Saturday, April 26, 2008

You Don't Have to be Karnac

On April 30 at 3:30 p.m., there will be a "public hearing" at the Onamia City Hall to address the Conditional Use Permit which will allow Nexus, a multi-million dollar private corporation to spot zone, circumventing MN Statute 462.357 in order to erect a five building mega-complex for 94 convicted sex offenders in an opposing and unforgiving R1 neighborhood. You don't have to be Karnac to read this Future.
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Further predictions: The city council will all be present, along with the city attorney and the bigwigs from Nexus. There will only be three or four protesting citizens, and only two of us will speak out. The city council will allow us to voice our objections, while averting their eyes and looking smug or bored, depending on the individual. Larry will turn away from the table and stare at the wall like he always does.
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Same old, same old.
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The city council will thank us for speaking, and then close the public hearing. Then they will have another meeting where they will unanimously pass the CUP ordinance in favor of Lord and Master - Nexus. Once again, We The People will be betrayed by our local government. America loses points. Fascism wins the game. No, you don't have to be Karnac to know how this Done Deal will go down. We've seen it all before and again.
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The purpose of Public Hearings is to let our leaders hear from We The People so that they can understand and follow the Will of the People. After all, that is their job - to represent us. Its a nice, democratic theory, but one which unfortunately doesn't apply in Nexusville. The attitude of the Onamia city council is: Fuck the People. The only reason they hold Public Hearings is because Minnesota State Law says that they shall. Its mandatory.
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But nobody can force them to listen to We The People. Nobody can force them to follow the Will of the People. Nobody can make them do the Right Thing. And nobody can stop them from doing the Wrong Thing.
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Its easy to say that most of the people don't even care about Nexus, or the Mille Lacs Academy, or whether or not this corporation stays in the Onamia area, or whether or not citizens' rights are being abused and tossed into the garbage can by our totalitarian mayor. Sure they care. At least a good many of them do. Then - where's the outrage? Why aren't the citizens up in arms about the improprieties being committed by these won-by-default politicians?
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I've been doing some research on the phenomenon of Ostricism, Bullying, and the use of the Silent Treatment as a strategy to control people. I will probably be writing quite a lot about these and other methods used to manipulate us. All three of these techniques have been implemented by Nexus and the Onamia city government, whether by design or by accident. I say its all been intentional.
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Someone informed me last year that Mayor Larry Milton had approached them about Hannabelle... The mayor said that anyone who supported Hannabelle and the Neighbors would no longer be welcomed in town. They would be ostracized from the community.
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How many people did Milton make this same threat to? Well, we know that one of our petitioners called to have his name removed after a horrendous three days of "torture" and harassment by Milton's goons. Apparently he was threatened with never being able to get a contract in Onamia again.
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One of the Neighbors also had his job threatened by Milton, when the mayor blocked his way into City Hall. According to the Neighbor, Milton loomed over him, using intimidation and threat of physical violence as well as threatening his job.
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Is this enough for you? (It certainly should be). But there is a lot more. Milton has used these bullying tactics of fear and intimidation, threats, ridicule, and ostricism throughout the course of his tenure. I've attempted to contact Milton and council members and Nexus and the city attorney.... and have not once been shown one ounce of courtesy. Those I've spoken to on the phone refuse to listen to me. They yell at me and slam the phone down in my ear. CLICK! Or they refuse to answer at all. Milton has not answered a single call, returned or responded to messages. Is the Bully Mayor afraid to speak to Hannabelle? What a wus. I've written emails. No replies. I've sent videos. No responses. THE SILENT TREATMENT used as an orchestrated strategy. Experts say that the Silent Treatment is the most cruel form of societal punishment. That and Ostricism. Keep in mind that these are techniques utilized by Nexus - you know - Nexus.... that company whose mission it is to help poor troubled youth.... hmmm. Would you even want them near your kid? People who strategically use the cruelest forms of societal punishment?
