Friday, August 24, 2007

Brass Tacks

Do you want to save this town? I mean, really? Or do you just want to use Onamia to put a few bucks in your pocket before you move on? Like a tornado, leaving death and destruction in your wake... Do you actually care about the town, or do you only care about yourself IN THE MOMENT? Because, I can tell you upfront - sex offenders and industrial parks - DUMB IDEAS, that is, if you want to SAVE the town of Onamia. Great ideas if you want to kill the town.

I've been digging around in this unholy muck for four months. And I can't believe some of the stupidity I've witnessed. First of all, people are looking for quick fixes without having long term goals, long range plans. Its the old Tortoise and the Hare story. Changes have to be made, yes. The biggest change must be in WHO is making the changes. Right now the men controlling what happens in this town are self-serving, greedy and short-sighted with junior high mentality. Do you think they have YOUR best interest at heart? Do you think they are doing what's best for Onamia?

Here is one Universal Truth that I hope you'll pull your heads out of your asses so that you can listen and try to understand. Are you ready? Repeat after me:

NO NORMAL, SANE PERSON WANTS TO LIVE WITH SEX OFFENDERS!

So, if you have a sex offender institution as a focal point in your small town, you are not going to attract the kind of people that makes a town stable and safe and prosperous. Think about it. No normal, sane person will want to move into an area where their kids will be going to school with sex offenders. PERIOD! Why do you think so many GOOD people have moved away since Nexus arrived in Onamia? I've seen it. Nexus was the beginning of the end then and now. No normal, sane person wants to live with sex offenders.

Let's talk about the school for a minute... Why do you think that Onamia's best and brightest are opting to go to school out of the city? Why go to Milaca or Pierz? Onamia doesn't have a Gifted Program in the highschool. They have SEX OFFENDERS. And of course, since the Mille Lacs Academy also has a program for individuals with low IQs, there you go: the school caters to the bottom of the students' abilities. Not the top. If you want to improve the school, get rid of the SEX OFFENDERS. Invest in the cream floating on top - before it evaporates. You are investing in the Paul Knutsons, the Dustin Hoiums, the Larry Blacks... Let somebody else deal with them - if you love Onamia. And if you want to really improve the school, get a school superintendent who has some committment to QUALITY instead of quantity; one who cares about education more than about money. Its pretty basic, people.

Industry in Onamia? Bad idea. Why? Because you aren't using the specialness that the town has to offer. You are robbing Onamia of it's uniqueness. You want industrial park? Head to Milaca with Heggie's. You want to save the town of Onamia? If you haven't got your heads out of your asses yet, do it now. Repeat after me: AN INDUSTRIAL PARK WILL KILL THE TOWN!

This town isn't set up to "grow". There's no place to grow into. At least that is what I've been hearing. Its a matter of geography and geology. You can't grow east - swamp.... You can't grow north - swamp. You can't grow south - swamp. AND you can't grow west - swamp. WE LIVE IN A SWAMP, PEOPLE! fer chrissake!

So, if physical growth is limited, how do you save the town? Simple. You take your assets and you IMPROVE upon what already exists!

What does Onamia have that other small towns don't have? (I mean, besides a hundred sex offenders...) How about the HOSPITAL? How about ASSISTED LIVING? How about fishing ? recreation? How about Lake Onamia? How about the Rum River? Kathio State Park? the Soo Line Trail? How about its just a few miles to Lake Mille Lacs? And how about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION?

Its 40 minutes to Brainerd. 40 minutes to Little Falls. An hour to St. Cloud. And about 90 miles to the Twin Cities. I have worked and commuted in each of these cities. I have shopped in each of these cities. Onamia is CENTRALLY LOCATED. But who wants to come to Onamia the way it is now? Even most of the MLA employees know better than to live here.
You have been trying to attract people from these cities to come and work in Onamia, i.e. sex offender facility and upcoming industrial park. You're trying to get them to move here for those jobs. You're building cheap housing for them? Well, folks, if that's what you're thinking, you HAVE IT BACKWARDS! What will save the town is to improve the living conditions here so that people will want to live and work here. You need to have GOOD people in NICE neighborhoods who possibly commute to OTHER PLACES for jobs, but come HOME TO SPEND THEIR MONEY!

NO NORMAL, SANE PERSON WANTS TO LIVE WITH SEX OFFENDERS!

