Locally Grown

Northfield News Managing Editor Jaci Smith’s column in today’s paper is titled Heroin is here and it is a problem.

And one thing I was never completely confident of was the breadth of the “problem.” I could never really get an answer, even after I began working here, on the veracity of Smith’s numbers. He said that as many as 250 young people were abusing opiates in Northfield. I’m pretty confident now that he was right.

Reporters Suzanne Rook, David Henke and I have interviewed dozens of individuals on both sides of the battle: those who either knew of someone or themselves took or sold heroin and OxyContin (a pharmaceutical opiate) and those who were trying to save the abusers. We’ve spoken with medical officials, school officials, state health officials, county health and public safety officials and statisticians.

Here are the links to the Northfield News ‘Heroin One year later’ series of stories (final six not yet published): 

• Heroin in Northfield: One year later
• Ken and Judi Malecha discover their son Jake is using heroin 
• After living through the worst, Ellen and her daughter, Alexis, move forward — together 
• Staying clean is a struggle for Rick, but this time, he believes it’s different 
• Jake’s story, Part 2: ‘I’m not an addict’
• Brian’s story: Possessed by drugs 
• Branden’s story: Finding a way out
• Lori’s story: In constant fear
• The Malechas turn tragedy into a crusade, vowing to ensure their son’s death isn’t in vain
• How the support of a community turned Gjeni’s life around
• Neil says a friend’s death will keep him sober
• The city’s medical community reacts with support, specialized care
• The arrests, and what law enforcement is doing to curb heroin and OxyContin abuse
• Drug education, canine searches: what the schools can and should do.

Here are the links to the drug-related blog posts and podcasts we’ve done here on Locally Grown in the past year:

• Heroin use among high school students in Northfield, Jun.22 2007, 294 comments
• Police press conference on Northfield’s heroin problem, Jul.3 2007
• Results: Northfield Community Straw Poll on Illegal Use of Drugs, Jul.11 2007
• Podcast: Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith and Northfield Schools Superintendent Chris Richardson, Jul.11 2007
• City Council and School Board meet in joint session to discuss drug abuse, Jul.17 2007
• Feedback wanted: our coverage of the heroin story, Jul.18 2007, 84 comments
• Podcast: The never-ending heroin/police chief story, Jul.18 2007
• Community response to drug abuse: What’s next?, Jul.24 2007, 26 comments
• Northfield’s heroin story revisited: a newspaper, a grandfather, a minister, Sep.23 2007, 40 comments
• The Northfield News interview with Police Chief Gary Smith, Oct.6 2007, 40 comments 
• Police Chief Gary Smith responds, Oct.26 2007, 15 comments
• Carol Falkowski’s drug (presentation) bust: no recording or questions allowed; no mention of Northfield’s drug problem, Oct.30 2007, 40 comments
• Some questions about the implementation of D.A.R.E. in Northfield, Feb.26 2008, 170 comments

Yesterday was a picture-perfect hometown 4th. See the photos of the kiddie parade, kids carnival, kids dance, criterium bike race, vintage baseball (thanks to Susan Hvistendahl), rock bands, and fireworks from the footbridge.

See the album of 100+ photos or this slideshow:

I saw Northfield Hospital emperor Ken Bank this morning (we were both loading up on drugs at GBM) and told him I was going to blog my surgery experience yesterday at his house of pain. Not to worry, I told him. The staff who I had contact with were terrific.

It started the moment I walked into the Day Surgery unit at 6 am and met the nurse, Laurie LaMoore (from Cannon Falls, I later learned). After I changed into one of those flattering hospital gowns, she noticed I was cold and brought me a heated blanket. Heated! I should have asked for a hot toddy, now that I think of it.

Then anesthesiologist Jim Moy arrived and he spent probably 20 minutes carefully explaining all the details and rationale for everything he was about to do. It included a story of his own rotator cuff surgery, which I really appreciated. (His injury, like mine, can legitimately be blamed on our offspring.)

