richard and Sandra Mason, from $98,900 to $95,200 due to observed condition; Steven W. Hill, from $697,500 to $543,900; Darwin D, and Debra K. Wiebolt, from $380,200 to $298,100 based on actual purchase and construction costs; and Jimmy L. and Celine M. Graham, from $111,500 to $100,500 based upon income yield of the eight-unit apartment building in question. The only property not adjusted by the Board was that of former Commissioner Lowell Bjella. His 864 sq. ft. home, on a dead end dirt street at 621 16th St. NW, Bemidji, had been assessed at $36,200, and prior to the Equalization hearing, the County had agreed to reduce it to $33,100. But Bjella believed it was only worth about $31,920. Bill Snebold, Bemidji City Assessor said, "If Lowell were to sell his house today, it would be between $57,000 and $60,000." Bjella countered that to sell it, he'd have to install city water and sewer. "I'd be better off with a piece of pasture," he said, and charged that the sales prices of other properties, used as a basis for the appraisal, was inaccurate because those other properties [which had water and sewer] didn't look like his "at all," he said. "They have an up-to-date street going by all three of these [other comparison] properties," said Bjella, "I don't even know if I'm going to be able to buy fire insurance; I'm a block away from the nearest fire hydrant. There's no street lights, there's nothing that you have, in the City of Bemidji, by my house. Ebbighausen explained that where improvements would be necessary to sell a property, the current fair market value would be computed at what the property would sell for, less the cost of the needed improvements. But a disagreement arose as to the projected cost of the improvements, plus any additional City hook-up fees which would likely be charged. Ebbighausen agreed to inspect the property, and it was suggested that Bjella obtain an independent appraisal at his expense; but he later said that it was difficult to get it appraised because there were no "similar properties" recently sold upon which a fair comparison could be based. Ebbighausen's inspection failed to produce a valuation change. The Counties must submit preliminary 1998 budgets and levies by September 15th. Ebbighausen said that under this year's state legislated property tax reform apartments, commercial buildings and public utilities, which historically have been more highly taxed, and not private homes, would see the largest reduction, and added later, in interview, that the Beltrami County tax base is up by about 5.8% over last year. This would result in that much more county tax revenue, even at present rates of tax, due to higher assessed property values. --------------------------------------------------- ATTY GENERAL CANDIDATE TO BE IN WALKER ST. PAUL -- Former Crow Wing County Prosecutor, author and 1998 Attorney General Candidate John Remington Graham will be appearing at a rally and $64 a plate ($50 refundable) fundraiser at Jimmy's Restaurant in Walker, Minn. on Thursday, Sept. 18th. The event, entitled "An Evening with Jack Graham" is scheduled from 6 pm on, with dinner at 7. As County Attorney, Graham is said to have sent more criminals to prison than any prior prosecutor. Graham is a strong supporter of families and a proponent of Constitutional law. He has said that the way OFPs are now used in this state to throw men out of their homes without due cause violates the Constitution and he has pledged opposition to this judicial practice. Graham fared well in his run against incumbent Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson last year, garnering 39% of the vote. Dinner reservations may be had by calling 612-454-4537. ---------------------------------------- (PUBLIC SERVICE ADVERTISEMENT) IF YOU LIKE TO SMOKE KNOW WHERE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS GO. In 1995, the AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY gave $6,000 in tax-deductible contributions to the "Minnesota Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society - 2000", a lobbying group that's trying to make it harder for you to smoke by increasing tobacco taxes and governmental restrictions. The American Heart Association also gave $6,000, and American Lung Association gave $500. Source: Minnesota Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society 2000 A PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE PROVIDED BY THIS NEWSPAPER (ADVERTISEMENT) REACH YOUR FULL MARKET SHARE IN GREATER MINNESOTA For as little as $4 per column/inch! YOUR DISPLAY AD IN NORTHERN HERALD REACHES MINNESOTANS FROM GRAND RAPIDS TO BAGLEY, FROM RED LAKE TO PINE RIVER! TO PLACE YOUR AD, CALL 759-1162 WE MEAN BUSINESS EDITORIALS - OPINION QUALITY HAS TO COME FIRST Look Closely at School Bond & Tax Ballot Questions Only 36% of Bemidji Students Tested Got "C" Equivalent in Reading Would you reward your kid for a report card showing Ds and Fs? Well, that's essentially what Bemidji Public Schools (Dist. 31) are asking you to do for the educators in November. Their report card doesn’t look good at all. Last year, statewide testing of eighth grade students made news due to the low scores. But this year's tests haven't even been spoken of much until now. The testing. In 1996, eighth grade school kids were tested for basic standards in reading and math. They'd have to meet these standards by the time of graduation. Statewide public school results were not impressive: 37% could not pass the reading part, and 29% for math. Bemidji's numbers pretty much mirrored the state average with a 34% failure rate in reading, 29% in math. The 1997 testing of kids in grades 9-12 was generally a retest of those children who had not passed in the previous year. (Note 1) Accordingly, the passage percentages of grades 9-12 statewide, were lower than in the earlier year eighth grade tests. Some districts, however, did well in the retest. The nearby Nevis district (which is on the low end of per pupil spending at $4,440), for instance, had brought 54% of the retesting kids up to par in reading, and 60% in math. (Nevis also gave a pilot writing test in April of 1997. 98% of the kids passed.) Conversely, only 36% of the District 31 (Bemidji) students retested on reading scored at least 70%, the equivalent of a "C" grade. 64% scored below this. Only 16% of the students scored 80% or better, a "B" equivalent. Math scores were similar: 41% got a "C" equivalent or better, with 16% having a "B" equivalent or better. 59% scored below the "C" equivalent. (table insert - may be distorted in web edition due to browser tabs - the four percentages which follow each group, in order, are 70% or better reading, 70% or better math, 80% or better reading, 80% or better math.) 1997 TEST RESULTS - GRADES 9-12 District & avg. Students scoring Students scoring amt. spent at least 70% at least 80% per pupil ("C" equivalent) ("B" equivalent) READING MATH READING MATH Statewide private schools 81% 81% 64% 62% Statewide public schools 54% 56% 31% 32% Nevis ($4,440) 54% 60% 46% 20% Walker ($5,260) 44% 60% 21% 27% Deer River ($5,411) 55% 51% 31% 31% Park Rapids ($4,611) 50% 51% 18% 10% Bemidji ($4,996) 36% 41% 16% 16% Source: Minn. Dept. of Children, Families and Learning. This is not the report card of only the students, but is also an effective measure of the efficiency of the local learning system. Some of the score variation from the state average, and other districts, of course, may be due to local genetics, inbreeding and home environment (Beltrami County has a 44% illegitimacy rate). But the discrepancy is large enough that one also has to look to the educators. Other District 31 controversy. Problems within the district have not been limited to academic performance. In the past, the School Board has been unresponsive to parents' concerns over some subjects (such as sex education) taught in the school, and the manner of teaching. We agree with those concerns; with performance this low on the three "R"s, it's hard to justify time and money spent on the "S." Besides teen pregnancy, other problems such as teen crime, including widespread drinking, theft, vandalism and sometimes violence continue to plague the Bemidji community, more so, seemingly, than in other nearby areas. It has been our experience in investigating sporadic reports that, although a behaviour policy on school grounds is in effect, in specific instances of teen crime, it has been the standpoint of school administrators to try to "wash their hands" of the problem, avoiding having to take disciplinary action, even where it has involved Bemidji High students on school grounds or in transit to or from the school. In addition to controversial classes, the school has been used as a point of indoctrination of students on matters outside of the academic realm, and which was, frankly, erroneous. Bemidji has a way of targeting certain individuals, some of whom meet with disfavor of certain officials or influential townspeople, and some who just "fall into it" through no action of their own. One of the latter examples was Roy Martin, in 1994. An effort is made to make it as difficult and unpleasant as possible for these "targeted" individuals to live here. This is often done through the promotion of inaccurate, slanderous and malicious "grapevine" communication; it becomes of public concern when this promotion is by official sources using tax-paid property and time, and particularly when the schools are used to spread this malicious misinformation. Martin, who was partially disabled, and his wife, both quiet, traditional native Americans, by happenstance, lived next door to your editor who can attest, without reservation, that they were two of the gentlest and most harmless people that he has known. In June, 1994, Ida Stein Hightshoe, an employee of MeritCare Clinic, Bemidji, who lived two houses away from the Martins, was allegedly assaulted in her home. The investigation was done by Sgt. Gerry Johnson, Bemidji Police Department. Immediately following the incident, Hightshoe described the intruder as a white male, with characteristics which in no way corresponded to Martins' description. Per Martin's wife, he was home sleeping when the assault occurred. The composite drawing provided by Hightshoe did not look like Martin at all. His disability would have prevented him from using the getaway route that police thought was used from the alleged crime scene. Between the alleged assault and Martin’s arrest, Hightshoe saw him at a local drive-in and did not recognize him. Nonetheless, and for reasons which still are not fully clear, Martin was arrested for this crime as he came from his classes at BSU one July day. In what was called by a nearby television station, "the most bizarre trial in the history of Beltrami County," a jury, hearing the evidence, fully acquitted Roy Martin, after he'd spent almost 7 months in the Beltrami County Jail, in February of 1995. But the community was not through with Roy Martin. Almost immediately following the trial, Sgt. Johnson went into the Bemidji High School and addressed a class, emphasizing that just because the jury found Martin not guilty, that did not mean he was innocent. The implication was that Martin might still be dangerous. The effect (and intent) of this and other efforts were to "poison" the town against the Martins. Subsequently, the Martins were denied medical treatment at MeritCare, Bemidji's only major clinic, their landlord refused to renew their lease and they found it impossible to obtain another apartment from Bemidji's landlords. They left in spring of 1995 for Martin's native Tennessee where he reentered college and at last report was an exceptional student. Although the school played a small part in the defamation of Roy Martin, our point is that this use of tax-paid facilities and time (as well as Sgt. Johnson's time) was inappropriate. And we have reason to believe that Martin’s case was not an isolated example of the public schools being used to inspire fear, hatred and prejudice, against certain upstanding members of the community, in the minds of impressionable children who will soon be Bemidji’s young adults. These teachings perpetuate malice in a community which, itself, lives in a glass house. A serious question exists as to whether the school, and the teachings within it, may be one of the indirect sources of many community problems, from low academics, to juvenile crime, to teachings which conflict with family values, to defamation of individuals within the community. In the upcoming election, Bemidji Schools will be asking taxpayers to approve this with a massive $48 million bond issue, and also, an unrelated "excess levy" that will enable the district to, in future years, impose taxes for salaries and operating expenses over and above the current state-mandated property tax limit. Per Rollie Morud, District 31 Superintendent, the bond issue alone is expected to raise taxes on a $70,000 home by about $117 a year for 20 years. It is not yet known how much higher the average homeowner's taxes might go under the additional excess levy measure. The stated purpose of the bond issue is principally to replace the current functional, stately and adequate high school at 15th & Bemidji Ave. ($40+ million), and also to replace Lincoln Elementary school ($7+ million). There is a severe question as to whether a new high school is even needed. And a question why this district needs to spend more for day-to-day expenses and salaries than statewide tax ceilings allow (see districts' costs comparison in table). But the much larger question is whether Bemidji taxpayers should support low quality education, a Board that is deaf to the parents, and even malice and community damage, by continuing to feed a sick educational system and now approving this tax double-whammy. More money will not cure the ills that plague the Bemidji Schools and the Bemidji community. It is, perhaps, time that the taxpayers demanded excellence before throwing their money at the problem. If more money is needed, we know of several administrators, and possibly a few teachers who could be "let go," thus saving revenue without any noticeable diminution in the school's function, and likely an enhancement. A cure has to be found to ensure the competent education of our young people. A growing number of parents have exerted the effort necessary for home schooling just to keep their kids out of what they perceive to be a sick system. Not all parents can do this; Charter Schools, with newfound legislative support, may provide future options for many of them. The Governor's voucher proposal, which failed in the last legislative session, if renewed, would spur the creation of new community-oriented, cost-effective and not necessarily sectarian private schools by making the school of their choice available to low to middle-income families without additional public cost. But the current well-paid school district administrators and teachers are a closely aligned and a more powerful voting (and political-contributing) block than you may think, and they lose money and jobs when kids go elsewhere (particularly when their job performance isn't up to where a private school would hire them), so don't hold your breath on this good idea. (Note 2) Many now believe that here in Bemidji, as well as in certain other communities, the time of the existent school hierarchy is passed and it's time for some new ideas; to build anew rather than try to apply band-aids to a system that is functionally crippled, possibly destructive, and what with more and higher paid administrators and threatened teachers' strikes, is costing more and more each year. It's time to stop giving more money every time they ask. We don't need to build a new building, we need to build a new learning facility and system; one that will employ teachers and administrators who will instill the raw material for academic performance and success; one which will encourage creativity; teaching children to question and how to learn; one that will work with and be responsive to parents in the community; one that will not bow to the wishes of certain groups to use its facilities for extraneous and inappropriate purposes; one that will actively encourage young people to become upstanding citizens, and take responsibility when the kids fall down a little in this; and finally, one which we may well find to be financially less burdensome than the present. It will be awhile before new school alternatives are feasible here, in the meantime, the existing schools will have to be used. Continuing operations will have to be funded, in the short-term at current levels, as new alternatives are found. But before approving the long-term measures that the schools now want, there has to be a showing of improved quality. In lieu of this, we should be looking in other directions, rather than making long-term building commitments to the existing school district and agreeing to higher long-term taxes to pay off bonds and for higher-cost normal operations and salaries. By objective standards, they haven’t earned the raise. It's hard to vote to withhold money from education, but District 31 taxpayers are already paying a lot (look at your itemized tax statement). As to the school's own "report card," well, if we reward Ds and Fs, we'll surely get more Ds and Fs. Instead, it may be time to, for now, maintain the status quo, and insist on a tangible showing of higher quality before more investment. A new building and paying higher salaries and expenses isn’t going to change the quality of the work. Look at what other districts have done, with less spending. There has to be worthwhile performance, with what we've got, before building an expensive new edifice, in which to house it, might become justifiable. And perhaps, at the same time, we should explore a long-term commitment in other options to ensure the future quality of education of Bemidji’s young people. It's their future that's at stake. ENDNOTES: 1 The 1997 tests were given, statewide, in January 1997 by the Minnesota Dept. of Children, Families and Learning (formerly Dept. of Education) to public and private school students. Although most students have been tested (usually in eighth grade), per a spokeswoman at DCFL, school districts had some discretion over which students took the test. In Bemidji, 61 ninth - twelfth grade students took the reading portion and 64 took the math. This testing is now mandatory for all students statewide, which will reduce the possibility of future sampling error. Further information on the test and state and district summary results may be found at DCFL's Internet site: http://children.state.mn.us 2 As case in point, on the political side of education, your editor has had the experience, while a legislative candidate, of being invited to speak at forums before the public school educators and administrators. Prior to each forum, materials were given by the educators' group, to the candidates, for their information if elected. Your editor would have thought that they would have wanted to tell us what they'd accomplished in the last two years. But none of the materials dealt with academic or other school performance or teaching. The voluminous sheaves we were given dealt only with funding, and it was very obvious where the educators' priorities lay. ---------------------------------------------------- BAREFOOT AND PREGNANT Contemporary Ladies' Perspective, Advice and Tips by Wanda Yoemans DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OR ACCIDENT? Two recent events have made me more aware of a mythology that exists concerning domestic violence, namely that the woman is the victim and the man is guilty until (and maybe even after) proven otherwise. The first is rather personal. Several weeks ago my husband and I were watering our garden. I had a hose that I was using to fill buckets so that hubby could carry them to an area that the hose wouldn't reach. True to the nature of husbands, he made some smart remark that earned him a soaking with the hose. A water fight ensued. (This, by the way, is a long standing tradition in our family.) During the ruckus, I tripped over a lawn chair that was lying folded up on the ground. When I fell I landed in a pile of rocks that we were using to line the flower beds. Hubby felt just awful about the whole affair and after making sure I wasn't seriously hurt we changed clothes and went to a nearby town to pick up some groceries. While in town I noticed that people kept giving me funny looks. After the first two stops I looked in the mirror and saw that I had a black eye. After that when people looked at me strangely, I explained about my fall at home. That brought even stranger looks, like they didn't believe me. I'm quite sure that everyone thought that hubby had hit me. The second event is the accident that Whitney Houston had while she and her husband, Bobby Brown, were on vacation in the Mediterranean. Miss Houston's official statement via her publicist, Lois Smith, of Epic Records, is "They were having lunch, and she slipped in the dining room. She thinks she cut herself on a dinner plate that broke when she was trying to break her fall." Miss Houston states that Bobby was in no way to blame for her injury. Miss Houston received two stitches at the Capilup Hospital in nearby Capri. Of course the media had a hay day with the story and insisted that Bobby Brown was to blame even after Miss Houston stated otherwise. Headlines like "Whitney Slashed! Her face was ripped open in violent fight with Bobby - say witnesses" (August 12, Globe) were common fare. So what does all this have to do with you and I? Domestic violence is a serious problem. When people jump to false conclusions before getting the facts it does not help the problem. Media sideshows like the Whitney Houston story only make matters worse. It is like the child who cried wolf, eventually nobody listens because it is never true, only sometimes it is. Domestic abuse happens everyday. The victims are not just women and children. My personal experience shows that sometimes the victims are men or the parents. Domestic violence is an equal opportunity activity for both victims and perpetrators. I have known three different women who were the victims of their husband's abuse. One had her front teeth knocked out, an eye that was swollen shut and received stitches to multiple lacerations on her face. Another had broken ribs and her face pulverized. I spent a full day washing blood off the walls and crib in the bedroom where the beating had taken place. The third was punched in the stomach and shoved through a window. None of these cases could have been mistaken for an accident. I was able to help two of these women get out of their situations. The one with her teeth knocked out disappeared with her husband one night and I never saw her again. I often wonder if she is okay. A few years back I knew a man whose wife beat on him on a regular basis. She would become quite violent, punching and kicking him as hard as she could. He tolerated her abuse because he was afraid that if he didn't she would start in on their children. There was no help for him. No shelter to go to with his children. Nobody would take his problem seriously, because, after all he was a man and men don't get beat up by their wives, or do they? There was one couple that were mutually abusive. He beat on her and she beat on him. Eventually they went their separate ways. He found a new woman to beat that didn't beat back and wound up in jail. I don't know about her situation at this time. I have known parents who were investigated for abuse do to normal cuts and scratches from bicycle riding or tree climbing. Their lives were turned upside down with social service investigations instigated by people who jumped to the wrong conclusion. The children that I have known who were abused by their parents, in most cases, didn't have any visible bruises or cuts. Their parents were very careful to make sure that such evidence was covered up with clothing. Fear and intimidation kept these kids from speaking to anyone about their problem. I have also witnessed children abusing their parents. When a child throws a kicking, punching, biting tantrum when not allowed to have their way it is abuse. The parents of such children feel intimidated by the child's behavior. So what do we do? First, not every bruise, cut, or scratch is the result of abuse, accidents do happen. Time and resources should not be wasted on pointless witch hunts. It is when someone is in the habit of having "accidents" that we should be concerned. In such cases, the investigation needs to be thorough and protection needs to offered to the alleged victims who are often afraid to make a statement for fear of retaliation. Women and men need to quit thinking of each other as the enemy. Victim's shelters should be available to all victims of abuse regardless of gender. Domestic violence is a crime and should be treated like any other type of assault without regard to the perpetrator's age or gender. -------------------------------------------------------------- Letters to the Editor WHAT RIGHTS HAVE FATHERS? ... I am an area father who resides in Cass County. This previous winter I became introduced to your newspaper and I have been an avid and devoted reader since. I feel that you and your staff deserve to be commended for representing the viewpoints of fathers everywhere. Being a father myself, I feel you may find my situation good reading and informative as to just how little fathers have rights. Let me be one to tell you that, as a father, I feel that the welfare system and Social Services does not pertain to fathers, except when the issue of child support comes around. Otherwise, we as fathers are grossly underrepresented not only in the Social Services "circle" but also in regards to our rights. As you could probably perceive, I am not the custodial parent of my three-and-a-half year old. In fact, the mother of my daughter never mentioned me at all on the birth certificate. Since the birth of my daughter, I have hired an attorney to: 1) Order a paternity test; 2) File a motion for visitation rights and joint legal custody; and 3) File a [charge of deprivation of parental rights], which by Minnesota statute is regarded as a prosecutable offense. I have taken my daughter to the doctor on numerous occasions for not only obvious medical needs, but also for suspicion of abuse and neglect. Each time, the doctor who examined my daughter filed a report with child protection for abuse and neglect. There have been three times that a report was filed. On one occasion the doctor showed me where the hand print was, of the hand that bruised my daughter. These instances infuriated me, although when my weekend visitation was over I always returned my daughter at our agreed upon time. Last Thanksgiving (which was MY holiday) I went through two months of visitation deprivation. On one occasion, the mother of my daughter left her yard and promptly sped off as I pulled in. On other occasions [when writer was to pick up his daughter] she was conveniently not around. I have court ordered visitation, so I assumed a short trip to the County Courthouse would resolve the matter. Silly me... I have since lost complete faith in our system. The police (this all happened in Crow Wing County) said they could do nothing without a judge's order. I was told that I would have to file, [get] a court date and have a hearing on the matter. I felt this was very wrong, so the night of Thanksgiving I placed a call to my local representative Tony Kinkel. His office told me Tony was out for the remainder of the week.... Well, within two hours of my being told this my phone rang and I was greeted by ... Tony Kinkel. I feel that this is very commendable that Mr. Kinkel, on a holiday evening, returned my call within two hours.... Upon hearing my full story, which he listened to with genuine concern, he advised me [of] several avenues to explore... and also to keep him informed if no action was taken to assist me. ... I have spent several thousand dollars on attorneys' fees merely to go to court to stress that I have rights and that those rights have been violated. This whole time, my daughter's mother, who had been investigated three times by child protection, got legal aid and therefore free counsel. I might add that in each and every incident which Child Neglection, or, excuse me, Child Protection investigated, my follow-up phone calls were met with this reply: "I'm sorry, but the outcome of our investigation is a matter of confidentiality, and we cannot tell you anything, Mr. Weaver." WHAT???? What about MY rights? In this age of father bashing by women's groups, the rights of a father, guys, are minimal and not upheld with the respect and legal process that they deserve. I ...took it upon myself to contact Child Support several times to set up a monthly payment plan. I was told, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until your case comes up, Mr. Weaver" [I asked,] "When will that be?" I was told that my case was a full year away from being heard. So I asked if I could pay voluntarily in the meantime. [The agency responded,] "Yes, but we will put it into a non-interest yielding account until your hearing date." Also I was told that [the agency responsible for collecting] child support would have the ability to go two years into my past to ascertain my unpaid support. So I had to wait a year for them to catch up to me. Then I was told, of course, that I would have to pay interest on my share of the past medical bills and my monthly payments that they distinctly told me that I could not pay until my hearing date. How convenient that their two year reach into my past coincided with the year wait for my hearing. I hope you can realize what happened: No matter how much I pressed the issue, I was going to be declared a deadbeat on my hearing date. Keep in mind that I have no problem whatsoever with paying support; but why [did] ...I have to wait to pay, and then be declared a "deadbeat" merely because [the] Child Support and Collections [agency] is two years behind? As you can see, they "got" me. So here it is August and ...once again, after sending a certified letter to explain, as per our visitation agreement, when I would pick up our daughter, I am once again unaware of my daughter's whereabouts or her physical condition. So once again, I have to go in debt to MY attorney to declare a deprivation of visitation in court, while this "responsible" mother will once again get free legal representation to defend herself. And she is the one who is continuously disregarding our legal agreement because she knows her "sisters" at Social Services will not only represent her, but also give her moral support. THIS IS WRONG... Why? Well on a side issue, I am Native American, as my daughter is also. According to the Indian Child Welfare Reform Act, there is supposed to be financial assistance or legal representation to help me. No, no, no ... the office in Cass Lake told me Crow Wing County was out of their jurisdiction. Upon calling Crow Wing, I was told to inquire at ... Legal Aid. Unfortunately, they also represent my daughter's mother, so I was told they couldn't help me because of "conflict of interest"; also, I was told that since I am a good citizen and have a steady job, that I make too much money to qualify for legal assistance. Well, with several thousand in BACK child support, and several thousand... [in] attorney's fees, my financial situation quickly has become grim indeed. Yet I shall fight on; I shall fight to see my daughter, in a court of law; and I shall forever commit myself to making other fathers aware of the "sisterhood" mentality that exists in our social services system. And believe me, if you, as a father, go to Social Services for assistance, beware, for you shall never subject yourself to so many vile looks and [so much vile] treatment. "How dare he try and stand up for his rights," they tell me with their eyes.... Reform time? I do believe it is time. Imagine, if you will, what would happen to me if I disappeared with my daughter when I was supposed to return her to her mother; I'd be writing you this letter from jail. ... I have very [few] ...real rights in regard to my daughter. It’s all a facade, as any father who has been in my situation will tell you. But miss a support payment and, whoa, Social Services has a letter in the mail ASAP. Miss two payments and, whoa, there goes my driver's license, or worse yet, my occupational license. ... If I'm behind on my payments and they suspend my license, just how do they expect me to get to work? Or to my visitation? It's really asinine. ...She can withhold visitation, be brought up on abuse and neglect charges by doctors, and withstand sexual abuse allegations [about incidents] that my daughter has told me [are] ...happening, and yet when I finally get my day in court in the near future, she gets free legal representation, and Social Services on her side. Isn't Social Services' main concern supposed to be the children? Yeah - Right. Just keep those checks coming, Mr. Weaver or we will see that you are punished by law. Thank you for letting me voice my dilemma. Mark Weaver, Backus, Minn. ALL IN A NIGHT'S WORK A Northern Herald Special Feature CITIZEN-OFFICERS MAKE BEMIDJI STREETS, NEIGHBORHOODS SAFER (Route map and narrative shown only in print edition) Bemidji has long been affected by a high crime rate. Controlling crime here would normally mean more police officers, but that would also mean higher taxes, something many in this already highly taxed area just can't afford. But they can't afford crime either. So several citizens have volunteered to fight crime with sweat equity, rather than more money. With the cooperation of and training provided by the Bemidji Police Department, they're now on the streets every night (or day) in the newly formed Citizens' Patrol. Citizens' Patrol officer Brian McKenna, whose civilian job is at the Red Lake Hospital, explained, "You look for things as you're driving along, like broken windows in cars; a lot of times that signifies it's been stolen and they're just out driving around in it." "In our training, they fill us in on what to look for, it's hard to say, 'well, we look for this or we look for that,' it kind of comes back when you see it," he said. When patrolmen and women find a crime in progress or suspicious activity, they call LEC on the phones with which each car is equipped. "They don't want us to chase people down... that's why they gave us a cell phone," McKenna said, adding, "You just kind of observe it [until a BPD officer arrives]," McKenna said of the patrol officers who sometimes patrol alone, sometimes in pairs. McKenna said that one of the advantages of the Citizens Patrol is that the cars, which are cellular phone and scanner equipped, are marked only on the sides - they have no light bar and so are less likely to "tip off" perpetrators of vandalism and other criminal activity on the street. Also, McKenna pointed out, the patrolmen always have their phones with them, even when off-duty and in cars which are totally unmarked. "Anytime anybody's out just driving around town or going to the grocery store, they're effectively on patrol," he said. ALL IN A NIGHT' WORK It was a routine August Friday night - not even a hot summer's night. The following chronicles an average night's work for the men and women of the Bemidji Police Department. Also reported is a particularly noteworthy incident that night involving the Beltrami County Sheriff's Dept. and Minnesota State Patrol. Reporting herein covers a the six hour period from 10 pm August 22nd, until 4 the next morning. Northern Herald monitored and followed calls continuously during that period. We are pleased to report that in all cases, the police response time to the calls for service was virtually instant- aneous. We left immediately for the location upon hearing each call. In all cases, police officers were at the scene before we arrived; in one, they had completed their work by the time we got there. The following does not necessarily reflect all police work during the stated period. There may have been some incidents, particularly traffic stops, which were undetected. (PHOTO CAPTION - PHOTO IN PRINT EDITION ONLY) 10:45 pm. BPD Sgt. Jon Sorensen makes a traffic stop of a grey Ford, license 961 FBZ, at 4th & Minnesota just outside Bottums Up tavern. Officer Tom Charboneau assists. The car contained 3 juveniles, including the driver, who appeared intoxicated. After conferring, on his cellular phone, regarding the subject's record, Sorensen, at right, and Charboneau, below right, check the car for stolen property. Below, with the subject seated in back, Officer Sorensen carefully inspects a ring which appears similar to one which had been reported missing. (PHOTO CAPTION - PHOTO IN PRINT EDITION ONLY) 12:55 am Officer Charboneau observes a driver "blasting through" a yield sign. Officer Solheim, also present, concurred that he was "certainly going more than 30" mph when he passed the sign. Upon stopping the vehicle, Officer Charboneau found the driver in an unstable and uncooperative state. His speech was slurred and he appeared intoxicated. At far left, Officer Charboneau offers the driver, Rolf Gotaas, a bretholyzer test, which he refused. Charboneau then offered two other field sobriety tests, (center) but the driver just said, "You do it! If you do it, I'll do it too." What was particularly noteworthy, in this difficult situation, was the professionalism of the officers involved. Despite the subject's attitude, the officers never used undue force, were neither provoking in what they said, nor were they provoked by the subject. Charboneau just again insisted that the driver take the test, and after giving him every chance to clear himself, met with repeated refusals to cooperate, finally was left with no choice but to make the arrest (right). POLICE LOG August 22, 1997 10:23 pm Bar check at Hard Times Saloon 10:31 pm Bar check at Keg & Cork 10:43 pm Officers answer a call to remove a person from the Paul Bunyan Playhouse 10:45 pm - A car containing 3 juveniles is stopped by Sgt. Sorensen at 4th & Minnesota. Officer Charboneau, assisting, administers breatholyzer tests. After conferring on his cellular phone, Officers Sorensen and Charboneau performed a through search of the vehicle, apparently for stolen property. Sorensen looked with particular care around the driver's area of the car, including the door, and drivers jacket. He checked under the front seat and in the glove box, then returned to his squad car and closely examined a ring that had been recovered, similar to one earlier reported stolen. The driver of the vehicle was arrested and transported by Sorensen. As the vehicle was being impounded, Officer Charboneau gave the passengers rides to their destinations from the scene. Officer Solheim arrives to supervise the towing. The officers were on the scene for 55 minutes from Sgt. Sorensen’s first report until Southside towing arrived to impound the vehicle. As of August 29th, no charges had yet been filed. The stolen property matter was currently under investigation, and police were waiting for blood alcohol test results for possible DWI charge. 10:47 pm Officers check for a prowler near 10th & Mississippi Ave. 11:23 pm Officers are dispatched to Skyline Village where a burglary is reported. 11:32 pm Officers respond to a call to remove a person from Paul Bunyan Playhouse. 12:20 am A verbal warning for speed is given at 15th & Bemidji Ave. 12:47 am Another call is received regarding a possible prowler at 10th & Mississippi; officers Charboneau and Solheim respond, but find nothing. As Charboneau was getting back in his squad car, he observed a vehicle that had, as Charboneau put it, "blasted through" a yield sign on 10th street. He turned on his lights and pursued the vehicle into an alley where the vehicle, apparently, backed into his squad car. Solheim arrived shortly on the scene. The Officers attempted to administer a breatholyzer test which was refused. The driver, Rolf Gotaas also refused to participate in a field sobriety test. Accordingly, he was arrested for refusal to test. 1:02 am Officers are dispatched to a drunk complaint on Gemmel Ave. 1:03 am Loud party complaint at 27th & Minnesota Ave. 1:06 am A theft is reported - officers are dispatched to the Hard Times Saloon parking lot to take the complaint. 