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Letters to the Editor (8/30)
Posted: Friday, August 29, 2008 11:23 pm
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New liquor store needed To the editor: The recent letter to the editor about Northfield’s municipal liquor store implies that in some way the store is involved in the substance abuse that so recently became a more serious problem than in the past. In comparison with the recent upsurge of substance abuse, largely drugs in particular, turning the municipal liquor store over to private enterprise will in no way affect the equation of substance abuse. The local store is a well-run business that just happens to be a municipal enterprise which likely has better control over function than many a private firm might have. There is a steady market for liquor, so why not allow the city to profit from its sale rather than some private firm that may have no local obligations of any kind and which takes its profit out of local control. A municipal store is obligated to the public which owns it. A private firm may have no such obligation. I fail to see how a municipal liquor store can be considered “a huge distraction.” It would be equally a “distraction” were it a private enterprise. Whenever I buy a bottle of wine or liquor I’m assured that part of that sale goes into municipal enterprise and not into the pockets of some firm like Haskell’s. A new store is needed for greater accessibility for handicapped persons and in no way will affect our local problem of substance abuse. Graham S. Frear Northfield Art White plan is free To the editor: “How does a man reveal himself — in contemplation or in action? Always in action. What action? The need of the hour!” (Goethe) When your house is on fire, the baby’s inside, you don’t think, you act! With our global warming, we are well-advanced in the process of destroying all vegetable and animal life on our planet. Except cockroaches. OK, the need of the hour is to save the planet and all its creatures. The problem is urban decentralization — virulent automobilism coupled with freewayism, stripmallism, and generalized sprawl (middle school, hospital, etc.). We’ve got to bust sprawl in the chops and break the back of big-oil (i.e., Satan). The solution is urban recentralization, planned urban recentralization. In other words — very strong downtowns. You get a very strong downtown when you greatly increase downtown parking. That’s the sine qua non (the indispensable condition) to save our beloved planet and all its beloved creatures. Northfield has three parking plans on the table: 1. the NDDC plan; 2. the library board plan and 3. The Art White plan. The NDDC plan calls for a parking garage on the Washington Street (behind Jacobsen’s) parking lot. It would cost nearly a million dollars, take a year to build and create crime (see below). The library board plan calls for an underground parking lot south of the library wiping out the Third Street parking. It would cost well over a million dollars, take more than a year to build, take out trees, do irreparable harm to the micro-ecology south of the library, severely damage the John North Street Net, and create lots of crime. (Crime research shows that the three most dangerous places in a city are: third — parking lots, second — parking garages and first — underground parking garages. The Art White Plan rejects parking lots and garages. It calls for all parking on the existing street net (John North’s street net). It follows the French Quarter (New Orleans) plan put in nearly 300 years ago which has a one-way street pattern throughout (God bless French logic). A one-way pattern permits diagonal or 90 degree parking on both sides of the street and provides a rule-of-thumb 30 additional spaces per block segment. Ergo: between Division and Washington streets alone, from First to 10th streets, you have 27 block segments and therefore 810 additional parking places! This French Quarter/Art White Plan can be implemented literally overnight at nearly no cost. There are no curb changes. Signage and striping only. Arthur Paul David White Northfield
Hager is choice for stability To the editor: When Paul Hager announced his candidacy for Northfield’s mayor I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, I thought, we’ll get back to some stability in what has been perhaps the most tumultuous city government in the state. Paul’s announcement statement that he thought the city needs help and a renewal of “trust” in our city leadership was an understatement to say the least. To list himself as someone capable and worthy of restoring that trust is a given and we need to give him another term to show us how and why. During Hager’s earlier terms as a city councilor and mayor in the 1980s and ‘90s, Northfield’s government not only operated smoothly and efficiently but also served as a model for other cities of similar size, both in-state and without. Those who sought to come here to work in the city’s “paid” leadership positions often commented on those factors as leading them to apply for and serve our community. Those thoughtful leaders migrated away from us after Hager left the mayor’s post. In the next five years we have important issues to address, including the renovation or growth of several of our public buildings, ensuring that our roads and streets are maintained and well-planned, growing our business community both in the heart of the city and at its perimeters, and carefully watching over land on our city’s edges that will ensure that we have a clean and green environment for our future citizenry. Paul Hager is the right choice not only to bring about these changes but also to provide us the much-needed stability that so many of us long to have returned. Dan Jorgensen Northfield Rossing has skills to be mayor To the editor: I am casting my vote for Mary Rossing for Mayor of Northfield. I believe her leadership skills, ability to listen and ability to build consensus around the issues are just what Northfield needs. Mary believes in Northfield and has a passion to make this community a strong place for people to live and work. As a small business owner she is well aware of fiscal management. Mary will lead this community with respect for our heritage and a vision for the future. I urge you to get out and vote in the primary election on Sept. 9 and remember to vote for Mary