7th Post

For my seventh post, I decided to read about an article I found in the Star Tribune, about a macabre/Halloween store that recently opened in Anoka.


The store is called Redrum, which is "Murder" spelled backwards. The owners, Flo Rutledge and Mike VanSyke, have stated that they find it curious that Anoka, the "halloween capital of the world", has concerns about their store. Various other members of the city, including an owner of a boutique a few doors down, are not so happy with Redrum. Beth Lennartson has voiced that "the kind of people it brings" around that area are "people they don't need."
Anoka recently was working on a project to attract more shoppers to their businesses through a marketing campaign, but in some opinions, that is the kind of attraction they do not need. Also, there are worries flitting through the community about illegal activity, although the police made an official report that there are, in fact, no illegal items or illegal activity going on.
One last worrying factor of this store is that the second floor of the building houses overflow classes for Sandburg Middle School. The owners have stated that they do not let underage kids into the store, but they have middle school children exposed to it everyday. Of course the children will be curious about what's inside if they aren't allowed in (in my opinion). The image the store sends out doesn't seem to be a good one, even if it is a Halloween store.
The article also quotes the Mayor to have said "...At the end of the day, people can rent their [buildings] to whoever they please." What can you do? If a business is making legitimate profit running a legal business, then one could argue what is the problem?

In my opinion, I believe it would be in the store's best interest to relocate, simply because of the complaints called in about it. I can see where the community is coming from, not wanting a store that sends out a bad image to the youth of the neighborhood. Stores like that make me feel, for lack of a better word, icky. Even though they monitor the age of people shopping in their store, I would be worried about various chains of events that could happen.. Including the purchase of things such as pipes going to underage kids. It's a tough situation.

Happy Halloween!
Stacey

post #6

For my sixth post I decided to write about an article I found on the Ham Lake fire in 2007 by Larry Oakes. It's been a long, difficult struggle to try and find the individual who carelessly left a fire unattended in the BWCA. A 64-year-old man was indicted with the charges that he started the Ham Lake fire which burned down more than 75,000 acres of Minnesota forest. This man, Stephen Posniak, could face up to 5 years in prison and also various other 6 month sentences for other charges.

This article was really important for me to read because I feel a special connection to the BWCA. My church goes to a camp there every year, Wilderness Canoe Base. The last two summers that I went, we spent some time rebuilding and cleaning up a lot. Over 40 of the buildings on Fishhook and Dominion island (where the camp is located, attached by a suspension bridge) were burned to the ground from the Ham Lake fire. Everyone there was devastated, including us campers. My friend and I, Rachel, had made plans last summer to stay for longer as volunteers up there. Mine happened to fall through, but she felt so changed by her experience there she said that it was indescribable. Hearing her talk about everything up there (even after the huge fire) makes me feel even closer to the tragedy that happened.. It also makes me wonder how anyone could possibly be so careless as to leave a fire unattended. To burn down the beauty of the wilderness there is a horrible crime!
I don't know this for a fact, but I feel like there is a HUGE fine for the amount of damage done, and I am amazed that Stephen Posniak's sentence was only about 5 years. Although the foliage is slowing starting to regrow and bloom, many of the islands are barren and black. (Especially near base, which is right off the Gunflint Trail.) Berry bushes are abundant, though, which happened to be DELICIOUS when we were eating our food on Trail (out camping).
More and more buildings are being rebuilt at base, but the fact that the fire could have been easily prevented amazes me. It's a custom for us to douse the fire with water when we are on Trail, and leave a sprig of a spruce tree on the grate as a sign of welcome and assurance that the campsite was taken better care of than before we had come. It shocks me to think that someone would not take that good of care of God's creation in it's most pure form- It's a protected area for a reason.

Stacey

Post Number 5

Beloved pup's fate becomes international cause- Mary Jane Smetanka

Startribune.com

For my fifth post I read an article on a military dog and its hopeful human companion. Gwen Beberg, an army sergeant who is stationed in Iraq, saved a “whimpering puppy” in a burning barrel of trash. She named it Ratchet, and couldn’t imagine her time in Iraq without it. On Oct. 1, she tried to send Ratchet to her family’s home here in Minnesota, but he was taken by an officer before he reached the plane. There is an organization working to fly these animals home from the war called “Operation Baghdad Pups”, and they are involved in trying to get Ratchet home. This sad problem of Beberg’s has become a huge cause- according to the StarTribune.com over 8,000 people have signed online petitions to get these animals home. A huge fear of Gwen’s is that Ratchet will be shot before her new scheduled pick- up date.

Another element to Beberg’s situation is that she only signed-up for a 3- year long place in the Army. Due to the Stop-Loss program, she was sent to Iraq. Her mom is fighting for the right to bring Ratcher home as well, e-mailing senators and representatives. It’s crazy how she got stop-lossed to Iraq and cannot bring home the one thing that got her through her time there. She is quoted to have said, "I couldn't have made it through this deployment without his wagging tail and understanding eyes. This is unbelievably important to me, my family, my friends, and even perfect strangers who have taken up the cause." Anyone with that much emotion in two simple sentences means business, in my opinion.

I’m a big animal lover myself, and I know I’d be extremely upset if my dogs were taken away from me or killed. They do provide comfort in a world where it’s hard to find in tough times. Dogs don’t expect much from you, just love and a few belly-rubs. Having a companion like that taken away on a whim cannot be easy for anyone, much less a sergeant in the army because post-traumatic stress disorder is so prevalent in veterans.

Overall, a very saddening article to read- I’m hoping for the best for Gwen and her dog!

Stacey

Post #4

Post Number 4

**This was originally posted on the due date, not even kidding, but it must have not gone through or I didn’t click the button correctly before I got off Blogger. I just noticed as I was about to do my fifth post. Please let me know if there’s a problem.

I finished My Sister’s Keeper a few days ago, and as I had predicted, the ending was not as suspenseful because I already knew what was going to happen. What surprised me though, was the fact that I was still really sad and almost tearful for Anna’s death and Kate’s life. It’s an interesting switch of events, because it’s almost implied that Kate will die without Anna. Well, when Anna dies, her kidney allows Kate’s life. They were always connected, and I don’t mean just because Anna was genetically engineered to help Kate. They were close sisters, and understood just how much they meant to each other. Growing up with anyone forms a strong bond between the two, and when that bond is broken its harder than anything.

It’s also a hard path for her parents to have taken, having a child to support another. The criticisms must have been never-ending, saying that they cared for Kate more than Anna and that Anna was just an experiment meant to save her sister’s life. There was no way that the entire family could have won in this situation, because without Anna’s birth, Kate was doomed, but they ended up losing a daughter anyway. It’s unfathomable to imagine the hurt a family would go through in those series of events. Even harder to imagine is Kate’s feelings, using her deceased sister’s kidney to live, when she made her go through the court appeal and everything so that she could die.

This book was so interesting and definitely worth reading a second time.

Stacey