1:44 am Police check out a barking dog complaint at 4620 NE Sherman Ave. 2:46 am A 911 call comes in from 2516 NE Calihan Ave., (911 equipment can usually identify the caller's location and phone) but the connection is lost before the caller can provide information. Officers Charboneau and Otness are dispatched to the location. The house is dark. They inspect the property outside the house with flashlights, but all appears to be quiet and no potential problem is discovered. This may have been a prank call. 3:38 am Police check out a loud party complaint North of Gordon Falls Park EVENTIDE Arts & Literature Although known primarily for his novels, some of Twain's best work was nonfiction. In ROUGHING IT, whence this excerpt is drawn, he describes his adventures traveling, prospecting and reporting in America's mid-nineteenth century West. Chapters of ROUGHING IT are not necessarily presented here in the order in which they occur in the bound volume; each, generally, is enjoyable on its own merits. The complete published volume is available from finer booksellers and libraries. The American Civil War, known as the war that pit brother against brother, was raging. Twain fought briefly for the South, until it became apparent to him that his brief service likely posed a far greater danger to the Southern Cause, to say nothing of his own safety, than to Lincoln's armies. Meanwhile, in 1861, Mark Twain's brother, Orion, a Unionist, had been appointed Secretary of the Territory of Nevada, where gold and silver had recently been discovered. Mark was invited to serve, without pay, as the Secretary's private secretary, and the two of them headed West, from Missouri, by overland stage. In time they reached Carson City . . . ROUGHING IT by Mark Twain CHAPTER XXV Originally, Nevada was a part of Utah and was called Carson County; and a pretty large county it was too. Certain of its valleys produced no end of hay, and this attracted small colonies of Mormon stock raisers and farmers to them. A few orthodox Americans straggled in from California, but no love was lost between the two classes of colonists. There was little or no friendly intercourse; each party stayed to itself. The Mormons were largely in the majority, and had the additional advantage of being peculiarly under the protection of the Mormon government of the territory. Therefore they could afford to be distant and even peremptory toward their neighbors. One of the traditions of Carson Valley illustrates the condition of things that prevailed at the time I speak of. The hired girl of one of the American families was Irish, and a Catholic; yet it was noted with surprise that she was the only person outside the Mormon ring who could get favors from the Mormons. She asked kindnesses of them often, and always got them. It was a mystery to everybody. But one day as she was passing out at the door, a large bowie knife dropped from under her apron, and when her mistress asked for an explanation she observed that she was going out to "borry a washtub from the Mormons!" In 1858 silver lodes were discovered in "Carson County," and then the aspect of things changed. Californians began to flock in, and the American element was soon in the majority. Allegiance to Brigham Young and Utah was renounced, and a temporary territorial government for "Washoe" was instituted by the citizens. Governor Roop was the first and only chief magistrate of it. In due course of time Congress passed a bill to organize "Nevada Territory," and President Lincoln sent out Governor Nye to supplant Roop. At this time the population of the territory was about twelve or fifteen thousand, and rapidly increasing. Silver mines were being vigorously developed and silver mills erected. Business of all kinds was active and prosperous and growing more so day by day. The people were glad to have a legitimately constituted government, but did not particularly enjoy having strangers from distant states put in authority over them -- a sentiment that was natural enough. They though the officials should have been chosen from among themselves -- from among prominent citizens who had earned a right to such promotion, and who would be in sympathy with the populace and likewise thoroughly acquainted with the needs of the territory. They were right in viewing the matter thus, without doubt. The new officers were "emigrants," and that was no title to anybody's affection or admiration either. The new government was received with considerable coolness. It was not only a foreign intruder, but a poor one. It was not even worth plucking -- except by the smallest of small fry office seekers and such. Everybody knew that Congress had appropriated only twenty thousand dollars a year in greenbacks for its support -- about money enough to run a quartz mill a month. And everybody knew, also, that the first year's money was still in Washington, and that the getting hold of it would be a tedious and difficult process. Carson City was too wary and too wise to open up a credit account with the imported bantling with anything like indecent haste. There is something solemnly funny about the struggles of a newborn territorial government to get a start in this world. Ours had a trying time of it. The Organic Act and the "instructions" from the State Department commanded that a legislature should be elected at such-and-such a time, and its sittings inaugurated at such-and-such a date. It was easy to get legislators, even at three dollars a day, although board was four dollars and fifty cents, for distinction has its charm in Nevada as well as elsewhere, and there were plenty of patriotic souls out of employment; but to get a legislative hall for them to meet in was another matter altogether. Carson blandly declined to give a room rent-free, or let one to the government on credit. But when Curry heard of the difficulty, he came forward, solitary and alone, and shouldered the Ship of State over the bar and got her afloat again. I refer to "Curry - Old Curry - Old Abe Curry." But for him the legislature would have been obliged to sit in the desert. He offered his large stone building just outside the capitol limits, rent-free, and it was gladly accepted. Then he built a horse railroad from town to the capitol, and carried the legislators gratis. He also furnished pine benches and chairs for the legislature, and covered the floors with clean sawdust by way of carpet and spittoon combined. But for Curry the government would have died in its tender infancy. A canvas partition to separate the Senate from the House of Representatives was put up by the Secretary, at a cost of three dollars and forty cents, but the United States declined to pay for it. Upon being reminded that the instructions permitted the payment of a liberal rent for a legislative hall, and that that money was saved to the country by Mr. Curry's generosity, the United States said that did not alter the matter, and three dollars and forty cents would be subtracted from the Secretary's eighteen-hundred-dollar salary -- and it was! The matter of printing was from the beginning an interesting feature of the new government's difficulties. The Secretary was sworn to obey his volume of written "instructions," and these commanded him to do two certain things without fail, viz.: 1. Get the House and Senate journals printed; and, 2. For this work, pay one dollar and fifty cents per "thousand" for composition, and one dollar and fifty cents per "token" for presswork, in greenbacks. It was easy to swear to do these two things, but it was entirely impossible to do more than one of them. When greenbacks had gone down to forty cents on the dollar, the prices charged everybody by printing establishments were one dollar and fifty cents per "thousand" and one dollar and fifty cents per "token," in gold. The "instructions" commanded that the Secretary regard a paper dollar issued by the government as equal to any other dollar issued by the government. Hence the printing of the journals was discontinued. Then the United States sternly rebuked the Secretary for disregarding the "instructions," and warned him to correct his ways. Wherefore he got some printing done, forwarded the bill to Washington with full exhibits of the high prices of things in the territory, and called attention to a printed market report wherein it would be observed that even hay was two hundred fifty dollars a ton. The United States responded by subtracting the printing bill from the Secretary's suffering salary -- and moreover remarked with dense gravity that he would find nothing in his "instructions" requiring him to purchase hay! Nothing in this world is palled in such impenetrable obscurity as a U.S. Treasury Comptroller's understanding. The very fires of the hereafter could get up nothing more than a fitful glimmer in it. In the days I speak of he never could be made to comprehend why it was that twenty thousand dollars would not go as far in Nevada, where all commodities ranged at an enormous figure, as it would in the other territories, where exceeding cheapness was the rule. He was an officer who looked out for the little expenses all the time. The Secretary of the territory kept his office in his bedroom, ... and he charged the United States no rent, although his "instructions" provided for that item and he could have justly taken advantage of it (a thing which I would have done with more than lightning promptness if I had been secretary myself). But the United States never applauded this devotion. Indeed, I think my country was ashamed to have so improvident a person in its employ. Those "instructions" (we used to read a chapter from them every morning, as intellectual gymnastics, and a couple of chapters in Sunday school every Sabbath, for they treated of all subjects under the sun and had much valuable religious matter in them along with the other statistics) those "instructions" commanded that penknives, envelopes, pens, and writing paper be furnished the members of the legislature. So the Secretary made the purchase and distribution. The knives cost three dollars apiece. There was one too many, and the Secretary gave it to the clerk of the House of Representatives. The United States said the clerk of the House was not a "member" of the legislature, and took that three dollars out of the Secretary's salary, as usual. White men charged three or four dollars a "load" for sawing up stovewood. The Secretary was sagacious enough to know that the United States would never pay any such price as that; so he got an Indian to saw up a load of office wood at one dollar and a half. He made out the usual voucher, but signed no name to it -- simply appended a note that an Indian had done the work, and had done it in a very capable and satisfactory way, but could not sign the voucher owing to lack of ability in the necessary direction. The Secretary had to pay that dollar and a half. He thought the United States would admire both his economy and his honesty in getting the work done at half price and not putting a pretended Indian's signature to the voucher, but the United States did no see it in that light. The United States was too much accustomed to employing dollar-and-a-half thieves in all manner of official capacities to regard his explanation of the voucher as having any foundation in fact. But the next time the Indian sawed wood for us I taught him to make a cross at the bottom of the voucher -- it looked like a cross that had been drunk for a year - and the I "witnessed" it and it went through all right. The United States never said a word. I was sorry I had not made the voucher for a thousand loads of wood instead of one. The government of my country snubs honest simplicity but fondles artistic villainy, and I think I might have developed into a very capable pickpocket if I had remained in the public service a year or two. That was a fine collection of sovereigns, that first Nevada legislature. They levied taxes to the amount of thirty or forty thousand dollars a year and ordered expenditures to the extent of about a million. Yet they had their little periodical explosions of economy like all other bodies of the kind. A member proposed to save three dollars a day to the nation by dispensing with the chaplain. And yet that shortsighted man needed the chaplain more than any other member, perhaps, for he generally sat with his feet on his desk, eating raw turnips, during the morning prayer. The legislature sat sixty days, and passed private toll road franchises all the time. When they adjourned it was estimated that every citizen owned about three franchises, and it was believed that unless Congress gave the territory another degree of longitude there would not be room enough to accommodate the toll roads. The ends of them were hanging over the boundary line everywhere like a fringe. The fact is, the freighting business had grown to such important proportions that there was nearly as much excitement over suddenly acquired toll-road fortunes as over the wonderful silver mines. -------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 08/11/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 19 --------------------------------------------- CASS COUNTY CHIEF SHERIFF'S DISPATCHER CHARGED, RESIGNS Joyce Malone Charged with Insurance Swindle, Husband Drives Truck for County Despite DWIs WALKER -- Joyce Duwayne Malone, of Hackensack, tendered her resignation as Cass County Chief Dispatcher Tuesday, August 5th after being charged with one count of felony Insurance Fraud and one count of Theft by Swindle relating to the same incident. Per the complaint filed in case no. K1-97-732, signed July 31st by Rick P. Loewen, Special Agent, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Malones reported a theft from their boat which theft allegedly occurred May 16/17, 1997. Among the items listed in the loss report with the Sheriff's Office and the Malones' insurance carrier, American Family Insurance Company, were an Impulse fish locator, serial no. 848709, valued at $1,039; and a Minn-Kota trolling motor, serial no. MKJF0040119, valued at $700. Per the complaint, Deputy Robert Stein became suspicious when shortly after the theft, he noticed the Malones using a bow mounted trolling motor with their boat at the Walker landing. Although the Malones represented that the motor was borrowed from a local sporting goods store, Stein though it was unusual for the store to loan a bow mount motor. The complaint alleges that Stein contacted the store and ascertained that no motor had been loaned to the Malones. He then contacted Interlachen Electric Trolling Motor Repair to ascertain if the number the Malones had reported was a valid serial number. He was informed that Mr. Malone had brought a motor in for repair on May 23, 1997, and the serial number of that motor was MKJF0040118, which matched the serial number on Malone's theft report except for the last digit. Further investigation by Stein revealed that the Malones had received payment from their insurance carrier in the amount of $574.30 for the locator and motor, per the filed complaint. The complaint further alleges that, notified of the possibility of insurance fraud, Agent Loewen spoke to Joyce Malone on July 14th, when she denied having made any false claims. But when Loewen and Stein executed a search warrant at Malone's residence about 40 minutes later, finding and seizing one Minn-Kota trolling motor, serial no. MKJF0040118, and an Impulse fish locator, serial no. 848704, "Defendant admitted she did make a fraudulent insurance claim.... Defendant altered the serial numbers by one digit and gave the incorrect serial numbers to the investigating officer and the insurance companies. Defendant stated she did this because the last time she was burglarized, she did not receive the money to cover what was stolen." Contacted on the matter, Joyce Malone refused comment. DWI. Meanwhile, Joyce's husband, Dennis Malone, awaits sentencing on a charge of 2nd DWI within 5 years. He was found guilty of the charge, stemming from a May 1st, 1996 incident, on May 20th, 1997. Dennis Malone is a truck driver for the Cass County Highway Department. Per the record, prior to being stopped, Malone had deliberately violated three school bus stoparms on three different busses on Highway 371 between Walker and Hackensack. The filed complaint recites, regarding the second incident, "Mr. King [the driver of the school bus] saw a blue Chevrolet pickup truck coming up behind his bus. At that time, there was a van and several cars stopped behind him. He was stopping to let off children and had activated his lights and stoparm. The pickup swerved to pass on the right, but, since the bus was parked too far over for the pickup to get by, it swerved back to the left and into the left-hand lane on Highway 371. The school bus was just getting underway, having discharged some of its students, when the pick-up truck sped by on the left and into the path of an oncoming car. The car was forced into the ditch...." Joyce Malone has been summoned for arraignment on the insurance charges at 1 pm August 18th, 1997 in the District Court at Walker. The matter is prosecuted by Special Asst. Cass Co. Atty. Bradley C. Rhodes, of Aitkin. Mr. Malone will appear for sentencing on the DWI at 9 am, also on August 18th. Chief Deputy Randy Fisher expressed dismay over the situation regarding the former dispatcher, "She's entitled to the due process of the criminal system.... She's been accused of two felonies.... It's very unfortunate," he said. Asked about the possibility of rehire, Fisher said that because it's a Civil Service position, Malone might be entitled to be re-examined, but a felony conviction would bar hiring. It appears that if the charge were reduced, however, to a misdemeanor, as by way of a plea bargain, she might be eligible for rehire. More fun with numbers. In an unrelated matter, but also dealing, apparently, with altered serial numbers, Cass County Deputy Robert Karbowski, believed to have been attempting to justify a search of van driven by Paula Wilson in Cass Lake, appears to have done so by calling in the VIN number which he had altered by one letter. (See "Ruby Harassment Continues," NH of 06/30/97) The purportedly altered VIN came back, of course, as "not on file" and Karbowski then searched the van, allegedly macing a passenger, Renee Judkins, in the process. Judkins also claims to have been hit with a flashlight. The van, belonging to Mindy Ruby (Judkins' sister), of Hinesville, Georgia, was then impounded. The altered VIN was shown on the tow report. Investigation has disclosed that the van was properly and currently registered at the time, although the tabs displayed on its Georgia plates were expired as the new tabs had not yet arrived by mail. Wilson had been driving the van with Ruby's permission. COUNTY CLAMS UP. A special meeting of the Cass County Board was scheduled to have been held at 9 am, July 8th to examine claims, by Wilson and Judkins, of excessive force by Karbowski, but that meeting was cancelled on advice to the Board by the office of the Cass County Attorney. Robert H. Yochum, County Administrator, who gave notice of the cancellation, refused any comment on the matter, as did Greg Bloomstrom of the County Attorney's office. ----------------------------------------------------- MISCOMMUNICATION LEADS TO INJURY AT BELTRAMI JAIL Note: The injured party has asked that his name be withheld. Because that information is not relevant to the story, we do so; he'll just be called "John Tipsy." BEMIDJI -- John Tipsy, a 35 year old Bemidji resident, was allegedly a little tipsy when he got behind the wheel at about 2 am, Sunday, June 1st. So he was accommodated by law enforcement officers who gave him a ride to the jail. Trouble was, that John was the only John in his cell. There were no sanitary facilities in the cell in which he'd be spending the next six hours or so. This can pose a problem for someone who, purportedly, had been drinking some liquids shortly before he was brought in. Apparently, business had been brisk and there had been a high customer demand for lodging at the jail that weekend. Deputy David Fallis, who came on duty at the jail at about 6 am that day, explained that Tipsy had been placed in the "suicide watch" cell as the only space available. This is a special cell designed to protect inmates who are believed at temporary risk of self-inflicted injury. The inmate can be observed through a window. There is a narrow food port in the door, a concrete slab and a mattress. There is also a floor drain, with grate over it. The drain is actually flushable by authorities outside the cell, but would not be readily identified by an inmate as a commode. Mr. Tipsy stated that he made several requests to be taken to a toilet, but he said that these were, by jail staff, ignored. By the time Deputy Fallis came on duty, Tipsy was much in need of a bathroom and a misunderstanding apparently ensued. Fallis stated that Tipsy never mentioned his need of facilities to the new shift. Tipsy was in possession of a milk carton, which may have been furnished with breakfast, slid through the food port. Per the filed complaint, charging Tipsy with 4th degree assault against Deputy Fallis, Tipsy had requested a blanket. Fallis said he returned with one, as well as the box of other necessary items inmates are given for their stay. The filed complaint recites that Tipsy held a milk carton of urine through the food port, and threatened to throw it on Fallis. Fallis pushed Tipsy's arms back through the port and closed it. Tipsy's finger was not completely out of the way, however, and became jammed in the port door. Tipsy sustained a deep cut of about 1 1/2" in length, diagonally across and around the middle section of the right fifth (small) finger as well as fracture of the underlying bone. Fallis later stated in interview that the port door is such that, if it had been slammed, it could sever a finger that was caught in it. A few days after the incident, a deep gash could be seen in the finger, where it appeared to have been cut to, or almost to, the bone. Upon the injury, Fallis entered the cell to inspect Tipsy's finger. The complaint alleges that Tipsy tried to escape his cell, and that when Fallis and Corrections Officer Brian Downing re-entered the cell, Tipsy punched Fallis in the face, requiring two butterfly stitches to Fallis's nose. In interview, however, Tipsy denied that he had punched Fallis - he said that Fallis "rushed him" and that he had put up his hands to protect himself. He also denied that he threatened to throw urine on Fallis, or that the carton contained same. Tipsy stated that, needing a restroom, he told Fallis that if he wasn't taken to a cell with a commode, he would use the carton, and hand it to Fallis for disposal. Tipsy's state at the time may not have been fully coherent which would explain how a misunderstanding may have occurred. Interviews with both Tipsy and Fallis tend to corroborate Tipsy's contention in that, although the filed complaint speaks of Tipsy holding a milk carton of urine and threatening to throw it, both Tipsy and Fallis acknowledge that there was never urine in the carton. Fallis said that when he retrieved it, it had only a little milk left in it. Tipsy was taken, within a few minutes, to North Country Regional Hospital where he was received at the emergency room. The finger was X-rayed, and a splint and dressing applied. No stitches were applied, although per a competent medical source, stitches would generally be used to close a wound of this size. It is not known why stitches were not employed in this case. When observed by our reporter a few weeks later, the wound appeared to have healed, leaving a scar on the finger. At interview, Tipsy brought up the matter of medical attention at the jail, stating that inmates, many of whom are without funds and some of whom may qualify for medical assistance, are charged, except in emergencies, five dollars per visit to see the jail nurse. Asked about this, Sheriff Rognstad said that the charge applies only if the inmate needs to go to the hospital, and said, "they're not denied medical treatment if they can't pay for it." Editor's Note: The jobs of the Sheriffs' deputies, particularly at the jail, are not easy ones. People are brought in, in various states of mind and sobriety, and these deputies have the job of trying to corral and protect these people until justice can act on their cases. It's a little like being given custody of a mess of wild animals, say, bears and wolverines, different ones every night, with instructions to confine and take care of them for a few days. Except that here, we're not even dealing with these sorts of higher animals - we're dealing with humans. The personnel involved must be cognizant that this circumstance is particularly prone to mishap. They must also remember that the purpose of, say, a live bear trap, is to avoid injury to the bear. Murphy's Law applies here, though, as well as the principle that when you're up to your rear in alligators, it's sometimes hard to remember that the objective was to drain the swamp. So in this mishap-prone environment, particular conscientiousness and professionalism is necessary and is exercised. It's a tough job and unfortunately, as here, some miscommunication and human error is inevitible. It is a worthwhile goal of the Sheriff's office to implement policy which will minimize the opportunity for this type of error to occur. One of the largest problems in knowing what's going on in the Northland is avoiding misinformation which is abundant and spreads like wildfire, sometimes leading to more misunderstanding and adverse consequences. That which "everyone knows" is often lacking in accuracy. A purpose of a newspaper is to try to straighten out this chaos, rather than add to it. This story illustrates this problem in reporting. The hardest part of reporting a story of this nature, with multiple differing accounts, is separating the wheat from the chaff. The inmate's version was, at times, difficult to understand, and embedded in superfluous material. The significant facts had to be plucked out, examined and re-clarified, in light of other information at hand, at second interview. Even official sources were not wholly accurate. Sheriff Rognstad, cooperative in interview, said, for instance, that the cell without facilities did not exist - that all cells had bathrooms (on this basis, the inmate's story made no sense) and offered to allow an inspection of the premises. The Sheriff, however, was in error on this point - the "suicide watch" cell may simply have not come to mind - as well as on certain details, which had to be weeded out, relating to the inmate's medical treatment. The hospital's medical records, themselves, had major conflicting discrepancies which had to be distilled out to arrive at what appears to be the actual correct information. (The carelessness with which these reports are put together is astounding and, if reported verbatim, may affect the accuracy of what you sometimes read.) Eventually, comparisons of interviews with multiple sources, and with pertinent corroborative records led to the cohesive and credible reconstruction of the incident presented here. Travel tip: We also note that a number of persons serving sentences at the jail do so on work-release; they serve their sentences in evenings, or sometimes on weekends. This is positive. Job retention is an aid to deterring future offenses, but this of course produces a greater demand for lodging at the jail on weekends. Persons planning to be guests at the jail can help "beat the rush" and be assured of the best accomodations with a little advance planning. Plan your DWIs during the week. Avoid weekends, and particularly, holiday weekends. (On holiday weekends, like many finer hotels, the jail's accomodations are generally only available for the entire 3-day block, or what remains of it when you check in.) As an extra precaution, before you get behind the wheel, call the jail at 751-2827 to be sure they have space and make a reservation. ----------------------------------------------------------------- KPRM-KDKK CELEBRATES 35TH AT PARK RAPIDS PARK RAPIDS --December 2nd, 1962, KPRM-AM 1240 signed on the air, with 100 watts, providing radio coverage to Park Rapids and the surrounding area. Today, at 870 on the AM dial, it is the 2nd largest area AM broadcasting facility in the state with 25,000 watts of power. Likewise, in 1966 KPRM-FM signed on the air at 103.7 on the dial with 100,000 watts. Today, it is known as KDKK Starstation at 97.5 FM. The business, owned and operated by Ed and Carol DeLaHunt, is one of few in the state still operated by the original owners. KPRM and KDKK provide news, extensive weather, sports and music. It is one of few radio stations that has on-site color doppler radar to keep listeners informed of weather advisories. Their program "Coffeetime" allows community access with an open mike. It allows direct open discussion of projects and issues of interest to the community. Former Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, Collin Peterson and Governor Arne Carlson and many others have used this open door policy. The station has hosted many public service and charitable projects. KDKK and KPRM will be hosting an open house dinner and dance at the American Legion, Park Rapids, Friday August 15th from 5 pm 'til midnight. The public and business community are invited to the event, which will feature dinner of turkey, potatoes, corn on the cob and ice cream, with live entertainment by Denny Russell's Good Vibrations and Chris Hasskamp. Cover is $5 at the door, proceeds to local charities including the All Veteran's Memorial and the Boy Scouts. The 35th anniversary year will be concluded December 2nd, 1997 when the stations will give away a 1962 Cadillac convertible. -------------------------------------------------------------- GRAND RAPIDS DRIVER FACES TOUGHEST RACE. GRAND RAPIDS -- Racing runs in Brett Matzdorf's blood. Back to when his grandfather, Ray and his great-uncle Don used to race stock cars in the late 40s. His other grandfather, Louie Lagerstrom raced at International Falls in car no. 63, a 1944 coupe, while his great-uncle Tom Hardy, former Chief of Police, raced alongside in a 1940 Ford sedan. Brett, at the age of 11, had started a lawn care and snow removal business. At 13, he began racing 4-cylinder mini stocks. After 3 years, he was named "Rookie of the Year" at both Grand Rapids and Hibbing Speedways. In 1996, at 21, Brett joined the Wissota Sanction. Over his career he and his stepdad have built 8 racing cars, including the latest, #3, just built this year. Brett can't race for a while, however; as of July 3rd, he was diagnosed as having Hodgkins Lymphoma, a rare cancer. Doctors plan radiation and chemotherapy to try to control the aggressive disease. The Grand Rapids Speedway hosted a night in Matzdorf's honor on August 1st, and with Brian Carlson at the helm, a raffle and benefit to defray medical expenses will be held at Grand Rapids Eagles Club Sept. 21st from 1 to 5. Anyone wishing to help or donate prizes is asked to call Sharon at 218-327-2765 EDITORIAL-OPINION Myth vs. Fact WHAT MOVES THE MEDIA? Northern Herald Answers Common Questions "I look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens who, reading the newspapers, live and die in the belief they have known something of what has been passing in the world around them." -President Harry S. Truman (footnote 1) "All I know is what I see in the papers" -attributed to Will Rogers Q: Is the press biased? A: Not nearly so much as many people think. We've heard one excellent newspaper referred to by Republicans as a "liberal Democratic" sheet. The same paper has been characterized by Democrats as Republican-biased. So it depends a lot on where you're standing. Generally, any paper or news medium has a certain "flavor" which stems from its management (often as influenced by the readership) and which may be reflected in its editorial posture. But by ethic, the writers and reporters are generally given broad literary license - as regards any specific piece, they won't generally be (and some hold that they cannot be) told by management what to, or not to write. A writer who is constantly at odds with the management, may in some cases, however, become "exfoliated" and replaced. In this way, management can exert a subtle influence on the style of reporting. Q: A reporter misquoted me and left out a lot of what I said. Is he biased? Once again, probably not. A reporter's duty is to write what he sees and hears. Unfortunately reporters are not tape recorders and they miss some things; additionally, like any listener, they may "key in" on certain points, which are different than what the interviewee thought were the most important points. Again, space is limited, so the reporter will write what he perceived to be most important. If the priorities are not completely as the interviewee would have had them, it's usually due to human perception, not the reporter's having a bone to pick. He's just doing his job (usually). Another common complaint occurs where a reporter cites damning material from a source or public document which may or may not be correct. The affected person sometimes charges bias of the press in covering only that side of the story. But that may have been the only information that was available. In actuality, many official statements and filed court and other official documents are inaccurate. But in many of these cases, the complainant, who challenges the accuracy of what was reported, either never contacted the reporter with his side of the story, or in some cases, actually refused to be interviewed or to make a statement. Once again, the reporter is just doing his job - when a deadline is only hours away, he has to write his story using whatever information he's been able to gather and which he has been given no reason to doubt. No one has to talk to the press; much as in a courtroom, anyone has the right to their privacy and to be silent. But one party's choice of silence won't prevent the other party from presenting their case with determinations then made on what has been presented. Q: My letter didn't get printed. Is this because it ran against the paper's position? Probably not. With most any paper, sometimes a story or letter doesn't get used. More often than not, this is not a result of inherent bias - it's a matter of space. With any paper, regular beats are worked, but the best and most pertinent information come from readers. There's only so much page space, though; there's usually not enough to use everything and some decisions have to be made. Sometimes a piece which doesn't appear immediately is just being held until there's space for it. Q: Do advertisers exert an influence? A: Yes. A medium's (i.e. newspaper, TV, etc.) main purpose is to serve its audience, and thereby best serves its advertisers as well. The bulk of revenues, however, are not directly attributable to readership - (the price of a paper often mainly covers circulation expenses) and advertising pays the bulk of the bills and salaries making the medium possible. For this reason, there is an understandable reluctance on the part of any medium to "blow up" one of the advertisers that support it. A medium has to stay in business; some news which would be highly pertinent to the readership may sometimes be suppressed when it adversely reflects upon a large advertiser or advertising sector. A historic example of this type of news suppression was the termination, in the early 90's, of Minneapolis WCCO reporter Silvia Gambardella. As reported by Chris Wallace, for ABC NEWS PRIMETIME LIVE (12/18/96), "Silvia Gambardella's stories were more than popular, they broke news. Ever since she came to WCCO, she had hit car dealers hard, especially Ford dealers." Some of her stories dealt with important issues, such as safety. The auto industry, though, is a huge advertiser (look at the full-page spreads in any major paper). Per Wallace's report, when those dealers cancelled two million dollars in advertising, Gambardella found herself about to be exfoliated from WCCO without explanation. (A threatened newsroom walkout in support of Gambardella resulted in a short extension of her contract; WCCO "let her go" after things had settled down.) The size of the medium is a factor in how far it can go to bring candid news coverage. Wallace reported that WCCO, a large TV broadcaster in a major city, still does investigative reporting, even when it involves local advertisers. Major sponsors, such as auto makers and their dealers, however, are off-limits. A smaller, local medium, carrying primarily local, rather than national, advertising would be more sensitive to action by smaller advertisers, and might thusly be more limited in what investigative reporting it could do without substantially damaging repercussion. (Note: This publication avoids this conflict by being largely supported by consumer-oriented advertising; i.e. individuals selling cars, etc. in its classifieds) Q: Is there a gender gap in news reporting? A: There may be. With many media, female personnel have quietly gravitated to behind-the-scenes middle management positions, such as those of program directors and assignment editors. Some of them may have brought their own personal leanings to the job. And several papers are now under female ownership or control. Some believe that this may be a factor in equitable coverage of gender related issues by those media. When this is a factor, it more commonly is manifested in what isn't, rather that what is covered. A recent article in the Toronto Globe and Mail (July 19, 1997) (original source: Western Review) questioned why we so seldom hear about matters such as female marital violence (found by researchers to be as, or more, common than male), the sociological disaster of liberalized divorce, and the probable connection between abortion and breast cancer. We note, however, that in recent months, with more gender inequities, as they affect men, having been brought to the fore, the gender imbalance which may have existed in reporting seems to be, at least for now, subsiding. In summary. Yes, there are factors that affect what any medium will publish, and the credibility of what you read or see on TV. Some of these factors are not solely in the public interest. But there are also many other factors which do not reflect intentional bias. In any specific case when the actions of a medium are questioned, it is important to take into consideration those non-judgmental factors before assuming the action to be due to adverse bias of the medium. FOOTNOTES (1) as cited in The Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, Bathroom Readers' Institute, Berkeley ------------------------------------------------------------ BAREFOOT AND PREGNANT Contemporary Ladies' Perspective, Advice and Tips by Wanda Yoemans FOR PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT QUALITY EDUCATION, HOME SCHOOLING MAY BE AN OPTION. "The parent of a child is primarily responsible for assuring that the child acquires knowledge and skills that are essential for effective citizenship." Minn. Statutes, Chap. 120.101, Subd. 1 A growing number of parents are taking this law literally by choosing to provide for their children's education at home. The reasons parents choose home schooling vary and may include: A desire by the parents to be more involved in their children's education; dissatisfaction with the quality of public education; fear of violence in the public schools; family and/or religious values that conflict with those taught in public school; children with special needs; and unresolved disputes with school officials. Disputes with school officials are often results of violations of the Pupil Rights Amendment ("The Hatch Amendment," Section 439 of the General Education Provisions Act, 20 USC § 1232h) and its related provisions (34 CFR § 98, "Students' Rights in Research, Experimental Programs, and Testing). This law is designed to protect children from being involved in non-academic activities that are designed to affect their behavior, emotions or attitudes without the prior written consent of the parents. The following are examples of suspect activities: Sex education, Situation ethics, Values clarification, Drug/alcohol awareness, surveys and journals. Some school districts have an opt-out policy, rather than an opt-in one as required by the Hatch Amendment. HOW IT'S DONE. In Minnesota, parents do not need a teacher's license to teach their own children. The reporting requirements that must be met are fairly simple. Once the decision to home school is made, a letter should be sent to the Superintendent of the local school district with the name, age and address of each child receiving instruction at home, the name of the instructor (parent) and a copy of the home school calendar showing that the required number of days of instruction will occur. For the 1997-98 school year, this means 176 days of school. This needs to be done by October 1st of each school year. Parents who are not licensed teachers, are not supervised by a licensed teacher or do not have a baccalaureate degree must also file quarterly report cards. Plans for this should be included in their school calendar. Annual testing using a standardized test, such as the Iowa Basics, is also required to assure that the student is progressing. Instruction must occur in the following subject areas: reading, writing, literature, fine arts, mathematics, science, history, geography, health and physical education. Report cards should reflect the subjects covered. Parents should keep track of the lesson plans, class schedules, copies of curriculum used, samples of work done, etc. in the event that the Superintendent wishes to review them. Help for home school families is available through state and local home school support groups, magazines dedicated to the subject and a wide variety of curriculum companies, such as ABEKA Books (800-874-3592); Bob Jones University Press (800-845-5731); and Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators (MACHE - 612-753-2370). Home school families may use curriculum provided by one of these companies or they may create their own. Parents may use the traditional text book approach, audio and videoprograms, correspondence courses, computer software, and/or unit studies. A unit study involves combining subjects while investigating a topic. An example would be to combine history, literature, art and music while investigating early colonial history. For those families who are just getting started, a more traditional approach is often best for the first year or so. As the parent becomes more comfortable with the role of teacher, he or she should explore other methods of teaching and learning. Home schooling has many benefits; a few are: One-on-one tutoring, being able to adjust the curriculum