Only Residents can speak? Are nonresidents welcome?

1. Shifting the load of police protection from city to county isn't free. I doubt the sheriff's dept can provide "the same" protection and service, but even if it is reasonably comparable (the sheriff's office does not perform exactly like a police dept), I doubt they can do it without additional manpower. So the cost, after fees from the city, would shift back to county taxpayers. Has the county said they want to step up to do this? I have yet to see a situation where servicing a city is not a costly proposition for a county. Counties struggle to spread their meager resources as it is.

2. It seems to me that there was a terrific rush to chase the easiest solution, rather than explore and research in the process of formulating creative and 'most effective' solutions. Hey, if the federal government cut social security or the military, we'd be flush overnight...easy, not smart.

3. The 'research' cited above is not research -- it is the discovery of some raw data without context or interpretation or even analysis. I'm annoyed that throwing out a few generalized sentences is repeatedly offered as 'evidence' and 'research.' It is unfortunate that an individual gets defensive and insulting when asked to create a case. So far, the only case I've seen (after overlooking all the snipes and name calling) was a progression of "you can't understand it, so let the elect handle the decisions," followed by, "there's plenty of evidence, trust me," succeeded by, "how dare you ask," and moving right along to, "I looked it up for three hours, so there." This is a case? It is not sufficient to say to the citenzenry, "the facts show" when you don't include the facts themselves. I think we can take it -- we manage to balance our checkbooks and pay the bills. Most of us are smart enough not to write blank checks or turn our money over to people touting vague entitlements for it.

There is another problem with Mr. Arndt's letter. It reminds me of the behind the back rumor mill that proliferates this community.

We do not want facts, we want gossip. As Zorro points out, the documents given to the city council was just raw data to be interpreted anyway that you wish.

The method it was given to the council was a covert letter to each councilmen and no copies to anyone else.

It was similiar to the way Vicki Oakes went to the Chamber behind our backs and we were not allowed a response until after the damage had already been done.

To the Chamber: Should Mr. Arndt really be allowed to sit on your board? To call anyone uneducated in a public letter is bad enough. To call your neighboring state uneducated, questions the education of the person making the statement. Mr. Arndt is a poor spokesmen for the Chamber. I think you can do better. Maybe someone from Big Stone City would volunteer? That would help mend the fences created by Mr. Arndt.

After Mr. Arndt sent his letter on the previous page to the City Council I contacted a member of the Chamber board and informed them of the unkind comments made about South Dakota residents. It looks like there's some kind of public relations attempt on the Big Stone Lake Area Chamber of Commerce website now.

Click on the Chamber website here. You will read that the "sister cities" of Ortonville, MN and Big Stone City, SD welcome you. Sister Cities? When were we ever called "Sister Cities?" further reading adds more to the story.

"Ortonville and Big Stone City are proud to host many different Festivals and Events including world class Fishing Tournaments, TRAM, Annual Sports & Leisure Show, Horse Trail Rides, Historic Boat Tours and our Annual Cornfest."

All the events they are listing are in Ortonville. Big Stone City Doesn't have anything to do with these other than giving them money. Like, that's all we are good for. They don't list the two events that Big Stone City does put on and that is the Treasure Hunt and the Fireman's Appreciation Days. I wonder if anyone on the chamber has ever even been to the Fireman's Appreciation Days? Well, they do have a dance and beer garden in the evening. Perhaps they came to the dance.

This feined attempt to appear cozy really doesn't fly. Consider the fact that when the Farmers Market opened up in Ortonville on Saturdays and Big Stone City on Tuesdays the Chamber site only listed the Farmers Market on Saturday at the Columbian Hotel in Ortonville. See Chamber site here. When I asked why that was I was told they didn't know about the Big Stone City farmers market. They were only given information on the Ortonville Farmers Market. Really? We walked over to the bulletin board in the chamber office and there was the flyer listing both markets. They had the information. They didn't put it up. Not that it matters now, because they have stopped having the farmer's market in Big Stone City. Evidently not enough people. How can you have people without advertizing?

What difference does it make to the chamber. They can call us "sister cities" but one looks like a mean sister to me.

Lady Hawk wrote:

"Ortonville and Big Stone City are proud to host many different Festivals and Events including world class Fishing Tournaments, TRAM, Annual Sports & Leisure Show, Horse Trail Rides, Historic Boat Tours and our Annual Cornfest."

This kind of caught my eye. "Historic Boat Tours?" What historic boat tours do we have? I don't know of any boat tours on the lake since the Eahtonka II was shut down and sold because it was operating illegally. Does anyone know of any "Historic Boat Tours" operating around here?

Historic boat tours -- Tours of historic boats? Reliving boat tours of the storied past? Boat tours/tours of boats that make history?
Sorry -- Just having a little fun with that one.

It's hard to update canned copy and catch everything -- even harder if the person checking it didn't write the original version.

Be that as it may ... ... Gotcha!

Tickets for the three-hour tour can be picked up from My Little Buddy, Gilligan!

At the Recent Ortonville City Council meeting 8/3/09, ( See Council meeting here.) the council discussed the fact that Mr. Tom Oakes was being appointed to the Planning and Zoning Commission and he was not a resident of Ortonville. There was a question as to that being proper. Mr. David Lang stated that it was proper and the other council members agreed. There were some statements that the position had been open for awhile and it was hard to fill. It was believed that Mr. Tom Oakes was an experienced realtor and would bring some expertise to the board.

Evidently for some people non-residents do have a voice in the government of Ortonville, perhaps especially if one has a good name.

Now Mr. Tom Oakes will be supervising his sister-in-law Ms. Vicki Oakes on building permits.