Since I have two shoulders, but only one in need of repair, every subsequent staffer I met subjected me to a line of questions, eg: who are you, why are you here, what’s your address, which shoulder, etc.  All that, of course, to prevent surgical debacles like removing the wrong kidney. It was reassuring to know that these folks were following the guidelines to the T.

I saw my surgeon, Bob Shepley (shown here with some babe he picked up at the Governor’s Ball) just before I faded into the sunset. Bob did my ACL a few years back and since that worked out well, I thought I give him some repeat business. My sweetie was there to greet me in recovery (she also had great things to say about the staff) and I was on my way home in a shoulder sling strapped to my body before noon. Piece o’ cake.

After a long nap, Robbie and I went to see Wall-E at the Southgate (hilarious). I hit the sack around midnight as the surgical block was wearing off (at the precise time Jim Moy predicted). A bag of ice and a Tylenol got me through the night and I was back blogging at my corner office at 6 am.

I do feel a nap coming on, tho. I better get one in before the kiddie parade begins. Photo duty left-handed today.

Northfielder Ben Witt stopped by my corner office this morning. Ben’s the owner of Milltown Cycles in Faribault, has both a Milltown Cyles blog and a Milltown Cycles 4th of July Criterium blog. The Crit is the bike race that’s been held in downtown Northfield for the past few years on the 4th. He’s the main man for it.

Situated in historic downtown Northfield, this race will challenge not only your stamina, but your technical ability as well. With fast paced sharp corners, a technical split up hill, and a perfect set up for a sprint finish, the course appeals to many types of riders. With a full day of racing including a small parade and kids race, there’s something for everyone. The city of Northfield also comes alive with food vendors, live music, and historical tours of the famous Jesse James raid.

District 2 Rice County Board member Galen Malecha phoned me Wed. night, alerting me to a billboard on I-35 at the Rice/Scott county line and a web site called RiceCoJobs.com.

Attorney Clinton McLagon is a business partner for an outdoor advertising company, according to the Thursday edition of the Faribault Daily News which has a story on the issue titled, Sign questions local leaders. McLagon…

… approached the Rice County planning and zoning commission April 22 on behalf of three Rice County residents to look at changing the zoning ordinances for the land between County Road 1 and Highway 19.

… McLagan said businesses are leaving urban areas and having billboards is a way to attract them to more rural areas. He said those who petitioned would be compensated for use of their land for the billboards. “We had a petition to change the definition in the zoning ordinance to allow billboards on some of the properties,” he said. “It would give them the opportunity to develop their land in the future.”

… At a May 20 work session, the commissioners agreed not to look into changing the zoning ordinances to allow billboards at that time.

There is a national company called Interstate Outdoor Advertising but the RiceCoJobs.com web site spells it “Interstate Outdoor Advertizing LLC” with the same address as McLagon.  The photo on the site has been doctored to make it look like it’s a photo of the one on I35. The Fbo paper’s web site has an actual photo.

I used my digital voice recorder to capture the audio while watching last night’s NTV’s showing of the Wed. night special city council meeting (agenda PDF photo is from earlier this year).

(The audio throughout the meeting was crappy so don’t blame me and my home electronics. Remind me to blog separately about why, after spending tens of thousands of dollars on council chambers technology, we can’t get good audio. AAARRRGGGHHH!)

Click play to listen. 1 hour 36 minutes. Or download the MP3.

LWV Observer Jane McWilliams has blogged her report of the meeting, so be sure to read that before commenting here.

Regarding the logistics of the meeting, Jane noted:

Two resolutions were distributed at the meeting (and not prior to that time, as far as the League observer was able to determine), as well as an unsigned memo attached to the curriculum vitae of Richard F. Fursman. The observer commented during the public comments that it was unfortunate for both the public and the members of the council that the materials hadn’t been made available prior to the meeting. It made consideration of the very difficult issues more difficult.

Listen to Jane’s comments at the 8 min 20 sec mark. I agree with her. The City had 3 full days to get the resolutions on the meeting’s web page. And they’re still not there. Roger Knutson, the special counsel at the meeting, didn’t even bring a copy of Roder’s employment contract to the meeting. Shouldn’t he have been prepared?