and teaching style to the child's learning style, timely evaluation of the child's progress, and the ability to integrate family values into the curriculum. Home based education happens in a real world environment that allows the child to apply what he/she is learning to real life activities. As a result, the educational process can become more meaningful to the child. An added benefit for many is more time for extra-curricular activities and projects, as the average home school is able to complete textbook assignments in about the same amount of time as a public school child spends doing homework. Children may also have input into the educational process and the subjects covered. The most common concern that people have about home schooling is fear that the child will not develop socially. Socialization is the process of learning to be able to communicate and get along with people of all types. A properly socialized person will be respectful of others while remaining true to their values. These skills are best learned from adults. Involvement in 4-H, scouting, Little League, youth groups at church, etc. will provide children with the opportunities to meet and play with others their own age. The age-segregated artificial environment of traditional school can lead to dependence on peer approval, which in turn can make the child susceptible to negative peer pressure. Home schooled children tend to avoid this problem. A second concern is how to get a high school diploma for college admittance. Currently, there are three ways to do this in Minnesota: 1) Have the child take the G.E.D. test; 2) Have the child enrolled in an accredited correspondence course that gives a diploma upon completion; or 3) Enroll the child in the public school system during the 12th grade. Many parents using this last option have their child take classes at a college as part of the post-secondary option program. Some colleges will accept a portfolio review in lieu of a diploma. It is best to contact the college early during the high school years to find out what course and documentation requirements they have. Academically, most home schooled children do very well and many have been accepted into colleges, including Harvard. It is highly recommended that parents considering home schooling become familiar with their rights and responsibilities as spelled out in Minnesota Statutes, Chapters 120.101 through 120.103. Copies of the Minnesota Statutes may be found at most libraries. Note: Mrs. Yoemans has consented to answer questions directly from parents who may wish to explore the option of home schooling. Her number is 218-785-2509. We note that some school officials may discourage home schooling; per one administrator, the district loses about $3,500 for each home schooled child. And we note that there are, in fact, some aspects of peer socialization that a child might miss out on by not being in the public school. E.g. keg party invites, trading stolen hood ornaments, and hands-on experience with teen pregnancy (as well as classroom instruction on how to get there). But then, you've got to take the bad with the good. With this issue, we welcome Mrs. Yoemans, a happily married parent, residing in Shevlin, to the Northern Herald staff. A seasoned literist, she will be writing both hard news and this advice and perspective column. --Ed. -------------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 07/21/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 18 ------------------------------------ CORRUPT HUBBARD CO. SOLID WASTE WORKER CORRECTED AT BOARD MEET PARK RAPIDS --It was otherwise a routine Hubbard County Board meeting on the hot July 16th afternoon. The board had just heard about rising worker's comp costs. But if more disabled persons showed the same private initiative as Ken Keplinger, we could all save some money. Keplinger used to drive truck until a disabling accident in 1991. Residing with his family in Hennrietta township since 1996, he discovered that "junk" lawn mowers brought to the County Transfer Station could be purchased there for $5, and reconditioned. "I'd take one, or two, and make one out of it," he said. So as he and his family cleaned up the old debris from past owners and prepared their mobile home site in an evergreen secluded tract on a dirt road off Township Rd. BB, Ken began buying, recondition- ing and selling the mowers in his front yard. Unless you looked right through the aperture where his driveway parts the pines, on the dead end road, you wouldn't know he was there. But there was trouble in paradise. Keplinger was soon met by problems which he and his wife, Kim, believe were inspired by an unholy alliance between an unnamed solid waste employee, and Keplinger's "competitor", of sorts, the nearby Peterka's scrap metals yard, which has road signs near, and is clearly visible from the well-traveled Township Rd. BB, on which it is located. Apparently, when Peterka got wind of what was going on, he wanted to buy the mowers instead. As a result, Keplinger was told by the solid waste worker that he couldn't buy the mowers anymore. "They said they had someone else picking them up," Ken Keplinger told the Board. The Keplingers were also told that they'd have to get the mowers out of their secluded yard because it violated a "junkyard" ordinance which states that junkyards must have screening blocking them from view. At the meeting, Kim Keplinger told commissioners, with Vern Massie, Hubbard County Solid Waste director, present, that, in clearing their home site (involving the removal of an old mobile home and assorted debris), they had been told by the solid waste worker that they'd have to pay $10 to dump each load over 5 in a day. Massie said that wasn't correct - there should be no per load charge for residential waste from county residents who pay a solid waste fee with their taxes. "It seems to be a personality thing between one [solid waste] attendant and [Keplinger] and I've talked to the individual but it doesn't seem to be sinking in," said Massie, who alluded to another similar problem with the worker, saying, "More and more things are coming out." At that, Board Chairman Floyd Frank said to Massie, "I think from the Board's perspective, we're giving you a directive to clean up any personnel problems you may have up there. Commr. Ed De La Hunt commented on Keplinger's efforts, "Here's the plus side of it: Ken can't drive his truck. He's been making his living doing this thing.... The guy's out there working, doing things that a lot of us would be too proud to do and he's out there busting his butt making a living. I think that's worth it." He suggested that all of the mowers be subject to a bidding process, open to all; the board agreed to review this policy at it's committee meeting. As regards the "junkyard" visibility problem, Massie said that he'd look at it and report back to the Board at its August 6th meeting. After the meeting, Massie said that he intended to work with the Keplingers to resolve the matter. ------------------------------------------------------------ PARENTS ADDRESS BAGLEY SCHOOL CONCERNS BAGLEY --Joe Curley, now a straight-A freshman at BSU, and a 4-point honors Bagley High graduate would like to get his senior year high school letter (as students wear on jackets), and the academic ranking which is important to college financial aid, and future resumes. By all rights, he should have been named, or tied for, class Valedictorian. But that was stripped from him also, because, primarily due to his excellence, he took some courses, pursuant to Bagley HS guidance, at BSU (known as "post-secondary" work) in his senior year, and was home schooled in tenth grade. Bagley school Superintendent Gary Bratvold, said, "I can't comment upon [Curley's case]... except that particular letter wouldn't be available to home-schooled students. [Being named as Valedictorian] is reserved for those students who have been at Bagley for the entire senior year." As to class ranking of post-secondary and home schooled students, he said, "They are not part of the rank, but we do make a comment on the transcript" as to what their rank would have been. Curley's case is just one of a growing number of instances where parents are complaining that Bagley Schools go to some lengths for slow-learning kids, but do little or nothing to encourage the upper achievers. As we shall see, the reasons for this may be financial. It is for this reason, as well as disagreement with the types of values (or lack of same) taught in the schools that about 15 (number per Superintendent Bratvold) parents have turned to home schooling. Although Bratvold said he had no comparative information on Bagley's ranking in standardized achievement tests, Stacey Bukoski said that she was told by a Bagley schools counselor that "close to half" of the Bagley ninth grade failed the math, and "well over half" failed the english portion of an achievement test given to Bukoski's daughter Stasha. Bukowski, of Shevlin, a former candidate for School Board and mother of four girls, said that prior to moving from Washington State to the Bagley school district in 1993, her older daughters (then in elementary school) "were carrying A and B averages." But she claims that they "got discouraged by the [Bagley] school system. The more I saw their discouragement, I watched their grades drop," she said, adding, "The kids were catching their teachers being very unfair to them... [there were] several incidents where they were docked grades for papers that supposedly hadn't been turned in... and these papers had been turned in; not only that, they came up later, back in their files, graded.... When I tried to deal with this through the school, I got 'Our teachers are not wrong.'" She said that some kids are targeted for grade docking and tardy slips. Bukoski said that since her older daughters were in the fifth and sixth grades, "they've been reading Steven King books... from the time they were little, they were readers." She said that Stasha, now 15, was branded by her Bagley fifth-grade teacher as being of the "dark nature" after turning in an elaborately conceived Halloween essay assignment. "Stasha wrote out, probably, a six page essay. Most of the kids had half a page, and Stasha wrote a gruesome Halloween story. It was wonderful. It had a beginning, a plot, a reasoning, an end.... Her teacher read this and told her that she was of the 'dark nature.'" The teacher refused to grade the paper. Bukoski said that the school called her and recommended counseling because they felt that Stasha was of the 'dark nature'. "She's a writer," said Bukoski, who added that since then, her 15 year-old daughter's works have been published in periodicals in the Pacific Northwest." After the Halloween essay incident, Bukoski said that her daughter came home crying and asking, "Why am I evil?" According to Bukoski, Stasha, formerly a straight-A student, with achievement test scores in the top 1% of the nation in mathematics and reading, immediately dropped to Ds and lost interest in her studies. "She said that she just could not stay in the school system because after that her teacher treated her differently... very hard on her and every little thing that she did, and Stasha asked if she could go live with her father [in Oregon]." Stasha returned to Bagley this year to attend ninth grade, but Bukoski spoke of continued problems with the Bagley high school in refusing to let Stasha carry her purse which she made from an old Theodore bear, "They told her that it was too bizarre," said Bukoski, and refusing to recognize her grade advancement (the school she had attended in Oregon had recommended that she be "skipped" from seventh to ninth grade). Bukoski said that Mrs. Bratvold, the school counselor (and wife of the Superintendent) told her that "they thought it would be best to have her tested" for learning disability before advancing her. On the tests, she scored 90% in mathematics and 93% in English. Nonetheless, according to Bukoski, Mrs. Bratvold also recommended psychological testing (to which Bukoski would not consent), continued to maintain that Stasha had learning disabilities, and alluded that Bagley schools could provide the "special education" Stasha "is going to need to complete her education." Said Bukoski, "The Bagley school system is trying to obtain as much funding in any possible way they can; and they are targeting any child, and their parents are buffaloed into thinking they are special needs children [for which the school receives additional funding]. And this is happening to a lot of people I know." During a period when Stasha had to be absent for 2 weeks for medical reasons of which the principal was aware, Bukoski received truancy notices which she attributes to the principal not having informed the teachers of the reason for the absence. Bukoski had requested that homework assignments be forwarded to her residence during this period, but instead received only the notices. When teachers informed Bukoski that her daughter would not pass her classes due to the absences, she began home schooling; but although the home schooling was approved, Bukowski was nonetheless later erroneously sent a notice to appear in court for truancy and was contacted by the welfare (child protection) department. Those matters were dismissed prior to the scheduled hearing, but "I had to go through a welfare investigation," said Bukoski. Bukoski said that the home schooling is working well, and that Stasha is getting 90-95% on the tests that are part of the lessons. Asked about the Bukoski incidents, Superintendent Gary Bratvold said, "I haven't heard anything about this at all." ----------------------------------------------------------- BELTRAMI CO. BUMS STRIKE AT PATTEN PLACE BEMIDJI --When James Patten visited his country house in the woods, north of Bemidji on old 71 near Turtle River, July 6th, he was greeted by a scene of destruction. Apparently, people had recently broken into the house and used it, painting graffiti on the inside and outside walls, and leaving it a shambles. The names "Nina" and "Spot" were painted on an inside wall. Patten, a postal worker who lives on America Ave. in Bemidji said of his country home - a quiet cabin tucked away in the trees, where he pursued his hobby of collecting antique VW cars - that he doesn't even like to go there anymore for what damage he might find. Last year, vandals similarly broke all of the window glass out of, and ransacked, Patten's collection of 10 VW bugs that he keeps on the property. BEFORE COMING TO ONE OF NATION'S BEST SMALL TOWNS, BETTER REMOVE HOOD ORNAMENT Bemidji may have been rated among the nation's 100 top small towns, but we'd be willing to bet that the people who rated it didn't have an ornament on their car. At least not when they left. Look at any of Bemidji's parking lots - you'll see cars without ornaments - sometimes almost 1/2 the cars that had ornaments are missing them. Such was the fate of Liz Lolling of Embarrass, Minn., Saturday, July 19th. While she was in Bemidji for the day, the ornament ($100 est. value) was stolen, during daylight hours, from from her Dodge RamCharger while it was parked at Northern Inn. It is believed that the ornaments are taken by Bemidji high school children, who use them as status symbols and jewelry. Bemidji police have been aware of the problem for several years, but have either been unable or unwilling to act on it. Under Minnesota law, anyone found in possession of a hood ornament, who didn't also own the corresponding car or other evidence of lawful acquisition, could be charged with receiving stolen property, if not theft (few of these are lawfully sold loose, except to the car owners, who install them). ------------------------------------------------------ KUBIAK COLLECTS SOUP LABELS FOR BAGLEY KIDS Won National Award for Playground Label Drive Promotion BAGLEY --Keith Kubiak of Kubiak's Family Foods, Bagley, may have helped win a national first prize for Bagley's Parents for the Elementary in Campbell's label collecting contest, but he isn't stopping there - he says that Bagley Elementary doesn't yet have enough labels to get the playground equipment the parents want, so he's going to keep on collecting labels until they do. Campbell's allows schools to redeem labels for equipment. Kubiak said the prize, the equivalent of 50,000 labels, redeemable on a matching basis, was awarded not for the number of labels collected thus far, but for "the uniqueness of what we did" in promoting the label drive. He gives a lot of the credit to the kids and parents in the community. "No, it wasn't me," he said, "I got this thing started with the kids doing the posters, and the Boy Scouts in for [the soup feed],... and I think the kids won it more than I did...they earned their playground equipment." People who want to donate their Campbell's labels to the playground drive may send them to Mr. Kubiak at Bagley Foods, Inc., P.O. Box 59, Bagley, MN 56621. ---------------------------------------------------- (advertisement) MEN: Are you tired of having: Your home and children Your driver's licenses Your guns Your hard-earned wages taken away by women and women's groups? then attend the next meeting of Domestic Rights Coalition. There is something you can do. DRC of Bemidji Cenex Restaurant South Friday, August 1st, 1997 7:30 P.M. Info: 218-759-1162 DRC of Grand Rapids Grand Rapids Town Hall Thurs. August 21st, 1997 7:30 P.M. Info: 218-697-2622 "the resource center for men" Men's courtroom advocate now available locally: call 218-697-2622 ------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL Really Reforming Welfare LACK OF JOBS THEORY DOESN'T HOLD WATER In the wake of our Minnesota-watered-down version of welfare reform (what happened to the federal two-year limit?) there have been many articles, from many major sources, here, in the Twin Cities, and elsewhere, saying that there aren't enough low-skilled jobs for it to work. Sorry, but we're an employer so we can't buy it. We see first hand just what the unemployed, including those on welfare, think about the prospect of work. As case in point, we have been trying to fill a steady, part-time low-qualification (most any dependable worker could do it) position for over six months. It's still unfilled. There are many other employers with similar experiences and job openings. As long as these jobs are out there, there is no work shortage, there is a shortage of people motivated to work for a living. Typical reasons for not taking the over-minimum-wage, and admittedly, routine and tedious office position in our example, have mostly been that it just wasn't the "kind of work" the person wanted. Work is work. It is the kind that actually requires work, and pays money for it - obviously these people were looking for something else. One applicant turned the job down because she didn't like the office decor. Another, a welfare recipient, quit without notice, after three days, because she didn't agree with a management decision on something that had nothing to do with her job. Then she expected an advance on her paycheck. With this type of attitude among our working, or would-be working sector, is it any wonder that many American manufacturers export their jobs abroad, where people are eager for them? Some say our local economy is depressed; we disagree, but assuming that contention for purposes of argument, would it be any wonder that the economies of work-ethic and production oriented societies, like Japan's, are booming while ours stagnates? Back to our example. One unemployed person took the job, for about an hour. He told us his credentials, and we explained what the job, an entry level trainee position, was. The training went something like this: Supervisor: Just follow these printed instructions to bring up your computer. Trainee: Oh, I see you have Lotus 1-2-3(R) - I used to teach that... S: (glances at trainee's screen) Why are you directorizing the machine? That wasn't on the sheet. T: Oh, I just wanted to see what programs you had... There's a lot I could do ... S: I'm sure you're an excellent Systems Analyst. Unfortunately, we don't need one of those right now. Just go to this program, like the sheet says. Now, enter this list of numbers, typing a carriage return after each. T: Carriage Return? S: It's the key marked "Enter." After about an hour, that person said he had a terrible headache. Which was fine with us. If he'd stayed much longer, we'd have had one too. We're sure that this person went on to find a more acceptable job in systems analysis or neurosurgery. Hopefully, the latter - neurosurgeons don't have to know what a carriage return is. Although the position is part-time, many applicants have said it didn't fit into their schedule. They had classes or other obligations. This tells you where the priorities of the unemployed lie. Having done hiring, both for his own firms, and for others, for over 16 years, your editor can state unequivocally that the primary cause of unemployment is the attitude and lack of motivation of the unemployed - they have better things to do than work and make money. The problem is not with the quality of our job market - it is the quality of our would-be workers. That's why, economically, other nations can surpass us. How to get a job: If it's the best thing currently available, a motivated worker accepts a job he can do, even if it's not ultimately what he wants. He knows that if he does it well, he could end up with a better position, either by merit pay increase or lateral move made possible by a good work record. The competent entry-level worker doesn't jump from job-to-job every few weeks - he stays on the job long enough to learn it well and get pay increases for bettered production which comes only with more experience on the same job. He knows that future employers recognize a scattered work record as a sign of undependability - a minus when they're looking for dependable help in better paying and more competitive middle-management positions. He knows that a record of long-term loyalty to an employer goes a long way in the pay department. People who only get offered minimum-wage positions may find their problem here. Persons who make waves in the workplace, or suggest legal action against an employer over trifles almost certainly won't be a future personnel manager's first pick. A competent employee always arrives on time, learns his job, whatever it is, as well as he can, and does it with due care and professionalism. He listens to and absorbs direction and constructive correction of his work without taking it personally, realizing that this makes him a better and more valuable employee. A supervisor should never have to say the same thing twice. The efficiency of the employing enterprise is important to him - that's how he gets paid, so he avoids absences, and gives plenty of notice when one will be unavoidable. His job is his priority. It is personal hours - not job hours - that are flexible. The competent employee is not concerned with things at the workplace, or his own qualifications, that aren't related to his job. Although suggestions are usually welcome and appreciated by most firms, he is not unduly concerned with management of the enterprise, realizing that these decisions are the ultimate prerogative and responsibility of those who have capital at risk in it. He knows that personal matters have no place at the job site (when things like whether one eats are tied to whether one works, it's amazing how insignificant unrelated personal matters become). His focus is on doing a good job per the job description and as taught, making money, and possible promotion for merit shown on the job. This type of employee can usually find work. The American system is not one which guarantees a good job to everybody; it is one which provides the opportunity for anyone, through their own efforts, initiative and hard work, to make themselves eligible for as good a job as they merit. Also, we must not forget that, even if all current positions were filled, new jobs aren't the only answer, and aren't necessary to eliminating much of welfare dependence. For the majority of people on welfare, marriage would also be an option. Noted columnist Joseph Perkins has said that, for many welfare recipients, they don't need jobs, they need husbands. But, of course, that also involves doing a job that many, after the past welfare-rich era, don't feel that they particularly have to take. Here is the crux of our welfare problem: The same people who didn't want to work in the home don't particularly want to work outside it either. They can afford to wait until a comfortable neurosurgeon's position opens up, and preferably one with convenient hours, and which doesn't require a medical degree. The problem is, that generally, when the patient is under anesthesia, the neurosurgeon has to be there on time. That would put a lot of these applicants out of the running. Spending tax dollars on job creation, especially more production-lax government jobs, where people are paid for work that isn't needed and in many cases isn't done (as in many present government jobs) is trading one form of welfare for another. It is the precise thing that many want stopped. As best put by Rush Limbaugh, the key to ending welfare is just that - ending welfare. This will make make jobs or marriage as valuable as should be to the former recipients. Job creation is the domain of the private sector - not government. The employing sector has done a fine job of this, as you would expect. After all, the more jobs the producing sector creates, the more money they make. They'll always have jobs for people who want to work. It seems somehow inconsistent for any paper to say, on its editorial page, that there aren't enough jobs, on a day when it's carrying, on its classified page, seven columns of them, many of which are entry-level, which the employers are having a tough time filling. ------------------------------------------------------------- (advertisement) Now Available by Direct Mail-The Book: PRINCIPLES OF CONFEDERACY The American Constitution and The Fall of the South by John Remington Graham Former Crow Wing (Brainerd) County Attorney "How powerful is the pen guided by a brilliant and well-informed mind!" --Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice John Flaherty, said in reference to Principles of Confederacy "I can't even imagine the amount of time and research that went into this great work." -- Justice William Goodloe, Wash. State Supreme Court "This 808 page treatise, well-documented by over 800 footnotes tracing to the contemporaneous writings of the Founders of Our Nation is the most comprehensive and authoritative work we've seen on the intended meaning of the American Constitution. This book is an absolute must for any person studying, practicing or otherwise interested in American History or Constitutional Law." -- Northern Herald $25. includes shipping/handling Make check payable to "John Remington Graham" Order by sending check or M.O. to : John Remington Graham 180 Haut de la Paroisse St. Agapit, Comte de Lothbiniere Quebec, GOS1 1Z0 CANADA For further ordering info: phone 418-888-5049 ---------------------------------------------------- WHITE OAK - IT'S THE PLACE TO BE AUGUST 1st-3rd DEER RIVER -- As high-priced commercial Renaissance festivals draw crowds of Twin Citians who have nothing better to do with their money, Northlanders are preparing to celebrate our own northern Renaissance period, courtesy of the non-profit White Oak Historical Society who will produce the family bargain-priced 9th Annual White Oak Rendezvous at their grounds on Hwy 6 just north of Deer River. If you were only going to one festival this summer, this would be it. Based on the 200 year old history of an old fur trading post, this year, the White Oak Rendezvous offers a complete taste of Northern Heritage including (we're just scratching the surface) black powder shooting, a voyageur camp, tomahawk/knife throwing, storytelling, a German immigrant camp complete with oxen, ethnic dancing, nature walks, historic crafts such as silversmithing and canoe building, traders' row (for those who just have to spend money), wandering minstrels, lots of good food, and much more. The cost? $8 adults; $4 children or $20 for a family pass. Compare that to what else you might be doing on these same days. There's even a $2 off coupon on page 6 of this paper! Special performances include Tanglefoot, (Sat. & Sun.) a Canadian group that will perform traditional foot-stomping period music on string instruments. Among many others appearing will be Adam Granger from Prairie Home Companion's Powdermilk Biscuit Band (all 3 days). A canoe event will be held at Cutfoot Lake. Sen. Bob Lessard was at the fest last year to announce that the White Oak Historical Society had been granted funds to construct a school where children, statewide, will come for 4 day live-in stints to learn Northland Heritage. Deer River is about 14 miles west of Grand Rapids on Highway 2. -------------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 06/30/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 17 Issue delayed to 7/2/97 MASON BROTHERS HELD AT RED LAKE; QUESTIONS RIDDLE CASE RED LAKE -- Debbie Mason of Minneapolis, mother of Billy, Ira and Paul Mason, arrested June 6th at Red Lake, claims to have been throw out of, and exiled from the Red Lake Nation when she persisted with inquiry regarding her sons' arrests, and tried to reclaim their personal property after the arrests. In the early morning of June 6th, 1997, tribal police, claiming to be executing a search warrant, raided the Iris Lussier residence, "back of town," south of downtown Red Lake, arresting Billy Mason, 19, Ira Mason, 20, Paul Mason, 25, Duane Fisher, 18 and Tori Lussier, 22. Red Lake Tribal Court records are not open to the public, and neither court officials, nor tribal police staff on duty at Red Lake would state the charges on which the five were held. Persons making inquiry were referred to prosecutor Sonny Johnson, who could not be contacted and has not returned our call prior to presstime. Ojibwe News (06/27/97), however, reported that the charges include possession of alcohol, several pounds of marijuana, receiving stolen property, keeping a disorderly house, obstructing legal process/arrest and making terroristic threats to police officers. Police claim to have confiscated what appears to be three pounds of marijuana, and also found two .22 rifles and one 9mm pistol. There has been no allegation that the weapons were illegal. But Debbie Mason, looking into the case on her sons' behalf, has yet to see a search warrant despite numerous requests. She was told by authorities that the warrants were "confidential." Mason further said that, following the raid, the premises were in shambles and "there was 15 to 20 year old artwork totally destroyed." The house was pending foreclosure by the Red Lake Housing Finance Agency; Debbie Mason said that when, on June 7th, she asked an officer "What was the search for?" he replied that it was to clear the house of occupants so it could be foreclosed upon. She said that her sons denied having drugs. According to Debbie, Paul's bail was set at $12,800, and $11,600 each for Billy and Ira. Tori Lussier was released by the Court. Per Debbie Mason, in the raid, four television sets were also taken from the house and then police went to where her other son, Sheldon Mason, was staying, about twenty miles from the raid site, and demanded his car, a 1988 Chrysler Le Baron, which Debbie Mason said was purchased last year for $5,000. Police did not arrest Sheldon and gave no reason for the confiscation of his vehicle. VEHICLES. Debbie Mason claims to have been told by Red Lake Tribal Judge Wanda Lyons that there was no hold on any of her sons' property taken at the raid (Note: this disposition would be inconsistent with a serious charge of receiving stolen property). She went to claim money, signed over to her by her son, in jail, and two of the five confiscated vehicles, on June 13th. She found the vehicles open and being ransacked by juveniles when she arrived at Red Lake Law Enforcement. When she demanded the cars and the money, Mason says she was told by police to "[make love] off." She claims to have been told by Officer Darla "Sue" Beaulieu that she'd never get a thing back and that "they were untouchable up there." After considerable delay, police released the money but refused to release the vehicles to her. An officer told her she would have to leave the reservation under an ordinance that allows the removal of non-members who are disturbing the peace and tranquillity of the reservation. (Ira, Paul and Billy are band members through their fathers' lineage, Debbie is not). She was then escorted by police to the reservation border, and had to spend the night in a Bemidji motel before returning to Minneapolis. ATTORNEYS. Since their arrest, the Mason brothers and Fisher have not had the opportunity to consult with an attorney. They have only been provided with an advocate. Debbie Mason said that the public defenders at Red Lake have declined to take the case, and she was told by the Court that she could find a private attorney of her choosing to defend her sons, who would be paid by the Red Lake Courts at the rate of $7.50 per hour. The attorney had to be licensed to practice at Red Lake, and she was given a list of attorneys who were so licensed. "The list is zero," she said, adding that she'd called all of them, none would take the case for what the Courts would pay, and most were civil, not criminal lawyers. PLEA. As of June 28th, Debbie Mason had received a letter from her sons indicating that Ira and Paul intended to plead guilty in a plea bargain arrangement. Billy has requested a jury trial, but Ojibwe News reported that he was scheduled for trial by judge on July 16th, 1997. Note: Many of the processes utilized in this case may seem foreign to some readers familiar with U.S. judicial procedure. It must be remembered, however, that Red Lake is a sovereign nation and is not part of our courts or subject to U.S. rules of jurisprudence. As such, they are entitled to make and enforce their own judicial rules and processes. These processes are not unlawful as long as they are in keeping with the Red Lake Constitution and laws. -------------------------------------------------------- WOMEN'S SHELTER RESIDENT FAILS TO APPEAR ON PERJURY Third Fugitive Warrant Issued BEMIDJI -- Bonita Jones, a former resident of the Northwoods Coalition for Battered Women's shelter at Bemidji, failed to appear June 24th and 25th for trial on charges of perjury, stemming from a false OFP application. On the 24th, Judge Rasmussen gave her attorney, Paul Kief, a day to try to locate the defendant, but when he reported on the 25th that he had not been able to reach her personally, Rasmussen ordered the warrant for her arrest with no bail specified. The charges stem from multiple applications for Orders for Protection (OFP) that Jones had brought against her former cohabitant, Jeffrey Hubbard. Jones had filed applications listing compelling reasons for the OFPs, including incidents and dates, and that "An emergency exists and I fear immediate and present danger." Before the Court, on December 4th, 1995, Jones said,1 "All the OFPs that I --that I did were false accusations." The resultant perjury case is unique in that it stems from that admission in court. The women's shelter has assisted with a great many OFPs, and the facts behind the allegations are almost never scrutinized; it is not known how many other OFPs have been granted to women counseled by the shelter on similarly fabricated grounds. Jones had been assisted in moving belongings into the shelter by former shelter Executive Director, Karen Janov, who pled guilty in March, 1996, to obstructing justice, in connection with another (unrelated case) woman fugitive who had allegedly been harbored at the shelter. Janov had tried to remove and conceal evidence of the woman's having been there when officers came to the shelter with a warrant. Following the perjury charges, Jones was scheduled for trial in early 1996, but failed to appear and was arrested on a fugitive warrant in October when Hubbard spotted her at Hard Times Saloon, a downtown Bemidji pickup bar. Former Judge Preece allowed her to be released without bail, and she subsequently failed to appear on January 8, 1997 when another warrant was issued. Her case drew controversy recently, when, after her second fugitive arrest, she was, again with the assistance of the women's shelter, allowed to be furloughed from jail to attend her daughter's birthday party. Said Hubbard, at an previous interview, "Bonita has four children now... [all of which] have been taken away. One of them she almost killed." FOOTNOTES 1 Official transcript, Judge Holter's Court, 12/4/95 ----------------------------------------------------- SPIRITUAL WALK AT RED LAKE JULY 2 RED LAKE -- A sub-committee of the Red Lake Community Unity Planners has announced a Peaceful Solutions Walk - Walking with Spiritual Guidance and Seeking Peaceful Solutions, Wednesday July 2nd, 1997 commencing at 9 am at the Red Lake Humanities Center, and also at the Ponemah Community Center. The walk will be seventeen miles to the lakeside area known locally as "the cut-off." Runners from farther areas of the reservation are expected to join along the way, carrying traditional staffs and new walking staffs. Sunrise ceremonies, praying to the four directions, will be conducted by spiritual leaders at four points around the lake. Tribal elders are being asked to assist with prayer, even if at home. The end of the walk will feature talking circles conducted by the elders at the cut-off, followed by ceremonies and a feast of traditional foods. Shuttle service will be available for those unable to walk the entire distance. The walk is supported by Red Lake Fisheries Association, Public Schools, and residents and businesses of the community. ----------------------------------------------------------- REACH YOUR FULL MARKET SHARE IN GREATER MINNESOTA For as little as $4 per column/inch! YOUR DISPLAY AD IN NORTHERN HERALD REACHES MINNESOTANS FROM GRAND RAPIDS TO BAGLEY, FROM RED LAKE TO PINE RIVER! TO PLACE YOUR AD, CALL 759-1162 WE MEAN BUSINESS --------------------------------------------- IF YOU LIKE TO SMOKE KNOW WHERE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS GO. In 1995, the AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY gave $6,000 in tax-deductible contributions to the "Minnesota Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society - 2000", a lobbying group that's trying to make it harder for you to smoke by increasing tobacco taxes and governmental restrictions. The American Heart Association also gave $6,000, and American Lung Association gave $500. Source: Minnesota Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society 2000 A PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE PROVIDED BY THIS NEWSPAPER ------------------------------------------------- ROTTWIELER HAMMERING PICKS UP IN NYMORE BELTRAMI CO. -- The sport of Rottwieler Hammering - that is, hitting a Rottwieler dog on the head with a hammer, then shooting it, appears to be on the rise in the suburb of Nymore to the south of Bemidji. On June 12th, a Rottwieler belonging to Ernest Watts, of Nymore, and his brother Olen Watts of Bagley, was taken by Richard Mix, Jr., 17, of 247 Popple Dr. SE, Nymore, while it was off-leash near the Ernest Watts home. Per Francyene Watts, Olen's wife, as corroborated by Mix's mother, Mrs. Richard Mix, Sr., Mix then gave the dog to his next-door neighbor, Jeremy Olson, who hit the dog on the head with a hammer, and then shot it through the head. By June 21st, inquiries of neighbors led Ernest Watts to the residence of Mix, whom neighbors had seen with the dog. When Watts demanded to know where the dog was, Mix led him to the site in Olson's yard where it was buried. Mrs. Mix refused to allow Mix Jr. to be interviewed. She claims that her son thought the dog was lost and was trying to find it's owner, but apparently, he had made no effort to contact police or animal control; Watts had reported the missing dog to both agencies. Purportedly, a neighbor, who saw Mix with the dog, had told him it was Watts's. When first interviewed, Mrs. Watts expressed prime concern that "we didn't get any help [from authorities when first trying to locate the missing dog] and we think that there's been some discrimination here." She reports having been told by Ron Schlueter, Bemidji Animal Control Officer, that Rottwielers are "Demon Dogs" and that anyone who would own a Rottwieler was a drug dealer. She believes that if it had been another breed of dog, say a German Shepard, the results might have been different. Despite the breed having been vilified by a recent movie, Watts said their dog was a family pet, raised around kids and "has never bit anyone." Schlueter told Northern Herald that he could not assist in the matter because it happened in Beltrami County outside of the city limits. The shooting of the dog was investigated by Deputy Ernie Beitel, Beltrami Co. Sheriff's Office. Although not legal advice, it was Beitel's opinion that the taking of a dog, even if off-leash, still constituted theft if taken with intent to deprive its owner of the animal. Mrs. Watts said that a mature Rottwieler of good bloodlines is generally worth $1,000 - 1,500. Their dog had commanded a stud fee of $500 per breeding; and had been bred twice in 1996. Beitel's report (Sheriff's Case No. 97-0-10507) was forwarded to Asst. Co. Attorney Eric Schieferdecker of Co. Atty. Tim