TO THE EDITOR:
Recently Dale Swanson from Big Lake took issue with my letter to the editor where I said that Sherburne County should withhold funds from the Northstar Rail line as Anoka has been. In 2022, Anoka County only paid $1.95 million of the $4.6 million billed them by Metro Transit. (Ref. https://www.americanexperiment.org/anoka-county-stands-up-to-met-council-over-northstar-train-subsidies/ and https://replica.startribune.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=a2cdbe2-062b-4106-aa53-5402acb8e4c0cdbe2-062b-4106-aa53-5402acb8e4c0.) With Anoka just paying $1.95 million in May of 2023, they would again appear to only be paying a fraction of what Metro Transit is asking for. I’m going to stand by my original statement.
Bret R. Collier
Big Lake, MN
TO THE EDITOR:
The March 9, 2023, Patriot published a letter from Charles Schmidt, a friend of Orrock Township Supervisor Anne Felber. Without any first hand knowledge of the situation, he irresponsibly amplifed Felber’s accusations that township Clerk Chris Weber and I, the supervisor Felber replaced, broke laws regarding government document retention and should be prosecuted. They implied nefarious conduct and conspiracy even after Felber was told repeatedly in township meetings, by people extremely knowledgeable regarding the statute, that business cannot be done via email so, it was not possible that township business was deleted. All meeting documentation is retained. Despite every effort by the township board to explain, Felber filed charges with Sherburne County, claiming Chris Weber and I criminally violated the law, citing MN statute 138.225. Sherburne County Attorney Heaney “conflicted out” the issue and Wright County accepted the case. A Wright County detective interviewed me while I was working on our hobby farm. He also interviewed clerk Weber and reviewed our computer files. Felber and Schmidt were on a mission to publicly cause harm to our good names and character in the court of public opinion. The criminal case was investigated by Wright County. Because it found no wrong doing, it dropped the case and declined to prosecute. Felber and Schmidt chose to amplify and try this case in the court of public opinion with intent to defame Chris Weber and me. We’d like to give them an opportunity now to right a wrong and publicly apologize for their actions.
Bob Hassett
Big Lake, MN