Rossing for mayor! Pat Vincent Northfield Babies are people, not group of cells To the editor: In Mr. Gunn’s letter to the editor published on August 22, he stated, “…fundamentalists have tried for centuries to pass laws that would tell us what we can and cannot do in our own houses.” It brought a question to my mind: “Does Mr. Gunn believe that when the government declared slavery illegal, the government is telling us what we can and cannot do in our own houses?” I am sure most people would say no! Why? African Americans are people, not property. I am sure people tried the “what I do on my plantation is my own business…” argument as well. In my opinion, it is the same type of question for the pro-life/pro-choice debate. Is it a group of cells in a woman’s body or is it a child in a woman’s body? If it is a child, then the debate has nothing to do with religion as Mr. Gunn suggested in his letter, but it has to do with upholding the child’s right to the “pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson). How can this question be answered? I think with today’s advancement in medicine the answer is evident. If pregnant women who are considering an abortion have an ultrasound, many choose not to have an abortion. Why? The women say that they see their baby’s arms, legs, and head — it’s a child, not a group of cells or tissue. Another piece of evidence is that babies can be born when the pregnancy is only 23-25 weeks along and live! Wow, it is a person! Tragically, abortions have been and are performed at 25 weeks and later. Lastly, according to many studies, babies in the 20th week of gestation can feel pain. People feel pain, not groups of cells. Just as it was honorable to speak up and fight for African Americans when slavery was legal, it also is honorable to speak up and fight for America’s smallest citizens — babies in the womb. It is my hope that someday, just as our government declared that African-Americans are people and not property, our government and nation will recognize that babies in the womb are people and not a group of cells. Becky Herzog Lonsdale Candidate forum to be held
To the editor: There is a big race for county commissioner in District 5 this year, with four candidates running for the open seat currently held by Commissioner Jim Brown. They are Jerry Anderson, local developer; Mike Piper, former Bridgewater Township clerk; Jeff Docken, farmer in Webster Township; and Gary Bruggenthies of Lonsdale. Bridgewater Township is holding a candidate forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2 at our township hall on Railway Street in Dundas. All residents of Wheatland, Webster, Forest and Bridgewater townships, plus the city of Lonsdale and precincts 1 and 2 of Ward 3 in Northfield are invited. Unless something new comes to light that night, I will be voting for Mike Piper in the primary election Sept. 9. Molly Woehrlin, who served as a county commissioner for 10 years in the ‘80s, wrote a great opinion piece on the importance of county government in 2004. She suggested six criteria for evaluating county candidates: energy and willingness to do their homework, ability to balance the needs of all segments of the district, vision for the future, interest in programs to help families and individuals in difficult situations, desire to seek out ideas from constituents, leadership in collaborating with other units of government. As Molly said, county decision-making and programs affect our daily lives, whether we live within the city limits or not. With three of the five commissioners up for re-election this year, we could really turn things around for the better if we all get informed and turn out to vote. Stephanie Henriksen Dundas Horseshoe plotters revealed To the editor: Northfield is gearing up for our annual “Defeat of Jesse James Days” celebration that officially starts the first Thursday after Labor Day. This week we are involved in the Horseshoe Hunt part of the festival. For the past eight years Bette and I have chaired this event. We hide the horseshoe and write the daily clues that appear on the Web site, in the newspaper and are announced on the radio. A whopping $300 goes to the finder of the horseshoe. As of this morning the forth clue has been announced (out of six) and no one has found the shoe. (Editor’s note: Since this letter was submitted, the horseshoe was found.) This year our Web master was brave enough to post Bette and my photograph on the Web site so those who do not know us may swear at us when they see us on the street. Being chairman of a committee can be a lonely job. If you are interested in seeing how the two of us look in our declining years, dressed up in our cowboy gear, go to djjd.org and click on to “Horseshoe Hunt.” Our photograph appears at the bottom of the page. Franklin and Bette Lee Northfield Think staffing before tax increase To the editor: While reading the city newsletter included in my water bill, I came across a good idea from the Environmental Quality Committee. They suggested that by washing my vehicles on my lawn or grassy area, instead of a paved area, I could cut down on the pollutants entering the storm sewers. Rain would seem to be almost as effective at washing these same pollutants from a vehicle. So I thought that to extend the benefits of this suggestion we should encourage people to park on their lawns or grassy areas. But alas, in reading further in the newsletter I found out that city inspection staff is shifting its focus towards such important tasks as citing people for parking on grassy areas, measuring the lengths of RVs and monitoring the times that we roll our garbage cans to and from our boulevards. I am not trying to be critical of the inspection staff. With less new construction to inspect and since building code inspections won’t be required for rental property licensing, they are keeping busy enforcing other ordinances. But with talk of a tax increase, perhaps the council needs to weigh the benefits of spending staff time enforcing non health- and safety-related issues against the ire of taxpayers that would surely result from a property tax increase. David Geist Northfield
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Member Opinions:
By: AndyAlt on 8/30/08
Graham S. Frear has written that Northfield needs a new Liquor Store. He very handily stated several supporting reasons why it would be a good idea.

