TO THE EDITOR:
Governor Walz is saying we have lowered the number of unemployed and created more jobs. Now there are fewer people employed in Minnesota than before COVID. We need to make the Democrats tell the truth, not slanted facts. 20,000 tax-paying Minnesotans have moved to other states with their tax revenue. Before the election in 2022 MN candidates, most Democrats and all Republicans, said they would give back excess money to the TAXPAYERS. In 2023, the Democrats and agencies headed by Walz’s appointees propose to raise fees on cars, fishing, boat registrations, and state parks and to lower taxes and eliminate tax for Social Security for low-income citizens and non-TAXPAYERS. What happened to giving the money back to the TAXPAYERS so we can grow the economy of MN? With bipartisan support and the governor’s support, the 2022 Minnesota Senate passed bills to eliminate the tax on Social Security and lower everyone’s MN taxes, the Democrat-controlled House refused to bring the bills up.
Barry VanBuren
Clearwater, MN
TO THE EDITOR:
My wife and I really enjoyed following the Becker Girls Basketball season. We watched them easily beat three conference opponents. Then we seen them win three exciting contests against city schools, with one being a win against the Class 3A champions, Benilde-St. Margaret, 84-78. We appreciated the high school giving us senior citizens a break with no cost for the games. We were happy to pay for the two regional playoff wins that put them in the state tournament. The first we cheered them on to a semi-final win over my school I attended, the Princeton Tigers and then Murt’s school, the Monticello Magic. In the state quarter-finals, I watched a friend who hooked his computer to the TV to watch the win over Marshall, then my wife and I saw the heartbreak loss to Stewartville, 60-59. They came back to take third place on a buzzer-beater shot against Alexandria, 57-56. They had outstanding coaching, team play and played good in every aspect of the game. It was a highlight of the long, snowy winter to watch them and we wish the senior players the best of luck, especially the players that will go on to college basketball.
Jim Aleckson
Becker, MN
TO THE EDITOR:
A letter published last week relating to Orrock Township Supervisor Bob Hassett includes incorrect and imprecise legal analysis. The result gives the inaccurate impression that Supervisor Hassett violated some law. That is not the case.Though not mentioned in the letter, it is worth noting that every email from 2021 and 2022 was preserved. Only emails more than two years old were deleted. But even those were not subject to any retention requirement. The letter writer inaccurately states that “deletion of data is a criminal misdemeanor” and that “every email to/from township leadership is subject to retention . . .” But that’s not what the statutes say. The statute says that deletion of “government records” (not “data” in general) is a misdemeanor. There is a big difference between all data and that limited set of data that constitutes “government records”. Minnesota statutes section 138.17 says that data is a “government record” if it was made “in connection with the transaction of public business.” That statute emphasizes that “the term records excludes data that does not become part of an official transaction.” Orrock Township’s official transactions occur by votes of supervisors at its public monthly meetings. There is no mechanism by which the township can create an official government transaction through emails. To summarize: Orrock Township supervisors’ emails are never part of a government transaction. As a result, they are not government records and are not subject to records retention requirements.
Gary Goldsmith
Orrock, MN