After the Council accepted his resignation, City Administrator Al Roder read a statement (13 min 30 sec mark) blasting Mayor Lee Lansing for his treatment of Roder during his tenure. He then asked that the Council pay him 6 months severance along with $6,200 of attorney fees beyond the $7,500 that they agreed to pay. Jane wrote:

Before the council began their discussion, Roder spoke frankly about the conflicts he had had with Mayor Lansing, who, Roder said, asked him to resign in March 2007. On the basis of that request, Roder said he is due severance pay at his departure. He asserted he had been subject to abusive treatment by Lansing. He said his desire is to move on with his career. He said his ability to negotiate salary advancement in a new position has been eroded by allegations, and that he is making a lateral move at a financial cost to himself and his family.

After council discussion, the public was allowed to comment (listen at the 42 min. mark). Charter Commission members Bill Beck and Victor Summa (speaking as citizens) both blasted the Council (among other things) for their willingness to even consider paying Roder severance. Beck threatened to file a lawsuit. Councilor Davis tangled with Beck, arguing that severance was not on the agenda.

During the final public comment period:

• Don McGee spoke at the 1 hr 12 min mark
• Former councilor Dixon Bond spoke at the 1 hr 14 min mark
• Jane McWilliams spoke at the 1 hr 16 min mark
• Victor Summa spoke at the 1 hr 18 min mark
• Kiffi Summa spoke at the 1 hr 20 min mark

During the final wrap-up comments:

• Councilor Davis took issue with McGee’s criticism that the Council needed a good job description for City Admin, blasting Lansing indirectly. He also took issue with Jane McWilliams (and others) about how the meeting was scheduled (1 hr 24 min mark).
• Councilor Denison defended the rationale for calling the meeting and how it was handled (1 hr 28 min mark) and blasted Kiffi Summa for her ongoing criticisms of him.
• Councilor Pokorney commented that he’d love to write a book about the whole experience (1 hr 31 min mark).

Okeh, this post has nothing to do with the lecture that I got from my Locally Grown cohorts yesterday at the Cow for being a little too quiet lately. This is all about Griff.

Apparently he’s having surgery today. I can’t remember what it’s all about, maybe breast augmentation for a new wardrobe of sleazewear or something along those lines.

Whatever he’s having cut, stapled, or enhanced, there’s a real fear among the local media mavens that he won’t be able to do his usual coverage of the 4th of July Celebration. Therefore, we need all active and potential citizen journalists to step up to the plate and take a swing at capturing this important community event on film…or, uh, I guess…pixels.

There will be a lot of photo opportunities. There’s a Flea Market in Ames Park at 9 am, Vintage Baseball in Old Main Field at St. Olaf at 1 pm, a Yankee Doodle Kiddie Parade along Division Street at 1 pm, the Northfield Knights and Dundas Dukes in Sechler Park at 2 pm, a Presentation of the Colors at 7:30 pm and, thanks to Dan Freeman and the rest of the community, Fireworks at Dusk. From 1:30 to 9:30 pm, or most of the day, there will be all sorts of entertaining performances on the Showmobile in Bridge Square.

So join the fun on the 4th. And help Griff save Northfield.

Our Representative Journalism colleagues have hired the first journalist for the project, Bonnie Obremski. She’s packing up her stuff in North Adams, Massachusetts where’s she been a news reporter for the The North Adams Transcript the past two years. After a cross-country drive, she’ll arrive in Northfield sometime early next week. We hope to have her on next week’s podcast.

See all our RepJ-related blog posts for more.

I chatted with Northfielder Justin Plank this morning at the Blue Monday. Justin is the bass player for Gospel Gossip which performed at the JuneBug 2008 Music Festival on Saturday.

Left: Justin Plank
Center: Sarah Nienaber
Right: Ollie Moltaji

Justin told me that they’ll be leaving on a 40-day/25 gig tour of the U.S. in early August. On Aug 8-9, they’ll be one of 15 ‘college bands’  invited to perform/compete at the New American Music Festival in PA where Bob Dylan, the Raconteurs, the Roots, Gnarls Barkley and Spoon will headline.

