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Open Forum
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Forever Grateful for Fast ResponseLetter to the Editor
On January 21st, our daughter Theresa and her two children were visiting us for a weekend of ice fishing on Big Pine Lake in Crosslake. In the late afternoon, Theresa and our granddaughter Emily went fishing and left our five year old grandson Eric with us. After a while, Eric asked if he could go for a walk on the lake to find his mother and we of course said no. An hour after this he asked if he could go to his room to watch TV and we told him yes. Five minutes later, Dave went downstairs to the bedroom area and noticed that Eric was nowhere to be found. We then discovered that his jacket and boots were also missing. It was already dark and the outside temperature at the time was 15 degrees with a wind chill of zero. We immediately called 911 and officers Eric Swanson and Bobby Willard from the Crosslake Police Department responded within 4 minutes. It’s our understanding that the Breezy Point police, the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Department, the DNR, Crosslake Fire, and North Ambulance were also notified. We told the officers that we suspected Eric may have headed for the lake looking for his mom. In less than 15 minutes after arriving at our home, they discovered that Eric had been found by residents on the lake and taken him into their home.
This is the second time that the Crosslake Police Department has had an unbelievably fast response to what could have been tragic circumstances with our family. We can’t give enough thanks to all of those involved, especially Officers Swanson and Willard, and to our neighbors Tom Wendel and Jerry Gutzwiller, for assisting in the search for Eric. We will never forget what you did for our family and will be forever grateful.
Dave & Nancy Rudberg
Crosslake
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Star Mangled BannerLetter to the Editor
The Star Mangled Banner, sung at the last NFL game I viewed between the Raven's and Giants was an atrocity....and perhaps the final slap in my face as to no more NFL. period. The Minnesota Vikings, a part of the NFL, have wasted enough time of our Legislature and if they want to build a new stadium, well, building permits are still available. I have been very disgruntled as an Army Veteran and to also speak for our decedents, to observe the audacity of the powers to be, try and shove a new stadium down our throats and the disrespect to our country and what we "stand" for, earned, served and fought for. I have observed many of the players over the last few years and there is basically no "sport coat" and tie pep rallies.....quite a number look like a bunch of longhaired, fuzzy faced "willywhompers", not true professionals.
With the NFL backing and the true disrespect to our national anthem, present and past it is only greed driven.
The Star Spangled Banner is to be sung by everyone. Even you.
So let them build their stadium, whether Minnesota or Juarez.
Roger Norlander
Outing, MN
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Impact - A Noun, Not A VerbLetter to the Editor
The word “impact” is a noun, not a verb. St. Joe’s may have an “impact” on the community, but it does not “impact” the community.
The word “impacted” refers to teeth or bones wedged between other teeth and bones. "Impacting” does not appear in my Webster’s.
Bill Souther
Crosslake, MN
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Inside the First Amendment: In Rhode Island, a student’s lesson in religious freedomBy Charles C. Haynes, First Amendment CenterAt the tender age of 16, Jessica Ahlquist has already endured more verbal abuse than most people experience in a lifetime.A high school student in Cranston, R.I., Jessica has been taunted and threatened at school, targeted by an online hate campaign, and called “an evil little thing” by a state representative on the radio. Her crime? She asked school officials to remove a “school prayer” banner from the auditorium of Cranston West High School. Addressed to “Our Heavenly Father,” the prayer banner was presented to the school by the class of 1963 and has been affixed to the wall as a mural ever since.At the School Committee hearing to consider the issue, public outrage turned the meeting into a religious revival. Angry citizens lined up to proclaim their allegiance to God, quote the Bible, and condemn Jessica to hell.“If you take the banner down,” one woman testified, “you are spitting in the face of God.” Another banner supporter warned: “You can’t vote to take this down and say that you’re standing with God.”After the School Committee bowed to public pressure and voted to keep the banner, Jessica’s father (supported by the American Civil Liberties Union) filed suit on her behalf.On Jan. 11, U.S. District Judge Ronald Lagueux ruled in Jessica’s favor and ordered the banner removed. It was an easy case. For more than 60 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that promotion of religion by public school officials violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment.“When focused on the Prayer Mural,” wrote the judge, “the activities and agenda of the Cranston School Committee became excessively entangled with religion, exposing the Committee to a situation where a loud and passionate majority encouraged it to vote to override the constitutional rights of a minority.”Undeterred, supporters of the prayer banner are holding a “prayer rally” this week to urge the School Committee to keep fighting. Jessica may be in the minority in Cranston, but she’s in good company as the latest in a long line of Rhode Island dissenters – beginning with the state’s founder, Roger Williams.Williams, who was himself verbally attacked, was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 for objecting to the entanglement of religion and government that, he believed, corrupted both.He founded Rhode Island as the first government in history with no established religion and a commitment to protect liberty of conscience for every person. As a deeply religious Christian minister, Williams vowed to put an end to centuries of oppression and coercion by erecting what he called “a wall or hedge of separation” between the "Garden of the Church and the Wilderness of the World.”Rhode Island was to be a “haven for