Faver's office June 27th. It is not known whether Schieferdecker, will bring charges. ----------------------------------------------- NH Restaurant Review THE GREAT WALL of Chinese food! Yep, if you thought you'd have to go to Shanghai to get a great Cantonese and Szechuan buffet, you can save the air fare. It's in Bemidji. Owned by Ren Wu-Yang and his wife, now living in Bemidji, the newly-opened Great Wall Buffet, at Union Square, 108 1st St., features a sumptuous and varying selection of except- ionally fresh and well-prepared dishes at all-you-can-eat prices ranging from $4.95 for lunch to $6.95 for dinner and all day Sunday, with reduced prices for children and during off-hours. A menu is also available, as well as an "express take-out buffet." The toughest thing is that you probably won't be able to try everything at one sitting. A typical day's fare, spanning 3 long buffet tables, starts with the appetizers: cheese wonton, chinese doughnut, egg roll, fried chicken wings, barbecued chicken, teriyaki chicken on skewer, fried meat dumplings with hot oil (sometimes served with ginger oil), pork egg foo young w/sauce, and hot & sour, and egg drop soups. When you're ready to get serious, there's sweet & sour chicken, sweet & sour shrimp, roast sesame chicken, house special lo mein, house special "happy family" dish, scallion beef, sweet & sour pork chop, chicken with cashews, Szechuan beef, chicken in garlic sauce, beef fried rice and white rice. Still hungry? Well, if you still can, you might want to try the salad and dessert bar, which boasts fresh green salad, cole slaw, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, stewed bananas, pineapple, watermelon, gelatin dessert, and, of course, fortune and almond cookies. This stuff is just plain good - so bring your trough and get ready to put your head in it! (FOUR STARS) The nitty-gritty: Our review. In addition to the bodacious display of oriental Epicurean delight, the restaurant has convenient hours ('til 10 or 10:30 pm) - even if you like a later dinner. The restaurant has elegant and comfortable eastern decor and is hospitable both to smokers and non. Most importantly, the food was absolutely fresh and perfectly seasoned. The egg foo young is full flavoured, fresh, zesty and perfectly cooked - the way you expect egg foo young to be. The Great Wall featured a delicacy this well-traveled diner has never before had - a delightful fried meat dumpling, which is perfectly comple- mented with peppered oil (this tasted like hot red sesame oil - the owner said it wasn't sesame, though. If it wasn't, it should have been; but it was very similar and excellent.) The spareribs were boneless - less work to enjoy! And the teriyaki chicken was fresh and sweet as chicken should be. Likewise, the garlic chicken and the Szechuan pork with fresh broccoli, pea pods and tiny corn ears was delectable. Once again, everything, including the stir-fried and crisp vegetables, was fresh. The sweet & sour shrimp were good sized medium shrimp, covered with a delicate, almost tempura-like batter. The batter of the sweet & sour chicken and pork concealed no unappetizing bits of fat or gristle as is found at some restaurants. Taking the good with the bad. We noted, however, that the shrimp, though fresh, tasty and otherwise clean, were not 100% completely deveined. This is not unusual; at restaurants, shrimp of this size often aren't (it would be tedious work, particularly considering how many are served). It does, however, affect the flavour and appeal of the dish. So, if you're as picky as we are, bring some tweezers. Also, a chinese-style hot mustard (which, by the way, can be made at home from Coleman's dry mustard) would be a better complement to the excellent appetizers than the mustard packets provided. Alongside our razor's edge critique (which you expect) we give it Four Stars. It's great chinese and plenty of it. If you live in Walker or Park Rapids, this is worth the drive. -------------------------------------------------------- Where Your Money Goes WOMEN'S SHELTER RECEIVES, SPENDS OVER $1/2 MILLION IN YEAR BEMIDJI -- Pursuant to an investigative request by Northern Herald, the Northwoods Coalition for Battered Women (NCBW), has released its IRS Form 990 for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 1996. The "battered" women's shelter at Bemidji, operated by the Northwoods Coalition, is only one of many such shelters throughout the state receiving public funding. For the year, NCBW reported, on the accrual method, total revenues of $663,279. Comprising this figure were contributions of $107,177, government grants of $155,200, county paid per-diems (see below)* of $383,717, reimbursements and speaking fees of $2,039, and interest of $15,146. Total expenses of $573,245 were reported, including $310,136 paid as salaries and wages. Miscellaneous adjustments were ($7,454), producing a net change in fund balance (equivalent to "net profit" for a business) of $82,580 for the year. Among its assets, the non-profit organization listed $203,173 in savings and other temporary cash investments. Itemized salary and contribution information was requested, but not provided. The shelter received contributions from United Way of Bemidji in 1996, but will not be so funded in '97 or '98. *The return contains the statement: "The main source of income for the shelter is from individual counties who pay a daily per diem for abused women and children who are provided safe shelter." -------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIALS - OPINION Making a bad thing worse BEMIDJI TO ELIMINATE 1/2 OF PARKING SPACES Final Reading to be 7:30 pm, Monday, July 7 Bemidji's solution to parking congestion is to eliminate half the spaces. Several hundred will be lost; far more than the 184 that were lost when parking was eliminated on Bemidji Avenue. Parking is an asset to any community. That's why Park Rapids, in addition to having diagonal parking on most downtown streets, has an additional parking lane in the middle of the street. They want all the business they can get, and they know that if parking is tough it will drive business away. Parking increases business and makes residential and school areas more habitable as places to live and attend. It is arguable that lack of parking, in residential areas, can decrease property values by making the property harder to sell or rent. When a city withdraws public parking, eventually forcing paid parking in lots (as in many cities), or causing present residents and landlords to expend sums for their own drives and lots (if space can be found), the effect is the same as a massive indirect tax on the community. Clearly, the free on-street parking provided by any city has quantifiable value. On July 7th, at 7:30 pm in City Council chambers, Bemidji will hear the third and final reading of a sweeping ordinance that will, effectively remove half of the parking spaces on many much-used Bemidji streets. The ordinance will double parking congestion on many streets which are already often parked bumper-to-bumper, and proposes to greatly inconvenience residents, students, shoppers and visitors who will then have difficulty finding a place to park, and will face long walks in winter cold. The ordinance goes in with a snowplow where a scalpel would have done the job. In the name of making it easier to clear winter streets on those few days when there is a snow emergency (right after a storm) it imposes year-around one-sided calendar parking on streets designated by the City Council at later resolution, which would foreseeably be per the parking committee's proposal.* It would be adequate to simply have restricted parking only on the days following a snow emergency to allow curb-to-curb plowing, fully opening the street. This is done by many cities, including Minneapolis which has many narrow streets in high-density residential areas. They plow the North-South streets one day, East-West the next, then parking resumes on both sides of all streets. A 3-day odd-even plan would work as well. The ordinance is also brought in the name of public safety, arguing that it will make access by emergency vehicles easier. But the parking committee's proposal includes the broad avenues of Minnesota, Beltrami, America and Irvine. We can't imagine that a semi-truck, much less an emergency vehicle, would have trouble negotiating those avenues at any time of the year. *Throughways affected by the Parking Committe's proposal include: Irvine Avenue from 5th to 30th Street, America Ave. from 8th to 18th, Minnesota Ave. from 7th to 16th, Beltrami Ave. from 7th to 15th, Bixby Ave. from 12th to 17th, Callihan Ave. form 14th to 17th and from 23rd to 26th, Dewey Ave. from 8th to 12th, Birchmont Dr. from 10th to 14th, 7th St. from Irvine to Beltrami, 8th, 9th, 10th & 12th Sts. from Irvine to Lake, 11th, 13th & 14th from Irvine to Birchmont, 15th & 18th from Irvine to Paul Bunyan Drive, parts of 16th & 17th East of Irvine, 24th & 26th from Bemidji Ave. to Birchmont, 21st from Irvine to Norton and 4th St. SE from Paul Bunyan Dr. to Pershing. ------------------------------------------------------ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR For July 4th - The Spirit of the Patriots WHAT PRICE, OUR LIBERTY? Have you ever wondered what happened to those 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British, accused of treason, and were tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the Revolutionary War. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants; nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay debts and died in rags. Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers, or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall Walton, Gwinnett, Ruthledge and Middleton. At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr. noted that his home had been taken over for use by a British general, Cornwallis. Nelson urged Gen. George Washington to fire on the house with artillery, which was done. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The British jailed his wife and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and grist mill were laid waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home after the war to find his wife dead, and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Morris and Livingston of New York suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These men were not wild-eyed rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." Today, it is not the British who are oppressing us, but our own government and a president who has abandoned his allegiance to America in favor of a world government called a "New World Order." All Americans ought to ponder the price paid by the great men who established liberty in America, and by thinking on these things, increase their resolve that those liberties shall not be taken from us, either by overt external aggression or internal political stealth. Wilhelm E. Schmitt Bloomington, MN ----------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE TO NORTHERN HERALD MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS: $17/year Why miss an issue? $17 per year will get Northern Herald hand-delivered to your address by a Special Agent of the U.S. Government (it's amazing what a few cents in postage will still buy!), and you'll stay abreast of what's really happening in Northern Minnesota. Order from NORTHERN HERALD SUBSCRIPTIONS P.O. Box 1535, Bemidji, MN 56619. Include check or money order for $17, and name & mailing address. ------------------------------------------------------ Where to Go, What to Do! MINNESOTA SUMMER FESTS ARRIVE! MUSKIE DAYS AT NEVIS: JULY 12-14 Nevis will host its annual Muskie Days Celebration July 12th through 14th. The event will be highlighted by a fishing tourney on Lake Belle Taine, beginning at 6:30 am on the 12th; other events that day include a 5K jogging run at 9, tennis tourney at the high school courts at 10, with Nevis Trailblazers and FLA food stands opening at 4 pm. The 13th will include a water show, firefighters' water fight, turtle races, bed races, watermelon and pizza eating contests, and concluding with a street dance at 6 pm. The 14th sports the kids' fishing contest, beginning at 11 am, followed by a kiddee parade at 1, kids' games, a mini golf tourney, stage show on Main St. at 5, and winds up with with the Grand Parade at 7 and the Grand prize drawing at 8 pm. DINNER THEATRE AT HACKENSACK KICKS OFF 2ND SEASON The Blue Kactus Dinner Theater, at Senõr Fuzzy's, Hackensack, will be featuring a variety of plays ranging from light comedy to mystery and melodrama this summer. The comedies are "guaranteed laughter," said Director Susan Wignall, who also teaches school, winters, in Moline, IL, and has directed there since 1970. Cast of players includes Tim Hoppe, Dawn Hatlen, April Eleck, Jonathan Lamb, Tracey Carlon, Ashley Hane, Cindy Eisbrenner and Carly Grey. The theatre portion of Senõr Fuzzy's is non-smoking in its entirety. EFFIE TO HOST 42ND NORTH STAR STAMPEDE EFFIE --As the last weekend in July approaches, residents of the Bigfork Valley are gearing up in anticipation of the big North Star Stampede at Effie, MN on July 25th-27th. This is Minnesota's largest and oldest open contest rodeo. Rodeo cowboys are a rare and devoted breed. They have to travel the circuit at their own expense; the only time they get paid is when they win their event. Many, more often than not, go away empty handed after having spent a pretty penny for the privilege of competing. At this year's North Star event, over $10,000 in prize money is at stake; over 200 contestants are expected to be vying for it. According to Howard Pitzen, Chief Ramrod at North Star Ranch, "There are over 40 bucking horses and 58 bulls in the big pasture, so cowboys who enter up will sure enough be mounted." Friday is family bargain night, punctuated with a calf scramble for the kids. CRUISER, DUBOIS TAKE 1ST IN "TASTE OF HACK" CANOES. Amidst gala food and crafts booths and a crowd of hundreds, June 22nd, Dan Cruiser of Crosby-Ironton and Jeff DuBois of North Oaks took 1st Place, with 94 min. 30 sec., in the 13 mile (app.) professional division of the 1st annual canoe race that highlighted "Taste of Hack." It was a close call for 2nd, but the honors went to the team of El Rudquist, and Steve Hassel, both of Grand Rapids with 95:57. Al DuBois (father of Jeff), Cottage Grove and Tom Gardner, Afton finished a tight third with 95:58. The race was sponsored by Barry Babcock, owner of the Owl's Nest, Hackensack and the Hackensack Chamber of Commerce. Upcoming are Hackensack's Sweetheart days, July 8th & 9th. ------------------------------------------------ Now Available by Direct Mail-The Book: PRINCIPLES OF CONFEDERACY The American Constitution and The Fall of the South by John Remington Graham Former Crow Wing (Brainerd) County Attorney "How powerful is the pen guided by a brilliant and well-informed mind!" --Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice John Flaherty, said in reference to Principles of Confederacy "I can't even imagine the amount of time and research that went into this great work." -- Justice William Goodloe, Wash. State Supreme Court "This 808 page treatise, well-documented by over 800 footnotes tracing to the contemporaneous writings of the Founders of Our Nation is the most comprehensive and authoritative work we've seen on the intended meaning of the American Constitution. This book is an absolute must for any person studying, practicing or otherwise interested in American History or Constitutional Law." -- Northern Herald $25. includes shipping/handling Make check payable to "John Remington Graham" Order by sending check or M.O. to : John Remington Graham 180 Haut de la Paroisse St. Agapit, Comte de Lothbiniere Quebec, GOS1 1Z0 CANADA For further ordering info: phone 418-888-5049 ---------------------------------------------------- Connections . . . E-MAIL RE: THE NH INTERNET SITE I FOUND YOU! I grew up in Northern Minnesota (Erskine) and went to college at BSU. What a delight to find your site. I enjoyed reading the local articles about the area. Keep up the good work. You can be sure I will visit your site often. SHOOTING THE FIREWORKS: INS AND OUTS OF 4TH OF JULY PHOTOGRAPHY, FROM THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY What's the best way to take "great" fireworks photos? According to the New York Institute of Photography (NYI), the world's largest photography school, it's easy if you do a couple of simple things. First, take a time-exposure. If you have an SLR camera, this should be no problem. With an auto-everything point-and-shoot camera, try to "fool" the camera into keeping the shutter open. Here's how: When you see a rocket shoot skyward, press the shutter-button. The darkness of the sky should cause your camera to keep the shutter open for a time-exposure, and you can end up with a splendid picture. What about using a single-use "cardboard" supermarket camera? NYI says, forget it! These cameras usually have a fixed shutter speed, and you can't "fool" them into doing the right thing no matter what you do. Second, since you are taking a time-exposure, your camera should be on a solid, unmoving base throughout the exposure. A tripod is best. If you don't have a tripod, try bracing your camera against some solid structure - for example, a wall, a post or a railing. They're not as good as a tripod, but they're better than hand-holding the camera. And hand-holding is a No-no! Third, include something on the ground to give a sense of location to the firework display in the sky. For example, across the bottom of your frame show silhouettes of the crowd, or a statue (George Washington on horseback?), or the skyline of the city. This one trick will do more to make your fireworks pictures stand out than any other single thing you can do. For more advice on how to take "great" fireworks pictures, visit the New York Institute of Photography web site at http://www.nyip.com (c)1997 by the New York Institute of Photography. Reprinted, with permission, from a monthly edition of the New York Institute of Photography's web site NEW ON THE NET: GOLFERS CAN KEEP TRACK OF HANDICAPS Handicap tracking for golfers, usually available only if one is a private club member, is now available via the World Wide Web for $35 a year. The service is furnished by The International Internet Golf Handicap Service (www.golf-handicap.com) which claims to use the official United States Golf Association formula for handicap calculations, and also keeps statistics for putting, and fairways hit. --------------------------------------------------- WITH A GRAIN OF SAND Golf pro, showing the club to a prospect: "Yep, even Bill Clinton stopped in for a round when he was on the campaign trail in '96." Prospect: "Gosh, did you see him?" Pro: "You couldn't miss him, what with the security and the way he was dressed. His jacket... it was that casual but expensive kind -you know, the kind of thing you'd wear to a fancy wedding or briss." Prospect: "And he played right here?" Pro: "Right here." Prospect: "What was his handicap?" Pro: "Al Gore." This feature is satire. It should not be confused with our regular news which is stranger and harder to believe. --------------------------------------------------- MEN: Are you tired of having: Your home and children Your driver's licenses Your guns Your hard-earned wages taken away by women and women's groups? then attend the next meeting of Domestic Rights Coalition. There is something you can do. DRC of Bemidji Cenex Restaurant South Friday, July 11th, 1997 7:30 P.M. Info: 218-759-1162 DRC of Grand Rapids Grand Rapids Town Hall Thurs. July 17th, 1997 7:30 P.M. Info: 218-697-2622 "The Resource Center for Men" Men's courtroom advocate now available locally: call 218-697-2622 ------------------------------------------------------------- - Follow-Up - DIRKES/DOC-FIRST FED/US LIFE CASE "EVAPORATES" BEMIDJI -- The case brought by the Minnesota Dept. of Commerce (DOC) against First Federal Banking and Savings (First Fed) Insurer, US LIFE Credit Life Insurance Company, scheduled for hearing before Administrative Law Judge Jon Lunde, at Minneapolis, has been taken off-calendar with no reason given. The Dept. of Commerce, which first provided details of this action, said "It's still an open investigation, I can't comment on it," per their spokesman, Jay Haig. DOC had issued an order to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed on US LIFE due to their having sold to Jerome Dirkes, of Blackduck, through First Fed, as their agent, a credit disability policy represented as having a 96 month term. Another policy, with a 24 month term was substituted. Dirkes said he did not consent to the substitution, and did not know of it until he, in fact, became disabled. ----------------------------------------------------------- - Follow-up - RUBY HARRASSMENT CONTINUES VAN TOWED AT CASS LAKE. If you were an officer, and you wanted an excuse to ransack someone's vehicle and impound it, calling in a slightly altered VIN number would be one good way to do it. The number would come back registered to someone else, or "not on file." That's apparently what happened to Mindy Ruby's van at Cass Lake, June 21st when the van, driven by Paula Wilson, Cass Lake, was stopped by Cass Co. Deputy Robert Karbowski for having expired plates. Ruby's sister, Renee Judkins was a passenger, Ruby was not in the van. When Wilson and Judkins protested the stop, Judkins claims to have been hit with a flashlight and maced. Both women were jailed. Ruby arrived on the scene, but police refused to allow her to drive the van home, it was, per Ruby, "ransacked by police," impounded and remains impounded at presstime pending payment of tow charges of $40 and storage ($7/day) against it. The van license plates were renewed in April, but Ruby, a Georgia resident, had not received her new plates due to having to remain in Minnesota since May 10th, after coming here for a funeral, because of questionable detention of her daughter here. The registration, however, should be on Georgia's computers. But the Cass County tow report, prepared by Karbowski, indicates a VIN# of 1FMDA31XUOPZAO8449 The complaint against Wilson and Judkins recites that the number came back as "not on file." The correct VIN# of the vehicle, per Ruby's registration, however, is 1FMDA31XOPZAO8449. Ruby claims that Karbowski never tried calling in the plate number. Authorities could not be reached for comment on the incident. DAUGHTER REMAINS IN PUBLICLY-FUNDED FOSTER CARE. Ruby's daughter, Jessica Cottrell, 15, remains in foster care at White Earth, following her being held, without apparent cause, by Evergreen House, Bemidji, and her having been a "runaway" thereafter. (See "Another Kidnapping by Shelter Claimed" - NH of 6/9/97) Ruby believes that during the period when her whereabouts were unknown, she may been harbored by Jacklyn Jones, an employee of the Bemidji women's shelter who has purportedly tried to prevent Cottrell from going back to Georgia with Ruby. Cottrell was found by police at Paul Bunyan Mall, with Waaban Jones, Jacklyn's daughter. (Jacklyn Jones is a 2nd cousin of Bonita Jones-see "WOMEN'S SHELTER RESIDENST FAILS TO APPEAR ON PERJURY", ante, this issue). Judge Mondry ordered that Cottrell be released to Georgia authorities, but per Ruby, Georgia has refused to assume jurisdiction and pay for the air travel. Ruby suspects that Jones may have made false allegations to Cass authorities to prompt the stopping and apparent weapons search of her van at Cass Lake. A court document signed by Jones recites, "they were suppose [sic] to shoot my children this weekend, but LEC intervened and towed Mindy's van." No weapons were found and Ruby stated she does not own a gun. ================================================================ ISSUE OF 06/09/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 16 (Issue delayed to 6/11 due to late breaking news on lead story) ANOTHER KIDNAPPING BY SHELTER CLAIMED Bemidji Evergreen House, White Earth Reservation also Implicated BEMIDJI -- U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Randal E. Ruby, who is stationed at Ft. Stewart, Georgia, didn't know quite what to make of it when interviewed, by phone, at his home in nearby Hinesville. Due to his service career, he has only received sporadic reports of what has happened since his wife, Mindy, and step-daughter, Jessica Cottrell, 15, left the family's Georgia home on a routine trip, April 28th, to attend a funeral here. He said that there had been no particular history of friction, "...no more than any other teenage daughter and her mother," between his wife, Mindy, and her daughter, Jessica, until they arrived in Bemidji. "Mindy's a hell of a good mom - she's put the children's interests first." Now, Sgt. Ruby says that what has happened has devastated the family, emotionally, financially, and as concerns the kids' education. "It's driving us into bankruptcy," he said, "my wife hasn't been able to come back, so my son, Scott [13] ...[can finish the school year]. He's going to have to stay back [a grade] this year." Upon their arrival for the funeral, Mindy and Jessica stayed with Mindy's step-sister, Jacklyn Jones (also known as "Jaclyn" or "Jacqueline"), at the home of Jones and her daughter Wauban, in northern Hubbard County, just south of Bemidji. Jones is an employee of the Northwoods Coalition for Battered Women's shelter at Bemidji. Apparently, during the stay, Jones and her daughter tried to influence Jessica to disobey her mother, and possibly to remain in Bemidji. As they were packing to go back to Georgia, May 10th, an argument ensued between Mindy and Jessica over Jessica's staying out too late with Wauban, after they'd done some housecleaning. Per Mindy Ruby, Jessica swore at her, and Ruby slapped Jessica, whereupon Jessica "ran off". Although Jacklyn Jones maintained to Mindy Ruby that Jones didn't know where Jessica was, the next morning Jessica was taken to the Bemidji Evergreen House, a children's transient residential home. According to Mindy, her son, Scott, saw Jessica, on May 10th, following the argument, hiding in a car belonging to Ron Brown, a purported male companion of Jones. Ruby suspects that Brown took Jessica to Evergreen House at Jones's behest. Jessica was placed on a "72-hour hold" at Evergreen for investigation of child abuse. No evidence of same, however, was found. There have been no such charges brought in either Hubbard or Beltrami County, and Ruby says that she has yet "to get a straight story" as to what abuse is alleged or why her daughter has been held. Asked whether Mindy had previously been abusive toward Jessica, Sgt. Randal Ruby said definitively, "No - not at all. My wife doesn't even allow corporeal punishment in the home." Regarding Mindy's slapping of Jessica for speaking profanely to her mother, Sgt. Ruby said, "It would be very unusual, however, Jessica's [recent] actions have been very unusual," and he said that Jessica had made previous false claims of abuse when she's been upset. While Jessica was at Evergreen, and responding to the threat to their family security posed by Jacklyn Jones and Wauban, Mindy Ruby went before the court at Hubbard County and obtained an order restraining Jones and Wauban from having further contact with Jessica. Per Ruby, the court said they would fax a copy to Evergreen House to prevent Jones from interfering there with Ruby's parental rights to take her daughter back to Georgia. According to Mrs. Ruby, the court later acknowledged that they'd sent the fax to Evergreen on May 13th; the order was served on Jacklyn Jones May 15. On May 14, at the end of the 72-hour hold, Mindy Ruby went to Evergreen House to pick up her daughter. She said that when she arrived, the director would not allow her to enter until Jessica had left the house, whereupon the director told Mindy that Jessica had "run away" with Wauban Jones. Evergreen House claimed to know nothing of the restraining order preventing contact between Jessica and Wauban or Jacklyn Jones. Purportedly, the director told Mrs. Ruby that police had been notified of the runaway; then the director attempted to get Mrs. Ruby to sign a release saying she'd picked her daughter up, which Ruby refused to sign. Mrs. Ruby immediately went to Bemidji Police at the Law Enforcement Center to report the runaway and that Wauban Jones had violated the restraining order. There, she says, she was told that there had been no previous report on this by Evergreen House. While making the report, she overheard, on the police radio, that two squad cars were witnessing the two girls (Jessica and Wauban) running into the women's shelter. Mrs. Ruby said that two officers later reported that they then went into the shelter and searched for the girls, but couldn't find them. Per Mrs. Ruby, Jessica was not seen again until June 4th when she was found by police, with Wauban Jones, at Paul Bunyan Mall. Ruby believes that Jessica had been concealed by Jacklyn Jones, the women's shelter where Jones works, and by various male companions of Jones in the interim. When found at the mall, Jessica was taken by police back to the Evergreen House, which claimed to have another 72-hour hold on her, this time from Hubbard County. Asked about the restraining order, police purportedly told Mrs. Ruby that Wauban Jones was not in violation, even though she was apparently with Jessica at the mall. On June 5th, Jessica was taken to a foster home on the White Earth reservation. Northern Herald has learned that this was done because Jessica is a member of the White Earth Band of Chippewa, and the reservation social services had requested that she be taken there for White Earth's own investigation of the abuse allegations. Per Mrs. Ruby, when the attempt to detain Jessica under the earlier pretended charges of abuse failed, Jacklyn Jones had used her position at the shelter and connections with Hubbard County Social Services to encourage authorities to take Jessica to White Earth. The hold at White Earth was due to expire June 10th at 8 pm. Mrs. Ruby was prepared to pick up her daughter then. At 8:45 am, June 10th, Ruby, now staying in Cass Lake, received a phone call from Michelle Fischer, Hubbard County Social Services, notifying her that there would be a hearing in Park Rapids at 10:00 am. This was the only notice that she was given. She rushed to Park Rapids where, per her report, Penny King asked Judge Mondry for an additional 8-day hold for "psychiatric evaluation." Per Ruby, at the hearing King acknowledged that there were no allegations of abuse; the court had no file on Jessica or Mindy Ruby. Nonetheless, Mondry granted the request. Northern Herald has learned from official sources that there were no signs found of continuing abuse. Said Ruby, "I don't understand how they could have a hearing over nothing and my child is still sitting over at White Earth." Mrs. Ruby, and her son, Scott, have thusly been prevented from leaving, with her daughter, from May 10th, to this date, notwithstanding that, over this period, no charges of abuse, to which she might respond, have been brought against her. From May 10th through June 9th, Jessica was held twice, in violation of Ruby's parental rights, with no hearing having been convened. Claiming Data Privacy, Bemidji Police, the Evergreen House and Hubbard courts have refused comment. Calls to Jacklyn Jones, at the shelter, and White Earth Chairman Eugene "Bugger" McArthur were not returned. Penny King and Michelle Fischer have refused comment. Epilogue In Bemidji, both begging, and crime, which sometimes go hand in hand, are well organized. There is a conspiratorial organization known as the Council of Non-Profits which is comprised of about 11 local begging organizations. One purpose of this Council is to help these non-profits, some of which, like the women's shelter, operate under a cloak of secrecy, coordinate their actions, work with public agencies and obtain public funding. The lesson of this story is that people from normal places like Georgia, where parental rights are upheld, should not bring their families to Bemidji - not even to attend a funeral - if they even suspect that they could have any sort of discord. Because these non-profits, who think they know, better than you, what is good for your family, will try to drive a wedge in it and split it up for their own economic gain. They're very effective at this, and, for whatever reason, Bemidji police will not intervene to prevent it, not even insofar as to enforce a valid restraining order that the parent has obtained to prevent the unwanted and disruptive contact. Note: For other reports involving deprivation of parental rights, commonly known as kidnapping, by the Bemidji and Mille Lacs women's shelters, see NH of 10/6/95, 11/10/95, 3/22/96 and 5/3/96. These pertinent reports may now be found in our Living on the Edge Internet archives. ------------------------------------------------------------- SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT CAUSES INSURANCE CONFUSION Ken Willms, Director of School Transportation, answered questions arising from parents of children injured in the May 15th Solway school bus accident, in which they'd been told to use their own insurance coverage for their childrens' injuries. At least one parent reported being erroneously told by school officials that the school bus was not insured. Willms clarified, at Bemidji, that by state law, "In an accident involving a school bus, the first place it reverts to is the parents' no-fault policy," and then the school bus insurance covers what the no-fault doesn't, and in cases where the parent is uninsured. "Every one of [the buses] is insured," said Willms -------------------------------------------------------------- -Follow Up- BONITA JONES, WOMEN'S SHELTER RESIDENT, PERJURY SET FOR TRIAL BEMIDJI --Following a motion, May 12th, by Paul Kief, attorney for Bonita Jones, her case was set for the trial call calendar of June 24th, 1997. Kief moved, before the Honorable Judge Benshoof, for an order to compel discovery. The court ordered each side to produce, for the other, any evidence it had pursuant to the Order for Protection (OFP) that is the subject of the action. Jones is charged with perjury by way of having made false statements in applications for OFPs against her former cohabitant Jeffrey Hubbard (full report in NH of 5/3/96). Charged in early 1996, and released without bail, she had twice been a fugitive from justice when she failed to make required court appearances. (See NH of 1/8/97, 1/20/97). Following the first fugitive warrant, she was arrested when seen by Hubbard at Hard Times Saloon, a downtown Bemidji pickup bar frequented by female shelter, non-profits and Beltrami social services staff, as well as by some off-duty police officers. Bonita Jones's case drew controversy when, after her second fugitive arrest, she was allowed, with the assistance of the shelter, a furlough from jail to attend a birthday party for her daughter. ---------------------------------------------------------------- REACH YOUR FULL MARKET SHARE IN GREATER MINNESOTA For as little as $4 per column/inch! YOUR DISPLAY AD IN NORTHERN HERALD REACHES MINNESOTANS FROM GRAND RAPIDS TO BAGLEY, FROM RED LAKE TO PINE RIVER! TO PLACE YOUR AD, CALL 218-759-1162 WE MEAN BUSINESS ------------------------------------------------------------ IF YOU LIKE TO SMOKE KNOW WHERE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS GO. In 1995, the AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY gave $6,000 in tax-deductible contributions to the "Minnesota Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society - 2000", a lobbying group that's trying to make it harder for you to smoke by increasing tobacco taxes and governmental restrictions. The American Heart Association also gave $6,000, and American Lung Association gave $500. Source: Minnesota Coalition for a Smoke-Free Society 2000 A PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE PROVIDED BY THIS NEWSPAPER ----------------------------------------------------------------- -Follow Up- MONDRY ISSUES SUMMARY JUDGEMENT FOR FIRST FEDERAL BEMIDJI --Judge Mondry, sitting in Bemidji, issued summary judgment May 16th in favor of Defendants First Federal Banking and Savings (First Fed), Warren Meissner and USLife Credit Life Insurance Co., in a suit brought against them by Jerome Dirkes of Blackduck. Dirkes claimed that First Fed, as agent for USLife, had sold him a 96 month term mortgage disability policy, and then, claiming a mistake, changed it to a 24-month benefit policy without his notice or consent. Dirkes said he became aware of the substitution when he, in fact, became disabled and the payments were to stop. Under law, summary judgment may only be entered where there is no genuine issue of material fact contested. In practice, however, courts often use summary judgment to prevent the facts from going before a jury. In a separate action stemming from this incident, USLife is presently subject to an order to show cause, issued by the Minnesota Department of Commerce (See NH of 3/17/97). In the order, the Commissioner of Commerce alleges that USLife "Has engaged in unfair or deceptive acts and practices by reducing coverage without having been given affirmative consent in writing...." This matter is expected to be heard in Minneapolis, June 17th. ---------------------------------------------------------------- PAUL BUNYAN DAYS AT AKELEY TO BE JUNE 27-29 [photo in print edition only, caption follows] At right, a statue commemorates Paul Bunyan at Akeley. Originally from Akeley, Paul later moved to Bemidji (just a short hop away, so to speak) to make his home. He retained his mustache, but not his beard, after moving to Bemidji, as evidenced by the statute there. The annual festival commemorating their most famous native comes to Akeley at the end of this month. The yearly success of this event - about as large as the guy for whom it's named - is largely because local businesses and residents pitch in and go the extra mile to make it something special. Cathy Hamand (Hamand's Amoco), a festival worker, pointed out some the highlights this year: This is the first year in about 7-8 years that the Little Mister and Miss Contest has been held. Per the official schedule, it will be Sunday June 29th following the Kiddie Parade. "Denise Johnson is... trying real hard to bring it back and make it a real successful deal for the kids in town, and if it works out this year [for K-second grade], hopefully we can move on to older ages" for future festivals, Hamand said. The Paul Bunyan National Enduro motorcycle race starts Sunday morning at 8:00 at nearby Paul Bunyan State Forest; some of the vehicles are expected to be in the parade Saturday. The event features lots of food and music, a weekend-long Area Lakes Fishing Contest, a car show from Noon to five on Saturday, and other schedule events. Said Hamand, "We're going to have live bands and lots of crafters and food vendors ...." and lots of fun for all. Paul himself would be proud. ---------------------------------------------------------------- TOURIST'S GUIDE TO AKELEY FOOD & LODGING DINING Ann's Cafe. Conveniently located amidst the festivities, on Hwy 34 in Akeley. The Brauhaus. On Highway 34 between Akeley and Nevis. Authentic German. On our four-star system, they got five. Need we say more? If you're in Bemidji, this is worth the drive. Rheinhessen Liebfraumilch by the glass, to complement your meal. Many entrees under $10. Headwaters Restaurant. In Akeley. Family dining in a rustic and picturesque setting. Friday Special: Broasted Pork Chops - All you can eat: $6.95 LODGING Headwaters Motel. In Akeley. For reservations c all: 652-2525 Park Street Inn Bed & Breakfast. In nearby Nevis. Reservations: 652-4500 other lodging may be available in Nevis. Contact the Akeley Chamber of Commerce: 652-3230 CAMPING & RV PARKS Akeley City Campground on 11th Crow Wing Lake. From Hwy 34, go to western edge of Akeley, follow signs. Only a few sites remain for the PB fest weekend, they will be available on a first-come, first served basis. The heavily wooded campground and park is open all summer and features: flush toilets, showers, firewood (dead & down wood may be gathered), tables, fire rings at many sites, dump station. SItes: 28 RV with wtaer & electric, $12; 12 tent, $9. Fishing (Walleye, Crappie, other). ----------------------------------------------------------- I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell" -- President Harry S. Truman --------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIALS - OPINION PROPERTY RIGHTS: THEY SOMETIMES DEPEND UPON WHOSE PROPERTY IT IS. It is always amazing when those hollering the loudest about property rights only give a darn when it's their property and not a whit about their own intrusion on anyone else's. A few weeks ago, Michael Dean, a Bemidji resident, petitioned the city council to blockade the end of the cul-de-sac on which he lives, and which some people use as a shortcut to and from a nearby main thoroughfare. The argument was noise from the unintended through traffic, safety of his kids, who are allowed to play in or near the street, and neighborhood security by his proposal to block a getaway route from the street, which could be used by those committing crimes there. As concerns some of the arguments, particularly in deterring late-night vandalism and theft, the blockade, which was erected, was probably a good idea, although some neighbors who used that shortcut were not in favor of it. The funny thing is, that the same proponent of the blockade, Dean, who loudly voiced his property rights, largely objecting to the noise "intrusion" on his property, and traffic being allowed to use the street near his kids, neither of which are actually illegal; and who has an adequate yard, has had no qualms about letting his kids "walk" the family dog on neighbors' lawns, acting apparently, under the delusion that everyone else's property is his dog's toilet, or leaving the dog to roam unattended and off leash on neighbors' property; both of which, are in fact, prohibited by law. We are amused by this type of simpleminded action. But this type of mentality (or lack of it) is a setback for true property rights proponents everywhere. --------------------------------------------------------------- Letters to the Editor DIVORCE - MINNESOTA STYLE Minnesota's No-Fault Divorce laws stink. What they truly are is no-fault to the female, and the child-support guidelines are outrageously high because the females usually end up with custody. The women usually run to the women's shelter which is nothing more than a divorce factory run at the expense of society. There, a man can't contact his mate, to even attempt to work things out. Without knowing anything about the man or the problems to the relationship, my children told me that the women who run the shelter swarmed around their mother preaching, "Divorce him." They also preached to her to only think of herself. If all men did that there would not be a single marriage. Now they will begin the systematic rape of the man in court with one phony charge after another to make the man look bad to the court. ... The children [were] being constantly left unattended while their mother was over [at] her boyfriend's weeknights, all weekend, and sometimes for up to a week carrying on her affair (excuse me, her attorney called it a positive relationship even though it not only scars your children but generations of children to come). [As to] my calling, concerned over the children being... left unattended, ...the female attorney from the shelter calls this harassment. I might also add my ex-wife was doing this [adultery] while still married, but the marriage vows and legal documents... mean nothing anymore. Their next stunt is to try [to] get the male charged with a 5th degree assault charge. In most cases the man can't afford an attorney; even with an attorney, [he may] advise [you] to plead guilty to something you are innocent of because of the expense of attorney's fees and lost wages [that would result if you tried to contest it]. You can accept a lesser charge and... anger management classes (which amount to 16 overpriced classes and thousands in lost wages). Although you can get some good out of the classes, and a few of the men belong in the class, a far bigger percentage of the men are victims of a sick, twisted system controlled by fanatical feminists. Now they have you set up [for them] to go for full custody and the big bucks from child support; in my case and so many others, my ex would not spend on the children for Xmas what I have taken out of one month's checks. No wonder the divorce rate is so outrageous; it is extremely profitable to most of these women to get divorced. It is probably the same all over as it is in Beltrami County, ... (although some older women have told me ...