FOR ATTEMPTED BLACKOUT INFORMATION, see the lower part of this page. WHERE CAN WE GET THIS? We get asked this a lot. The answer is, almost anywhere in Northern Minnesota. If you live here, you can probably get it where you buy groceries, or gas. But you sometimes have to look for it or ask a clerk. This is because, as a newspaper, we target and expose crime. So, sometimes criminals try to keep you from getting the info by pushing it under another paper, or dropping a folded page on top of the stack, obscuring the masthead and headline. They don't feel that they have to do this with any other paper. We must be doing something RIGHT! FIND NORTHERN HERALD NEWSPAPER (PRINT EDITION) ON SALE (50 cents) AT THESE QUALITY LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT NORTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA: AKELEY ------------------- Bunyan's Phillips 66 Em's Coffehouse & Deli Headwaters Restaurant Lake Country Supermarket BACKUS ------------------- Jim's Off-Sale BAGLEY ------------------- Coaches Corner Drive-Inn Lavine's Orton's Tesoro Service BEMIDJI ------------------- Holiday (south location) Lowell's Sinclair (at Kabekona) WAL-MART (newsrack just outside grocery entrance) U.S. Post Office (newsrack in front) BLACKDUCK --------- Blackduck Dot Info (the computer store next to Trail's Inn) BOVEY ----- Ron's Korner Market BRAINERD -------- Cub Foods US Post Office (coin box in front) Walgreen's Drug CASS LAKE ------------------- Che-Wa-Ka-E-Gon store Cozy Kitchen Restaurant COHASSET --------- River Rat Trading Post SuperAmerica COLERAINE --------- RJ Market DEER RIVER ---------- Cenex SuperValu EMMAVILLE ------------------- Emmaville store GRAND RAPIDS ------------------- 38 Outpost Cub Foods God's Country Outfitters RC's Spur Service Reed Drug Sawmill Inn SuperAmerica HACKENSACK ------------------- Fun 'n Sun Mark's Market JENKINS ------- JM Speedstop & Amoco LAKE GEORGE ------------------- Woodland Store LAPORTE ------- Laporte Grocery Laporte Service LONGVILLE --------- One Stop Store & bp (Amoco) service NEVIS ----- Nevis merchants have tried to blackout the Northern Herald (see "Nevis", below) and there are no sale locations. Many house copies, however, are available in restaurants and public places. NISSWA ------ Ganley's Nisswa Inn PARK RAPIDS ------------------- Coborn's PEQUOT LAKES ------------ Northern Food King PINE RIVER ------------------- Carl's Market Johnson Oil & Bait Pfeiffer Drug Wilson Junction RED LAKE AREA ------------------- Red Lake IGA REMER ----- Holter's Super Valu Remer Junction Service SPUR Service Woodsman Cafe SHEVLIN ------------------- Country Inn Store SOLWAY ------------------- Selmo's Service WALKER ------------------- Jubilee Foods Orton's In addition to sales locations shown, complimentary and "house" copies of NORTHERN HERALD are available at finer restaurants throughout the region. *********************************************************** THE (ATTEMPTED) BEMIDJI BLACKOUT, AND $600 BILLION LAWSUIT ---------------------------------------------------------- Per an order of the 8th circuit federal Court of Appeals, on July 30, 2001, the Bemidji "soliciting" and "obstructing" ordinances were held to be in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Further, the Court has recognized that Bemidji, through its City Attorney Alan Felix and (former, fortunately) police Sgt. Michael Porter, has tried to apply the ordinances to Northern Herald Editor, Adam Steele, while he was distributing papers, even though he wasn't doing anything proscribed by said ordinances. The matter was remanded back to the federal District Court for trial and in June, 2003 the United States District Court at Minneapolis found in favor of Northern Herald Editor Adam Steele and ordered the City of Bemidji to pay $3,001 in damages. Report is in our issue of 06/30/03, available from our main page. Certain officers of the city of bemidji were able to weasel out of paying damages by claiming "qualified immunity" (this is essentially a claim that they should be exempt from damages, even though their actions were wrong, because they didn't know and were just doing their jobs). Although the 4 officers were granted qualified immunity, on January 2nd, 2003; the Court, by the Honourable James M. Rosenbaum, U.S. District Judge, sitting at Minneapolis, held that Bemidji City Attorney Alan Felix was not entitled to same. The case against Felix and the City of Bemidji, thusly, went to trial. The determination of the 8th Circuit federal court is important enough to be made publicly available here. The complete order may be viewed via the link from our main page, or by going to (this is not a link - paste the address in your browser window & press ): http://northernherald.finalhost.net/order.txt MORE