This is sad all the way around.

This was a sad story all the way around. I will over my thoughts on the article and the issue tomorrow. This is the story from the Duluth News Tribune. I was a murder or a young man that was far to young and he had just returned back from Iraq.

Here is the story, http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=63482&section=homepage.

I was going to make comments in this story but decided not to that. I want thank the Duluth News Tribune, it did a great job with this story.

I do want to make a few comments about this issue, I think it is to bad this guy was able to plea bargain. I don't believe he had to take this young mans life. I think it was clear that the soldier after returning home was having some issues facing him. Mr. Sheda however was not threat to the party.

We need to give our veterans the help they need when they return home from war. We also need to understand that there is an adjustment time well they return home.

Two new contibuters to the blog.

I am proud to say we have two new blogger's to this blog. I am not sure how much they will blog. Mommy one and Garbon have joined the team.

Garbon does not live in Duluth any longer but lived here most of his life. He can also offer an outside look into Duluth Politics. He also can give us in site into Michigan politics and his thoughts on the many other issues.

Mommy one will bring a women's perspective into the blog. She will bring a great perspective this blog has been missing.

Huntley has at least one challnger.

Tom Huntley who has represented House District 7A for many years will face at least one challenger. His challenger is a young man by the name of Ryan Stauber. Ryan is the son of Duluth City Councilor Jim Stauber.

I am hoping to chat with Ryan this week. I want to learn more about him. Also if he agrees to I will interview him for the blog. Whether this time or later down the road. I again will be offering the chance to interview with this blog. If you would like to learn more about Ryan Stauber you can go to his web site http://www.votestauber.com/.

Nebraska no longer has the electric chair.

Last week Nebraska stopped using it's electric chair. These chose to discontinued using the chair because they said it was to inhuman and did not always work correctly. Meaning it did not always shock them to death right away.

At this time they no longer have the death penalty because they have no way or executing. The State did however retain it's death penalty law. The vote to keep the death penalty passed by just one vote.

I am a huge supporter of the death penalty. I wish the State of Minnesota had it. As far as the argument of the chair being a cruel way to go. I don't think it is, the fact is you did something so bad (murder in most cases) then you should have what ever type of the death penalty the State has. If that is an electric chair then so be it.

Norm Coleman event.

Norm Coleman was in Duluth Wednesday to kick off his campaign. About 150 people gathered to hear the Senator. Coleman speech was about getting things done, and being optimistic about the country. You may not always agree with the way we move but everyone must be optimistic and open minded. He also said that he will work and has worked with everyone in the senate. You must be willing to give and take not just take. His likely Challenger is a person known for just taking.

Coleman said that Franken does not have a record to stand on. I in a way agree and in another way disagree. get in to that later. Coleman said I will run on my record. I will run as a proud republican. My accomplished record stands for it's self he said.

After his remarks Senator Coleman took the time to talk with everyone that wanted to. He was a treat to meet and see. I look forward to seeing him again, and getting him re-elected as Senator.

Norm Coleman event today.

I will be at the Norm Coleman campaign kickoff today. It starts at 3pm., I will not be blogging from there but I will blog after the event.

If you can come join us today at the radission.

I called this one two weeks ago.

If you listened to Talk of the Town two weeks ago you know that I called this. Tracy and I were talking about the new chief administrative officer, and that is was down to three candidates. There were two from out of town and one that held a job at the County.

He asked who I thought would get the job and I said the one from Duluth. Today the Mayor announced who would take over as his right hand man. It was in fact the candidate from Duluth.

Lisa Potswald will be the new chief administrator. She will take over for interim chief administrator John Hall. I have no issue with this appointment however I was hoping he would have went out side of the Duluth area. I believe that would have brought in new blood and some one that has no perceptions about the the job.

Henry Banks says sorry.

By now many of you know about the email that Henry Banks send to two Duluth City Councilors. Councilor Fedora and Krause received an email from Mr. Banks after being asked questions. The questions were being asked because Mr. Banks was looking to be confirmed to a committee.