[Beltrami is] one of the worst for men). The female lawyer from the shelter gets the big custody case before the judge she grew up partying with. Do you think you got a fair trial? I think not. This judge would not let me submit documented evidence to defend myself but would listen to an entire day of gossip from witnesses that live hundreds of miles away and were never around anyone in the family for more than a few hours a year. This was the phony case my ex's attorney, who, I might add, was the most incompetent lawyer I have ever seen, had against me. After experiencing so much injustice, I wrote to the Attorney General, and, although he couldn't do anything, he gave me addresses of boards ...[that deal with attorney or judicial misconduct]. For attorneys: Marcia A. Johnson, Director, Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board, Minnesota Judicial Center, 25 Constitution Ave., Suite 105, St. Paul, MN 55155 (Phone: 612-297-5801) If you are dissatisfied with a judge's decision, you can appeal, but who can afford that? But if you feel, as I do, that [the judge] engaged in unethical conduct, the board to write to is: Judicial Standards Board, 2025 Centre Pointe Boulevard, Suite 420, Mendota Heights, MN 55120 (Phone: 612-296-3999). I have been observing the divorce situation in this country for many years. After going through a divorce, and working in the medical field I have witnessed far more verbal and physical abuse coming from females than I or any of my coworkers (male or female) have ever observed from men. All you mainly read in the newspapers is how abusive men are. Most fathers are the disciplinary members of the family but the fanatical feminists have twisted discipline into child abuse to take advantage of men in court. I think a far bigger percentage of the children should be in full custody of their fathers or at the very least, a court ordered joint custody with the children spending,... [as close as possible, half the]... time with their fathers. It seems that most women let the children do and get away with more, to retain control over the children and their exs. Feminists will tell you men want all the control but the truth is it's usually the females that want and get the control by the court system, by the bedroom, and by the kitchen. The divorce rate is so bad a special board or court should be set up to truly be no-fault and dissolve the marriages in a more fair and equitable manner without all the phony charges and high expense of lawyers, etc. [Name withheld by request] The Strauss and Gelles National Report on Domestic Violence indicated that women tend to instigate domestic physical violence slightly more than men do, and that women are far more likely than men to pick up an instrument of deadly violence and use it in a deadly manner. Mid-vote results of a recent USA Weekend poll, where participants were asked if they generally favored joint, fathers' or mothers' custody, had joint way in the lead (72%), and custody by the mother alone coming in dead last. --Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------- -Follow Up- DUERST SENTENCED BEMIDJI --Daniel Duerst was sentenced, June 2nd, before Judge Benshoof, for selling marijuana to an undercover informant. (Initial report: NH of 4/7/97). Duerst had pled guilty May 2nd. For the felony, Duerst received a 5 year stay of imposition of sentence, with the provision that 30 days be served commencing June 9, 1997 (30 days county time can usually be served in 20). He was also fined $1,000 and ordered to repay the $100 used to make the buy. At the May 2nd plea hearing, Duerst again objected to informant Latarte's report that Duerst had sold him 1/4 ounce of the killer weed. From the transcript: Duerst: "No. I do not agree that I sold a quarter ounce for $100." The Court: "Okay, how much do you admit that you sold?" Duerst: "It was two quarter ounces for $100." -------------------------------------------------------------- -Follow Up- HARR PLEADS GUILTY TO DARKHOUSE THEFTS BEMIDJI --Robert Harr, 33, of Tenstrike, pled guilty, before Judge Holter May 21st to 1) theft from fishhouses on Lake Bemidji, 2) criminal damage to property and 3) possession of a small amount of marijuana. Harr is the General Manager of Little Caesar's(R), Bemidji. Holter imposed for the theft, $388 fine and costs, with 10 days to serve and 50 suspended, and restitution. A $69 fine was added for the marijuana charge. -------------------------------------------------------------- Wilbeck Hamm Jr., Gadfly Extraordinaire GRAND RAPIDS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TRIES, FAILS TO SILENCE HAMM. by Richard Thomas, NH Grand Rapids Staff "The Town Flake stood up to speak. He is an old and addled gentleman with hair in long, white tangles --- WASP dredlocks. He's been making a complete and utter pest of himself at town meetings for over 30 years. He owns his own mimeograph machine and runs off reams of smudgy phillipics accusing town government of incompetence and waste. He knows all the regulations in Robert's Rules of Order and uses them until he has to be shushed by the moderator or shouted down by the townspeople. And he is always invariably right on every issue." -- P.J. O'Rourke "The Town Flake of Blatherboro" from Parliament of Horrors (1991) Welbec ("Bill") Hamm Jr. doesn't have white hair, yet. And he's been making a pest of himself for only 15 years. So be warned, he will probably be around for a long time to come. Hamm is District 318's most outspoken citizen. A self-employed forestry technician who resides in deep rural Bovey, he attended District 318 schools himself and had three children do the same. He's fought for more representation of low-income and rural residents. He is a lonely but loud voice against the local ruling clique. His vocal, combative manner has won him friends and enemies, but, by his own admission, not a whole lot in-between. "If you don't have agitation, no disagreement, no democracy," he says. Hamm evokes such fear and anger that a couple of years ago, word got out that he was trying to organize a new citizen's group. So the ISD 318 Employees' Coalition circulated leaflets, complete with ribbons for members to wear as they blitzed the meeting to shout Hamm down. As it turned out, the hapless group had no connection with Hamm. The moderators are definitely trying to shush him. The school board has changed its meeting rules to accept public comment at the beginning of a meeting, but at no other time. Hamm says the rule change was targeted at him. He has his own anything - except - dull publication, "318 Tattler," composed on home computer. The Grand Rapids Herald Review will no longer print his letters. This past spring two restraining orders have been filed against Hamm. The first came from District 318 superintendent Robert Luoma; the second from then-president of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, Sandy Layman. Luoma's suit stemmed from Hamm's leaflet, titled "The Anti- Liar Flier/Jim Luoma Lies." In the flier Hamm accused Luoma of holding secret meetings and barring public participation, instead taking input from a "hand picked group of his favorite district employees and community elitists." The flier called for District 318 to reconsider its renewal of Luoma's contract (Hamm is also circulating a petition to that effect). An attorney for the school sent Hamm a cease-and-desist letter: "While the School District welcomes public discussion, input, comment, and criticism, it will not tolerate defamatory personal attacks on its Superintendent, other employees, or School Board members." Hamm's written response virtually dared them to take legal action: "...I like a good bluff as well as the next guy, but this one is a farce." Layman's request for a restraining order was based on the fear that Hamm was dangerously unstable. Hamm called her March 31 to ask about the Chamber's position on a school bond referendum. It became a discussion on Hamm's tactics, which Layman said were "aggressive and threatening," and she objected to his comment that "this is war." Hamm insisted that he was nonviolent and said, "I haven't blown up the administration building or anything like that." Layman took that as a veiled threat that he would blow up the administration building. It's a tad hard to blame her, in light of Hamm's follow-up fax, dated April 1: "Time for you and others to wake up, Sandy. This isn't a game anymore. Whether or not you recognize this, I do, this is an escalation and it's my move.... If your intent is to exterminate me you had better consider a bullet." Hamm also faxed the bullet statement to other players in school politics. "I go after the people in the community he [Luoma] goes to for support. They're the legs of the chair he sits on." With these restraining orders Hamm saw a plot against him that involved the Chamber, the Citizen's League (the board of which includes two District 318 officials) and the county attorney. On April 15 he faxed a letter to Itasca County attorney Jack Muhar, demanding to know what role he played in "this circle ...[joke]." Muhar denied any involvement. The war of words was scary enough that Hamm got his handgun permit revoked April 9 (it was reinstated in late May). Layman's request for a restraining order was dismissed by Judge Lois Lang on May 7. Lang held that while Hamm's conduct was clearly unwanted, Layman did not prove that he threatened her safety, security, and privacy. "The Chamber of Commerce decided to take an official position in support of the School District 318 school bond referendum, a potentially divisive issue,' Lang wrote. "Layman, as president of the Chamber of Commerce, must expect to receive reaction from members of the community." In an issue of the Tattler, Hamm wrote, "Yes, Sandy, I do feel the knife in my back, and yes I will have my legal vengeance. Before this year ends I will join the Chamber and be in Sandy's face monthly, unless the Chamber decides to follow 318's example and pass special rules to bar me. Your move babe." One can't help but wonder if this threat hastened Layman's departure from the Chamber (she is now director of Itasca Development Corporation). At the April 22 hearing for Luoma's restraining order, Luoma denied he is trying to bar Hamm from public meetings. But he said, "A school board meeting is a public meeting of the school board; it... is not a meeting for public input. When that occurs, that's a hearing or a forum that the school board holds." Itasca County Judge John R. Hawkinson has until July 21 to decide on the order. Layman and Luoma were unavailable for comment. In the meantime, District 318 does indeed have serious problems. Last year WCCO television reported that it ranks number one in the state for teenage alcohol and drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and teen burglary. Perhaps the rulers of Grand Rapids would do well to consider that it needs more open participation to solve its problems, and that the "town flake" is at least sometimes right. ------------------------------------------------------------ CONSUMER CORNER Readers are invited to submit consumer complaints or compliments to this column, and to our Auto Service Forum. Send info c/o this paper, P.O. Box 1535, Bemidji, MN 56619 --------------------------------------------------------------- Recipe Box WE WOULDN'T HAVE BELIEVED IT: BEEF STEAK HERTER One of the more worldly Minnesota Sportsmen and Businessmen is George Leonard Herter of Waseca. Also a gourmet, he recommends in Volume II of his Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices, in preparing any beefsteak, that, using a pastry brush, it be brushed on all sides with vanilla before cooking, and again, very lightly before serving. "Nothing brings out the flavor of beef like vanilla," says Herter. The special accent this imparts to the steak is, in fact, interesting and distinctive; it doesn't actually end up tasting like it's been near vanilla (particularly if the last application is omitted, which some may prefer). This is very good with sliced eye of round steaks, pan fried. (If anyone out there tries it on the barbecue, let us know how it comes out!) As with all recipes that call for the extract, the preferred choice is Mexican vanilla. You need only open the bottle and let out the vanilla bean fragrance to know the difference. For safety, buy only Mexican vanilla labeled as Coumarin-free. Cost: About $1 (US) for 8 oz. in the Mexican grocery (not tourist) stores. -------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 05/19/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 15 --------------------------------------------- FIREWORKS ERUPT AT TEC MAHNOMEN -- Amidst a standing-room only crowd, the Tribal Executive Committee (TEC) swore in and seated new TEC members Erma Visenor, and Linda Johnston, both recently elected Secretary- Treasurers of the White Earth Band, and Leech Lake Band, respectively, at the TEC meeting, May 2nd, at the Shooting Star Hotel on the White Earth reservation. But due to relentless protests from the audience, the Committee, after several times yielding the floor and respectfully hearing from dissident tribal members, and believing that it was futile to attempt to conduct their agenda, adjourned the meeting only an hour after it began. Several TEC members, including the Leech Lake delegation, remained after adjournment to continue to hear from those who wished to speak. The Tribal Executive Committee oversees the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (MCT), statewide. This highest governing body is comprised of the Chairmen, and the Secretary-Treasurers of each of the six member bands. The sources of the protest were not immediate legislation facing the TEC, nor specific differences between rival factions on policy, but rather concern that the governing body adhere to MCT constitutional law, particularly as regards the complex series of events at White Earth, following the conviction of then-Chairman Darrell "Chip" Wadena. The situation at White Earth can be confusing to the outsider, because the two opposing factions: 1) Supporters of White Earth Chairman Eugene "Bugger" McArthur, and 2) Dissident tribal members who want a new election; are seemingly in agreement on fundamental principles. Both agree on having primary elections, but the dissidents contest the recent election of Visenor and Johnson because of alleged fraud and forgery in the passage of Election Ordinance No. 6 allowing same. TEC member Peter Defoe, whose purported signature is said to appear on the ordinance, told Northern Herald, "I didn't sign it... We never voted on that document, so it was signed by someone other than the [TEC] President and the Secretary." And while he supports a primary, Defoe said that he would not have agreed to the specific wording of the present ordinance. "There were some things added in there that we never heard of before," he said. Both factions agree on sovereignty of the Tribe, yet the now-in-office government will not relinquish it's power in favor of an U.S. Dept. of the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA) ruling upholding that sovereignty and overturning a BIA decision which violated that sovereignty by placing the current officeholders in office - they want to stay there regardless. Unscrambling the maze. A regular election was held June 11th, 1996 for offices of Chairman and District III Representative of the White Earth Reservation Tribal Council (RTC). The winners of that election were Eugene McArthur, as Chairman and John Buckanaga as District III Rep. The results of the election, however were protested. On June 18, the incumbent sitting council (not including Darrell Wadena) named Yvonne Novak to sit as Reservation Election Appeals Judge. The MCT Constitution provides that when an election is contested, the incumbents (in this case, Wadena, et. al.) shall remain in office pending a final decision on the validity of the election. On June 24, Darrell Wadena and two other RTC members were convicted of various felonies in Federal Court. As Wadena and the two other convicted RTC members could not have reasonably maintained their offices, pending the determination of the election protest, this effectively left White Earth without a government in the interim. This extraordinary situation was not anticipated or addressed by the MCT Constitution. Although not officially in office yet, on June 25th, McArthur and Buckanaga held a meeting, and selected Erma Visenor as Secretary-Treasurer to replace convicted Secretary- Treasurer Jerry Rawley. That's when the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) stepped in, saying, on June 26th, that the candidates who appeared to have won the June election (McArthur and Buckanaga) would sit on an "Interim Tribal Council" (ITC) until 1) the conditions of release of Wadena and the others have been set, and 2) the election protests were resolved under the MCT Constitution and By-Laws. The matter might have been resolved by the shortly forthcoming ruling on the pending election appeal, which would have determined the validity of McArthur's and Buckanaga's holding of their offices, except that on June 27th, McArthur and Buckanaga, sitting as a quorum on the BIA- established ITC, voted to remove Novak as Election Judge, replacing her with Paul Day. On July 1st, Novak nonetheless ruled that a new election must be held because of irregularities in the processing of absentee ballots. Day held a hearing August 2nd. The three persons protesting the election refused, however, to recognize his authority; as they refused to participate in the hearing, he dismissed their election protests. On December 11, 1996, however, IBIA issued a ruling in the action (IBIA 96-99-A) brought before it by Darrell Wadena, Tony Wadena, Jerry Rawley, Paul Williams, Rick Clark and Doyle Turner; against the Acting Minneapolis Area Director, BIA. In its ruling, IBIA reversed the BIA's June 26th action, stating that BIA lacked the authority to, on that date, install McArthur and Buckanaga as reservation tribal officers, or to establish any "Interim Tribal Council." IBIA stated that the matter of securing tribal officers must be left to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe without intervention by BIA. Because of this reversal, McArthur's and Buckanaga's actions on June 27th, in appointing Day and removing Novak as Election Judge were without authority. Novak's decision is thus valid and binding under tribal law. The protests thus result from McArthur's refusal to relinquish the office; and the TEC's continuing to seat him as White Earth Chairman. ----------------------------------- FATE OF H.R. 1009 (GUN LAW REPEALER) IS BEFORE HOUSE CRIME SUBCOMMITTEE WASHINGTON -- Rep. Helen Chenoweth's (R-ID) States' Rights and Second and Tenth Amendment Act of 1997 appears, now, to be stalled in the Crime subcommittee. It was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary March 11th, 1997, and to its Crime subcommittee on March 20th. It could "die in committee" should the subcommittee fail to act before adjournment. HR 1009 would repeal the controversial Lautenberg Amendment of last year. That provision made persons convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault ineligible to possess guns or ammunition, effectively, for life. The new law applies retroactively, even where the alleged offense was committed long before it was enacted, and even where the accused pled guilty, for purposes of convenience, with no idea that his second amendment rights would at some future time be jeopardized thereby. Members of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Crime, 207 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, include: Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) Rep. Stephen Buyer (R-IN) Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) Rep. George Gekas (R-PA) Rep. Asa Huchinson (R-AR) Rep. Shiela Jackson-Lee (D-TX) Rep. Bill McCollum, Chaiman, (R-FL) Rep. Martin Meehan (D-MA) Rep. Steven Rothman (D-NJ) Rep Steven Schiff (R-NM) Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY) Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) ---------------------------------------------- FOLLOW UP HARR FAILS TO APPEAR, CASE CONTINUED Robert Harr, General Manager of Little Caesars(R), Bemidji, failed to appear May 14th to answer charges relating to alleged forcible entry and theft from fishhouses on Lake Bemidji. Judge Holter continued (postponed) the matter to May 21st. ---------------------------------------------- NORTHERN HERALD ISSUES SHARES Following its incorporation on April 1st, and in accord with a policy of rewarding merit in the too few and far between instances where found, Northern Herald Publications, Inc. awarded equity stock to workers who have been with the paper since inception, Sept. 15, 1995. 2,500 shares were distributed; future staff will similarly be eligible for worker-equity after a year and a half on the job. ---------------------------------------------- DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Northern Herald is pleased to congratulate, this issue, the 39 1997 honors graduates of Bemidji High School. In a county where illegitimacy exceeds 45%,* of these 39 students who will have a better than average chance at success, 36 of them, or 92%, are listed (School District #31 News 5/97) as having 2 natural parents, both with the same last name as the student. There are no hyphenated names among the female parents listed. Does it make a difference? You bet it does! *Statistic per 1992 KIDS COUNT ---------------------------------------------- OKLAHOMA REP QUESTIONS BOMING INVESTIGATION Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key has raised significant questions surrounding the Federal investigation of the bombing of the Federal Building at Oklahoma City. In taped statements, Key criticized the official report that there was only one bomb, and suggests that there may have been a second explosion, possibly due to munitions which may have been stored illegally in the public building. In support of this contention, Key quotes retired General Benton Parton, munitions expert, as saying "The magnitude and the pattern of damage done to the... building were totally inconsistent with a single truck bomb.... The pattern of damage would have been technically impossible without supplementing demolition charges at some of the reinforced column bases, a standard demolition technique." Key also relies upon statements by witnesses who claim that, at times rescuers were evacuated due to a second or subsequent bomb scare, they observed ATF agents removing what appeared to be explosives, possibly from ATF's areas in the Federal Building. Key earlier requested that a special State oversight committee be appointed to review the investigation, but that request was denied by the Speaker of the Oklahoma House. ---------------------------------------------- COUNTY MAKES $150 AS EDUCATORS DUKE IT OUT OVER CLAIMED ADULTERY BLACKDUCK --With accusations of having had an affair with her husband, teacher's assistant Linda Ann Merrill, began choking Blackduck Public Schools teacher Laura Barott, as Merrill held her against the wall of the Community Education Office at the Blackduck school, June 26, 1996, per Blackduck Police Chief Michalicek's filed report. In this matter, recently brought to public light, Merrill is quoted in the report as saying afterward to Barott, "I'm going to kill you." Merrill has denied having made that threat. Barott was also married at the time of the alleged affair, and worked with Merrill's husband, Ward, in the Community Ed office. At the time of the incident, Barrot indicated that she didn't want to press charges over the scuffle if Merrill would agree to stay away from her, which Merrill did; the Police Chief, accordingly, issued no citation. But smelling county money, and a boost for Beltrami crime statistics, Asst. County Attorney David Frank later instructed Michalicek to issue a citation anyway. Merrill, 47, pled quilty to the fifth degree assault charge July 12, and was fined $150, with an additional $150, and 30 days suspended. ---------------------------------------------- FIRST FEDERAL - USLIFE CASE CONTINUED MINNEAPOLIS --Hearing before Administrative Law Judge Jon Lunde, previously set for May 5, 1997, in the matter of the Order to Show Cause served by the Minnesota Department of Commerce on USLife Credit Life Insurance Company (USLife) has been continued (postponed) to May 20th. The order, directing USLife to show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken, results from First Federal Banking and Savings (FirstFed), Bemidji, as agent for USLife, having sold Jerome Dirkes, of Blackduck, a disability policy in connection with a mortgage. It was represented as covering the full 96 month term of the mortgage. (See NH of 03/17/97.) But subsequently, FirstFed, claiming an error, substituted a policy that would only make payments for 24 months. Following Dirkes' becoming disabled, and the lapse of the 24 month payment period, FirstFed began foreclosure proceedings. At issue is whether Dirkes was properly notified, and agreed to the policy change. He claims he was not, and did not. Per the deposition of Dirkes' wife, Charolotte, FirstFed officer Warren Meissner, at one time, gave her a new policy certificate, requesting the old one back with the explanation, "I made a mistake." But he told her of no change to the policy. She said, "I had no idea why he was replacing the papers." ---------------------------------------------- Do trees lose their leaves in August? CASE BEFORE MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT ALLEGES FAKE EVIDENCE BY ITASCA COUNTY OFFICERS by Richard Thomas, NH Grand Rapids Staff Writer GRAND RAPIDS --False evidence allegedly produced by Itasca County deputies is at the heart of a case due to go before the Minnesota Supreme Court. The case arises from an incident on August 27, 1994. Three deputies, Dale Kaiser, John Rubesh, and Terry Snyder, responded at 5 a.m. to a report that gunshots were fired from the home of Daniel Schermerhorn in Calumet. When Schermerhorn answered the door he denied having fired any shots or owning any guns. An argument ensued when the deputies asked to search his home. Eventually they handcuffed him and took him to detox. According to Schermerhorn they were coercive and physically rough about it, causing him long-term pain in his arm. The next day the deputies obtained a warrant, entered his home, and found three guns, including a .410 shotgun, and spent cartridges. Schermerhorn stayed in detox for five days. He was charged with misdemeanor discharge of a firearm, but the charges were dismissed, as no witnesses actually saw Schermerhorn firing the shots. On Nov. 11, 1994, Schermerhorn filed suit against the deputies and the county, claiming false imprisonment, assault and battery, and deprivation of civil rights. The case went before a jury trial March 25-27, 1996. Deputy Kaiser testified that he took photos of and around Schermerhorn's house on August 29, 1994. The photos included a utility pole and power box showing shotgun blast damage. Kaiser said while he was taking the pictures he found a .410 shotgun wad across the street from Schermerhorn's house. Yet there's one glitch. The photos were supposedly taken in late August. But the trees in the photos have no leaves. "The pictures that Respondent Kaiser testified he took on August 29 were clearly taken after the leaves on the trees shown in the picture had already fallen," states a brief filed by Schermerhorn's attorney, Rod Otterness. "The pictures could have been taken no earlier than September 20, 1994 and could have been taken the following spring as late as May 12, 1995." If the date of the photos is wrong, it also casts doubt on the .410 shotgun wad as evidence. "The issue of the photos is a paranoid fantasy," said Roger Rowlette, attorney for the county in this case. "Why would the officers risk their careers over this?" Otterness says, "They didn't have the evidence to charge him with a crime, so they fabricated evidence." As to the leafless trees, Rowlette says the officers merely made a "mistake" as to when the photos were taken. He also suggested that the police took a second set of photos, perhaps because the first set had been lost. "That's my speculation," he said. But Otterness says the first he ever heard of this "second set of photos" was at a federal hearing last week on May 14 (the case has also been filed in federal court). "It will be interesting if the first set of pictures were lost," he said. Deputy Kaiser told Northern Herald, "I don't remember the exact date" when the photos were taken. Otherwise he declined comment. Sheriff Pat Medure also said he could not comment on a pending case. He referred questions to Itasca County attorney Jack Muhar, who also refused comment. Otterness said the officers misused a statute that allows them to take someone to detox to protect him from harming himself and others. "It's not to further criminal investigation," he said. "They did it because they wanted to get him out of the house and he had the nerve to assert his constitutional rights." Rowlette says, "The guy drank 18 beers, was shooting off guns at 4 a.m. and scaring the hell out of the neighbors." He also notes that it wasn't the first time neighbors heard gunshots fired from Schermerhorn's home. There is an earlier report from July 1994. Schermerhorn says the guns found in his house belonged to his mother. Rowlette scoffs at the notion that his mother would own "an assault rifle with a banana clip." Otterness says they were hunting and target practice guns and that Schermerhorn was not charged with illegal weapons. "They're trying to make it sound like my client is Tim McVeigh." The March 1996 trial was before a jury, but Judge Lois Lang directed the verdict herself. Her decision states, "Whether or not the officers lied about the time the pictures were taken, it was not disputed that [Schermerhorn] was intoxicated at the time he was taken into custody, that prior to to stopping at [Schermerhorn's house] the officers received a 911 call reporting shots fired from the direction of [Schermerhorn's] residence, and that officers confirmed this report with [Schermerhorn's] neighbors prior to taking [Schermerhorn] into custody." Lang also ruled that the deputies were protected from liability for violating Schermerhorn's civil rights, based on the "doctrine of qualified immunity." The Court of Appeals affirmed Lang's decision. There is no date yet made for the state Supreme Court hearing. In an unrelated matter, last year an excessive force lawsuit against Itasca County deputies (not the same ones involved the current suit) was settled out of court. Though the terms remain undisclosed, Attorney Tyrone Bujold said they were "favorable' to his client, John Latarte. The attorney for Itasca County, James Andreen, said, "We settled out of court to avoid the expense and inconvenience of a trial." Editor's note: John Latarte is now the police informant in the current Beltrami County case against Daniel Duerst (NH of 4/7/97). His excessive force suit stemmed from an incident on October 21, 1992 when Latarte had locked himself in his bedroom with a shotgun and threatened suicide. After he emerged, deputies used excessive force, he claimed, in restraining him so that they could take him to the looney bin. (see NH of 2/9/96) ---------------------------------------------- EDITORIALS - OPINION FORS: ONLY ABUSE WAS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Bemidji Chiropractor Gregory Fors has been the subject of recent allegations before the Minnesota Board of Chiropractic Examiners, and also four separate civil suits, by former women patients and employees, charging sexual and emotional abuse. The cases are before Judge Mondry, and the files are lodged with the Hubbard County court at Park Rapids. Fors' license to practice has been temporarily suspended. But although the files contain descriptions of torrid and, in at least one case, an adulterous, romantic liaisons, they are remarkably devoid of anything that a reasonable person would identify as abuse. It looks more like a female patient who chose to have a regular and standard adulterous affair with the doctor, and didn't find exactly what she was looking for, who then, for her own purposes (The underworld knows no fury like the wrath of a woman scorned), and perhaps trying to "pass off" the blame for her poor judgment, rounded up some of the doctor's other ex-girlfriends (who are always, of course, very meticulous and objective about their past godless relationships and the persons involved), and together, they brought a mess of litigation. These sorts of purposes seem no place for state or court involvement - there are too many cases that deal with real abuse and real damages. The Players. To the outside observer, the matter is a little clouded because we're dealing with a case where the accused is a jerk (our opinion) anyway. But despite our past suggestion, Minnesota has yet to pass a law against this - it would make prosecutions easier, you wouldn't have to find a subterfuge. If the record is to be believed though, he's nonetheless a pretty good healer (from the complaint of Connie Johnson, Plaintiff: "7. That as a result of the treatment from Dr. Fors, her condition greatly improved . . . .") Fors has been unavailable for comment; the very lovely female employees at his office said his number is unlisted, which was, in fact, a lie. His attorney, George Duranske, Esq., Bemidji (these guys were made for each other) said, "I'm not interested in making any comments at all." Johnson's affidavit describes her returning to Fors' office after hours where she went to the basement with the doctor and an adulterous romantic episode took place; and goes on to speak of another godless liaison when Johnson met him the next week at his sailboat at Cass Lake. The Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are represented by Darrell Carter, Esq., Bemidji. We asked Carter how allegations of abuse fit into the picture. NORTHERN HERALD: "Was this just ordinary garden-variety breeding, with perhaps, a little sodomy?" Carter: "Their [Fors'] position is that it was consensual sexual contact. The [womens'] position is that it's not consensual unless there is informed consent...." And Carter went on to say that any romantic advance between a doctor and his patient is "extremely inappropriate." Notwithstanding that a lot of successful marriages have happened this way. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines "informed consent" as an "Agreement to permit something to occur..., after having been given as much information as necessary to make an intelligent and rational ('informed') decision." So, if the womens' cases were to hold water, we're to assume that they didn't actually know about breeding, so as to make an intelligent and rational decision on same, or that it would occur when they jumped into bed (or whatever piece of furniture was used) with the doctor. OK, this is Northern Minnesota; we can buy this. Court and Official Action. A final determination on Fors' license will be made by an administrative law judge in a hearing at a future date, to be set. Notice, to Fors, of the charges, is required within 60 days, and the hearing may be expected shortly thereafter. We were unable to ascertain how much money, due to nonpractice, this "nuisance action" by the women is costing Fors in the interim. An interesting sidenote is that, in the civil actions, sets of interrogatories (discovery questions) have been served on Fors by the women, but, through their attorney, Carter, they have moved the Court for an order preventing Fors from using similar discovery procedures. In other words, the women are using all the resources that law permits to prosecute their action, but they want the Court to restrain Fors from using the same procedures, also authorized by law, to defend himself. The ladies have also asked for an extraordinary order allowing the attachment of Fors' assets before judgment. Fors' former attorney, J.D. Haas, Roseville (no relation to Hubbard County Judge Haas) wrote, in part, in his response to the Court, "Plaintiff's counsel was notified that there was no legal basis for these motions..., has not withdrawn these frivolous motions and Dr. Fors has expended attorneys' fees in fighting these frivolous motions." The motions are now under advisement before Judge Mondry. The complaint of Connie and D.J. Johnson (her husband) (C5-97-190) was filed March 31, 1997. Judge Mondry has closed the other womens' files to the public, although legal basis for this is unknown. The Johnson file contains a supporting affidavit from Judith Selby of the Selby and Selby psychological counseling firm, Bemidi. That firm has also been named, in an unrelated, and previously unreported incident in our files, as having aided Bonita Jones, in her dispute with Jeffery Hubbard. Jones subsequently confessed, in open court, to perjury with relation to her accusations aginst Hubbard. Trial of the Fors suits will be scheduled following completion of all pre-trial matters, and, barring settlement with Fors' insurer (which would probably not be too unacceptable to the ladies) would likely occur sometime next year. ---------------------------------------------- GUEST EDITORIAL Taking Responsibility for One's Actions UNIVERSITY STUDENT GETS EDUCATION, SPEAKS OUT ON DRINKING & DRIVING by Mark J. Biberg I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the citizens of Beltrami County for my behavior that resulted in my being arrested on March 30, 1997 for DUI. I believe that drinking and driving are wrong and that if a person chooses to operate a motor vehicle after drinking, he/she should be prepared to pay the consequences for that behavior. I believe that every person should be responsible for everything that they think, say, and do. I made the decision to drink on that fateful Saturday night and then I exhibited the poor judgment in thinking I should drive home, knowing full well I had too much to drink. When a person drinks, the first thing that goes is the ability to make sound and rational decisions. Then other things follow such as balance, coordination and vision. Often times, if a person could see themselves as they drink, they would be ashamed and amazed at the changes that take place. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Beltrami County Sheriff's Department for their professionalism and judgment in recognizing my erratic driving and keeping their heads about them in the process. Drunk drivers are a dangerous group with no apparent regard for themselves and for the people whom their behavior affects. I do not blame anybody other than myself for my behavior, and I say again that I believe drinking and driving are wrong. I am thankful that I am alive to write this and I pledge that part of my rehabilitation from this will be speaking out against drinking and driving. In closing, I expect to pay dearly for my lapse in judgment. This is to be expected. I go in for sentencing next week at which time I will not ask the Court for sympathy, but the opposite, I will ask for a just sentence and be thankful that I am alive to help people avoid the mistakes that have kept me from achieving my goals. Rest assured that this is not the end; I will not despair, a person gains the strength of that which he/she overcomes. And a person is never a failure until he/she quits trying. I encourage everybody reading to make positive, responsible choices and understand that life is about the decisions we make. Please do not drink and drive, it is not wise and is not worth it. If anybody in the reading audience has any input on my effort to get the message out that drinking and driving do not mix, please write to Northern Herald or to [the writer]: Mark J. Biberg 11315 Lake Beltrami Road NE Bemidji, MN 56601 Note: Mr. Biberg, a Senior at BSU, graduates May 23rd, with a degree in History, and is pursuing another in Writing. He pled guilty in 1996 to DUI on June 16, 1996. On March 29, 1997, he was again charged with DUI, and on April 23rd with driving with an open container. On the recent DUI, he was sentenced May 5th, by Judge Rasmussen, to serve 45 days, beginning May 24th, and to pay a $1,000 fine. -- Ed. ---------------------------------------------- Guest Columns WOMEN ADDRESS DOMESTIC ISSUES A Look Inside the Shelters by Rita Jones, Philadelphia, PA In the debate over use and misuse of protection from abuse laws, the strange fact is that the criminal child molesters have more rights than innocent fathers. They enjoy the ancient privilege that one is considered innocent until proved guilty. In court, fathers facing their partners' protection from abuse [here, OFP] charges have no such right. The woman need only say "I'm afraid of him," and bingo, he's guilty. My view, in part, stems from my three years' employment as a resident director of a women's abuse shelter. During the entire time, I saw only one woman who had been so badly beaten that you could truly identify her as a victim. Too many other women came simply to use the shelter as a free pad while they went back to high school to obtain diplomas that they had been too lazy to work for while regular students. Others came to dry out from drug or alcohol abuse. Not infrequently after hours, women would sneak men into their rooms - the same man who supposedly had abused them. The point is, that not every woman obtaining a protection order - perhaps, in fact, only a relative handful - truly are victims of battering. The idea that any woman can go into court and have the judge throw [a man] out of his house on "nothing" evidence is outrageous. Because of my disgust with the system, I am now working to help men who are the victims of women's phony abuse charges. This column first appeared as a Letter to the Editor in the Philadelphia Daily News, April 30, 1997. Mrs. Jones is currently secretary of Fathers' Rights Newsline. ----------------------------- In Jail for Being Poor by Monica Hoeft-Ross, Reno, NV There is an epidemic sweeping the United States. It's not AIDS, but its effect is just as disasterous and little attention is being paid to it. Why? Because it's not politically correct. What I am talking about is the mass incarceration of fathers in this country for the mere fact that they do not earn enough money. They owe child support. The support they owe is not based on any reasonable standard such as what bills they have to pay, what their rent is, the cost of transportation, but rather on what they SHOULD be paying, regardless of what their own personal needs are. In the event of being terminated from their position, the courts usually find that there is no reason to lower child support, and "impute" income on what the father is able to earn. An order is put on him to report to the court and prove that he is looking for work. If he falls behind on child support during this time (which he usually does) the he is subject to all type of license revocations, seizures and incarceration. In the meantime child support accrues. He is the often left bankrupt and penniless. Of course, the media does not want to hear this. Any man that owes child support is some sort of a deadbeat, and all measures should be taken to persecute him. No one wants to hear about the underlying facts of the cases. No one ever talks about the fact that women MAKE money off of the system by being on welfare and having children out of wedlock and having the system push the father away. It is no wonder that inner-city kids have no father-figure; their fathers had no father figure. It has become a matriarchal society. The father nowadays appears to have no role in family matters. Take the case of a man in Lake County, California, who is in jail because he cannot pay $600 per month in child support. The average income of this county is $1000 per month. Do the math. In the state of California, after all the taxes have been taken out, you are left with about $750 from that $1000. Of that, $600 has to go to one child. That leaves the father $150 for rent, food, clothing and toiletries - just the bare minimun to survive. In the meantime, his ex-wife lives in a fully paid off home that he gave her, drives a new car, and does not allow him to see his child, despite the fact that there are court orders. The court will not enforce visitiation orders, only child support orders. We know of "Fatherless America," but no one seems to care that fathers fight every day to see their kids, file contempt after contempt, and the court merely sends the father to psychological evaluation to see if he is a fit parent, but does nothing to the mothers who conceal children. When Bob gets out of jail, now, he has a criminal record, and now for sure he will not find a job, and flipping burgers will not allow him to pay $600 per month in child support and still support himself. They will put him back in jail again. He will also need an eventual kidney transplant due to chemical exposure from his previous work, but that doesn't matter. Bob has a second wife. They are now separated. She is contemplating suicide on the courthouse steps. Her house is in foreclosure. The business she created so that Bob can pay his child support has gone under due to relentless persecution by the District attorney on demand from Bob's ex-wife. I called Bob's present wife Sylvia up today, and she was close to tears, her voice cracking up, wondering what on earth the son gains by having a father he cannot see, and a father who is in jail because he cannot earn four times the median income of the county. Another case - Robert Lindsay Cheney, who is near his 60 days of hunger strike and near death. If he dies, will that make the news? I don't think so. He was paying support for a child that is proven not to be his. His own son, the mother and the court refused to allow him to see for no good reason. He lost his job due an accident; the court refused to lower his support, and when he could not pay, they sent him to jail. He was let out on Sheriff's parole. Five days before his parole was over, he was sick in bed, they broke down the door, arrested him and threw him back in jail. I called the jail today, he is in lock-down, solitary confinement, and can receive no visitors. Because he is unemployed, he is being treated like some mass murderer. Will cases like these make the news? I don't think so. Who cares if another "deadbeat dad" dies, who cares if another child is deprived of their father by the state? The states make money from the feds who subsidize these children; they have a vested interest in making sure that fathers who cannot pay go to jail. A neighbor's ex took the children out of the state to impede contact with their father. She has a police record of violence and drug abuse. Her [present] husband beats her and the children. She keeps them locked up in their room when she doesn't want to deal with them. The DA still sends her child support even though they know she is out of the state illegally. The father lives in a motel because he cannot afford to live in an apartment. The mother is on welfare, commits welfare and tax fraud to make money. The father has to pay back the welfare department for the cost of her maintenance, as well as child support. As women have strived for equality, not only do they demand such equality, but they want any power that [they believe] a man has taken away. The majority of the divorces are initiated by women (Oh, he must have given her a reason), 90% of the custody is awarded to the mothers (Oh, he must have done something or doesn't want the kids), but nobody looks at the other side of the coin. When a father petitions for custody, the only reason people see is that he just doesn't want to pay support. Nobody thinks that the father may have bonded to the children and would like to be more than just a visitor in his children's lives. Nobody seems to want to make the association that the high rate of juvenile crime stems directly from single parent (usually mother) headed households. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 79% of the male inmate population comes from mother only households. Why does nobody draw the correlation? The bottom line is here - other than the financial incentives that the individual counties have for incarcerating fathers, what good does this do the child? NONE! Why is it that the courts are so eager to enforce child support, but not child-father contact? In the meantime, almost 20% of the nation's population is subject to involuntary servitude and almost half of the nation's children will be raised in homes without their fathers. Is this the nation we want? ---------------------------------------------- NOTICE The Liza Show has announced that they are doing a show on Deatbeat Moms, and are looking for dads who have a story to tell, or have been falsely accused. Men interested in telling their story on The Liza Show can call 1-800-241-4377 Information courtesy of Bob Haber, Non-Custodial Parents' Resource Center ---------------------------------------------- RECIPE BOX NH Best Buys A HOT ITEM THESE DAYS: MR. LUEKEN AND MISS CROCKER Yep. We don't just how it happened, but Mr. Lueken cut a deal with Miss Crocker (friends just call her Betty) that put her Dutch Apple (16.5 oz.) and Cinnamon Streusel (13.75 oz.) cereals on the shelves of his Village store, Bemidji, at $1.99 a box (normally 2.79-3.49), and her three new Hamburger Helper(R) blends at .99 At these prices, you may just want to back up your pickup to his loading dock and have one of the guys help you with a fork lift. These are all very good, but relatively new products, on which Mr. Lueken scored a particularly good buy. Because these are not necessarily advertised specials, the prices are not guaranteed for any particular time - they're subject to quantities on hand - when these lots are gone, they're gone. But, right now, there's plenty of the Assistant to the Hamburger, and Dave Lueken says there's enough of the cereal to probably last a month or two at this price. The cereals are Miss Crocker's truly unique new baked flake recipes, made from healthy oats, whole wheat, corn and rice, that don't sog down when half & half or milk is applied. The Cinnamon Streusel is delicately spicy and fragrant with cinnamon; the Dutch Apple is fruity, with real dried apple bits. Both have just the right amount of sweetening for both kids' and adult tastes. The Hamburger Helper(R) varieties are the new Southwestern Beef, Italian Herb (this was probably invented by a Sicilian employee named "Herbert", at the BC/General Mills plant), and Cheddar Primavera. All three are excellent. The Cheddar Primavera is particularly and enjoyably unique in the aldente-like consistency of the pasta and the rich cheese sauce, with sprinklings of vegetables, which, though freeze-dried in the mix, reconstitute well in cooking and lend a special zest to the dish. If deals like this are what happens when Mr. Lueken and Miss Crocker meet, we hope we hear wedding bells. Kitchen Tip: Men's Assistant to the Hamburger: The Hamburger Helper(R) box says it contains five servings. We don't know what kind of birds they've been feeding, but, for a guy, and as good as this stuff is, a box is about a meal. Trouble is, unless you're in weight training or on the team, you don't need (or want) a whole pound of hamburger at one sitting. You may want to try making it with 1/2 the burger. Actually, the proportions of ingredients are just about right for this anyway, and, at current prices, it gives you an entree for about $1.60. Serve with red wine. Bon Appetit! ---------------------------------------------- CONSUMER CORNER Readers are invited to submit consumer complaints or compliments to this column, and to our Auto Service Forum. Send info c/o this paper, P.O. Box 1535, Bemidji, MN 56619 A SPLENDID CREDIT CARD ISSUANCE SCAM - FROM THE FOLKS AT GREYHOUND(R) For people without ready cash or credit, things are usually going to cost a bit more. Including credit itself. This is an accepted, and generally reasonable fact - after all, it's cheaper to buy - and sell - by the case; and creditors assume higher risks in this market. But every now and then something crops up, aimed at this market, that often doesn't have ready cash and finds it difficult to obtain credit, that seems almost abusive. Such is Greyhound's(R) new offering in conjunction with MasterCard®. Watch for it in your mailbox. Some banks offer the hard-to-qualify market a secured line of credit. You deposit, say, $200 and obtain a $200 line of credit. This covers their risk, and this might not be a bad deal, depending upon the annual, and other fees they charge (always read the back and fine print). But Greyhound® has introduced a new twist. What they're going to do is just charge you $207.95 up-front, plus $69 a year, after the first year, for what may amount to a $250. line of credit. This is not too good a deal. The application appears targeted to this hard-to-qualify market. It offers an initial unsecured credit line of $200-$1000. A phone call disclosed that the usual initial minimum is $250. The only charge on the face of the application is a $49.95 application fee that you send with it. But turn the app over. You'll also find an "acceptance fee" of $89, and an annual fee of $69. When you get your card, after having paid $49.95 cash, the card is issued with a built-in debit balance of $158. You owe this on the card before you've even bought anything. Oh, and late payments are subject to what would seem a usurious fee of $20. ---------------------------------------------- TONER CARTS - NEW OR RECHARGED? Should you spend $75-$150 for a new cartridge for your laser printer, or use a remanufactured one? The quality of remanufactured carts varies widely depending on the firm. The best ones are near original equipment, and some claim to actually be better. To provide a frame of comparison, this newspaper is consistently mastered using a recharged cart. All of the text you're reading on this page was produced, in fact, with the $38 cart advertised in our Computermart (access from our home page). There are other good Minnesota suppliers. We caution against the firm know as "The Laser System," Waverly, NE (advertises heavily to professionals, such as accountants) as they've been found to use substandard materials and workmanship, are hard to contact, do not return calls and sometimes take months to return your cart (most others do it in a matter of days). ------------------------------------ ISSUE OF 04/28/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 14 ------------------------------------ SUGAR BUSH RUNS AT RED LAKE RED LAKE -- This spring saw a maple sugaring or Sugar Bush camp, as it is locally known, spring up in the Little Rock district of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, about 4 miles West of Red Lake. The camp was part of an educational project undertaken by William May, Sr., in cooperation with Red Lake schools. The project has also been assisted by the Department of Natural Resources, which provided help in transporting cookers, and also by several other public agencies. May, coordinator of the Wahbung Ogichidag ("Tomorrow's Leaders) program explained that the camp was made possible by a Federal grant through the Department of Education. Louis Boyd, of District 38 at the site, said that about 300 children from Kindergarten through High School had an opportunity to participate in the camp and learn the traditional art of maple sugaring. "We got on the ball right away, we collaborated with other tribal programs, community members, school kids and the school board, came up with the Sugar Bush camp, and we worked real hard to get everything together," said May, "it's probably one of the largest Sugar Bush camps going in the area, we encourage all community members and kids to come out and see how it's done." The camp operated through April 25th. Syrup produced at the camp won't be available commercially, but, per May, will be divided between various public agencies and the Red Lake schools, which will use it for a public pancake feed in early May. On site, Louis Boyd explained that hardwood had to be used for cooking, as pine and softwood imparts resin to the ash, which would affect the syrup. Depending on the weather, the trees could produce 180 gallons in one morning. ------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS COVER-UP ATTEMPTED IN FIRST FEDERAL BANKING AND SAVINGS MARKETS Hearings set May 5th, 21st Yep, someone just doesn't want you to be able to read the news. Two issues back, we carried the report of the Minnesota Dept. of Commerce and the Minnesota Attorney General having issued an Order to Show Cause against US Life Credit Life Insurance Company, in conjunction with public dealings by it's agent, First Federal Banking and Savings (First Fed) (located in Bemidji, Bagley and Walker), under the headline: FIRST FEDERAL BANKING AND SAVINGS INSURER ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE. It was an important story, because it detailed how First Fed, acting with US Life, has (allegedly) tried to defraud a Blackduck man out of his home. And it was important because it was an exclusive - although the information is public record and freely available through the Department of Commerce (DOC), we haven't seen it in any other paper. Of course, First Federal has a lot to spend on advertising. So if you didn't read it here, you didn't get to read it. And some people didn't want you to read it. At several locations in Blackduck and Walker, with isolated incidents elsewhere, someone apparently went into our sales, as well as complimentary, locations and turned that issue upside-down, so the headline wasn't visible, or in some cases, dropped a folded paper over the headline, with the same effect. The number of similar instances indicate a concerted effort. It illustrates a basic lack of respect for property - whether it's a newspaper, a retailer's store and inventory or your home. Fortunately, there are enough locations in these cities that the news could not be successfully suppressed. And we thank our retailers in Bemidji, Bagley and elsewhere who wouldn't tolerate these kinds of shenanigans. We will continue to report this story, as it develops, including Mr. Dirkes' suit against First Fed, and the DOC action which comes to court in Minneapolis, on May 5th. And we will continue to provide straight news reporting for the Northland no matter how much the crooks (our opinion) at First Fed, or anyone else, has to spend on advertising to suppress it. The news will get out. We are prepared, if necessary, to have the next issue, with results of the DOC action, dropped from airplanes in those First Federal markets where the attempted suppression of the March 17th issue occurred. Finally, we are intrigued with First Fed's intensive new ad campaign - when you hear them say "First Federal wants you to own your own home." Well, from what we've seen, in two instances, they should say, "First Federal wants to own your home." In the Dirkes' civil action against First Federal and US Life, trial has been reset for May 21, 1997 at 9:15 am, before Judge Mondry, at the Beltrami County Courthouse. ------------------------------------------------------------ HUBBARD HISTORICAL, ART MUSEUMS READY FOR MAY OPENING PARK RAPIDS --May 1st marks opening day for the Hubbard County Historical Museum, and the North Country Museum of Arts, both located in the former county building next to the present courthouse, on Court St. in Park Rapids. The Art Museum features, in its Great Gallery, one of the only Northland collections of artworks of the classic European school. Currently, 15 area high schools are participating in a student exhibit which will be on display through May 18. ------------------------------------------------------------ BOOTH ONE-ACTS RUN AT THE BLACK BOX BEMIDJI--Local playwright, Roy C. Booth produced three one act plays which opened for two nights, April 18th and 19th at the acclaimed Black Box Theatre, on the Bemidji State University campus in Bemidji. Of the first two, "Ashes to Ashes," by Garrett Rautio and Booth; and "Mary's House" by Dr. Helen Bonner, each offered it's own unique treatment of morbidity, both dealing with portrayal of intense inner emotions. The third, "Lizardo Gets the Post-Modern Blues", by Ross Hagemeister and Booth, was a light and lively fantasy involving a radioactive lizard, a mad professor and a cheese salesman. Booth, who, with his wife, runs B&B Comics, Bemidji, had four of his plays published in 1996; altogether, ten of his works, including "A Vicious Circle," have seen publication. ------------------------------------------------------------ FOLLOW-UPS THOMPSON REQUESTS EVIDENTIARY HEARING IN DUERST BEMIDJI --Daniel Duerst, charged with sale of marijuana to informant John Latarte (see NH of 04/07/97) appeared for omnibus before Judge Rasmussen on April 14, 1997. Duerst pled not guilty and requested a jury trial, which is scheduled for May 28th at 9:00 am. Duerst has elected to represent himself, but State Public Defender Paul Thompson is stand-by counsel. Prosecutor is Shari Schluchter. At the April 14th hearing, Thompson requested that a separate evidentiary hearing be held prior to trial. Duerst remains free on $3,000 bond. ------------------------------- HARR CONTINUED TO MAY 14TH BEMIDJI --Charges against Robert Harr, General Manager of Little Caesars,(R) Bemidji, have been continued (postponed) to May 14th, before Judge Hass. Harr is charged with stealing from fishhouses on Lake Bemidji on February 4th. (Full story appears in NH of 2/24/97.) Harr's attorney, David Paul Frank, requested the continuance, at Harr's last appearance before Judge Hass on March 12th. ------------------------------------------------------------ JIM MASLOWSKI: THE GUY BELTRAMI COMMISSIONERS CALL WHEN THEY WANT TO GET SOMETHING DONE At left [photo available in print edition only] James Maslowski, Beltrami County Building Maintenance Supervisor, describes for the maintenance supervisor at another local concern, a process Maslowski developed for using compressed CO2 to clear an obstructed industrial air conditioner compressor and coil. On his desk in the foreground are plans he's working with for the new county parking lots. James Maslowski has worked for Beltrami County for 16 years, 15 of them as Grounds and Buildings Maintenance Supervisor which has responsibilty for all of the various county-owned buildings. In addition to keeping up and making improvements to the many structures in which the county operates, his expertise and experience has been invaluable, such as when the County Board takes bids for a new major capital equipment purchases; Mr. Maslowski is the person who may have to evaluate the specifications that accompanied the bids, to make sure apples are being compared to apples, so to speak, so that the Board has proper comparable information on which to make an informed decision. Maslowski has been involved in many major county projects and says his most exciting was being involved in the building of the new jail. "It took us four and a half years," he recalls, "I saw that go from a hole in the ground to what it is today." ------------------------------------------------------------ FOLLOW UP THOMAS SUIT AGAINST ATTORNEY JONES FAILS PARK RAPIDS --The action brought by Gregory Thomas against Park Rapids attorney William Jones for damages allegedly sustained by Jones' refusal to cease representation of Thomas's ex-wife, Tammie Thomas, in a divorce, where Jones had previously been Mr. Thomas's attorney, was dismissed on February 17, 1997 by Judge John Smith, pursuant to Jones' motion for summary judgment. The case was founded upon conflict of interest. In the divorce, and due to orders which prevented Thomas from paying or intervening with creditors, Thomas lost his business and his home in Nevis. Notice of the dismissal was served on Thomas, who is unemployed, at the Hubbard County jail to which he was ordered for failure to pay child support. SEEGMILLER ALLOWED STAY OF ADJUDICATION FOR BURGLARY Worked as Drug Informant BEMIDJI -- Per court records, at about 2:00 am, on November 10th, 1996, James Seegmiller was burglarizing a neighbor's home, at Elpine Village, Bemidji, looking for prescription drugs, when he was walked in on, by the owner. Seegmiller knew that the homeowner would be out, because Seegmiller's girlfriend, Bonnie Lutgen, was caring for the owner's child, and Seegmiller had been at Lutgen's home when the child was dropped off, earlier that evening. The filed complaint discloses that Seegmiller had been looking for Ritalin, a prescription drug taken by the child. Charged November 13th with 2nd degree burglary, Seegmiller was released that day on $4,000 bail. Seegmiller pled guilty. His attorney, Paul Kief, said, at sentencing March 31, 1997, before Judge Preece, that because Seegmiller had been working undercover for drug enforcement, a Stay of Adjudication with drug treatment would be appropriate. Accordingly, Preece ordered a 10-year Stay of Adjudication, with conditions, including inpatient drug treatment. A warrant, on another charge of driving without insurance, was lifted. A Stay of Adjudication generally means that jail or prison time is not imposed if there are no further offenses during the period of the stay. Afterward, the charge is usually dismissed. ------------------------------------------------------------ EDITORIALS - OPINION HOW FAR SHOULD AUTHORITIES GO IN PROCURING INFORMANTS? The James Seegmiller case, reported elsewhere this issue, as well as the matter of John Latarte's avoidance of normal sentence for driving on a cancelled license (reported in the Duerst article, last issue) raise serious questions as to how far law enforcement authorities should go in recommending leniency in order to procure informants. In some cases, such as Seegmiller, which involved burglary, we're dealing with serious crimes which directly affect people. Seegmiller claimed to have a drug problem, which we don't contest or doubt. He asked for treatment for that as part of his sentence, which is probably well-advised. But that wasn't what gave rise to the crime of burglary. In burglary, we're dealing with an essential disrespect for private property; an underlying and widespread belief that it's just OK to break in and take something; whether that happens to be drugs, money or whatever. Drug treatment doesn't cure this misunder- standing; so drug treatment alone is not a proper punishment for the crime of burglary. It will not necessarily deter future occurrences - the next time, he might just need money or some- thing else, rather than drugs. In the Duerst case, we weren't exactly dealing with lily-whiteness on either side. Duerst has admitted selling the killer weed, although he says he sold the informant more of it than what the records suggest the informant, John Latarte, may have accounted for and turned in. But the informant, per several witnesses, is also filthy. This subjects his integrity and the tactics used to make the buy to question. We realize it's hard to get good informants. It's hard to get good help these days, period. Unless simply hired on a professional basis (much cleaner), informants are usually offenders who are recruited by offering concessions on a current charge. We're not sure it's a good idea to make these concessions, though, on serious crimes against individuals. We question the wisdom of putting a burglar back on the street to nab a few drug users. It's like saying those drug busts were more important than a person's home and property (which the burglar didn't think were that important anyway; that belief is now confirmed.) We realize that in recruiting informants, we're not going to get top-notch applicants. We won't even get the best criminals. That's because the highest caliber criminals, the white-shirted and necktied ones who work in our city and county offices, our banks, and certain other well established local businesses, don't like to tell on each other that much. It's unfortunate; they could tell us a lot. We might even find out where former County Attorney Tom Keyes, bought the cocaine that killed him. But as we say, quality criminals are hard to recruit. Nonetheless, as in Latarte, we wonder if we have to scrape the bottom of the barrel either; and as in Seegmiller, we need to give serious consideration as to what kind of crimes we're willing to excuse, and how far the sentencing should be lightened in these cases. ------------------------------------------------------------ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LORY: WORKING ON APPEAL, ASSAULTED IN PRISON My attorney, John Westrick, is trying to get my case heard by the State Supreme Court. Right now, Mr. Westrick is trying to get the [record of the] jury instruction part of the Grand Jury [proceedings]. Originally, when the Grand Jury transcripts were asked for, Mr. Westrick was told that there were "no transcripts" of the jury instructions. But now, the court reporter is saying that did not mean there was "no record" of that part of the Grand Jury [proceeding], but we asked for the transcript. Make any sense? Kind of like the "lost" 911 tapes. In August, I was attacked by a compatriot of the people who had attacked my daughter, a guy by the name of Alvin Jones. There was a rather one sided fight, which I lost, of course. Since then, his friends have been causing me quite a bit of trouble. Many convicts do not like citizens that try to protect their families. My children have struggled since I have been gone, but I think they are adjusting better now. I just hope and pray that I can be reunited with them as soon as possible. It is very hard to keep in touch with the kids because of the prison's restrictions on communication. We will need to make up a lot of lost time. Rich Lory #184291 Stillwater, MN ------------------------------------------------------------ RESTRAINING ORDERS CAN BE ABUSED BY ANGRY SPOUSES Reprinted by permission of The Standard-Times, New Bedford, Massachusetts. Copyright (c) 1995 by The Standard-Times By Preston P. Forman Standard-Times staff writer One of society's chief weapons in the battle to halt domestic violence has become a weapon of a different sort in the hands of people involved in divorce and custody battles. Emergency restraining orders -- known legally as 209A orders -- are being sought in cases where there is no abuse as a way to punish the other party or gain a tactical advantage in legal wrangling, say some attorneys. Although statistics are not available on the issue, attorneys say anecdotal evidence suggests the phenomenon largely developed after the law was changed in 1992 allowing judges to issue restraining orders when the perpetrators and victims do not live together. Richard Kelleher, a Wareham District Court judge since 1978, said with little training to base his decisions -- and the media seizing on cases where an order wasn't issued -- he sometimes feel obliged to issue an order. He said when a person stands before him requesting a restraining order he never considers if the order is warranted. "I never discourage anyone from seeking a 209A and I never look to see if there are prior 209As issued. There is a tremendous range that someone will abuse the process but we all have the right to use the process," he said. "We are supposed to be in the middle of the process trying to make sense of it and it is very difficult." New Bedford District Court Judge David Turcotte said, based on his experience in courthouses in the region, the number of baseless cases is few. "Cynics would say there is abuse in the system but I think the percentage is so small it's not even worth considering," Judge Turcotte said. "In six months I can count on one hand the cases I raised my eyebrows on." Judge Turcotte said suspicions would be raised if there is also a probate case pending - such as a divorce or custody issue -- when a restraining order request is made. But examples of restraining order abuses have become legendary in the legal community. Elaine Epstein, former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, recalls one incident when a woman obtained a restraining order against a landlord trying to evict her. "It was an unbelievable case. She didn't want to be evicted and knew that if she got a restraining order she could stay in the house," she said. Although the case was dismissed, it is symptomatic of a court system under pressure to deal with a scourge that it can not always handle. Ms. Epstein said the courts have become a rubber stamp for restraining orders, perhaps even intensifying the problem by taking on a role of a social service agency when it does not have the resources or mandate to do so. In a summer 1993 article she wrote for the bar association newsletter, she noted that the media frenzy over domestic violence has paralyzed those in contact with the court system. In short, she says, police, prosecutors and judges use the law to shield themselves from any potential criticism, citing what has now become a mantra in the court system: Better safe than accurate. "The facts have become irrelevant. Everyone knows that restraining orders and orders to vacate are granted to virtually all who apply, lest anyone be blamed for an unfortunate result," she said. Gun shy judges now work under the "presumption to grant the order," said defense attorney Kenneth Shine, who works mainly in Plymouth County. Mr. Shine recently represented a police officer who was hounded by an ex-girlfriend. Reluctantly, the officer obtained a restraining order against her to keep her from bothering him at work. Days later and without any history of abuse by the officer, she obtained a restraining order against him, Mr. Shine said. "Claiming that she was afraid, she got the order. Eight police officers show up at his door and seize all his weapons," Mr. Shine said. "He coughs them up but then the police go to his parent's house and search there for weapons. He does not even live there." Like the landlord case, it was later dismissed but the officer was still put on administrative leave for two weeks. "She knew exactly what to do. The left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing and she won," he said. Mr. Shine said restraining order abuse is something he sees just about every day in his practice -- and believes it will continue until judges take a more critical view of the cases. "I'm the great liberal, but the pendulum has to swing this way so it can get back to center," he said. "Because you are dealing with such emotional issues it quickly becomes impossibly complicated. I sometimes wonder if we create more issues and problems by allowing so many 209As. So often simple arguments escalate into court hearings where there are usually much better alternatives." The raw numbers of emergency judicial restraining orders issued in Massachusetts have rocketed upwards nearly 50-fold in the past decade. In 1985, only 324 "judicial response" orders -- those issued by a judge when the courts are closed -- were issued. In 1994, 14,878 orders were issued. The greatest increase in emergency judicial response 209A orders occurred between 1991 and 1992 when the issue of domestic violence began to enter the public's consciousness and the state law regarding restraining orders changed. In 1991, 6,048 emergency orders were issued; it jumped to 10,438 the next year and 14,705 in 1993. Last year 14,878 emergency judicial restraining orders were issued. Mr. Shine said the restraining order process too often is used as a tool to go after someone -- rather than for its intended purpose as protection. Leonard Bello, a Wareham attorney with a large divorce practice said some people use what he called the "wicked double-edged sword" whether it is needed or not in divorce cases. In those types of cases, allegations of abuse can cloud matters, Ms. Epstein said. As a result, the person who sought the order gains a tactical advantage, often in child custody cases. Mr. Bello cited one divorce case where a woman sought a restraining order nine months after an alleged incident with her husband. "She wants the house. There is no abuse, they just don't get along. The problem then is to get him out of the house he must do something bad," he said. "There needs to be more meaning to getting a restraining order." Even more troubling to Mr. Shine are the cases where parents seek restraining orders against their children. "The parent feels the need of an order to control a child," he said. "It is used as a weapon and once issued it stays on the child's record forever -- even if it gets dismissed as it tends to happen. And then this girl, without any prior record, goes to apply for a job some day and this pops up." Even judges acknowledge that the ease of obtaining a restraining order opens up the process to abuse. Judge Kelleher said it is heartbreaking when someone asks to vacate an order after being abused, a common occurrence in the district courts. "I don't know what to do in these cases," he said. "Hopefully, the district attorney can prove the case without her. I then try to make myself satisfied that the person is making an intelligent, informed decision. But oftentimes that person is back again in two weeks." ------------------------------------------------------------ MARY BECKER, OFP CUSTODIAL MOM, LOSES 6-YEAR OLD. Beltrami Deputies find near Turtle River home; earlier reports disclose neglect, abuse. TURTLE RIVER --Deputies and other law enforcement personnel were dispatched April 23rd to the Turtle River home of Mary Becker, who reported that her 6-year old daughter, Ashley, was missing. As reported in The (Bemidji) Pioneer, after an hour of searching, she was found by a state trooper about a quarter mile from her home. Mary Becker obtained custody of Ashley, and the two other daughters, of herself and ex-husband Michael Becker, in an Order for Protection proceeding before Judge Rasmussen, in August 1996. Although there had been no demonstrable violence, Mrs. Becker had been assisted by Northwoods Coalition for Battered Women. Michael Becker was not present, and claimed that he did not have notice of the hearing, which his attorney, Rebecca Anderson, has confirmed in a letter to the Court. Nonetheless, Rasmussen issued the OFP awarding custody to Mary Becker. (see NH of 9/6/96) Michael stated, in interview last year, that he had seen Mary, and her older son, Chris, on several occasions, "rip" out cigarette lighters that Ashley had put in her mouth. "I saw pieces of the tooth [on the floor] after this was done," he said. Transcripts of earlier separation-related proceedings discloses testimony as follows: MR BECKER: "When the three girls were allowed by me to go over to Mary and Chris's house to visit, they've informed me that they've been slapped, pushed, kicked, hit and have not been fed when they're supposed to receive their meals." ------------------------------------------------------------ RECIPE BOX COFFEE SPECULATORS MAY PLAY AMERICANS FOR FOOLS - AGAIN It has been over 10 years since the last "shortage" and price hike of coffee. Coffee had been at about $1 a pound when wholesale prices began escalating so fast that at one point the wholesale exceeded the retail (you could have bought cans off the shelf, sold them back to the retailer and made a profit!). Americans, addicted to this robust beverage, paid the higher price - for awhile. Then they began to turn to other beverages and supply (if there ever was a shortage) caught up the reduced demand. Unfortunately, it wasn't reduced enough. Common commercial brands of coffee settled back to a shelf price of about $2 a pound. The coffee marketeers (not your local retailer) had staged a coup that, in the end, enabled the price to be hiked about 100%, with consumers glad to see it stabilize, even though it stabilized at twice what they were paying before. In the going, coffee suppliers made another, almost unnoticed, price hike, by shrinking the can. The standard measure of coffee became 13 oz., not a pound; cans or packages today typically contain 13, 