"You'll never get ahead if you don't take care of what you have." - Doris Waddell, RIP

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn
Click on the image to read Williams family reflections w/ emphasis on UMM.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

"YouTube sleuths" expand media frontier

The headlines roll on. They come at us from so many directions, given the unfettered nature of media now. We sift through a lot of it, then shrug in a resigned way as we accept a certain version of the news or the truth. 
Older people can examine all that's happening by comparing it to past times, past values. It does take a little extra thought to do this. Certainly extra reflection, if you value that. I read about the outcome of the "Idaho 4" murder case. All over now? After such limitless sound and fury over so long? 
We had the phenomenon of the "YouTube sleuths." I sampled this right along. Nothing like this existed in pre-Internet times or even through much of the Internet's history. We could not have predicted the vast reach of YouTube. I feel satiated with news, commentary and entertainment even without having a TV contract! I can engage with all the various sources 24/7. 
This I notice as someone whose young years were spent with just one TV station. The station would reach the end of its "programming day." Time for bed. Nothing stimulating to keep me awake. The world slowed to a near standstill overnight. There was so little choice for news and commentary. 
We heard of Walter Cronkite being "the most trusted man in America." But that wasn't even the network I watched. My family consumed "Huntley and Brinkley" on NBC. The old shows would have had pretty superficial coverage of the plea bargain that ended the "Idaho 4" case. Then again, maybe this story would have been almost wholly "regional." Wouldn't have broken beyond these bounds? 
Truly it was sensational. I mean, four college kids living the idyllic college life out in Idaho, partying late and all that jazz, suddenly murdered. A guy was arrested who certainly seemed guilty right from the start. But the "army" of YouTube sleuths could not let it go like that. They weaved around and found all sorts of angles, many of which did seem intriguing for a time. 
Looking back, I see better what their process was. There were early suspects or shall we say persons of interest who were eliminated by LE (law enforcement). Maybe these people were "at the wrong place at the wrong time." Like for example, hanging out by the "food truck" at the ungodly late hour, where college kids frolicked and acted like they just couldn't get enough of such foolishness. 
I confess that a part of me was envious of all the young people in the social orbit of the "Idaho 4." I mean, totally "popular" and gregarious kids. To a fault, I might add. And maybe to an extent that this lifestyle courted risks. 
We could see there was absolutely no end to the photos and videos of the "Idaho 4" from their hedonistic college life. Risky? Maybe. Foolish? To an extent definitely yes. How about knocking off the alcohol and going to bed early? How about going to bed at 9 p.m.? You laugh? But why not? 
Anyone older than college age who was close to the notorious "food truck" - to get in the video surveillance - might be ID'd and then get attention from all the online-based sleuths. And then there was this fellow named Jeremy Reagan. You might say he got his "15 minutes of fame." He can be thankful it ended at that. All he did was cooperate for a little TV interview right after the murders. He did a perfectly reasonable interview as someone who was close by. But then you know what happened. Was this guy the guilty party or did he have some special knowledge? 
Jeremy looked to all the world like the most typical college student. Bright, lots of energy. Of course he should not have gone near any TV cameras. 
As someone who has blogged extensively on Wetterling and the Keystone Cops investigation with that, I know the sheer risk of even living close to a notorious crime site. Investigators need to know they are doing their jobs. And heavens, it's ditto for the media people like Nancy Grace. Grace is a holdover from the days of legacy media, in her case "cable TV news" when it was in its prime. 
Cable news burst to the forefront for the O.J. trial. So quaint to remember the "microcassette recorders." The new order? The new wave of things? Oh but the media is fluid. 
"Nika's Neuro Nuggets"
The Idaho 4 case brought us the really truly hard work and imagination of the "YouTube sleuths." I did wade into that pretty deeply. My, how this case stretched out. 
I had the illusion of some of these "sleuths" being "old friends" but of course I'll never meet them. Their work could be so sophisticated, it made me wonder where they gained all the skills for their video presentations. 
It was all I could do to master the "Anchor" podcast system. I'm glad I experienced that. But the system is now gone, having been replaced by something called "Riverside." I signed in for that but the system is too complicated for me. All these "editing features." I'd like to just press the "on" button and talk! Such is not how we live now. We don't just have ordinary thermostats now, we have these funky devices that can be set in advance for when your house is empty (lower temp setting). 
Lawn mowers? What kind of gas to use? "87" or "91?" When I was a kid, gas was gas. Master the basic Briggs and Stratton engine and you're set for life. Today the adaptations to new systems are unsettling. And I am fascinated to consider the following after the Idaho 4 case: How could a murder like this have ever been prosecuted in the "old days?" I mean, without the abundance of contemporary tools like DNA and video surveillance. 
There must have been a way to prosecute murders. Track down suspects, get testimony and send the thing to a jury even if it's a circumstantial case which I'm sure many were. Are people willing to trust a circumstantial case nowadays? And even if there's DNA on something, well the "defense" can say the item was "planted!" And so where does that get us? 
 