Don't think we need more cheap housing. That's stupid. There are already so many places for sale in the area that aren't getting sold. I wish somebody would buy Mark Loch's house so he'd leave town... And Centennial Estates is a joke. Whose idea was that anyway? Mr. Shit-For-Brains, the man of many hats... Wasted such a nice lot right across from the lake. Geez. Ugly, ugly, ugly. If you allow these people (the Onamia City Council, who ARE the current planners) to continue with their ill-conceived... conceptions... you might as well FORGET ABOUT IT!

GET RID OF THE CURRENT CITY LEADERS. They suck.

Do you know what you need to save the town? You need to make it livable. The town needs to be self-contained. That means you need TWO GOOD grocery stores. TWO. Not one poor excuse of a grocery store with rip-off prices and limited selections. And if you can't get two, at least have one good one where prices are reasonable and the quality is decent. I've shopped there for all of these years because of convenience, but since I got mad at the town and shop in Brainerd or St. Cloud, even with the price of gas (which we no longer buy in town either) we SAVE A LOT OF MONEY by shopping out of town.

That's ass backwards. You need to make Onamia the place to shop for all of your family's needs. You need to make the town self-sufficient. And you need friendly service with a smile. (sigh)

You need a LUMBER YARD where you can get quality building supplies. Hardware that isn't outrageously over-priced. A gas station/garage. A feed and farm store. A DENTIST! A variety store with some affordable clothing... A competent pharmacy that doesn't short you on pills or try to poison you with their mistakes.
Aw Geez... When you build your Wal*Mart, will ya please put it on the Crosier property next to the ridiculous supper club (which we DON'T need. Right. More liquor. Keep 'em drunk. Doesn't Officer Bob have enough to keep him busy? Whose dumb idea was that?) Another eating establishment.... I noticed the other day that Scooter's didn't make it and has closed. Is Pizza Plus still operating? So does it make sense to build a supper club in Onamia? It will probably do okay at first while curious locals take a look-see, but I predict it will end up closing like that one just north of town did.... What was it's name again? Then there will be another vacant building to verify: yep, that supper club was a stupid idea....

So.... look at where the town is going. Is that what you want? Drunks and sex offenders? Kids with learning problems, drug problems... meth labs... High prices... Poor quality... Limited products... Ugly, cheap housing for unskilled laborers... You know something? That's what you're getting. That's what you've got. And perhaps, that's what you deserve.

AND YOU WONDER WHY THE TOWN IS DYING????

Go ahead and continue the way you're going.

Yeah... Build the industrial park. Stick in another trailer park or two while you're at it. Cram in as many bars as is legally possible. Why not move the business away from the highway so that nobody can find them? Spend your money on the sex offenders and ignore the bright, promising students in the town. Give Nexus tax abatement so that YOUR taxes will go up and the town will lose the benefit of their tax money. REEEEEEAL SMART, people.

Make sure you ignore the fact that a lot of nice, well-to-do retirement aged folks from the cities would love to live in a charming little town with good health care, a hospital, and close to good fishing. These good people would be good for the community - they're the generous kind that volunteer to help out their neighborhoods..... but they don't want to live with sex offenders. No normal, sane DECENT person does.

But if these retirement-aged good people DID move into the community, they would need people to cater to their needs and desires - i.e. medical and recreational, etc. And that means (drum roll) JOBS. And without the sex offenders to keep people away, THEN GOOD, DECENT NORMAL, SANE PEOPLE would want to live here. The younger crowd would move here for those new jobs, bringing their families to shop in Onamia's good stores (Service with a SMILE), and enroll their bright children in Onamia's superior school....

Need time to think about it?
You don't have it.

If you don't do something RIGHT NOW to stop the building of this horrendously HUGE footprint that Nexus is imposing on Onamia, it will be too late.

Once this is built, it cannot be unbuilt.

Stopping it now will buy the town some time to get it together. This act of desperation - keeping the sex offenders here - is a GIANT MISTAKE. But if you don't stop them, nobody will. It will take more than our little neighborhood over here in Bradbury Township to save your town. It will take YOU and the people of Onamia. Get your heads out of your asses now! (I'm sorry if that offends you.... but you HAVE to get going if you want to save this town!)

GET RID OF THE SEX OFFENDERS.
GET RID OF THE INCOMPETENT LEADERSHIP.
MAKE ONAMIA A PLACE WHERE NORMAL,
SANE PEOPLE WANT TO LIVE.

Meanwhile.... I'm still looking at the real estate classifieds........ I don't want to live with sex offenders. Does that mean I'm normal and sane? Cool.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You sit there and throw out all these names of council members and academy residents but you don't have the guts to tell your "readers" your real name. I know who you are as you also know mine I'm sure. I seem to be the only one who has anything to say about the situation although there is a lot of support for the plan. Maybe the others don't want to be degraded or ripped on by you but that's alright if you want to rip on me feel free.