Councilor Krause had asked a question about being on two city boards, well Councillor Fedora had questions about a pass application. This promoted Mr. Banks to send the email to the two councilors.

What are your thoughts on this issue? If you want to get more details you can read the paper today http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=11FA280E915F6EF8&p_docnum=1.

I do have some thoughts but don't want to be the first to comment because I don't want to dictate the way of the conversation. It is open to you start.

Here are some general questions you can think about. Does racism happen in Duluth? Does racism happen to all people? Should Mr. Banks step down from his current board? Should Fedora and Krause let it go?

You can also vote on the poll on this issue.

Lots going on.

Lots to blog about so check back and see what is going on here at DP.

What you mean another Democrat in trouble. This time a bit closer to home.

This story is in Garbon neck of the woods.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080324/ap_on_re_us/detroit_mayor

You mean another democrat in trouble. Better the the Democratic Governor will not get involved yet.

I sure am glad today is leatherhead day and other notes.

Boy am I glad that today is leatherhead day in Duluth. As many of you know two big name movie stars were in Duluth today to kick off there movie. The movie will open April 4th. Leatherheads is based loosely on the Duluth Eskimos (bulldogs) in the movie from the 1920's.



Their press conferences started at 11 a.m. today. I must have been about the only one that did not care. I am not a movie watcher. I could not tell you a single movie George Clooney or Renee Zellweger have been in.



Here is the part about it being leatherhead day in Duluth. It comes from the Duluth News Tribune. This from Duluth Mayor Don Ness to kick off the Press Conference.



Duluth Mayor Don Ness launched the 11 a.m. press conference by proclaiming March 24 as “Leatherheads’ Day” and saying he didn’t consider himself “the slickest operator in Duluth,” a line that Zellweger’s character slams Clooney with in the film.



This would have been a bigger thing if there were staying in Duluth for longer then two or three hours. The fact is they did not, it was a kick off party to announce the movie. The way the media of all types have worked this up is incredible odd to me. The fact is this had no impact on Duluth.



Now on to a few other notes. I was going to blog about Sara Jane Olson. Not sure I will other then to say she is were she belongs once again. I may or may not come back to this issue.



I will be at the Duluth City Council meeting tonight. If there is anything interesting I will pass it along.



I hope you all hade a great Easter. We spend the weekend down in St.Cloud.

Disc Golf: Should this be part of the city parks?

Note: I have moved this up. If anyone would like to comment please feel free to. The commnets so far are a bit out of line so if you have not read them please read from the top and work your way down. For some reason the commends are not in order. By the way Jim thanks for the info. I will post a comment to them soon.


Disc golf courses should they be part of the Duluth Parks and Recreations?

This is a question, I know nothing about disc golf. Never played it and have not heard much about it. I wonder however if it is as popular as people say it is then why not open a private course? One not ran by the city?

These are just a couple of questions. Maybe some one can give me there thoughts and enlighten me on what the game is.

Duluth Citizens Blog.

It seems as if the Duluth Citizens Blog may shut down again. At least that is the threat by the new operator. He says if there is not contributions made to the site he can not afford to operate the blog any longer.

My question is why do they need money. It is fairly cheap to run a site, in some cases even free. Why the trouble? Is there legal action or something?

Anyone have any idea?

Watch this>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMaMYL_shxc

Watch this and let me know your thoughtgs.

Just a side note people have asking me how to get a hold of me with out leaving a comment. Just email me at duluthneedshelp@yahoo.com

Mayor Ness to hold public meetings .

As many of you know Well City Councilor Don Ness was running for Duluth Mayor he promised that the office would be open to all. The Mayor announced that in fact he will be holding open meetings. The meetings will take place on Tuesday nights. They will be once a month meetings.

I like this idea. I hope this is some thing he continues for his term.

The meetings will take place the last Tuesday of every month. With the first one coming March 25th. They will all start at 5p.m.