Does a liquor store pose more of a threat than a pornography and fantasy gifts store? In Minnesota, one must be 21 to purchase liquor; you must be only 18 to purchase an "adult" movie, 17 to see an Rated "R" movie (unless you are accompanied by an adult, whereas you only need be six years old).

So the reason no one is screaming for a porno shop is because less people talk about porno than liquor. Liquor is much more socially acceptable. Anyone can verify that there is a healthy market for pornography. Logically, if pornography was made more available by retailers to consumers, there would be a substantial increase in sales and profit from X-rated material. Talk about reaching new heights!

But I'm sure readers would like me to elaborate and state the similarities now that I've mentioned the differences. That will be very quick work, because on many points made in the letter to the editor on this page, the words "liquor store" can be replaced with "pornography store". Allow me to extend further on my claim.

"The recent letter to the editor about Northfield’s municipal pornography store implies that in some way the store is involved in the substance abuse that so recently became a more serious problem than in the past."

You see, porno is no more a problem now than it has been, and has no bearing on substance abuse. Medically speaking, sexual intercourse (including masturbation) has been known to be good for exercise, and it also raises endorphins, thereby averting the need for pharmacological stimulation and other artificial methods of achieving ecstasy.

", turning the municipal pornography store over to private enterprise will in no way affect the equation of substance abuse. The local store is a well-run business that just happens to be a municipal enterprise which likely has better control over function than many a private firm might have."

"There is a steady market for pornography, so why not allow the city to profit from its sale rather than some private firm that may have no local obligations of any kind and which takes its profit out of local control."

". A municipal store is obligated to the public which owns it. A private firm may have no such obligation. I fail to see how a municipal porno store can be considered “a huge distraction.” It would be equally a “distraction” were it a private enterprise. Whenever I buy an adult movie or sex toy, I’m assured that part of that sale goes into municipal enterprise and not into the pockets of some firm..."

"A new pornography store is needed for greater accessibility for handicapped persons and in no way will affect our local problem of substance abuse."

Liquor and pornography are both legal in this country. Both are considered immoral by some portion of the population. And to be clear, I'm not advocating any type of pornography that includes non-consenting adults, or people who have been drinking. Only sober, consenting adults who have made the decision in a free country to have sex in front of a camera, or drink while they are on vacation. Human-trafficking and sex is something I'm also against, but I'm also against pretty much everything that forces a person or child to do something against their will and in violation of their American or human rights.

My point to all this is not to seriously advocate for a pornography store, but to suggest that if we're going to have this discussion, lets discuss it all honestly and figure out what we want to sell and what we don't.

Personally, I haven't smoked any marijuana for a while, but if I were, I would much rather buy it from the City than from a dealer. I would know my money is going to a good cause, and I'd know that the marijuana wouldn't be laced with anything. But don't worry, I'd only smoke my City merchandise in the privacy of my own home, I wouldn't infringe on anybody's rights, and I would never sell or give it to a child.

 
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