R-E-S-P-E-C-T

(oo) What you want

(oo) Baby, I got

(oo) What you need

(oo) Do you know I got it?

(oo) All I'm askin'

(oo) Is for a little respect

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me

*

At the last Onamia city council meeting, I finally met and spoke with Paul Smith, the new Executive Administrator at Mille Lacs Academy. I hadn't been avoiding him. I'd just been so busy with other crap. Besides, I figured in the grand scheme of things, he's pretty insignificant. So we finally met. I was even less impressed than I'd expected.

*

Paul Smith is the one who rallied MLA employees and MLA supporters to flood Stephanie Nyhus at the Minnesota Department of Revenue with harassing telephone calls to pressure her into granting them property tax exemption. That was a really stupid move on his part. (You can read his letter on the Mille Lacs News website). The tax exemption is determined by whether Nexus qualified under the law, not by how many people "vote" for it. And of course, Nexus DID NOT qualify for exemption.

*

So I admit that before I even met him, my opinion of Paul Smith was that he is a not-too-bright player wannabe, hoping to advance himself by serving his corporate master, using their code of non-ethics of course. Certainly not the kind of professional I would choose to run an institution for PTBs. But then, I'm not the idiot in charge... This was my opinion of Paul Smith BEFORE I actually met him. It was all downhill from there.

*

"Respect goes both ways," Paul Smith told me. According to him, Nexus CEO Jim D'Angelo had been willing to work with the community at first. But he changed his mind after I wouldn't accept his "right" to move into my neighborhood. His RIGHT? I still don't accept that he has any right to come here! (Not unless he wants to build a single family dwelling.) WE HAD LAWS to stop this atrocity from happening! Of course, Lucky Larry and the Merry Mob got rid of those pesky little inconveniences by "amending" the city ordinances to include juvenile sex offender treatment facilities as part of the R2 zoning classification...

*

Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)

A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)

*

So I was to understand that Jim D'Angelo was miffed at me because I did not give him the proper R-E-S-P-E-C-T he thinks he's entitled to. What a spoiled brat! That is why D'Angelo refused to answer my emails or return my phone call? One call. MNDOR Call Sheet Author Paul Smith mentioned that with what seemed like unbelieving indignation. YOU CALLED HIM AT HIS HOME!!! What? He's moving 94 sex offenders and 120 employees next to my home without R-E-S-P-E-C-T-ing my R-I-G-H-T-S. I phone him ONCE and I'm out of line? Yep. I admit it. Guilty as charged, I did phone him AT HIS HOME! (how DARE I!) After D'Angelo stood up at a public meeting and promised to work with me and my neighbors, promised we could help design the buildings, promised we could help decide the landscaping, etc. etc. he disappeared for awhile. Nobody contacted us. He didn't answer me when I attempted to contact him. And after he told me that he wouldn't "give [me] the satisfaction" by answering my emails, I did call him at home ONCE. (I thought he'd be more comfortable talking rather than writing.) I got his answering machine. I identified myself, asked him to call me back, and left my phone number. Of course he never called me back. None of THEM ever do. "Respect goes both ways," said Paul Smith.

*

Whoa, babe (just a little bit)

A little respect (just a little bit)

*

Nobody warned us THEY were coming. Nobody asked our permission. Nobody asked us how we felt about having sex offenders next to elderly widows, day care, chronically ill and disabled folks. THEY came with great force. THEY maligned us to the community. THEY stripped us of our Voice. THEY stripped us of our Dignity. THEY robbed us of our Due Process. THEY took away our Rights. Nobody said THEY were sorry about how THEY hurt us and destroyed the lives we had been living. Nobody ever showed us an ounce of

*

(re, re, re, re) 'spect

*

Talking to dorks brings out the worst in me. Especially insensitive sadistic dorks who take advantage of good people who don't deserve to be victimized. The Marquis de Smith showed me no sympathy. Nuh-uh. On the contrary. When I asked him why he rented in Foley instead of living in the Onamia community, he smiled and really rubbed my nose in it by saying,

*

"I don't want to live by a ........ school.

I prefer to live in the country."

*

Yeah baby (re, re, re ,re)

Whip it to me (respect, just a little bit)

*

Paul Smith granted me permission to write about him, by the way. He said he's a "Big Boy" and he can "take it". Yeah. All those Nexus folks are good at taking it. Taking it ALL. The only thing they have no chance in hell of ever winning is our

*

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me

*

I get tired (just a little bit)

Keep on tryin' (just a little bit)

*