This came from the Duluth Journal web site: www.duluthjournal.com

Duluth Mayor Don Ness will hold his first ‘Mayor’s Night’ event with Duluth citizens at City Hall next Tuesday at 5 p.m. — and continuing until each person has a chance to speak with the mayor.
The meetings will be held in the Fourth Floor Reception Room, which is Room 405, and held monthly on the last Tuesday of each month.

“It’s important that the Mayor’s office is open and accessible to all Duluth citizens,” Ness said. “I can’t guarantee that every issue will be resolved or that we’ll find agreement on every issue at hand — but every person will have their chance to express themselves and know that I have heard their perspective.”

‘Mayor’s Night’ events will give citizens regular opportunities to meet with Mayor Ness and senior city staff. Citizens can come to the Reception Room to sign in. Meetings with the mayor will be on a first come-first served basis. All citizens taking part will have an opportunity to meet with the mayor, though the presence of larger numbers of citizens may mean slightly shorter meeting times.

“This event is another small step in our efforts to improve service and accountability in City Hall,” said Ness. “The important thing is to make sure everyone is heard and all legitimate concerns are placed in a system where we can act on them and follow up.”

Plug!!!

I know that I have plugged this site before but I want to do it again.


It is an outstanding site. Duluth Solutions is the site. Find them at www.duluthsolutions.com. The topics very. The point of the site is to bring people together and come up with ways of improving Duluth. You can also bring up topics of other interest as well. The site offers more then I can put into words so check them out. Plus I don't want Chris to be mad at me :) I have plugged my site there.

Hey Chris anything you want to add feel free!!

When can I expect my Federal rebate check?

This is from the Duluth News Tribune, find then online at www.duluthnewstribune.com.

The Internal Revenue Service today announced that federal tax rebates will be distributed on the basis of the last two digits of Social Security numbers beginning May 2. Payments will be completed in July.
Those who designated direct deposit of their federal tax refunds will receive the rebates that way. Those who didn’t will receive paper checks.
The only thing most people need to do to receive what’s called the economic stimulus payment is file their federal 2007 income tax returns, IRS spokeswoman Carrie Resch said.
However, some low-income workers, railroad retirees and Social Security and veterans benefits recipients who don’t normally file must do so this year to receive the rebates. The IRS is sending a mailing beginning this week with information for those people.
With few exceptions, payments will be made in this order for tax returns received and processed by April 15.
For direct deposit payments, if the last two digits of your Social Security number are:
00 – 20, payment is expected by May 2.
21 – 75, expected by May 9.
76 – 99, expected by May 16.
For paper checks:
00 – 09, the check should be in the mail by May 16.
10 – 18, in the mail by May 23.
19 – 25, in the mail by May 30.
26 – 38, in the mail by June 6.
39 – 51, in the mail by June 13.
52 – 63, in the mail by June 20.
64 – 75, in the mail by June 27.
76 – 87, in the mail by July 4.
88 – 99, in the mail by July 11.

Core Services.

What is a core service to you that the city should provide? I believe that the city needs to focus on emergency services, controlling crime and drug deals that go on in Duluth. I also believe that the city must work heavily on improving our roads. As many of you know Duluth roads are in deplorable shape.

This is not because of city workers, it is because of the city's choices. We have decided for far to long to not pay any attion to our streets. Now in most cases we are needing to totally re-haul a street that is fixed. I know many people don't believe that the over-lay program works. Here is the deal it would if we did not let the streets get so bad. I also think it is time that Duluth takes a look at alternate forms of street martial. Most of our streets are pavement (black top). I believe we would get better wear and longer use of our streets if we used concrete. Much like Mesabi Ave. is.

The Duluth City Council has robbed the fund that is to improve our streets for many years. We can ill-effort this to continue. Many of the new faces on our city council ran saying that our roads and infrastructure was a major focus. Now is the time to hold the feet to the fire.