INFORMATION ON ATTEMPTS TO RESTRAIN DISTRIBUTION OF THE FREE PRESS IN BEMIDJI AND ELSEWHERE: This documents the increasing effort to suppress free exchange of information, with utter disregard to the First Amendment, in Northern Minnesota. Many Bemidji retailers refused to carry Northern Herald after a Jan. 1998 article criticizing the (then) recently deceased owner of one of Bemidji's most popular pick-up bars. The bar had been frequented by Bemidji police officers, who, at one time, were admonished by the Chief for being there illegally after hours. Bemidji City Attorney, Al Felix, also issued a letter prohibiting the sale or free distribution of Northern Herald on the streets, sidewalks, or any public property in Bemidji. Bemidji Police Dept. Sgt. Michael Porter, in 1998, threatened the immediate arrest of a vendor giving away the Northern Herald at curbside. Despite these blackout attempts, Northern Herald is quite available in Bemidji; on sale at locations listed above, and there are house and complimentary copies at many restaurants. In Park Rapids, spurred, apparently, by a women's pressure group, SUPERAMERICA (Park Rapids location only) and PETRO PETE'S service stations dropped Northern Herald, following an article, in the 1/06/99 issue (available in The Library at this web site), encouraging virtuous marriage and advising of the economic perils of teenage promiscuity and pregnancy. Coborn's (a really great grocery retailer throughout the state) is the only grocer in Park Rapids that will allow the free press to be available. Park Rapids readers can buy Northern Herald there, and may want to also enjoy the great grocery buys they offer! In Nevis, Sather's Store and Danny's Restaurant dropped Northern Herald following our Volume 7 stories reporting the unlawful actions of their City Council. In the end, Nevis was criticized by the Minnesota State Auditor for their financial practices; and the council's unlawful usurping of the duties of their lawfully elected mayor were stopped by an investigation by the Attorney General. The highly-paid City Administrator, Maureen Cirks, who kept the books, resigned. Still, Nevis merchants refuse to sell Northern Herald. Many house copies are available there in public places, however, and the Nevis High School participates in our Schools Program, so students there have access to Northern Herald. From Northern Herald of 12/08/99: CITY OF BEMIDJI RESTRAINED BY UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT; SUED FOR $600 BILLION ST. PAUL -- In Case No. 99-1862, filed late Friday, November 19th, 1999, before the United States District Court at St. Paul, Adam Steele and Northern Herald Publications, Inc. have sued the City of Bemidji and 28 other named defendants for Deprivation of Civil (First Amendment) rights under Title 42 of the United States Code, Section 1983; Conspiracy to Interfere with Civil Rights (42 USC Sec. 1985); and, as regards Beltrami County Attorney Tim Faver, Neglect of Action to Prevent Conspiracy (42 USC Sec. 1986). The suit asks total damages of $600 billion against the City and the other defendants which include William Batchelder (operator of Bemidji Woolen Mills who is also campaign manager to Bemidji Mayor Doug Peterson in his bid for State Senate), and several Bemidji retailers. Since 1998, Northern Herald has been prohibited, by The City of Bemidji, under Mayor Doug Peterson, from distributing its newspapers in Bemidji public areas, and has been refused by many retailers' newsstands. Order Issued. In initial action Friday, with Bemidji City Attorney Alan Felix opposing the order on behalf of the city, the Court immediately issued an order restraining the City of Bemidji from further interfering with public distribution of Northern Herald on its streets, sidewalks and public areas. In issuing the order, The Honorable Judge Rosenbaum of the USDC cited the "high degree of probable success," on its merits, of the case against the City, and said that "the public interest is very high," in the ability of the press to be free and available. Further action against the various defendants, for monetary damages, will now proceed in the United States District Court. Editor's Note: The 12th Article of the Virginia Bill of Rights of 1776 said, "freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained except by despotic governments." Clean government has nothing to lose by freedom of the press and people being informed - so suppression of the press is one of the hallmarks of corruption in government. Where the press is free, the people soon will be, too, as corruption, like a vampire, can only exist in the shadows of misinformation; it perishes in the light of day. Northland corruption and its accompaniment of crime can be and is being fought and eliminated.