Bradbury Township

Mille Lacs News

Letters to the Editor

Uncensored!

as it should be.

9/4/2007

Hannabelle is Right

I am writing to respond to the few hecklers who have commented on Hannabelle’s Blog.  The whole thing has turned into a real shouting match.  RM can only make personal attacks against Hannabelle! He has yet to address any of the issues. Local Yokel and Anonymous (whomever) have been as inarticulate in their responses as well.  John D. at least tried some reason but soon fell into the same junior high school attitude.

The fact of the matter is that there are at least 20 households that are in agreement with Hannabelle (in fact we have over 90 signatures of people that opposed the annexation) and will be affected by a decision made by a few city council members and Nexus executives.  This without our knowledge, input or consideration.  This is what our forefathers fought against in the American Revolution and they stood up against it!  We have the right to stand up against it as well.  And we will!

Who really benefits from this decision?  A few minimum wage jobs in town and the local area?  Nexus does not even advertise their higher paying jobs in the local papers.  These people commute from the Twin Cities, Brainerd, Little Falls and other distant communities.  If Nexus selects a different location, the jobs won't be lost; the people might have to commute.  As far as the local economy these people don’t shop here.  They all have their own favorite locations close to their homes.  This type of facility doesn’t attract additional businesses it just leaches off the services of the community it is in.   Nexus wants to do this without paying its fair share of taxes.  The boys they treat return to their respective counties and communities and hopefully lead a productive life for a time.  This does not benefit this community.  All of this comes with the added exposure to possible tragic life changing incidents for the local residents or one of the boys.  Don’t tell me that there have been no injuries to staff, no escapes or runaways.  These have happened and will happen in the future and it is only a matter of time.  You can talk on your cell phone safely hundreds of times while driving, but there will come that one time when the sewage truck pulls out in front of you when you look down to get the right button and then you’re in deep shit!  With the attitudes of the people that have been in favor of the Nexus move to our neighborhood, I know I don’t want to trust their competency to keep an incident from happening.  It just takes one to destroy someone’s life forever, and you can’t take it back.

Then there is the recent rendering of the proposed complex posted on the Nexus web site.  What struck me in the drawings was not only the three large, three story dormitory buildings and the large office/administration building (that the city wants to zone R2 – Hah!)  But the large paved parking lot that stretches out to the horizon.  I am sure this will all come with 24 hour incandescent lighting and three changes of shifts with traffic at all hours of the day and night 7 days a week.  Not to mention the delivery trucks, buses and vans.  Nexus said they might have to remove a couple of trees.  Well with this plan, the property will have to be clear cut and tons of fill brought in for the wet lands.  This is not, to quote the Nexus’ architect, “A small footprint”!  It’s a boot up our ass!  This is just the beginning.  The ball field will come next, then the auditorium, then additional treatment facilities and inmates (and they are inmates, the majority have been convicted of harmful acts and crimes and placed there by the court system!  This is not Boys Town with Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy).   There goes the neighborhood!  As well as thousands of dollars of our property values, and the right to a peaceful life.

The basic fact of the matter is that this, a residential, rural neighborhood, is NOT the type of location for this type of facility!  There are more suitable locations.  Hannabelle has tried to address the issues logically, sometimes a little abrasively, but she is not one to mince words and she is fighting for our property values and our freedom of choice in the matter.  All she gets is junior high school name calling and outright hatred!  When we first opposed this project we were immediately marked with the sign of the Devil (666), and were called Naysayers, Bradbury idiots and other not so nice names.  Hannabelle is just trying to tell it like it is.  I guess some people just can’t stand the truth!  So if these hecklers have something to say they should use facts not their mindless venom.

Curt L.