Legalectric

OH MY DOG! Did you know I’m a terrorist? In what world…

Red Wing’s Mayor Mike Wilson apparently thinks I’m a terrorist? Maybe that’s why last April he demanded that the Chair of Red Wing’s Sustainability Commission NOT present me with their Jay McCleary Sustainability Award for my environmental and energy work, at the Council meeting that night, as is standard practice! Just NO! He has no right, and no basis, to make such demands. Needless to say, the show went on:

Wilson apparently thinks I’m a terrorist? Guess that’s why, back in April 2021, when I’d sent flyers out about the City Attorney’s position on the Red Wing recall, that he badgered and berated me with a phone call demanding to know who I sent it to, where I got the list, and loudly and forcefully said “DON’T YOU EVER SEND ANYTHING TO ME AT MY HOME ADDRESS!” What? What a crime that is… (and so logically, I wasn’t about to drop anything off at his door!) Oh how I wish I had recorded that call. After all, the recall flyer I sent was so threatening and revolutionary:

And the bizarreness continues. So what happened last week? It started with a letter in a drop box. Why put a letter in the drop box? There was a Probable Cause hearing scheduled for September 19, and by 4:30 p.m. on September 18, we were to file any exhibits, by email, to all parties and the judge at Office of Administrative Hearings. I couldn’t get it done by 4:30 — I’d requested an estimate on the cost for signs in various locations to get an idea of “market rates” and received it late on the 18th (that turn around was quick and appreciated), so I formatted the pages, wrote a quick cover letter, and here it is, the Cover and Exhibit:

Pretty scary stuff, huh…

I tried to file with OAH but it wouldn’t let me in. Next I fired off email to Gary Iocco’s campaign email, looked up RRJ Redwing’s Dehn Oil and found John Dehn’s email (CEO according to Secretary of State), and then spent ages looking for an email for Mike Wilson other than the City email. The only one I could find was for his Red Wing Marine Museum, info@redwingmarinemuseum, but that bounced. That left the option of heading over to the “headquarters,” 2355 Old West Main per the business registration at Secretary of State’s Office, and finding a place to put it. There is a drop box there for the drivers, keys and ? maybe a bill of lading? inside, other paperwork in sheet protectors. I put it in, carefully positioning the envelope to have my logo on the edge, easily identifiable with my name and address, and snapped this photo:

Then I texted this photo to Wilson and my neighbor Joanne who works there, to let them know it was in the drop box. Clear example of “best efforts.”

September 18th, after I’d dropped off the letter and let Wilson and my neighbor know about the letter, Wilson somehow went from hearing about it and seeing a photo of it to being so “concerned” that he “had to notify authorities” — and yet he’ seen on video that I’d put a letter in the driver’s drop box at 2355 Old West Main. Moi, clearly ID’d. WHAT?!?!

“HAD TO NOTIFY AUTHORITIES” SNORT!

Well, I did check with the Red Wing Police the afternoon of September 19, after learning of Wilson’s fear and that he “had to notify authorities.” RWPD’s Records person was very helpful. They “don’t have anything with Wilson’s name on it” and there had been “no call to Dispatch that would have created a call.” Hmmmmmm, what authorities were notified? Or were they?

Wilson’s response on the record, to my placing the letter in the drop box, as stated during the Probable Cause hearing:

I was contacted last night by the manager that something was left in a mailbox down there at the Wilson Oil Company office, and I wasn’t sure, she said it was an envelope placed in there with, and I saw somebody sent me a picture of it, and I wasn’t sure who that came from, so I wasn’t sure, with nowdays with, I was very concerned about that, and, because I didn’t know if there was something dangerous in there, or I didn’t know what to do about it, so I had to notify authorities, so this is putting mail in a mail box, is a, well, nowdays the way things are going, I was very concerned, and my family was very concerned, so we didn’t know what to do.

What to do? Oh, I just don’t know what to do!!! Well, how about look at the photo with MY NAME and MY return address?

DOH! How about ask the manager, my neighbor, who called him? (After I’d sent the text, I called my neighbor to let her know what it was about, and she’s a fully competent human, and I’d guess when she called him later, she’d let him know that I’d put it there.)

And the text to his cell — apparently it struck terror into his heart! Again, how about asking “the manager” who was on the text as well? And he should remember that number because he’d called me twice on that number after looking it up — he should know! And since I know he can look up my number, as he did before his phone calls, well, even if he didn’t, how about google or whitepages? My phone number is no secret!