Simply weary 
I think the court out in Idaho was desperate to get the "plea bargain" done because everyone had become so cotton pickin' weary. You know how defense attorneys can muck things up 'til hell won't have it. When a "defense attorney" is getting national attention like Anne Taylor was, she just has to set an example and show how "committed" or aggressive a defense counsel can be. She was still on a fishing expedition even after a ridiculous amount of time had passed. 
Until, I think, it was just driving everyone nuts. 
Don't people realize that all these people in the justice system have other important work to do? 
But the big shiny object was the multiple murder case from a college community. Of course we want very much for justice to be done. But have we really progressed so far because of all the forensic tools? I mean, when the defense side can just try to shoot holes in everything? And get a receptive audience doing so? 
The murder victims
I think a whole book could be written about the YouTube sleuths for the Idaho 4 case. I can name many of these people from memory. Some will slip my memory. There was a "hibernation time" when everything got quiet. Slowly the sleuths faded. But they were sure ready to jump back in! 
I contacted the guy with the "Harsh Reality" YouTube site, actually a guy from Australia, to in effect "welcome him back." I wondered with him how some of the other channel hosts were doing. Like the "Southern Logic" guy. So many of these sleuths, e.g. "Nika's Neuro Nuggets!" 
And in the end with this case, we really saw "Occam's Razor" at work. Yes, the simplest explanation was borne out. A lone psycho with an obsession just showed up at those kids' house ("King Road") in middle of night. Looks like there wasn't even a drug dealing angle. 
I did my own very small part in the online "sleuthing." I had my "Anchor" podcast account going at the time. I wrote a headline referring to "Jack S." who was one of two "Jacks" being bandied about as a suspect soon after the murders. With some of these early suspects, well they sure prompted interest.
All Jeremy Reagan did was an innocuous and uneventful, brief, TV interview. And then a few days later he landed on the "Ashleigh Banfield" show on NewsNation (TV). Truly amazing. 
But anyone who closely followed the Wetterling investigation here in Minnesota should not have been surprised. Pretty soon I read that the family of "Jack S." had "lawyered up." So I deleted that podcast episode. 
There was a "Jack D." also, a boyfriend or former boyfriend of "Kaylee." The four kids were the epitome of "popular" college kids. It came natural for them. I would be forcing things if I had tried living like that. Oh they were beautiful kids. The photos and videos of them are endless! Media tech has made this the norm. All the images would have been unheard of in my young years! And we take all the new things for granted, don't we? 
Now we hear about "ChatGPT" and "AI music." I'm being left behind. 
We can always count on zealous defense attorneys being around. They are a blessing but only up to a point. 
The days of "circumstantial" legal cases had foundation IMHO. A jury can decide. An innocent person can passionately step forward, not just sit there like B.K. did - a bump on a log.
 
I will reprise here the lyrics to my own original song about the "Idaho 4" case. Originally posted in December of 2022.
 