I will have much more on this topic tonight and all this week. This is a huge topic facing Duluth politics right now. We all need to encourage our councilors to support core services. I have not yet said what I believe are all the core services but they will all be brought up in the post to come. What do you believe our core services are?

Norm Coleman coming to Duluth part 2.

As stated before Senator Norm Coleman is coming to Duluth. This will be all part of officially kicking off his re-election campaign. His visit will be held at the Raddison Hotel in Downtown Duluth. The visit will be from 3-4 p.m.

If you would like to attend please drop me an email and let me know, www.duluthneedshelp@yahoo.com . Now would be a good time for me to mention as well that I am the coordinator for the East and Central hillside areas of Duluth for Senator Colman's re-election. If you live in this area of town please contact me if you would like to help with the campaign. The job is a volunteer position.

Mike Ciresi Drops out of the Senate race.

The best DFL candidate in my mind dropped out of the race yesterday. I was not going to support Mr. Ciresi however I thought he was the best candidate the DFL had. I first read the news at www.minnesotademocratsexposed. Followed by a story on the www.duluthnewstribune.com site.

My first thought was, to bad. The best candidate they offer drops out because he feels he can't win the nomination. I was cheering for Mr. Ciresi to win the DFL nomination. I then expected a tight race for the guy I do support Senator Coleman. Mike offered the a common sense approach on many issues. It does not matter if you agree with him or not. He and I don't agree many times, however in the few times I have had the chance to talk with him he was very respectful.

Senator Colman had this to say about the news, "Mike Ciresi should be applauded for his willingness to get into the arena and his desire to serve. He and I both share a common path in having raised our families here and making a commitment to serving the people of Minnesota through public and community service. He would have been a formidable opponent. Laurie and I and our family extend our best wishes to Mike and Anne."

I think by Ciresi dropping out of the race it will only help the re-election Mr. Coleman. It sure is my hope anyway. I don't see a lot of the people that would have voted for Mike voting for Al Fraken. Even if Ciresi endorses him.

Well Well Well..........

All I have to say for now is this. No one is perfect nor is any party. The Democrats love to call the republicans, well here is one for you Democrats http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23561606. Talk about this why don't you?

*****UPDATE******
Here is another interesting story, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/ap_on_re_us/spitzer_prostitution.

This story seems to have more legs then the Senator Craig story did and does. I am not defending senator Craig at this time but the two story's seem to go in a different direction. Well the Senator's story line is unclear as to what happened this seems to be cut and dry for N.Y. Governor.

I hope to have a full story and thoughts up soon tonight. Tell then happy reading the above story's.

Norm Coleman coming to Duluth

Senator Norm Coleman will be making an appearance in Duluth. It will be to officially kick off his re-election campaign. He will be in town March 26th. He will be in town late afternoon. More info to come.

Just aside note his appearance is four days after my 30th birthday, on March 22nd. It is also my best friends birthday.

Mayor Ness: How has he done the first couple of month.

Mayor elect Don Ness very quickly became the Mayor of Duluth. The move was quick and quite for the most part.

Now that he has been in office for a couple of month, I thought we would take a look at what has gone on. Let me start by saying I believe it is way to early to pass major judgement on how he is doing.

I have to say he wanted to keep city topics off the front page and out of the news. He has done a good job so far. I think that is clear by this blog not having a lot of local issues to talk about the last couple of weeks. I like that there seems to be less complain in city government at least so far. This may not stay the case. If it does not however I am not sure that this mayor would be at fault. That all remains to be seen.

The mayor at this point has not done a lot, however that must be expected. What he has done is said he would like to help out our sewer system, by using sump pumps instead of our current system. I don't have a feeling on this as of yet either way.

He has also announced that Duluth will host a new festival. Other then that with a few small other items in there not much to report.

Over all at this point I think the Mayor is doing okay. Time will tell what direction Duluth will move. I remain optimistic at this point. However that does not mean that I won;t be critical when I think I need to be. I will also give praise when deserved as well.