Here’s the full text of his comments in the Probable Cause hearing, not an official transcript, but a pretty close rendition (this weirdness was PAINFUL to listen to, initially, and the many replays it took to capture it in writing):

Just WOW! It must be painful to walk around with a worldview like that, fearful, so concerned, you know how it is these days, and he’s the Mayor and security is so important, and him not knowing what to do. Not able to ask the manager why she was calling, what she knew about it. Maybe he’s not able to read? But my name, address, and logo was out there, up front. No words needed, he said he saw the video and that he recognized it was me — so how does he get from my presence with a letter to being “so concerned” that he “had to notify authorities.” How was it “very disturbing.” As is said often these days, “THAT’S JUST WEIRD!”

Thanks to Shawn’s sister, Jeanne McGovern Acuna, for putting together a gathering to remember a unique character in our lives.

We blasted in late, GRRRRRRRRRRR, we were headed up to Tettegouche afterwards, and, well, GRRRRRRR, and missed some/most of the service. In the rush, something I forgot to bring up was how I learned much about sound and electricity from him, and I didn’t realize it until later, like less than a year. How was it that later that I walked into KFAI and started in radio, 2 programs over the years, and years of live on-air mix of the 9-Oscar show at the Riv, and bar and concert sound (I’ll never forget the 5 part monitor mix for Sweet Honey in the Rock. Bernice Johnson Reagon wanted, and got, just right).

I did bring up remembrances of the many, many pages of calculations for the speakers he made (my brother gave me his, and Shawn replaced the blown tweeters a couple years ago), from the design of the basic box (his time as a cabinet maker paid off) to determining the number of winds for the hand wound crossovers. Hand wound, blister inducing, crossovers.

This one was from FIFTY years ago when we lived on 12th — I didn’t know he was sending himself designs to “copyright.”

Jeanne and Tom had found many examples and put together a display of his work, his business plan, and he’d even received a grant to get that business going — he had a well stocked shop, and at long last got a space to work in. He gave that rolling box of pipe clamps to Alan years ago.

It was good to see the family, meet the “new” ones, especially Jeanne’s son who is working for Sierra Club down in Rochester. Welcome to southeast Minnesota! I’d presume we’d have projects in tandem, hoping so!

Last week, I filed a Complaint with Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) regarding Gary Iocco for Mayor and his sign on the roof along Hwy. 61, above. In his Campaign Finance Report, he says he paid big bucks for the sign, but the sign lease was $1. Right… Campaigns are supposed to pay market rate for a sign lease.

Just now, I’ve received the OAH determination of prima facie violation and setting of a probable cause hearing.

There’s a probable cause hearing on THURSDAY! Whew, that’s fast!

Who owns the roof on which the sign is posted? Is it Dehn Oil, the “new” owner of a handful of parcels there, or is it Wilson Oil, which has a corporate HQ on one of that group of parcels?

Turns out, it doesn’t matter to OAH, the complaint goes forward with all 3 Respondents. Which corporation contributed the roof space for the sign and it’ll all come out in the wash.

ONWARD!

This Thursday in a rare divided vote, 3 of the 5 Commissioner of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved moving the Megellan pipeline in southern Minnesota to a route near Pipestone National Monument and to an area where there are active pipestone quarries. Commission Chair Sieben and Vice Chair Sullivan voted against it, and Commissioners Ham, Means, and Tuma voted for it.

The Administrative Law Judge had recommended it be approved, but that’s just a Recommendation, and the it goes to the Commission — the PUC is “the decider.”

OAH FOF, Conclusions & Recommendation 7-17-24

Here are the route options reviewed, and “RA-02” was the one recommended — it’s the purple one going north and then east in the middle of this map:

Here’s the PUC staff Briefing Papers laying out staff perspective with decision options (at the end) and then additional decision options:

• Briefing Papers
• New Decision Option 1.a-Commissioner Tuma
• New Decision Options-Commissioner Sieben
• New Decision Option 3.b.i-Commissioner Tuma
• New Decision Option 4.a-Commissioner Tuma

The PUC’s discussion begins at 3:29:09:

https://minnesotapuc.granicus.com/player/clip/2418?meta_id=265921

In the STrib:

Minnesota regulators narrowly approve gas pipeline near Pipestone Monument

NoCapX 2020 and the Prehn Family petitioned for intervention in the “Mankato-Mississippi River” transmission line, a/k/a Wilmarth-North Rochester-Tremval (plus a Chester spin off).

Now the work begins.

To look at the filings in the dockets, go HERE to the PUC’s eDockets page, click “eDockets” again, and search for 22-532 (Certificate of Need) or 23-157 (Routing):

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