26, or 39 oz. If you've bought coffee recently, you may have been surprised to see your $6, 39 oz., can now on the shelves at about $9. Once again, the culprit isn't your retailer, it's the wholesale (futures) coffee market. There is no real shortage, nor are coffee growers demanding more money. Brazil, the fourth largest supplier to the U.S., recently announced that its first quarter 1997 production, at 3.9 million (132 lb.) bags, is the highest since 1991. In Columbia, as of April 18, coffee growers there had lowered internal price supports by 8.38% since March 21st. Total world production of coffee in the 96-97 growth year is expected to be 100.9 million bags, up substantially from 89.9 million bags in 95-96. So why the high price on your can of Folger's(R)? The 95-96 production was down from the previous year's (94-95) of 98.2 million bags. As a result, warehouse stocks of coffee are almost nonexistent. Like grain reserves, warehouse stocks of coffee tend to stabilize the price; without this buffer, the market becomes very volatile and any small increase in demand (including that of only speculators) or reduction in supply can mean large increases in market price. At the moment, there is widespread concern that supplies may not be adequate, in the very short-term, to meet the May futures delivery contracts. This panic has shot the market up, and some suppliers, concerned over the possibility of being unable to deliver on oversold contracts, may even be buying in their own contracts at a premium. This can push the commodity up steeply, but this market wrangling does not necessarily have anything to do with how many cans are available on your grocer's shelves- remember, production is up! All in all, the price of New York "C" arabica has gone from about $1.20 a pound at the beginning of the year to about 2.17 at close on April 18th. The average market price of Columbian, from April 8th through 18th, was $1.98 a pound (37,500 pound contracts). The market price surge has thusly produced a short-term wholesale, and thus a retail price hike, in an environment with plenty of supply expected later in the year. The trouble is that, once higher retail prices are accepted, the manufacturers will often not let them come fully back down, as does the commodity. They may take up some of the slack as profit as in the last hike. Additionally, consumers should expect to see reduced quality of the product in coming months. This is because the London price for the lower grade robusto beans is now about a third of the price of the (to most) better-tasting New York arabica. Coffee roasters may use a blend of these two bean types and now there is strong incentive to use more robusto until this price differential eases. We're not concerned here about investment in the market (two out of three people make money in commodities futures: the broker makes money; so does the floor trader) we're more concerned about your investment in the can on your shelf. For the cost-conscious shopper, the short-term prognosis says one thing: Why not try TEA for a change? At $9 per 39 oz., coffee now costs about 3.5¢ per 6 oz. cup (and what Minnesotan is satisfied with 6 ounces?). Not exactly a fortune, but you know how those pennies add up when you're at the store. As a short-term alternative, you may want to try a new tea now on the shelves under the brand name: té Club. Packaged in (of all places) Chile, this excellent tea comes in Golden Darjeeling, English Breakfast, Earl Grey and many other popular blends. It's priced at about $1.29 for a box of 20 bags; each bag makes an 8-cup pot. This amounts to less than 1¢ per cup. Even if you like to use two bags per pot, you're paying about half the present price of coffee. Whether you like it with a lemon wedge, a cinnamon stick, or with cream or sugar (either of which is a terrible thing to do to a good cup of tea), if you drink a lot of coffee, you'll find tea to be a refreshing and relaxing change and it can be just the thing to put some sparkle in an otherwise mundane first cup in the morning! It'll wake you up, just like coffee but without the rough edges, and tea in the evening won't (usually) keep you awake! The foregoing contains market information courtesy of The Best Investments Group. ------------------------------------------------------------ PIGGING OUT Farmland Sausage Links: A NH Best Buy. Cost-conscious consumers will want to be aware that Farmland breakfast Sausage Links, often about $1.27 for 12 oz. (=$1.69/lb.), now features a coupon on the back for .35 off your next 2 packages. Some retailers double this coupon. That brings the net price of your next purchase to about $1.23/lb. equivalent. Not a bad price for very good uncased breakfast links, and your next package may also have coupons. ----------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 04/07/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 13 ----------------------------------------------- NEWMAN PREVAILS IN AUTO REPAIR NEGLIGENCE SUIT BEMIDJI -- Turtle river resident, Thomas Newman, got his day in court February 27th, and won the lawsuit he'd brought against an auto mechanic who, through negligence, practically destroyed Newman's vehicle. The landmark decision, in in conciliation court (case no. S3-97-46) rendered by (retired) Judge Preece, March 7th, a few days after the hearing, effectively established that, in this jurisdiction, an automobile mechanic can be held liable for damage to a customer's vehicle, even where that damage occurs after the vehicle leaves the repair shop, if it is caused by the negligence of the mechanic in making repairs. In early January, 1997, Newman took his 1985 Ford Ranger to Randy's Repair, Blackduck, for substantial engine periodic maintenance, including engine seals, water pump, oil filter and antifreeze. Newman stated that after leaving the shop, with repairs represented as having been completed, he had driven the truck less than 25 miles when it lost all of it's oil and coolant, destroying the engine. Preece's decision in the court action against Randy's Repair, based upon breach of warranty, awarded Newman $1,000 in damages for the engine, or in the alternative, Randy's Repair could repair or replace the engine, at its cost, within 60 days. Contacted regarding the judgement, the owner of Randy's Repair (who refused to give his last name) said, "We checked it [the truck]. You can see that nothing's run out from where we repaired." But Randy's offered no explanation for why the fluid problem developed immediately after the truck left the shop, and Randy had worked on the rear engine seal and the oil filter. When asked, then, "from where did the oil run out?" Randy said, "I have no idea." Asked if this decision will have an effect on the way Randy's does business in the future, Randy said, "Yeah, I'll never work for Tom Newman ever again." As to the effect on performance of other customers' work, he said, "If we do something wrong we'll fix the problem." It remains to be seen if the establishment of this judicial standard of, and remedy for, negligence by auto mechanics will have a general effect on quality of service among other area repair shops. Alan Merschman, of Kenny's Amoco and Goodyear,* Bemidji, when asked whether the awarding of damages against negligent mechanics would change the way he does business, replied, "Nope." *Goodyear dealers were a subject of Barbara Walters' televised report on automotive repair fraud, about 1995. ----------------------------------------------------------- DUERST DENIES IMPLICATION THAT HE DIDN'T GIVE DOPE BUYER FAIR DEAL. BEMIDJI -- At an omnibus hearing, March 19th, before Judge Terrance Holter, Daniel Duerst, free on $3,000 bail on charges of having "sold a schedule I controlled substance, to-wit: marijuana," requested time to consider whether he wanted to be represented by the public defender, Paul Thompson, now serving as "stand-by" counsel for the defendant who had elected to represent himself. The hearing was continued (postponed) to April 14th, to enable Duerst to make that decision. Prosecutor is Shari Schluchter, of the Beltrami County Attorney's (Tim Faver's) office. The filed complaint (K1-96-1329) alleges that on October 11, 1996, Duerst sold police informant John Latarte 1/4 oz. of marijuana for $100. But in interview, Duerst adamantly denied this, and maintained that he sold Latarte a full 1/2 oz. of the killer weed (marijuana) for the $100. He denied that he'd sell a "short bag," and produced a picture of the homemade balance used to weigh the mind-numbing poison, and a quarter and a dime, cut in half, used as counter-weights to determine the correct amount of a quarter ounce bag. Duerst maintains that Latarte got two 1/4 ounce bags for the $100 given Latarte by police to make the buy. Duerst said that the street price of killer weed is $50 per 1/4 oz., and asked "Where's the other 1/4 ounce?" Certain questions have also been raised concerning the integrity of the informant, John Latarte, and the agreement he made to inform. On September 6, 1996, John Latarte entered into an agreement with the Paul Bunyan Task Force (a police agency) under which Latarte would assist in making 5 felony arrests in return for the recommendation that a charge, then against Latarte, of driving with a cancelled license, be "reduced". Reports of conversations with several witnesses that Duerst intends to have testify indicate that Latarte was generally known as a drug dealer around the BSU campus. In the reports, the various witnesses speak of Latarte's having sold marijuana, "crank" cocaine, prescription Valium, Demerol, and similar poisons. The reports also contain allegations of terroristic threats, including death threats by Latarte against those with whom he had disagreements. --------------------------------------------------------------- CHENOWETH INTRODUCES GUN LAW REPEALER WASHINGTON -- Representative Helen Chenoweth (R-ID), on March 11, 1997, led an effort to repeal Section 658 of Public Law 104-208, commonly referred to as the Lautenberg Amendment, passed last fall, which imposed a lifelong gun ban on those convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault, even where the alleged offense occurred years before, and prior to enactment of the new law. The Lautenberg amendment has resulted in several police officers being removed from duty because they cannot have service revolvers, and has been called unconstitutional, by way of "double jeopardy" and on other grounds (See New Gun Law Un- constitutional, John R. Graham, Esq., NH of 12/23/96). Chenoweth was joined in sponsorship of the repealer, H.R. 1009, by 11 members of Congress: Reps. Virgil Goode (D-VA), Don Young (R- AK), Joe Skeen (R-NM), Ron Paul (R-TX), Tom Coburn (R-OK), John Hostettler (R-IN), Jim Gibbons (R-NV), Wally Herger (R-CA), Ron Lewis (R-KY), John Dolittle (R-CA) and Barbara Cubin (R-WY). The bill was referred, following Mrs. Chenoweth's introducing it, to the House Committee on the Judiciary, which referred it to its Subcommittee on Crime on March 20th. The bill currently awaits action by that subcommittee. Text of the bill follows: STATES' RIGHTS AND SECOND AND TENTH AMENDMENT RESTORATION ACT OF 1997 105th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1009 ----------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the `States' Rights and Second and Tenth Amendment Restoration Act of 1997'. SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. (a) Congressional findings: (1) Domestic Violence remains a very serious problem in the United States. It is a dangerous crime and should be punished as such, including, where appropriate, as a felony. (2) Many States have classified Domestic Violence crimes as misdemeanors, others as felonies. States are the proper authority, rather than the Federal Government, to classify Domestic Violence offenses. (3) Where appropriate, States should classify Domestic Violence offenses as a felony. (4) Section 658 of Public Law 104-208, commonly referred to as the Lautenberg amendment, oversteps Federal authority, violating States' rights, because no nexus has been shown to exist between Domestic Violence and interstate commerce. (5) The Lautenberg amendment does not deal with a subject delegated to Congress under article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United States and is therefore unconstitutional under the tenth amendment to the Constitution, as interpreted by United States v. Lopez. (6) The Lautenberg amendment oversteps Congress's power to regulate commerce as delineated by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. (7) Some of the strictest gun control laws are found in cities where the number of incidents of guns being used in violent crimes is the highest. Therefore, the Lautenberg amendment does not reduce incidents of domestic violence. (8) State and Federal judges already have the power to deny persons convicted of misdemeanors the right to possess firearms as a condition of probation or parole. (9) The Lautenberg amendment is an unfunded Federal mandate because States are liable for the costs of monitoring those citizens who have been banned for life from owning a firearm. Many times this lifetime ban is a result of a misdemeanor, not a felony. (10) Section 658 of the Treasury-Postal portion of Public Law 104-208 violates all notions of constitutional due process and constitutes an ex post facto law because it imposes a criminal penalty on crimes which were not subject to that penalty at the time of the Act. (11) Law-abiding citizens use guns to defend themselves against criminals as many as 2.5 million times every year. Of these self- defense cases, as many as 200,000 are by women defending themselves against sexual assault. (12) Section 658 of the Treasury-Postal portion of Public Law 104-208 will, if allowed to stand, result in the disarming of millions of citizens, including women, on account of misdemeanor offenses, which in many cases, were committed long before the effective date of that Act. (13) Section 658 of the Treasury-Postal portion of Public Law 104-208 will, in many cases, disarm battered women who need access to firearms in order to protect themselves from their battering spouses as well as from common criminals. (14) Section 658 of the Treasury-Postal portion of Public Law 104-208 will, if allowed to stand, impose a lifetime gun ban on persons who committed acts so minor that they were not even entitled to a jury trial prior to conviction. (15) Section 658 of the Treasury-Postal portion of Public Law 104-208, will, if allowed to stand, result in the disarming and dismissal of a significant number of law enforcement officers and American servicemen, on account of misdemeanors, which in many cases, were committed long before the effective date of that Act. (16) Section 658 of the Treasury-Postal portion of Public Law 104-208 ignores the real problem surrounding domestic violence in that truly violent offenders are allowed to plea-bargain down to misdemeanors. (b) PURPOSE- It is the purpose of this Act to restore States' rights, the tenth amendment, and second amendment freedoms. SEC. 3. REPEALER. Section 658 of the Treasury-Postal portion of Public Law 104-208 is repealed and is null and void as if it had not been enacted and all provisions of law amended by such section are restored as if section 658 had not been enacted. SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act shall take effect immediately upon enactment. ----------------------------------------------------------- FOLLOW UP JOSHUA WARD GETS TRIP TO STILLWATER ROSEAU -- Small time Bemidji hoodlum and perennial police problem, Joshua Allen Ward, 18, will be spending some time closer to the metro area. Ward, who pled guilty in Bemidji last year to ten separate charges ranging from disorderly conduct to burglary, and who went to Warroad after being released on light sentences here, will be traveling the other way for awhile. As reported in the Warroad Pioneer of 3/26, Ward has been sentenced to a total of 44 months, and restitution, stemming from 15 new charges in Warroad, including theft of a firearm, burglary (6 counts), Felony theft (4 counts), criminal damage to property (2 counts) and trespass (2 counts). He pled guilty to 6 of the charges; the others were dismissed Ward came to public attention last spring when he assaulted a tenth-grader in the Bemidji High School parking lot, while Ward was driving a car belonging to Erika Kraft, daughter of Kenneth Kraft, program director at Gilfillan Center, Bemidji. Despite reports being taken of the incident, there was a delay in charging Ward, but following release of the story, he was charged, and subsequently found involved in several other crimes. --------------------------------------------------- AKELEY READIES FOR PAUL BUNYAN FEST It is well established, from artifacts unearthed near Bemidji, and on display at the Chamber of Commerce, that pioneer logger Paul Bunyan had Bemidji (not Brainerd, as some would say) as his domicile. It is generally known that he met his wife in Hackensack, and traveled the state, on foot, with Babe, his blue fox (this info has been passed down from generation to generation, and somewhere the "f" got lost in transition), the fox creating Minnesota's lakes where she put down her paws. But few realize that Akeley is Paul's birthplace. On June 27th through 29th, Akeley will honor their native with the Paul Bunyan Festival. Chaired by Charlotte Nesen, fest events are expected to include a Friday fish fry, children's treasure hunts, a tractor pull, a nationally sanctioned Enduro motorcycle race, as well as lots of continuous streetside music, vendors, crafts, karoke and fun for all. "We are now avidly seeking crafters, flea marketeers, vendors and musicians," said Dave Bjork of the festival committee. Interested persons may contact John Waseca at Akeley Hardware (652-2369) or Charlotte Nesen (652-2161). -------------------------------------------------- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR --------------------- THE BUSINESS OF MARRIAGE This letter is written in response to the article "When You Buy the Ring, Also Consider a New Bank Account" from the February 24th issue of your paper. The article says that basically each partner in a marriage should have a separate bank account after getting married. That way, if for some reason the couple should split up, one partner can't clean out all the money from the same joint account. I think it's ridiculous to get separate accounts after getting married. To me that means that a couple obviously doesn't think that the marriage is going to work or they don't trust each other. If that's the case, why get married in the first place? Trust is key in a relationship. If there is no trust, the relationship is doomed from the very beginning. Marriage is a partnership. If both partners have jobs to support their family, both should have equal access to all the money. Even if only one person is working, both partners should still have access to the money. There might be an agreement that one person stays home to take care of the house, while the other works. The person who stays home might need to buy things for the home, and it might be awkward if only the person who works has access to the account. If a husband and wife each have money in accounts before getting married, they should discuss what to do with that money. If they want to just start up a joint account with all the money, then they should do that. If they want to keep those accounts separate, then they should do that instead. Each partner would then have a little money of his/her own. As long as each partner knows that the separate accounts aren't being kept in case of a split-up, neither partner should be upset. In case of a family financial problem, both partners should agree to use all the money that they have to solve their problems. If the couple talks about it, then it might prevent some misunderstandings later on. If they can't agree on what to do with the money, they could talk to some married friends to find out what they did. The article just seemed to give me the impression that marriages never work. This is not the case. There are millions of people out there who have successful, long-lasting marriages. While there are cases of marriages ending in messy divorces, that shouldn't be a reason to go into a marriage feeling that it won't work. Sincerely, Liza Erlendson, Bemidji NORTHERN HERALD: We appreciate your taking the time to express your views on our article, and your readership. As to the views stated, we respectfully disagree for reason as follows: 1) The article dealt with safeguarding, primarily, separate and pre-marital assets. Assets which were neither committed to, nor produced by (as, for instance, an inheritance) the union. Swiss banks were suggested as a possible means. 2) It goes without saying that there is a need for both spouses to have access to a certain amount of money for day-to-day expenses of the home. This was never questioned and a local joint bank account may serve the purpose well. A swiss account (for Americans anyway, due to remoteness) is not used this way. It is only a repository, generally, to safeguard large blocks of money that will be accessed infrequently. It would not work as a couple's only account, or as a substitute for a domestic account for day-to-day use. 3) Even in a partnership (which marriage is not), your investment is limited and there are different legal protections. You don't invest ALL of your resources, and, at termination, all of your resources (including future resources) are not subject to division, as they may be in marriage. 4) Most importantly, marriage is NOT a partnership. And this is fortunate, because partnerships are almost always of limited duration, and often fail. A partnership is a business entity; a form of organization that has been contrived to meet a business purpose. A marriage entails a unique set of rules (promises or vows) which have evolved for the purpose of betterment of the couple and its progeny which are neither similar to, nor governed by law nor custom, in anywhere near the same way as are partnerships. 5) We agree that marriages should last forever. This is particularly important, as each spouse's conduct with regard to the other, and the family, will be different if the marriage is not perceived as being of lifetime duration in keeping with the vows. Your degree of respect for a person is different if you know you're going to be sitting across from them at the breakfast table for the rest of your life, and that there is no easy "out" of that. Trust is also augmented - they're going to be sitting across from you, too. We agree that a person shouldn't go into a marriage feeling that it won't work. Nonetheless, the party who has the most at risk in the event of failure should not just put his head in the sand, and be oblivious to a dangerous current social reality. The statistics are there. They say "It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind," even when she's taken solemn vows to the contrary. Very importantly, current law supports this contention, and is largely the reason for it. Unlike in recently previous times, current law does not support the virtual guarantee of lifetime union which has traditionally formed the foundation of marriage, and the respect and trust which it entailed. Regardless of what people say about "a piece of paper," it is this law which guides our customs. Regardless of the way the spouses feel about each other at any time, the possibilities and probabilities need to be weighed realistically, particularly by the party at risk, and, to prevent disaster, the consequences of those possibilities must be assessed. We also acknowledge that, by reason of the current environment surrounding marriage, including the necessary understanding and acceptance of the higher likelihood that at sometime the marital vows will be breached given that current legal and social environment, a tremendous and unquantifiable amount has been lost in the quality of marriages. The essential trust, of which you speak, is one casualty of that environment. There are many others. DISCUSSION: Firstly, the article dealt with safeguarding, primarily, separate and pre-marital assets. In at least two recent cases, in this area, we have seen the courts fail to protect those assets from pilferage by the ex-spouse. In one of those cases, even though the court ruled that a certain Certificate of Deposit belonged to the husband, when the wife subsequently cashed it, the court took no action against her, not even in so far as to monetarily compensate the husband or credit the pilferage against his child support obligation. It is thus important that men safeguard their separate assets and not depend on the courts to do so. You disagree with preservation of assets in anticipation of possible split-up; some women would, of course, encourage their husbands (at the outset, anyway) to believe that the marriage was perpetual and discourage this approach - it makes the plundering, later on, much easier. Although we would be much better off if marriage was, as it was intended to be, of permanent and lifelong duration; due, primarily, to the misguidance of many women in recent years, this, however, is not consistent with current reality, nor, as we shall see, with current law which is a prime factor in generating that reality and current divorce statistics and probabilities. There is, these days, yet another reason for a man keeping his separate assets segregated, and that is also an atrocity of current law and social trend. We must remember that, though it is not as should be, these days, not all of the wife's children are necessarily also the husband's, and vice-versa. This is important as regards estate planning, as often a man might want his children, and not those of his wife by previous marriage or godless union, to be the beneficiaries of his estate. Obviously, where separate assets become co-mingled, this becomes more difficult; in actuality, in "blended" families, where all of the children are not the natural children of both adults in the household, there are many complications and difficulties too numerous to mention here. This is one of the casualties of the disastrous new lifestyles that are being tried and the moral and practical sickness into which they have plunged our nation, our society and our children. We can't cure this sickness overnight, particularly when there are deranged women's groups (which, as previous reporting has shown, are also outlaw organizations) out there promoting and spreading it as if with bags and tanks of germs, bacteria and septic matter, so for now, we have concerned ourselves with telling men how to avoid being victims of the disease if it should hit their home. Call it vaccination. Keeping their personal finances private, and their assets protected and undisclosed, utilizing swiss banks if necessary, is one way. You may call this protection a breach of trust, but if a woman was lying to begin with when she agreed to keep the vows "'til death do we part," she doesn't have much about which to complain; if, conversely, she was being honest then, and lives up to it, then she'll probably eventually benefit from those assets, which for now, the man chooses to keep safeguarded (nowadays, retirement divorces also occur, so, even then, when the couple may be using some of the assets, a man may not want to fully disclose them). But your letter, moreover, deals also with the nature of marriage, particularly as concerns comparison to a partnership. This deserves consideration. Firstly, marriage is NOT a partnership. This is fortunate, because even in business, where there is a strong common business goal, partnerships often don't last. A disagreement between partners occurs, and suddenly, you have no more partnership. The worst kind of partnership, in business, is one with 50/50 interests. There's no one to break a tie on important decisions. Some things don't get done, some become irreconcilable; that's when the partnership terminates. This is not a major problem in business, because we're only speaking of division of certain identifiable business assets, and neatly defined contributions of capital, not destruction of human lives as happens when a marriage terminates. The consequences are very different, so different rules are needed. A partnership is a unique business entity, generally for a specific business purpose, and established and operated under certain rules geared to that business purpose. Although a marriage bears the similarity of being founded upon an initial contract, and is also, in some ways similar to an employer-employee situation, where one person is (generally) providing, primarily, services and the other is providing direct compensation or compensation-in-kind, the fact is that marriage bears no relationship to any business entity. It is not a business item, but, rather, a unique entity that best operates under its own set of rules which are unlike those of any business. Whether a person believes those rules were divinely given, or have merely evolved over the history of mankind, does not matter; those rules which define what a marriage is and the purpose it will achieve have worked for the past 5700 or so years of mankind, as contrasted with redefinitions, which have, in many ways, and with pronounced individual and social detriment, failed miserably in the last 30 years or so. These are some of the differences between marriages and partnerships: a) Perpetuity - Unlike a marriage, there is no reason for a partnership have a duration equal to the lifetime of its principals, or for that matter, to continue after the business purpose terminates. In marriage, conversely, some of the greatest rewards continue to accrue in latter years after there is no tangible and identifiable "business purpose." b) Decision making - In a partnership, this is usually the prerogative of the general partners, often, but not necessarily with equal shares and vote. When an irreconcilable conflict exists, there is nothing to do but for the disagreeing partner to "bail out" of the partnership. In marriage, conversely, decisions are best discussed, and the factors, as they affect both spouses should be well considered by both, with an end to best serving the union of the two. A good husband will not act on key matters without well considering how it affects his spouse, and ultimately the quality of the union. Classical wisdom (what works, as opposed to what doesn't) tells us that it's generally the husband who will have the prerogative of rendering the ultimate decision; even if the decision is not well- made, the wife, if she wants the marriage to endure, will abide by it understanding that this course of action is the only one that will achieve the ultimate goals of the union and the rewards that come therewith. This concept, of course, is stated much more simply in the traditional vows, "To love, honor and obey." These vows have evolved over a long history, and were used until very recently, because they work. They began to fall from common use, and by the clergy, about the time of Bill Cosby's public mockery of them, around the early '70's. It was symptomatic of the destructive trend of the period. He should have stuck to things he knows about, like Jell-O®. A ship with two captains will not sail true; indeed, it will likely be cloven in halves as they sail off in different directions, on different courses. The course of a marriage has to be homogeneous (this is not a sexual perversion - it means, in this context, uniform and in the same direction without meandering). A woman should understand the reason, when she takes those vows and a marriage not begun with an understanding and acceptance of those vows is, to a large degree, like the ship in the example, doomed from the outset. This key to a successful marriage seems to hold true even where the wife is a prominent earner in the household. By way of example, a married woman attorney appeared, about a year ago, on a popular TV talk show and discussed her successful marriage. Even though she made good money in her own profession, she left the guidance of the home to her husband, where it belonged. c) In a partnership, when it dissolves, if one partner absconds with the resources properly belonging to another, it's theft. This will be upheld but the courts. Not so in marriage, so additional protection of those resources may be necessary. d) Partnership contracts are enforceable, marriage contracts, under current application of law, are not. (Damages will be awarded for breach of partnership contract to the end of making parties whole, but when a marriage contract is terminated, it is often the party who breached the original agreement who ends up being awarded the most compensation). The lack of judicial recognition of the original agreement (including total oblivion to terms such as "'til death do you part) and non-assignment of liability and damages for breach, in a "no-fault" environment, calls for additional self-protection by the person who stands the most to lose. Technically, no-fault divorce means that there will be no consequences for breach; attorneys will understand that not even the protections of the simplest executory contracts are maintained, nor does promissory estoppel apply to compel future performance of the marriage agreement; in short, there is no liability for future performance, and in this environment, the marriage contract is essentially meaningless. Partnership, as well as real estate and other contracts, which involve far lesser subject matter and upon which human lives do not depend, are, ironically, far more enforceable. e) On termination, partnership property is easily divided without compromising it or the partners' interests; joint marital property, conversely, was never meant to be divided, and often cannot be divided without severely compromising interests involved. f) Partnerships do not normally produce, nor involve division of children. Having established that marriage is not a partnership, to further examine the topic, we need to explore just what a marriage is. It is an intangible. A order-providing set of rules, which, like our Constitution, laws and currency, are empowered by assent, confidence and respect. Humans, as a lower order of animal, need such rules to operate in a productive, rather than self-destructive manner. The higher animals, such as foxes and wolves, have no such need; the Lord has already endowed them with an innate sense of doing what is beneficial for them and their species. The fox, for example, is monogamous by his nature1 - no one has to tell him to be that way; any contract binding his behaviour would be superfluous. When the Lord created humans, as a lower animal form, he was not nearly so generous in instilling in us such wisdom. That's why rules are needed; the ones that work have evolved over a long history of time and trial. They are not the rules of business. Unlike partners and partnerships, employer-employee relationships, corporations, sole- proprietorships and other terms that relate to business organizations, MARRIAGES, which involve HUSBANDS and WIVES, or spouses, are not businesses. We are not concerned here with the production and sale of widgets, or some other salable good or service; we are concerned with something that provides human comfort and security and the production and well-rearing of the next generation. Businesses generally have as their purpose the gain of compensation for goods and/or services rendered to the public. There is no business, the PRIMARY purpose of which is and day-to-day comfort and long term personal (as opposed to vocational) security of its principals, and the well-being and healthy rearing of offspring of those principals. There is no business which requires as high a degree of day-to-day respect, trust (and often affection) amongst its principals. There is no business which is as personally rewarding to its principals over the long-term, and in which that reward increases substantially with the passage of time. These are not business purposes. There is no business which produces anywhere near the societal benefits, in terms of health, economy, and education, just to name a few, as the self-contained marital unit; nor has there ever been any business which is as time-proven, and has endured as long as the family. Clearly, marriage is something unique; something that cannot be meaningfully compared to any business relationship conceived to achieve business purposes, of which we know. At one time, persons going into a marriage could realistically perceive it to be for a lifetime duration, and plan and act accordingly. The total commitment of one's self, both in terms of material assets, and personal devotion, to the union and family was practicable. There were strong personal and social incentives to not breach the marriage; and strong sanctions, both legal, economic and social, against doing so. Divorces were rare, and people who got divorced were recognized, socially, for the devastation they had done. This made things like full disclosure of assets and total material commitment to the union practicable - you knew it wasn't going anywhere that you wouldn't know about and have a say in. This ability to trust in this way, of course, augmented and strengthened the union. But legal and moral changes have, unfortunately, brought about an environment where this is no longer the case. If there were only a few cases of divorce, where the party instigating it tried to "clean the other out", they could, perhaps be written off as non-typical. But statistics now show eventual dissolution on the border of becoming, and perhaps having become the rule, rather than the rare exception, and outright theft, by the divorce-instigating party against the other, is common, as are highly inequitable "settlements" under law that supports and condones family dissolution. We can speak of what should be, but we cannot just put our heads in the sand - we have to recognize, accept and deal with the environment that currently exists. We thusly stand behind the original article. In this environment, where many women (and the law) regard marriage as just a temporary thing, and who will try to get whatever they can at the end, the man cannot be naive, but must be prudent in the protection of his assets. He can no longer go into a marriage assuming that the vows taken "'til death do they part" will be upheld, either by the other party, or by the courts - the odds are against it. It is unfortunate, and we have, as a people, as couples, and as families, lost a lot by this transition. Only when our civilization, in its decency, recognizes the breaching of those vows, during one's lifetime, as the unholy, disgusting and destructive, both personally and to society at large, thing that it is, and treats it accordingly, will this change. In marriage, trust is necessary, but trust is something that evolves over time. It is easy for the person who has less at risk to encourage trust (a car salesman, selling a car with an "as is" sticker would do this too; "trust me", he'd say) and it makes the pickings easier later if the person at risk can be persuaded of this. In recent times, and given the current divorce-encouraging environ- ment, we have even seen some very long-standing marriages to good providers and very reasonable men, unexpectedly dissolved at mid-life by the wife. So time, alone, isn't always a guarantee. "To trust another is to know that the two of you share basic goals in the long-run so that left to your own devices, each will behave in ways that are not harmful to the other." --William Ouchi Trust does not automatically occur when the vows are taken, but does accrue, over time, when it becomes evident that the vows are taken seriously by both spouses. Even then, in today's environment, with lunatic fringe groups (sometimes highly paid and publicly supported with tax dollars) and misguided social pressures by those who lack the basic skills to, themselves, be satisfactorily married (misery loves company), agitating and angering happily married women in attempts to get them to break up godly, stable, and productive family homes; and with many women, otherwise glad for their successful homes, falling prey to these malfeasors, and trading in their secure, successful and rewarding home lives for a haphazard and roller-coaster lifestyle, lured by some amorphous promise of "freedom" (which often translates into promiscuity) and "independence" (often at someone else's expense); even that time- earned trust is sometimes misplaced.Case histories have shown, that when that split occurs, a man's supposed lifetime best friend will become his legal adversary - everything he said or did in the course of the marriage - and then some - can and will be used against him. The other spouse will often get everything she can from him, sometimes going over and above the liberal amounts the courts allow, and our local courts, in recent cases, have shown themselves to be unwilling to take remedial action, even where the ex-wife has misappropriated assets in defiance of the court's order. Are we beginning to understand how the current environment has done a lot to erode marital trust? What has been lost thereby is countless. Trust has its place in marriage when it is earned; a measure of safety is nonetheless prudent. Too many men are now facing the last of their working years, and retirement, stripped of their earnings and savings by the person they trusted to be their spouse, best friend and companion for life. We agree that there are millions of people who have long-lasting successful marriages. Contacts in Northern Minnesota have shown