They sounded different to me at JuneBug than when they played at the Cow last December (blogged here on LG by Ross). Justin said that they rarely perform any of the tracks from their first CD anymore. He said they’re working on a new CD and are maybe 3/4 of the way there.

Keep track of them on their Gospel Gossip website and their Gospel Gossip MySpace page.

We celebrated the 100th podcast episode of Locally Grown today with a cookie and a candle (okay, a match) and then later, ceremoniously crumbled it over a beer. Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Freakin’-Dah, eh?

We then launched into a discussion about who’s running and who ain’t for City Council, Mayor, School Board, and County Board.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes. You can also subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes. Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Wednesdays at 5:30 PM on KYMN 1080 AM.

And more news on the biking/sustainability front: 2006 ArTech graduate Colin Colby, inspired by an idea he observed while in college in Sante Fe, has started “Green Hermes”, a bicycle delivery/courier service for Northfield. His tagline is, “Supporting Local Businesses and the Conservation of Gasoline”. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest.

Northfield has a lot of “lone eagle” entrepreneurs, and I’m always interested in learning more about them. I especially like the idea of supporting home-grown entrepreneurs like Colin, so I hope this business idea takes off.

I know some of you avid cyclists out there will be checking out the rig. A former employee of Mike’s Bikes, Colin and his former boss Mike Moyer put together this custom job specifically for the purpose. Those are some seriously fat tires.

Green Hermes has posted flyers at Blue Monday, EconoFoods, and other places around town listing his services and contact info. Rates range from $5-9 depending upon the size/weight of the delivery. Colin can be contacted by email or, for faster response, by phone (952-250-0320).

Best of all, Colin is both red-headed AND left-handed, a truly winning combination.

I got this email yesterday from Joe Pahr, Advisor and Social Studies Specialist at ARTech:

Today I met Andy Davis of Changing Gears.  He and his fiancee, Melissa, had stopped at Blue Monday on their way from Bloomington, Indiana to San Francisco by bicycle.  Along the way they are filming a documentary about communities and organizations that are working towards sustainable living practices.  We had quite a discussion about what is happening in Northfield…

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I am meeting them at ARTech to do an interview about the school’s solar project.  At least one of the students involved in the project will be there.  You are welcome to join us.  Andy and Melissa will be in town at least until tomorrow afternoon.  Also, I pointed out Griff’s table at Blue Monday and told them to introduce themselves. On a related note, this morning I met Anders Forselius who is cycling around the world from his native Sweden.  His website is  He hopes to be in Beijing for the Summer Olympics. All roads truly lead to Northfield.

Andy and Melissa did stop by my corner office at GBM this morning. We chatted about Northfield’s civic blogosphere and citizen engagement… and our mutual history with Utne Salons.

I’m hoping they stick around till this afternoon to catch our podcast recording session and maybe a beer at the Cow afterwards.

They blogged the first day of their visit to Northfield. I expect they’ll have another post in a day or two.’

11:30am update: Andy and Melissa stayed in Bruce Anderson’s backyard last night. Bruce blogged them.

I took this videoclip of The Zillionaires playing at JuneBug night #3 on Saturday. I panned the crowd a bit, too.

Click play to watch. 2 min 30 sec.

The NDDC’s July Downtown Forum featured Northfield Police Chief Mark Taylor yesterday morning a the Archer House.  I captured the audio of his presentation and most of the Q&A. He handed out the department organization chart (right photo).

Click play to listen. 50 minutes.

LoGroNo (Locally Grown Northfield) traffic for June was up over the previous month, according to Google Analytics:

• Visits: 21,788. Previous: 19,811 (+9.98%)
• Absolute Unique Visitors: 6,556. Previous: 6,236 (+5.13%)
• Pageviews: 56,099. Previous: 47,982 (+16.92%)

I think those are all-time highs for visits and pageviews. All-time high for unique visitors was 6,927 in April.

#1 blog post for June: 6/2 City Council meeting - what happened? with 3,478 Pageviews, 2,661 Unique.

Participation:

Number of people commenting during the month: 122. Previous: 124

Number of comments posted during the month: 931. Previous: 899