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Readers comment on issues of the day
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Wednesday, 12 March 2008
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Lake has friends
This past Saturday afternoon the Forest Lake Lake Association held its 2nd annual ice surface clean up on Forest Lake. Over 75 volunteers consisting of our association members, area residents of all ages, local business people, fishermen, national honor society students and officials from the VFW Fishapalooza contest came out to help rid the ice surface of trash.
These individuals filled the bottom of a 20-yard dumpster. Some of the larger items that were kept from going in to the bottom of the lake included a bed mattress, stroller, folding chairs and large rolls of carpet.
Our board would like to thank all the volunteers that donated their time and ATV’s on this unseasonably cold afternoon. We would especially like to think Pete and Ardie Paidar from the Forest Laker Bar and Grill for providing food for all the volunteers and to Camron and Marge Strand from Forest Lake Sanitation (SRC Inc) for donating the dumpster for all the trash.
We are very fortunate to have individuals and businesses such as these that help make Forest Lake a great place to live!
To learn more on how you can help us protect this wonderful natural resource, please go to www.ourforestlake.com.
Blake Roberts
Board Member
Forest Lake Lake Assoc.
Hallberg Thanked
I would like to thank a local business that has been around for 49 years, Hallberg Marine.
On Saturday, Feb. 23, Hallberg Marine had its annual Customer Appreciation Celebration. As a part of that celebration they included on the invitation a request that their customers support the Community Helping Hand Food Shelf by bringing non-perishable items of food to the event.
Volunteers from Community Helping Hand were there to collect the food items. We were astonished and overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone who came that evening.
We collected just under 5000 items in total food count. Thank you, Gene, Katie and all of the family and employees of Hallberg Marine that made this possible.
Jan Sandberg
Board President
Community Helping Hand
Forest Lake
Outrage
In response to the article regarding the compensation paid to Linwood Supervisors, I can only express my outrage.
The author of the article, Mr. McCurdy is a current (township) employee and also served for several years as a supervisor, during which time very little oversight of many township responsibilities was conducted. This was in part due to the fact that two of the five supervisors were themselves township employees (Mr. McCurdy being one of them).
The current board has excellent members who are able to spend many hours not only attending meetings but also doing direct hands-on supervision of township employees and running of the daily operation. Mr. McCurdy was part of the board that set up a meeting per diem and benefited during his tenure — he may not have been as active because of his employee responsibilities, but to criticize the current supervisors who are taking their roles and responsibilities seriously is, indeed hypocritical.
The current board has saved the citizens thousands of dollars this year by their active and direct oversight of our township and the compensation of the supervisors is minimal compared to the additional time and energy spent.
Marie Holm
Linwood
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The writer is a former Linwood Town Board supervisor and the wife of current Supervisor Howard Holm.)
Another mess
The refusal of the Forest Lake School Board to correct the January 3rd minutes at the meeting Thursday night and to continue to justify its censure is astounding.
The correct wording was available and was offered, yet five of the board members voted against correcting the minutes. When the correction is made, the basis for the censure is removed.
Minnesota Statute 13D.05 gives specific protection to board members in order to encourage the open discussion of issues and concerns.
The idea that the censure didn’t carry a penalty is silly. The censure is the penalty and in violation of the law in this case.
John Freed
Columbus
A critical issue
The Forest Lake School Board has recently been presented with the calendar for 2008-09 and it will go up for the vote very soon.
This calendar is a fairly typical calendar except for one key issue — it does not have a spring break. I am aware the part of the reason that this decision was made is because of state testing at the end of March as well as the goal to get students out of school in the first week of June.
As a Forest Lake High School student, I would much rather get out later in June than to not have a spring break. It is important mentally to get that break during quarter three when the weeks seem to drag on and on. This will be extremely damaging to student’s morale, drive and energy level.
However, a more damaging consequence of this action would be the vacations taken by families and teachers alike whether it was given to them by the school or not. This would wreck havoc on the classroom environment; not only would teachers have to deal with an exponential increase in absences during the spring, the students will also lose out when teachers take breaks for themselves and substitute teachers are in the classrooms.
I strongly urge for the sake of the students, teachers, and the community, that the school board not approve the calendar for 2008-09 with out amending this critical issue.
Paul Goedeke
Forest Lake
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The writer is a junior at Forest Lake High School.)
Vote them Out
This letter is my response to all the Democrats, and six Republicans that overrode the governor’s veto to raise the gas tax and passed a $1 billion bonding bill when the state has a $1 billion deficit.
It should be obvious they had this as their agenda even before starting this session. And even before looking at the economic conditions, such as rising gas and energy prices, food costs, mortgage payments and healthcare cost. If they where responsible with our tax money they would have looked at ways to trim budgets before raising taxes. I feel delaying the light rail system that is going to benefit a small number of people at the expense of roads and bridges would have been more prudent. Instead they are planning on spending billions on that over the next few years, along with millions on hockey arenas, the Como Zoo, bike paths, convention center renovations, and the like.
They should fix the roads with the taxes we already pay when we buy gas, license and title fees and then see if they can do the light rail. I thought Democrats where for helping the little people instead of imposing another tax on them. It is clear to me this is going to affect the people who make the least the most. I would urge people that feel the way I do about to find out if their representatives voted for this legislation and vote them out of office.
It is time we send the message to them that they prioritize their budgets as we do everyday.
Kevin Craile
Forest Lake
Appalled
I was appalled by what I witnessed at the March 6 school board meeting. The reluctance of the board leadership to correct the minutes of the Jan. 3 meeting to accurately reflect what was said makes me wonder what their actual motivation was for putting David Gay and Eric Langness on the spot.
With the safety of our children at risk, the only concern of Members Bresin, Rapheal, Grafft, Kieger and Corcoran was to protect themselves and Superintendent Steenblock. I expect our elected officials to weigh the facts and make intelligent decisions, not to fly off the handle and then refuse to right a wrong!
Apparently, the board leadership is quite opposed to having any of its actions questioned, especially in public. Perhaps a change in that leadership is now needed to ensure that the school district’s business is conducted openly and honestly. These actions leave me questioning the integrity of the board majority and wondering what else they have up their sleeves to deceive the public.
Brian Quehl
Forest Lake
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