that, still to a large degree, the Midwest American Family is alive and well here. This is noteworthy, because it upon this that the future generations depend. It is our hope that there will be millions and millions more. This will be enhanced by the realization that marriage is something far greater than any "partnership". It will also be augmented by an understanding of where our society is; a recognition of the motivation (sometimes purely monetary) of the foes of marriage; and an understanding of the legal changes necessary to reduce the incentive for divorce (welfare revision is already starting this) and augment the marital contract, and hence, trust in it, by making it as substantial, in the eyes of the law and State, and hence, us, as a civilized people acting under law, as it once was. -- Ed. ---------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 03/17/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 12 --------------------------------------------- FIRST FEDERAL BANKING AND SAVINGS INSURER ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE BEMIDJI - In a notice alleging five separate incidents of misconduct in regard to a mortgage policy sold to Jerome Dirkes of Blackduck, the Minnesota Commissioner of Commerce has ordered USLife Credit Life Insurance Company (USLife) to show cause why they should not be subject to discipline or civil penalty. The subject mortgage was written through First Federal Banking and Savings, Bemidji, which, as agent for USLife, sold the policy to Mr. Dirkes in connection with making the mortgage. The notice and order was issued on February 27th. [Initial coverage of this matter may be found in NH of 2/24/97.] USLife's response to the order, issued under the Authority of the Minnesota Attorney General, and prosecuted by Assistant A.G. Fabian Hoffner, St. Paul (612-296-9412), will be heard at 9:30 a.m., May 5, 1997 before Administrative Law Judge Jon Lunde, in Minneapolis. Possible sanctions against USLife, as cited in the notice and order, include revocation or suspension of their Certificate of Authority (insurer's authorization to do business in Minnesota), and/or imposition of a civil penalty. The controversy originates from a transaction on July 20, 1993, when Dirkes mortgaged his home with First Federal Banking and Savings, Bemidji (FirstFed). At the time, he was sold, and was charged for what was purported to be a 96-month credit disability policy, which would make the mortgage payments for the full term of the loan if Dirkes became disabled. But, claiming an error, FirstFed later substituted a lesser policy which would only make payments for 24 months. Dirkes claims he never agreed to the substitution nor received notice of same, until he, in fact, became disabled. In 1996, with payments ended under the 24-month policy, FirstFed began foreclosure proceedings against Dirkes. Dirkes was able to redeem the property prior to scheduled sale, selling off personal assets to make the continuing mortgage payments. But Mr. Dirkes said, "I'm getting down to the end of the line," as he stated he gets $463 per month as disability to live on, and $417 of that goes to First Federal so he can keep his home. Dirkes says he paid $1,100. in legal fees to stop the foreclosure and enforce his insurance contract, but without result. The Office of Thrift Supervision, Washington, declined to take action in the matter. The Commissioner of Commerce's Notice of Hearing and Order to show cause, alleges that USLife, in violation of Minnesota law: 1) "Has engaged in unfair or deceptive acts and practices by reducing coverage without having been given affirmative consent in writing...."; 2) "Has engaged in an unfair and deceptive act by... [making untrue, deceptive or misleading statements with regard to insurance.]"; 3) "Has misrepresented pertinent facts or insurance policy provisions relating to coverages at issue...."; 4) "Has refused to pay claims without conducting a reasonable investigation...."; and 5) "Has compelled insureds to institute litigation to recover amounts due under an insurance policy by offering substantially less...." This matter was investigated by Gary Schaefer, of the Minnesota Dept. of Commerce. Public (press) information furnished through Denise Dimler, of that office. [Consumer note: Although credit life and disability insurance, as a matter of convenience, are frequently sold by a lender, at the point of closing a mortgage or loan, some people recommend that such coverage never be purchased through the same entity that has an interest in the mortgage (i.e. that stands to benefit in the event of foreclosure, e.g., the lender). These policies are generally available also through independent insurance agents, so a borrower may often procure coverage at his own usual insurance agent, rather than through the bank or S&L. This coverage may not be required as a condition of the loan or mortgage. -- Ed.] ---- ---------------------------------- STATE FARM: GUNS IN THE BUSINESS ARE A NO-NO. PARK RAPIDS - An underwriter for State Farm Insurance, (which, incidentally, generally offers one of the best deals on auto insurance (our opinion) both in terms of rate, and not trying to back-out or "small-print-out" of what is covered) has notified at least one business policy applicant, and there are unofficial reports of others, that State Farm will not insure businesses where a firearm is kept on the premises. Per the January 28th, 1997 letter to the business owner, Ronald T. Dodd, CLU, Vice President of Operations, said "... State Farm does not write an insurance policy, or continue an existing policy if we become aware that a firearm is present. Presumably, State Farm is concerned about exposure that could result if a business owner, in the midst of a robbery, were to improve the business community as well as the security of residents, seniors and others (call it housecleaning), by awarding the intruder a free trip to heaven (or wherever these scuzzballs go). (Note: Except in life-treatening situation, we do not advocate action of this sort, we merely report on its likely effects.) The problem, apparently, is that if your aim wasn't as good as should be, and you only made it impossible for him to ever commit robbery again (like by blowing only half his brains out through the place where his left ear used to be... Is this where Democrats come from?...), you and your insurer, would have a suit on your hands (disability, for a former armed robber, after all, means a lot of compensation for lost earnings). Notwithstanding statistics showing a marked decrease in crime, and hence, exposure to loss, where guns are owned and carried (32% fewer armed robberies in states where carriage is permitted - source: FBI; NRA), the State Farm underwriter continued, in the letter denying Business Program coverage, "We feel the liability exposure that is presented by the firearm is too great to underwrite." ---------------------------------------- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OUT OF THE MARRIAGE, BACK IN THE SYSTEM Recently, I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with many of our social and legal systems in Cass County. I had met someone a few years ago, became involved and got married. We were blessed with a child nine months later, then another later on. I had it made - or so I thought; a caring wife, children and a growing business. We had a very rough time until I admitted to myself that I had a very serious problem and tried to correct it. But little did I know that my problem was not the only one; our problem was the welfare system. It's an addiction or should be described as a disease that destroys the family infrastructure. As I tried to bring family values into our lives, at first working the business full time, and a regular part time job, the county assistance started to drop off. Thank God! I felt my self esteem returning and we were out of debt in eight months. My part time job went to full time and I made the business a side job. The public assistance finally stopped; no more forms to fill out, no more having to report to Big Brother. But what I did not see was that all this had taken it's toll on my spouse, a person who had known only the system's way of life for the past few years. The free way of life had stopped, there was nothing to feed the addiction any more. Our relationship went downhill from that point on. What I saw was a good hearted caring person going through withdrawal from a system that is abused by many because it is so easy to get into. Rather than lose what I had worked so hard to accomplish, I had to leave before I went back to my old lifestyle. It did not take long - three days to be exact - and she was back into the system. Why didn't she seek employment? The free money is easier to get. Those jobs in the system need to be justified to get Federal funding. The divorce was not easy for me, the system had put me just above the poverty level with child support, which was fine; it's my Christian duty as a parent to support my children. I had to represent myself in the divorce since I could not afford an attorney. But in the meantime, the system was right there for her with AFDC, food stamps, two means of child support [there was another father of one of three children], medical assistance and let's not forget Legal Aid. What I received was an order for a blood test to prove that I was not the father of our first born, the only father this child has known or who has ever loved her; court ordered visitation for an hour and a half each week with only two of the children, until the final divorce; my constitutional right to bear arms stripped when I don't even have so much as a traffic violation; and I was arrested for exercising my legal right to be pro se [without an attorney] in my divorce. Is this justice? I think not. Yes, she did get a job four months prior to the divorce, making more money than me. It looked good for the judge and four days after the final papers were done, she quit her job and was once again back into the system. I am not here to judge people, that is God's job. But if you are a healthy individual, take a part or full time job. This country was built by poor immigrants who never heard of a free handout and I'm proud to be the son of parents who came to this country looking for a better life, and who did what they had to, to put food on the table. Let the people who really and truly need help, get it; but those of you who do not, Please stop bleeding the rest of us. We would like to be able to afford to eat out once in a while, also. Michael Oates Pine River, Minnesota Well, now that welfare reform is a long overdue reality, at least she'll be back to work soon. And she may then have more appreciation and respect for a good provider, if she's lucky enough to find one again. -- Ed. --------------------------------------------------- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR EMERGENCY DENTAL SERVICES HARD TO FIND FOR MA RECIPIENT As a medical assistance card holder, I am quite accustomed to being treated rudely or contemptuously by some professionals in this community. But never have I been treated so callously as I was this week by the dental community. I can understand being booked [as where the office has no immediate appointments available] and if they get a cancellation they will call you. But the reason I received most was that the particular offices I called had their MA quota for the week. Not really understanding what that meant, I said, "OK, thank you." Four days later, I am in extreme pain (and have been the whole 4 days) and start calling around again (no one, apparently, canceled. I called back two of the offices that had said that they had their MA quota and told them that I would pay cash. I was then informed that, that was illegal. Well, now I am stunned; illegal to offer to pay cash!! I am now extremely upset, 28 weeks pregnant (of which the dentists' offices were informed), haven't eaten decently, nor slept, and have been popping pain relievers - I went through 2 bottles of Ambesol and about 1/4 of my cloves, trying to get relief. So I called Social Services hoping they could explain to me this MA quota and why it would be illegal to pay cash for services rendered if I so desired. The MA quota has to deal with the fact that the state pays less for dental work than insurers or [by] cash payments. In other words, if they normally charge $80 for a filling, the state will pay only $60 (just an example). It has to do with money. "Well, I offered to pay cash. Why is that illegal?" I asked. It is not illegal, I was informed; only if they charge it to my MA card plus myself, [would it then be] ... illegal. So, basically the dental offices don't give a ... [word for favorite Las Vegas dice game]... about my situation. In all fairness, I will state that I do not see a dentist on a regular basis. But let me ask this: If a place of business treats you disdainfully, and made you feel that you were less than nothing to them, would you return to that place of business? Plus, when you do get treatment, it is the cheapest and least amount of work feasibly done. I don't know if that is due to the dentist or ... MA's rules, but regardless, that's the way it is done. It is not just dentists, there are doctors and nurses that are the same way, though not all of them. Late afternoon of the fourth day, I did finally find a dentist that would see me and who also accepted my MA card. He treated me with respect and dignity and concern. To Dr. Bengtson I say, "Thank You; I am very grateful!!!" It is nice to know that not everyone's business is based solely on money. On more thing to all you Professionals: If you donate to charities, whether it be food, clothing, or monetary, you might as well quit. For while you are handing a loaf of bread with one hand, you are slapping the same person across the face with the other. Karen Knutson Bemidji, MN One of the problems of semi-socialized medicine is that the state will not overpay for escalating-priced medical services, so the state establishes a fair price, which has a "normalizing" effect on price schedules. Still, privately-insured patients or those who can pay their own costs will pay a somewhat higher amount (people will pay a lot to be rid of pain, or in some cases, to stay alive; and an insurer can just raise the premiums). This creates a disparity in the incentive to serve these two groups of patients. It is a quandary as to just what to do about it. When all rates are fixed by the state (as in true socialized practice), this removes the disparity, but it also removes some incentive for professional excellence; and the rationing of services (as you experienced) is a possible undesirable result when the demand exceeds the supply (and action has recently been taken in New York to try to limit the supply of doctors. Wish they'd do that with attorneys.) Minnesotans have said that they want health security. Before MinnesotaCare, it was the number two public concern (just trailing taxes). Minnesota's semi-socialized medical and dental programs (including the laudable MinnesotaCare) are well supported by the public. The reports we've seen are that they are working well and provide a much-desired form of health security that wasn't there before, along with the Governor's excellent cost-containment measures that make the programs possible. Purely socialized medicine has obvious drawbacks, so what the state is doing is cultivating a hybrid system designed to combine the best of both, an always-available public health care program, and the former capital-incentive system that promotes good practice. There will be growing pains as we move from the latter, towards a blend encompassing the former; hopefully, solutions can be found to work these bugs out so that the rationing of service, which will, to some degree, occur, does not result in its unjust denial in emergency situations. When a practitioner, covered by the state system, denies urgent care, well, a person can always go to the hospital's emergency room, but this, of course, costs the state more. Medical service has changed over the years - some of us remember a time when it wasn't unusual for the doctor to bring his black bag to your home - but you didn't ask him to make a house call unless it was really necessary, because it cost $6. -- Ed. --------------------------------------------- NO, YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE, AND THERE'S A LOT OF HELP OUT THERE. MEN'S, HUSBANDS' AND FATHERS' RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET Information courtesy of Domestic Rights Coalition, whom we thank for the service We have not reviewed the contents of most of these sites. If readers find one or another to be particularly useful, please let NH know, that we may notify others. http://www.flash.net/~ badger/index.html (Home page for the UTOPIA FOUNDATION - "One of the best," per DRC) ftp://ftp.cts.com/pub/jcb/fathers.html hrrp://www.cybernet.net/~coop/fact/links.htm http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~gorkin/XY/xy.htm http://fatherwork.byu.edu/fathrwrk.htm http://freenet.msp.mn.us/people/martinec/top.htm http://futurerealm.com/links.htm http://hd.wsu.edu/publications/fathering/famenu.html http://home.earthlink.net/~proadvocate/ http://http.tamu.edu:8000/~phayes/dad-stuf.html http://hughson.com/ (THE DIVORCE PAGE) http://hughson.com/men.html http://hughson.com/resources.html http://megamach.portage.net:80/~rborelli/dads.html http://members.aol.com/MDLambda/gfcdc/index.htm http://top.monad.net/~nsjfws/FJournal.html http://www. http://www.A-Team.org/ (The A-TEAM is a team of professionals, including attorneys and others, assembled specifically for the purpose of defending against the epidemic false accusations of rape, child abuse, etc.) http://www.bennett.com/ http://www.blueneptune.com/~ir/daddy%26me/ http://www.cc.utah.edu/~jv2316/ncp.html http://www.comet.net/clubs/dad-to-dad/ http://www.custody-pace.org/links.html http://www.cyberenet.net/~coop/fact/ http://www.daddyshome.com/ http://www.dads.com/ http://www.dinersgrapevine.com/dik/index.htm http://www.execpc.com/~jluscher/sprig.html http://www.execpc.com/~jluscher/wfej.html http://www.fathermag.com/ http://www.freenet.msp.mn.us/org/daddy/ http://www.freenet.msp.mn.us/people/stafford/ http://www.halcyon.com/tandk/survey/survey.html http://www.intrnet.net/~risaacs/index.html http://www.isomedia.com/homes/ufa/ufalinks.htm http://www.mens-rights.com http://www.Mens-Rights.org/ http://www.mensdefense.org/index.html http://www.mensdefense.org/liberate.html http://www.midwest.net/fathers/fathers/htm http://www.myna.com/~dads/menu.htm http://www.ncfm.org/links.htm http://www.netlegal.com/vancouvermen/ http://www.parentsplace.com/genobject.cgi/talking.html http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/athomedad/index.html http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/fathers/index.html http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/frc/index.html http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/fulltdad/index.html http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/goodfathers/index.html http://www.peak.org/~jedwards/DADS.html http://www.pitt.edu/~jsims/singlefa.html http://www.pnc.com.au/~pvogel/cm/links.htm http://www.pnc.com.au/~pvogel/cm/subject.htm http://www.primenet.com/~dean/ http://www.promisekeepers.org/ http://www.quicklink.com/~jonacou/father's-rights.htm http://www.silcom.com/~paladin/fatherhood/ http://www.siwash.bc.ca/puss/fatherstats.htm http://www.teleport.com/~dads/ http://www.tiac.net/users/sbasile/CPF/ http://www.tiac.net/users/sbasile/CPF/CPF_Ot herResources.html http://www.unitedfathers.com/ http://www.visi.com/~frc/ http://www.visi.com/~stafford/ http://www.vix.com./pub/men/domestic-index.html http://www.vix.com/fnf/ http://www.vix.com/men/friends/others.html http://www.vix.com/men/index.html http://www.vix.com/men/orgs/writeups/frany.html http://www.vix.com/pub/men/nofather/burk.html http://www.vix.com/pub/men/nofather/dart.html http://www.vix.com/pub/men/nofather/effects.html http://www.vix.com/pub/men/nofather/nodad.html http://www.vix.com/pub/men/orgs/hayward-international.html http://www.vix.com/pub/men/orgs/writeups/fer3.html http://www.vix.com/pub/men/single-dad.html http://www.winternet.com/nfrc/1st.html http://www.womenconnect.com/wco/fa61451.htm http://www.zia.com/holidays/father/ --------------------------------------------- ISSUE OF 02/24/97 - VOLUME 2 NO. 11 --------------------------------------------- BENSHOOF MAY BRING CLASSICAL JURISPRUDENCE TO NINTH DISTRICT BENCH BEMIDJI --Lieutenant Governor Joanne Benson came to Bemidji on January 27th to make the long-awaited announcement of who would be the newest Ninth District judge, replacing recently retired Judge Preece. Benson announced that the post will go to Bemidji attorney Paul Benshoof, who will be sworn in and commence his judicial duties after wrapping up his private practice, probably in March. Benshoof is known as a hard-fighting, primarily civil, attorney who stands up for his clients. In 1986, in fact, he went to jail defending his client's rights in a juvenile hearing before then-Judge Weddel. "He wouldn't let me object to what he was doing. When I tried to assert my right to object [for the record] he put me in jail," said Benshoof. Within 40 minutes, however, a 3-judge appellate panel vacated the contempt order. "We have the highest regards for Paul," said another client, whose constitutional case Benshoof took to bar, "he's honest, he's decent, he's fair." Organization. The commencement of Benshoof's term will mark a change in the organization of the Beltrami courts. Previously, Judge Preece handled the more substantial cases, but now all three of the judges primarily sitting in Bemidji will divide the workload without distinction. "[It was] a carryover from the old separation between the old district courts and the county courts," said Benshoof. "Now ...that distinction... is gone, so Judge Holter, Judge Rasmussen and I will all be ...assigned the same types of cases. There will be no distinction any longer between what cases Judge Holter hears and what cases I hear." Benshoof will also sit throughout the large district and expects to be available for about a third of the Clearwater County caseload, as well as going on the road a set number of weeks each year to be available in Crow Wing, Cass, Itasca and other counties. Substantive interview. The incoming judge, noting that this was the first time he'd been interviewed on substantive issues, answered that he expected to be able to bring a wide experience, including experience with civil, criminal, juvenile and divorce cases, and strong work ethic to the now short-handed and overcrowded court. "I'm going to work as hard as it takes to get the job done," he said, and added that he intended to bring compassion to the Ninth District Bench. Regarding classical jurisprudence and application of law, Benshoof said, "A trial judge's role ...is to ...apply the law as the legislature has written it and as the appellate courts have interpreted it." On constitutional matters, Benshoof said, "Clearly a trial judge's role is to apply the law, and that law is as much the law as written by the legislature, as it is the Constitution. ...if it's a constitutional issue then the trial judge has to apply the Constitution as it has been interpreted by the courts above him. ...A trial judge has no business ignoring the law, nor does he have any business ignoring the Constitution." He acknowledged further that the trial court should not try to make the law. Summary judgment. One of the most hotly debated issues has been the latitude of the trial court's discretion in matters of summary judgment, where the case may be dismissed ("thrown out of court") without jury or other trial of the issues. On this, Benshoof said, "The rules say that summary judgment can be granted when there's no genuine dispute of any material fact - that's what the rule says - I don't know what discretion comes in there.... If there are [material facts], then summary judgment should never be granted." Rights of indigents to counsel. "I have served about 9 years now, on the Minnesota Board of Public Defense.... The interpretation of the Constitution by the courts in the... [case] of Gideon vs. United States has indicated that people are entitled to counsel under certain situations. ...The courts have told us now, for over 30 years, that people ...that face incarceration of a certain period of time are entitled to counsel," said Benshoof. Asked if he believes that that's good law, Benshoof responded, "Whether I believe it or not doesn't matter. That's the law." Education and Background. A native of Detroit Lakes, Benshoof graduated high school in 1970, attended Carlton College, Northfield, MN, receiving his B.A. in 1974 and received his J.D. from U of M in 1978. He has been a practicing attorney since then, serving on the Board of Public Defense from 1988 to the present. This is the Board that supervises the entire public defense system. His role as judge will require his resignation from that Board. Mr. Benshoof has been awarded the very limited and highest "AV" rating on achievement and ethics by the Martindale-Hubbel law directory. This rating is based upon confidential peer review. Last Words. "I think I'd like to believe that people who come into my courtroom will be treated with respect, no matter who they are, that they can feel confident that their case will be handled dilligently, as quickly as possible and with compassion." -------------------------------------------------- "THIEF! THIEF!" MAY BE NEW LITTLE CAESAR'S(R) ITEM BEMIDJI --Little Caesar's, the "Pizza! Pizza!" people, may have a new special, the "Thief! Thief!" Yep, you get two of them. It'd come with fish hooks, stringers, line and a few coins. It doesn't come pan style - to make it, you just use a little pot. More? Sure. Sure. It seems that the manager of Little Caesar's, a Bemidji non-smoking pizza establishment, narrowly averted a robbery at about 7 pm, Sunday, February 9th. As reported in The (Bemidji) Pioneer, a white teenager came in and grabbed the "Robie" contribution box on the counter. General Manager Robert Harr said that he also tried to get the till. When Harr told him to freeze, he ran out the front door and remains at large. The suspect is described as mid to late teens, thin, about 150 pounds and 5' 10", with glasses, a black baseball hat and and a mid-length black coat. There was another teenager loitering in the store who left after the robbery attempt, but it is not known if they were together. Harr later reported that a knife, possibly belonging to the thief, was found in the path where the juvenile was running. After the robbery, Harr commented to Pioneer reporter Nate Bowe, regarding the "Robie", "I think it's a shame for kids... to attempt to steal from blind children." But apparently, it may be all right for adults to steal from sighted fisherman. Because on February 4th, Robert Harr, 33, of Tenstrike, was arrested on charges of damage to property, theft, and marijuana possession following the burglary of fish houses on Lake Bemidji shortly before. The thefts purportedly involved several hundred dollars worth of property. Asked about the incident, Harr said, "I'm looking to have everything dropped - It was all B.S.," and he said he merely went out on the ice to see a friend when another vehicle took off. "I'm getting blamed for what [the driver of] that vehicle did," he said. Harr explained that the fishing equipment was in the bed of his truck because he had picked it up from the ice and that it may have been stolen by other people and left. He said he told police that it wasn't his. But this conflicts with the police statement filed in the case February 19th, which reports that deputies Atwater and Posner responded to the request of BPD officer Mark Wilwant, who had seen a vehicle driving suspiciously on the lake and turning its lights on and off. The report continues, "[Wilwant] observed it's stop at a fishhouse with it's lights off. He then saw a person get out of the truck and walk a short ways to a house, later identified as one owned by Dennis Hohler [Shevlin]. The person was still in the house when deputies arrived at Cameron Park.... Deputies saw a person come out of the house and head for the vehicle." The report continues that deputies drove onto the ice and stop the vehicle, which was now traveling toward Cameron Park with its lights off. "There were several buckets in the back of truck containing fishing equipment, a flashlight and a gas heater. Also, there were several chairs and pads, both in the vehicle and in back. When deputies asked the driver what he was doing, he said he was looking for a friend. When asked about all the stuff in the back of his vehicle, he said it was all his." The report recites that Deputy Atwater found the fishhouse where the truck had been broken into, and "... Robert Harr admitted to Deputy Posner that he had broken into the house.... Deputies took a taped statement from Mr. Harr at the jail. In it he admitted to entering one house that he says was already open, and taking a bucket but didn't remember what was in it. He said that he then used a claw hammer to break into another house and take a couple of buckets of stuff and a gas heater." Police also confiscated from Harr, a wooden container with "what appears to be a marijuana joint and a one-hit pipe, along with some powdered marijuana in it." As a result of the incident, Harr has been charged with theft, damage to property, and possession of a small amount of marijuana. These charges carry combined bail schedule fines and costs totaling $965. Harr was to have appeared in court on February 19th, but the matter was continued to March 12th, 1997. Harr previously pled guilty to 3rd degree burglary on 3/20/86, to aggravated forgery (Hubbard Co.) also on 3/20/86, illegally taking fish on 01/23/90, misdemeanor theft on 01/15/88. He was convicted, on 10/02/87 of shoplifting. --------------------------------------------------- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BLACKDUCK MAN, FORECLOSED, TELLS OF MISREPRESENTATION BY BEMIDJI FIRST FED. COMMERCE DEPT. CONCURS; BUT LOCAL COURTS, FEDERAL REGULATORS OFFER NO RELIEF To the people of Northern Minnesota who deal with the group that operates the chain of lending institutions that calls itself FIRST FEDERAL BANKING AND SAVINGS, of Bemidji, Bagley, Walker and Baudette, Minnesota: You would probably do yourself a favor and probably save yourself a lot of GRIEF and MONEY if you were to walk into First Federal and ask, point blank, of their head officers, if they HONOR THE CONTRACTS THEY WRITE? Should they tell you, yes, they do, ask why they foreclosed on a contract with Jerome and Charolette Dirkes of Blackduck, who bought 96 months of insurance coverage, both life and disability, through the lending system. When Mr. Dirkes was disabled, [it turned out] the lending institution in truth had only provided 24 months of coverage, without permission [to substitute for the policy purchased] or rebate. And that is only 25% of the coverage called for in the written contract. Then ask these same officers how the attorney they use [Ralph T. Smith] passed this contract through Judge Paul Rasmussen and got a foreclosure on property supposedly protected by the insurance paid for in advance by the Dirkeses at the rate set by the bank itself! You have to know this: you have no protection through the State. The Attorney General [Skip Humphrey] will tell you it's a civil matter, and the Federal officials that license these lending institutions will tell you the same. You have no protection. The legal system is on their side, they have the money. I believe the people of Northern Minnesota should think twice about a contract with First Fed. Sincerely, Jerome Dirkes Blackduck, Minnesota Background: Upon taking out a mortgage with First Fed, July 20, 1993, Mr. Dirkes purchased from First Fed, as agents for US Credit Life Insurance Company, a policy for the 96 month term of the mortgage, covering the payments in the event that Mr. Dirkes became disabled. We have reviewed the documents, and in fact, the contract Mr. Dirkes signed at First Federal, and for which he was charged ($1,557.21), by inclusion in mortgage principal, calls for 96 months of coverage, having a total stated "Initial Amount of Insurance" of $36,298.56 (also the amount of the mortgage). Claiming an error, on their part, at the time of writing the policy agreement, First Fed substituted a policy which only covered payments for a maximum of 24 months. First Fed has since claimed that they sent Dirkes notice of the substitution, but he states that he never received same, and assumed that the terms of the policy he had agreed to, and paid for, were protecting his mortgage through its term. During the term of the mortgage, Mr. Dirkes became disabled and could not make the payments. It was then that he learned of the policy substitution. Dirkes says he paid $1,100. in legal fees to stop the foreclosure and enforce his insurance contract, but without result. He was foreclosed in 1996. In a letter to the Office of Thrift [Savings & Loan] Supervision, Greg Schaefer, Investigator for the Enforcement Division of the Minnesota Dept. of Commerce, having reviewed the documents, listed his findings: "It seems deceptive to represent $36,298.56 as the 'Initial Amount of Insurance' when it would be extremely unlikely the insured/debtor could ever collect more than $9,074.64 (24 months x 378.11);" and "The loan agreement authorizes the purchase of credit disability insurance for a 96-month term, but the debtor ultimately was issued a 24-month benefit period." Schaefer also noted the following concerns: "If insured/debtors were required to sign credit insurance certificates, it would be easier to determine whether the parties agreed to a change in coverage;" "When creditors and insurance companies are selling credit disability policies for maximum benefit terms that are substantially less than the length of the loan, prominent disclosures should be made to prevent similar misunder- standings from reoccurring in the future;" and "USLife Credit Life permits disability periods up to five years on loans with terms up to 60 months; however, in loans which exceed 60 months, it reduces the maximum benefit period to 24 months. It does not appear that the premium rate for the two-year benefit period reflects an actuarial equivalent of the five-year benefit period." Notwithstanding the findings of the Department of Commerce, neither the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), at Dallas, nor any other agency has, as yet, afforded the Dirkeses relief from the misrepresented insurance contract, and subse- quent actions of First Federal. Paul Lockwood, with OTS press office, Washington, D.C. said, Feb. 21st, that OTS could not take action in the matter because it had gone into litigation, and further, "If it's an alleged breach of contract, ... that comes under state law... the only time we can take action against an institution is if it's a violation of Federal law or regulation." Lockwood indicated that OTS would not be acting on this matter. The question of whether fraud by a Federally- chartered lending institution constitutes a violation of Federal law was not discussed. The Dirkeses, however, may find relief from the Minnesota Dept. of Commerce (DOC), which informed Northern Herald, Feb. 21st, that they had not closed the file when they referred it to OTS. "The matter is under investigation," said Denise Dimmler, DOC press spokeswoman. DOC cannot act against the bank, because it's Federally chartered, Dimmler explained, but it can act against the insurer to enforce the policy that was written through their agent, First Federal. Dimmler said that, if a violation is proven, enforcement action could range from a civil penalty or fine, to pulling the Minnesota license of the insurer, US Credit Life. Meanwhile, under threat of foreclosure sale to have been held August 20, 1996, the Dirkeses redeemed the property, selling off personal assets to make the continuing mortgage payment. But Mr. Dirkes said, "I'm getting down to the end of the line," as he stated he gets $463 per month as disability to live on, and $417 of that goes to First Federal so he can keep his home. We have attempted to contact First Federal for their statement on this, but have been unable to speak with the proper person by presstime. This is not the first time there have been questionable dealings by First Federal Banking and Savings. We have knowledge of another incident, a few years back, where said bank foreclosed on another customer's land by way of what appears to be a forged mortgage instrument. In this matter, the landowner, who did not dispute that he had mortgaged his home, claimed that certain other property he owned, (hereinafter referred to as the "additional security") worth about $55,000, had been typed into the mortgage instrument, as security, after he had signed it and without his knowledge. In this matter, we have had cause to inspect the mortgage document, on file with the Clearwater County recorder, and that document, in fact, does show signs of forgery in that, where the "additional security" is listed, the margins (old-style typewriter as would have then been used) are different from the rest of the document, as would be the case if the document was first prepared, signed, and later reinserted into the typewriter for the addition of that paragraph. In this case, there may also have been collusion by another area bank, as First Federal came into possession of the abstract for the "additional security" without the landowner's knowledge. He had given that abstract to another lending institution which had held an earlier mortgage on it. As with the Dirkeses, in this earlier case, the landowner was unable to obtain assistance, of local attorneys, or otherwise within the legal system here, to prevent foreclosure by First Federal. In this case, they lost the land by foreclosure sale. As the reader might understand, the banks themselves are pretty much immune from regulation. If customers contact Federal regulators, they may be told it's a state matter. But the state authority does not have jurisdiction over Federal banks. The only remedy is then in the courts and their officer/ attorneys, which, up here, is sometimes no remedy. Given the lack of regulatory action, and of judicial remedy, the consumer is best advised to act with extreme caution, and to be aware of the integrity of the financial institutions with which he may do business. -- Ed. ------------------------------------------- MARTIN: ALIVE, WELL AND 3.60 (GPA) IN MADISON According to Roy's wife, Pat "Rusty" Martin, Yes, there's life after Bemidji. Mr. Martin is expected to receive his A.A. degree, in communications, later this year from Volunteer State Community College (VSCC) in Gallatin, Tennessee. His overall GPA, per Rusty, is 3.60 Roy is now Vice-President of "Challenges", a student body organization, is a student senator, master-of-arms, and founder of the "First Americans" organization at the 6,800 student campus. He also broadcasts Monday news on WBCP, the college radio station, and DJs on Saturdays. After graduation, Martin, 39, a Native American, plans schooling in constitutional and treaty law, and an eventual career in Indian law. Meanwhile, he and his wife are working to become partners of White Wolf Trading Post in Goodlettsville. They live in Madison, Tenn., near Nashville. Martin had attended Bemidji State University briefly in 1994. His tuition was paid through a Canadian tribal grant, bringing foreign funds into the local economy. But Rusty said that, at BSU, he had not done as well, receiving "C"s in the classes he took there. In July, 1994, his schooling was interrupted when he was falsely accused, by Ida Stein Heightshoe, an employee of Meritcare Clinic, Bemidji, of rape. He was held in custody for about 7 months, despite his requests for polygraph examination, his wife's statements that he was home sleeping at the time of the alleged offense, and notwithstanding that the initial description Mrs. Heightshoe had given of her alleged assailant was of a white man, substantially different from Mr. Martin. Additionally, due to a leg disability, Martin could not have used the escape route, of running down a steep hill, that police believed was used by the assailant. The case was prosecuted by Sheri Schluchter and Tim Faver, who opposed requests for bail reduction; after almost 7 months in jail, Martin was freed after a jury, hearing the evidence, took a little over an hour to acquit him in February of 1995. Even after the trial, though, the Martins were, effectively, driven from the Bemidji community by refusal of rental housing and refusal of medical treatment at Meritcare, Bemidji's leading (and one of very few) medical provider and clinic. Both Martin and his wife suffer from chronic disability which requires periodic treatment. Said Mrs. Martin, "I've never been well since we left there," and she attributes her congestive heart failure to stress during Martin's jailing. The Martins have been seeking an attorney to bring suit against authorities for the incident, but, as yet, have found none. Perhaps in a few years, when Mr. Martin gets his law degree, he'll be able to come back and do it himself. **************************************************************** Copyright (c) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 by Northern Herald and Northern Herald Publications, Inc. Limited Permission to Use Material: I. 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