the cause of conscience” where government stayed out of religion and all people (including Quakers, Catholics and others persecuted in surrounding colonies) would be free to choose in matters of faith. If he were alive today, there’s little doubt that Roger Williams would be solidly in Jessica’s corner. He would view the “school prayer” banner as blasphemous state appropriation of religion. However big or small the issue, Williams believed that any state entanglement with religion violates conscience, divides society, and (most important for him) offends God. Of course, keeping government neutral toward religion did not mean for Williams then, and does not mean now, keeping religion out of public life. He would applaud that Cranston students are free to pray alone or in groups (as long as they don’t disrupt school). Moreover, under current law, students may bring their scriptures to school, share their faith with classmates and form religious clubs.You might think it would be easy to stand up for religious freedom in the birthplace of religious freedom – but apparently it isn’t. In Judge Lagueux’s words, Jessica Ahlquist “is clearly an articulate and courageous young woman, who took a brave stand, particularly in light of the hostile response she has received from her community.”Thanks to Jessica, the spirit of Roger Williams – America’s first great dissenter – is alive and well in Rhode Island.Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C., 20001. Web: firstamendmentcenter.org. E-mail:chaynes@freedomforum.org. |
The Power of CommunityGuest Editorial by Laura Leckband
Surgery on your child is one of life’s defining moments. No matter how brilliant the surgeon, how talented the staff or how acclaimed the hospital, you suffer a total loss of control over the fate of someone that is precious to you, and that is truly terrifying.
As I write this, my seven-year-old son Lucas is recovering from his second surgery in a year at Gillette Children’s hospital in St. Paul. Realizing he needed surgery, and finding out early enough to make corrections that will last a lifetime was nothing short of a miracle. Who do I have to thank for that miracle? His surgeon to be sure, but even more importantly, his teacher at Crosslake Community Charter School (CCS).
You see, although my husband Doug and I have been coming to his family’s cabin on the lake in Emily for over 30 years, we only moved here to raise our family last year. As a member of a group of parents that galvanized a community to found a charter school in Avondale Estates, Georgia in 2009 and the mother of two young children, I carefully checked my options for schooling in this area. I found more than one good choice, but after touring CCS, exploring its philosophy and academic success, and meeting director Tami Martin, there was really only one choice for us.
Our kids entered the public, tuition free, K-8 charter school, in August 2010. Shortly after that Lucas’ teacher, Dawn Weite, took me aside and said she thought something was wrong with his legs. Apparently she and the gym teacher had discussed it and both believed there was a problem.
Lucas is an energetic kid – he would rather run than walk, and has no trouble jumping off decks, climbing trees or biking. I had wondered before about what seemed to be a "jerky” gait, and his knees seemed to hurt a lot, but the pediatrician in Atlanta had said there was no issue, so I figured I was an overprotective mom. A few weeks later Lucas came down with a case of pneumonia bad enough to send us to the emergency room. While there, I convinced the doctor to take x-rays of Lucas’ knees. What he found got us referred to Gillette, where they discovered problems with his right hip and both his lower legs.
We have one more surgery to go, but his surgeon says in a couple of years it will be as though there was never a problem. My husband and I feel very lucky that smart, caring teachers paid attention to our kid, and made sure we did too. The decision to place our kids in CCS literally changed Lucas’ life, and we’re not the only family who can say that.
CCS has served over 350 students and our current capacity student body of 138 represents 90 families stretching from Brainerd to Crosby, and from Pine River to Emily. 57 percent of our student body comes from the Pequot Lakes School District. The small, multi-age classes, (currently 19 per class), allow our dedicated professionals to pay real attention to our kids – socially, developmentally and physically, as well as academically.
Minnesota is the birthplace of charter school and in 1991 Minnesota was the first state in the nation to pass a law chartering schools. Charters provide for flexibility and creativity on the part of teachers, while ensuring accountability for public funds. This is a powerful combination, but charter schools have been handed the biggest challenge since their inception this year. Like their non-charter counterparts, charter schools are funded on a per-pupil basis, but unlike them, they have no ability to conduct a referendum for a tax levy to cover their loss when the legislature uses school borrowing to balance the budget.
To quote a recent column in the Star Tribune, published on December 7, “the budget passed…included record amounts of borrowing from our schools. We extended what’s called a “school shift” to a 40/60 level, which amounts to nearly $3 billion. As a result of this record borrowing, we’re seeing two out of every three schools being forced to borrow money of their own. To put the size of this borrowing in perspective, only one state has ever borrowed from schools like this: California, which is not exactly a poster child for fiscal stability. And Minnesota’s shift was more than twice the size of theirs.”
The effect for CCS is being funded at only 60 percent of their budget, with no funding at all in the months of March, April and May. With no way to make up the difference except contributions from those individuals, businesses and organizations who understand the value of a high quality, innovative school to the overall development of a community, we’re launching our first ever large-scale fundraiser, Fun(ds) for Education, on May 17, 2012, at Grandview Lodge, a longtime supporter of local schools. Funds raised will be used to purchase new math and language arts curriculum, and provide additional support for technology and engineering.