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The Bradbury Township Board has been supportive of our protests, but hasn't gotten involved. Know why? Maxine Gingery, our township clerk said to me, "I don't know if we dare stick our necks out. We have to stay on good terms with the Village [Onamia]. What if there's a fire?" Can you believe that the good folks on the Bradbury Township Board actually fear that if they oppose Larry Milton that either the fire department would refuse to respond to a call, or that the city would refuse to renew the fire service contract? Maxine believes it. She believed it enough that she didn't want to stick her neck out.
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What about Marge Agnew, who is active in the Initiative Foundation project to form a planning commission (which the city council took out of citizens' hands when they resolved to be the Planning Commission themselves, thus monopolizing all of the power to the council.) At one of the citizen "visioning" meetings, Marge stood in front of a large group of the most prominent civic leaders in our community and called the Naysayers who oppose Nexus a "Special Interest Group". They joked about us and had a big laugh at our expense. In addressing these citizens, Marge let everybody know in no uncertain terms that We The People Cursed By Location were to be ostricized. And most of the people who were there heeded her message.
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The Mille Lacs Messenger hasn't done us any favors. But then, the Onamia City Council is one of their customers, spending thousands of dollars on legal notices in their paper. What a loss they would take if the Council chose another paper (probably not the Mille Lacs News...) to spend their money with! And of course, there are other customers who are among the Pronexus. Best not to rile their feathers. So, for the most part, the Mille Lacs Messenger has ignored us. They've printed a few of our letters and written a few stories - which have been so slanted in favor of Nexus that we've almost dreaded having them write anything at all. So, instead of telling the whole story about the injustices perpetrated by a government-for-hire, We The Neighbors have been ostricized again. The Mille Lacs Messenger has spread the word. Milton's Message. Its a real shame too. I hate to admit it, but I personally like Brett Larson and Vivian Clark - and I enjoy Rob Passons' writings. But they have greatly disappointed me in their lack of courage when it comes to standing up to the mayor of Onamia/Nexusville. Maybe its not their fault. Publisher Kevin Anderson is Pronexus to the core, which means he supports Fascism, discrimination, the abuse of civil liberties, etc. etc. But there you go... Kevin's efforts (they fear public speaking more than death....) succeeded in ostricizing the citizens who protested that sex offenders do not belong in residential neighborhoods with elderly widows, children, disabled adults, and day cares. He has the nerve to write about social injustice while denying ours. How hypocritical.
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I believe in social justice!
(as long as it is convenient and suits my purposes...)
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The Mille Lacs Messenger never reported the Lies of Nexus. They never reported the city council's bogus ordinances. They did however publish stories about our "fear and ignorance - fear and ignorance - fear and ignorance" and about "the children" at the academy. No mention of the falsified sheriff and police reports in the Nexus brochure. No mention of sexual assaults, indecent exposures, staff injuries, and hundreds of escapes by these 6 foot, 200 pound, eighteen year old "children." Its shameful.
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IN MY OPINION Jim D'Angelo proved my claim of his arrogance when he told me that "I refuse to give you [me] the satisfaction by answering your [my] emails." IN MY OPINION, it wasn't enough to use the Silent Treatment, he had to make sure I understood it was intentional. A strategy he was proud of. [That is my opinion. The First Amendment gives me the Right to express it here.] I believe he directed others to use this strategy. But then, I could be wrong. What do you think? Maybe its all a big coincidence...
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The trouble with these strategies is that they only work if the victim cares. Me? If I wanted anything to do with society, I wouldn't have chosen to be a hermit in the woods. Ostracism doesn't work on me. I self-ostracized long ago. I just want to be left alone, wherein lies the problem. They insist on persisting on being my "neighbor". Nothing will stop them. Not even the Law.
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D'Angelo did send me an email once upon a time.... He said that if I give up, he'd reward me by dropping the law suit and welcoming me back "to the fold" like a prodigal daughter.....
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To which I must respond:

Fuck you, freak. You're not my father.
Fuck you and fuck your Fold.


Oh no! Is Hannabelle going to get in trouble again?
What's D'Angelo going to do? Sue her?
But won't she offend people in the village?
Didn't you hear? She's aready ostricized. She has nothing left to lose.
Well, that was very mean of them. Why didn't Hannabelle get more support from people? She's generally such a nice person. Why would they hurt her so?
Fear and ignorance
Fear and ignorance
Fear and ignorance
Is it over then?
The fat lady has yet to finish singing.
.... Who was that?

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