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Open Forum: Not everyone was at Woodstock
For your readers who do not receive the Veterans of Foreign Wars monthly magazine, the latest issue provided an interesting perspective. Commenting on the sixties generation celebrity cultures' upcoming celebration of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, the short article points out that during Aug. 15-18, 1969, 109 loyal American soldiers died in Vietnam. The profile is as follows: 92 percent white, 7 with Spanish surnames; 8 percent Black; 67 percent Protestants; 28 percent Catholic; 78 percent between age 18 and 22. May God bless their memory.
Tom Lund
Longville
Trail land was stolen
"Local Briefs" article 8-11-09, "Bike club ride to honor McGaughey." Once again I must comment on the fact that because of St. Paul lobbying - the land that is now the Paul Bunyan Trail -- was stolen from Minnesota property owners. That's right! Not purchased, but stolen! No monies were given to the property owners for the land that is now the trail for public use known as The Paul Bunyan Trail.
In the article in "Local Briefs," Emily Lanin, bike club board member states "The bike club hopes that all who ride the trail will keep in mind the efforts made to provide and maintain this important asset to our community." I also ask that all who ride the trail keep in mind all those Minnesota property owners who had their precious personal lands stolen from them.
Gloria Papillon
Pine River
Arts lovers liking Lykins
Scott Lykins, a Brainerd High School graduate has brought his amazing musical talent back home this summer in the form of the Lakes Area Chamber Music Festival. After Lykins' cello performance Sunday afternoon in Baxter, a large crowd of folks were all abuzz about how fortunate we are to be able to enjoy this fine caliber of music. So true!
That is not all, Scott invited four of his Eastman School of Music gifted friends to work as servers at Lost Lake Lodge and collaborate to energize our community with music. Many thanks to Scott, his friends, and the many generous sponsors who support their efforts.
View the festival schedule at www.crossingarts.org/event/concerts/lakes-area-music-festival, choose one (or more), and treat yourself and your friends.
Millie Engisch-Morris
Baxter
Don't create more problems
Let me get this straight, the best solution that the city of Baxter and MnDOT officials can come up with for all of the problems stemming from the Elder Drive traffic confusion is moving the stoplights from 210 and Knollwood to 210 and Inglewood? First of all, the Knollwood intersection is finally becoming safer. It is the main thoroughfare for pedestrians and vehicles coming to and from the Baxter schools. They just completed the brick expanded trailhead on both sides of 210 last year to accommodate the heavy foot and bike traffic. Now, you want to take that away and let kids, bicyclists, and autos run the gauntlet of 210 without stoplights? Are you crazy? How would moving the stoplight to Inglewood help anything? You would have to add turn lanes, add a road cutting across the railroad tracks linking up to the frontage road, add another set of crossing arms and add some type of crosswalk system for any of those kids that would opt to take the long way to get to school or the trailhead. This idea is ridiculous and adds more problems than it fixes and does little to help the issues of the Hawthorne Inn and other businesses at the eastern end of the frontage road.
The answer is to fix the problem at the problem. Put in the stoplights at 210 and Elder Drive. You already have stoplights in three of four directions within a quarter mile from the main 210 and 371 intersection anyway, why not make it four. It is inevitable that more expansion is coming in that area and along the frontage roads so think ahead before you do something stupid and create more problems than you already have.
Doug Karsnia
Baxter
Plain common sense needed
It is sad that the government will have to get involved in protecting airline passengers from being unnecessarily detained on planes in situations like the ExpressJet/Continental incident that has gleaned Minnesota national attention this week. The government shouldn't have to spend their time dealing with such incidents. If only plain common sense would come back into our lives.
Where was airline management in this situation? If the pilot and airline attendants knew that they were being diverted, landed at the airport and were unable to get clearance to have the passengers de-plane, why didn't they call someone? What about the airport management? Why can't they intervene in this situation?
If you and I took an adult captive in our homes for six hours, it would be kidnapping. If we kept a child in dirty diapers for that time, we would be child abusers. Maybe the way to address this is to publish a number for passengers to call when they are in this situation. Make it mandatory for the airlines to publish it in their on-board magazines, the lavatories, and on the surfaces of tray tables. And then hold their management accountable for poor decisions.
Leave our legislators to deal with the deficit, health care, and the rest of the national concerns.
Ann Bertoch
Baxter
Sluss' battered ego
So Terry Sluss is once again challenging Sen. Paul Koering for the Senate District 12 seat (Brainerd Dispatch, 7-30-09). The Dispatch stated that Koering had won the 2006 race by 18,241-14,260 votes or 54.36 percent for Koering and 42.49 percent for Sluss.
To lose by 3981 votes must have been very humbling to Sluss since his DFL comrades in District 12A and 12B both won their races by several hundred votes. They barely scraped out wins while he lost miserably with the same voters. Sluss desperately needed someone to blame.
Therefore, shortly after the election, Terry Sluss filed a complaint against Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the state's largest pro-life organization. MCCL supported and endorsed Sen. Paul Koering for his outstanding pro-life work in the Minnesota Senate. For some reason, Sluss even went so far as to have me served with a subpoena to appear as a witness in court.
I'm strongly pro-life and have been active in MCCL for the past 25 years. I wondered what I could possibly say that would help Sluss in his court challenge. I drove to the Twin Cities the day before the trial, spent the night in a motel and reported to court early the next morning. Those of us who were witnesses were allowed in the courtroom for the opening of the court. Then we were sent to a waiting area. I spent several hours there, but was never called to testify.
The three judge panel decided against Terry Sluss and for MCCL. This frivolous court case cost MCCL several thousands of dollars that could've been put to better use saving the lives of innocent unborn children. It was all done just to soothe Sluss' battered ego.
Is this the type of person we want representing us in St. Paul?
Clara Kedrowski
Little Falls
Achermann is still missing
Where is Peter Achermann from rural Leader/Staples, Minnesota?
Peter has been missing since his strange disappearance between 1-3 p.m. on Friday, July 24.
When does a full investigation begin into criminal activity? We have been searching for 20 days where his car was found.
Why did Cass County pull the National Guard assistance after only two days of searching a very small area that had already been searched at least three times? Do they think he is not in that location? Then, where?
Have all video cameras in Staples been checked for signs of Peter? What about MnDOT cameras?
Have the Staples area dumpsters been checked? Have dogs been used to try to pick up Peter's scent in the dumpsters, the transfer stations, the landfills?
We are down to 8-13 volunteers to continue trying to search. We desperately need more volunteers or the National Guard back.
Please help the family to continue searching, keep this search for Peter active, get more help and bring Peter home. If the sheriff's department doesn't have the resources to fully investigate this mysterious vanishing of Peter, can you help by investigating anything you can to try to find some leads?
How can we get more help from any investigative authority such as the BCA? If this situation was looking for a 5-year-old-boy or a 16-year-old girl, would we be down to only 8-13 volunteers still looking?
Peter was a loving husband, good father, grandfather, and good man who was always first in line to help anyone in need. Let's find him and bring him home for his family.
Peter has no voice at this point. The family and volunteers are now his voice to help find him.
Ron and Dar Houle
Merrifield
Watch those headlines
Hey Dispatch! You've got to be more careful about your headlines. Thursday's issue has one that says, "SENIORS / A secret source for meat."
These days that's likely to end up in right wing media as another health care scare tactic. That seems to be about the level of integrity we're seeing. Soylent Green anyone?
Neil Hunt
Nisswa
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