Anonymous said...

I graduated from Onamia High School, and meet many rapists and people who were capable of doing discusting acts to their fellow students and even relatives. Not a one of them were affiliated with Nexus. There were even individuals from the Hillman area who were caught making late night trips to the barn. People aren't leaving the school because of Mille Lacs Academy kids. They are leaving the school because of the local kids.

Hannabelle said...

Dear RM,

Thank you for your comment. Just relax, big boy. No need to get upset. You're going to win this fight. It's a Done Deal.

But you are incorrect in saying, as you have broadcast in the past, that I am the only one fighting to save this neighborhood. I'm just the one managing the websites. Others are doing their parts. You see, there are a lot of families being devastated by your wife's employer. Not just mine. So, when you advocate Nexus moving here, you are also advocating the ruination of many people, not just me. You might enjoy seeing my life destroyed, but keep in mind that the there is a twelve year old girl in the neighborhood who isn't happy about having 94 sex offenders watching her play. Do you think her parents will risk staying in this community? Would you risk your own daughters? Obviously, you would. You do.

When her family moves away, there will be a domino effect in the neighborhood. We're not sure who is worse - the MLA sex offenders, or the people in town supporting their relocation to our neighborhood. People like you.

But don't worry. Nexus WILL come. There's nothing we can do to stop them. Never has been. We are all saddened by this. And yes, very angry. What they are doing, and what you are supporting is wrong. Ethically, morally WRONG. We can't stop it. But don't expect us to be quiet about it.

In this process we've been forced to go through, we have discovered many improprieties - with Nexus and with the City Council. I don't mind snitching on them. They are not behaving with honesty or integrity. We're alerting the public. That's all.

Tell your wife not to worry about her job. We're forfeiting our lives, our dreams, our farms, our homes, our lives - in order that she might keep it. I hope they pay her enough to warrent our sacrifice to your family. Don't bother to thank us.

Hannabelle

Hannabelle said...

Dear OHS Grad,

Thank you for your comment. First of all, the teacher in me must advise you to take care not to mix your tenses. And watch your spelling. Its "disgusting", not "discusting". We all make mistakes, but perhaps yours have demonstrated the REAL reason parents are sending their children school out of town. Thank you.

I appreciate that you pointed out the caliber of our student body. Rapists and people capable of doing disgusting acts to fellow students and their relatives? Yikes! Something is definitely amiss in this town. Perhaps the adults could use classes to teach them parenting skills. The severity of your claim also indicates that our law enforcement is not effective. Maybe we need better cops. And finally, thank you for alerting me to that Hillman problem. I'll keep an eye on my goats.

I'm glad that you didn't have bad personal experiences with the MLA students when you were in school. You didn't indicate if you are male or female, (although with the sex offenders, that's hardly an issue,) but we are aware of cases of pregnancy and exposure to the HIV (AIDS) virus. Of course, that happens among normal teenagers too. But by sticking sex offenders into the mainstream, these problems should surprise no one. Count yourself among the lucky.

Hannabelle

Hannabelle said...

Dear Readers,

I've invited and encouraged people to leave comments on the blog, allowing anonymous and unregistered posters. But I'd remind you to take comments with a grain of salt. Some people have posted several comments under different user names. Although I find that somewhat amusing, I don't want readers to be misled. Use your common sense. :)

Thanks,
Hannabelle

Anonymous said...

The people in this town are leaving because of the likes of you. Your willingness to disrespect anyone with an opinion differing from yours shows the venom that exsists here. You want people to move here? Why would they risk the chance of being your(or someone like you) next victim. We have a bigger problem within our school system than sex offenders being taught at the academy Many of those issues have nothing to do with academy boys but it is easier for this community to blame all its woes on the big red herring than to reflect on what is really going on. You and people like you who spew the vemon with no end in sight cause our young people to dream of the day they can leave this small minded enviornment. If I could move my kids away from here I would. AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SEX OFFENDERS. Where was your passion for saving this town before you sank your teeth in the nexus shithole?????? NO You are not about saving this town because if you were you would have been doing something more before the nexus fight became you claim to fame. Where were you when are kids were graduating and running as fast as they could to leave? No where because there was no lime light for you in that. Better yet why dont you go ahead and move. That way you don't piss one of us off to the point where we stoop to your level and start calling you out on your dirty laundry. You have some nice SHIT hanging in your closet too.

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