There is no question that a strong school helps develop a strong community. Since the opening of its charter school in 2009, the small city of Avondale Estates has opened 40 new businesses – this despite the recession, and in a city that had an empty downtown and a declining commercial tax base for more than ten years.
This newspaper has a flyer inside which will allow you to purchase advance tickets to Fun(ds) for Education, volunteer, or simply make a one time tax deductible contribution to CCS. I ask you to consider supporting your wonderful school and its kids.
(Laura Leckband lives in Emily with her husband and two children who attend Crosslake Community School.)
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My Right Wing Christian FriendsLetter to the Editor
Today, I read my Bible as usual, I was reading the start of the exodus. Which if someone cares to look it up it is in the book of Exodus about chapter twelve, there was an order from God to Moses everyone shall have one law native and alien alike. Later I went out and found the Northland Press in my mail box and read the First Amendment column; it was on the separation of church and state and the fact that many are in favor of it when it isolates the minority and supports the majority religion; however when it supports the minority’s religion, they feel that they are being discriminated against and victimized. They whine and pout about it, which is much better than when this country was founded. Then different sects or denominations of the Christian religion were whipping and killing each other, and torturing pacifist Quakers. Listening to my right wing Christian friends and politicians I conclude that most of them are more Republican than Christian. Jesse Nix - Emily, MN
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Inside the First Amendment: Planning can prevent violations of free assembly at political conventionsBy Gene Policinski, First Amendment Center As the 2012 presidential primary season reaches full speed, let’s pause on the politics for amoment and look ahead to the national Republican and Democratic conventions with the First Amendment in mind. Republicans will meet the week of Aug. 27 in Tampa, Fla. Democrats huddle the week of Sept. 3 in Charlotte, N.C. Each convention will, without a doubt, attract not only a deluge of delegates but also thousands of protesters aiming to be seen and heard on a variety of issues and viewpoints. For the record, that’s the First Amendment in action, with all five freedoms – religion, speech, press, assembly and petition – likely to be engaged or discussed intensely over both weeks. Since at least 2000, hundreds of mass arrests have occurred during both parties' conventions, sweeping up protesters, working journalists and even some bystanders. All too often those arrests ultimately brought no charges. As a result, many claimed that police were acting more to silence critics and preserve decorum than to safeguard citizens. This time around, let’s include a little First Amendment planning right from the start. As it happens, there are lessons to be learned from lawsuits stemming from the 2008 conventions, some just reaching their conclusion. Then there are the ongoing lessons in dealing with public demonstrations involving the Occupy movement and, earlier, tea party gatherings and marches. One simple but very important item for early discussion is how to exclude journalists from arrests at unruly demonstrations. News reporters and photographers are the public’s representatives, the means for the rest of us to track how discordant voices are accommodated amid carefully planned convention activities. The prevailing tactic of “overwhelming force” in some early police actions against Occupy demonstrators in several cities backfired when journalists who were obviously reporting on the events were arrested and their arrests had to be voided. Alternatively, attempts to keep journalists blocks away from demonstrations prevented arrests but stifled news coverage. Another concern: News reports say Tampa and Charlotte taxpayers will be insulated from having to pay for later lawsuit settlements over improper arrests of demonstrators. It's a relatively new and insidious practice of providing special legal-liability insurance to convention cities. While local officials pledge in advance to respect such civil rights, such policies effectively offer a tempting carte blanche to “arrest first, sort later” when it comes to respecting First Amendment rights. In 2008, during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., a reported 600 people were arrested. According to a local magazine, city officials had required party officials to purchase a policy covering up to $10 million in settlement cash. In December, St. Paul and Minneapolis police departments and the U.S. Secret Service settled for $100,000 a lawsuit brought by a TV reporter and two producers who were among about 40 journalists arrested while covering protests outside the convention center. In Denver, where Democrats met, city leaders also provided “protest insurance.” The Denver Post reported that the primary lawsuit stemming from convention arrests was resolved in October 2011. The settlement provided for $200,000 in total to be apportioned among eight original plaintiffs and $20 each to 80-plus others who joined the class-action lawsuit. The settlement also required the police department in future situations to warn protesters that they must leave before arrests began, and to have legal justification for taking demonstrators into custody. Yes, there likely will be circumstances in which arrests of protesters are warranted. After a chaotic, violent situation, police – and ultimately courts – will have to make decisions on whether someone was caught up improperly in a wave of arrests. But balancing First Amendment rights with public safety and security concerns through a clear, fair policy determined and publicized well in advance ought to be a primary goal now for convention planners and municipal authorities, not a late-summer afterthought. Gene Policinski is senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, 1207 18th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn., 37212. Web: www.firstamendmentcenter.org. E-mail: gpolicinski@fac.org.
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