"The Idaho Four"
by Brian Williams

Respects to the Idaho Four
Alas they are with us no more
So fragile is life, we can see
So give thanks for all it can be

Their faces will stay in our heads
As if they were family or friends
But really they were common kids
The salt of the earth in our midst

They set out one evening for fun
To circulate with everyone
In college there is no restraint
So do not regard that it's late

With Xana the smile stays true
With Kaylee the glamour endures
With Madison everything's cool
And Ethan just stays in the groove

The food truck remains in the lore
As we all remember once more
The kids as they just milled around
A typical night on the town

A night that would get lost in time
Just memories all left behind
Frivolity, yes it was true
So what were they trying to prove?

They must have had time for their school
Their lives must have been like a zoo
They even had time for a dog
So Murphy was there right along

The four were all victims of fate
The worst you can have on your plate
So what on Earth came 'round the bend
The night when they all met their end?

The questions just swarm in our heads
How kids could get murdered in bed
The cops were not called right away
Now what on Earth does that convey?

The mystery deepened so fast
As everyone looked for the facts
With so many eyes on the case
Could we see the end of this chase?

The world affixes its glare
The Idaho sleuths are aware
They comb through the myriad clues
To find one that would go and prove

We wonder if they're even close
The sound and the fury just floats
Will this end up like JonBenet?
We wonder with each passing day

In Moscow the college means much
A place that the denizens love
So much of a virtuous place
At least that's the way it should rate

We'll let the police do their thing
It's justice we hope they will bring
While always we keep in our hearts
The love that we strive to impart

So Xana and Kaylee stay rich
In images shared bit by bit
With Madison right by their side
The girls are vivacious and smile

There was just one boy in the bunch
His legacy gives us a rush
The four of them will not depart
From memories close to our hearts

We must contemplate what they did
The college kids with how they lived
Too wild and stupid or worse
So much, it became a big curse

And while they are not ones to blame
They should have been living more tame
To be in the swing as adults
Would prop up their welfare so much

So is there a big wakeup call
For parents to maybe install
A better sense of how to live
To stop all the foolishness, kids?

When kids get their high school degree
Is it so essential to leave?
To leave the affection of home
Before they are ready to roam?

It is not required to bolt
To make an escape from your folks
You still can find ways to advance
With time you will join the big dance

If only the Idaho Four
Had heeded my words to their core
They might not have gone so astray
And they'd be alive to this day

I'd like to implore them with verve
How "Greek life" is crude and absurd
How it can be "Lord of the Flies"
Now why can't this just up and die?

Respects to the Idaho Four
Alas they are with us no more
So fragile is life, we can see
So give thanks for all it can be

Respects to the Idaho Four

 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com 

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Why not basketball in summer?

Kelsey Plum
Summer is supposed to belong to baseball. Is it still that way? I could not name one Minnesota Twins player for you. 
Big-time sports can be fluid. Baseball had such high undisputed stature in this country until entertainment media tech started changing things. The greatly increased quality of the color TV picture caused football to rapidly grow in popularity. This happened in the mid-1960s. Quite rapidly football became the really big deal. 
Minnesotans had their hearts broken - shattered - by four losses in the Super Bowl. Sad as we were, we had to admit that football had us hooked, mesmerized. TV exposure of the sport grew. College football developed greater parity to where the top-level schools could not count on thumping so many opponents. Appalachian State? Well, welcome to the club of heavy-hitters. And to NDSU too in a big way as they could challenge or beat the Gophers! Former powerhouses like Nebraska fell into the ranks of the pedestrian squads. 
Sports is fluid with how much money pours in. Baseball has more than survived. But I still could not name a single Minnesota Twins player for you. 
You know what I have become knowledgeable about? Women's basketball! To the extent that women's basketball has struggled in the past, I think a lot of it had to do with how it is played in summer. We'd have to adjust old habits and patterns. For me, no problem, because I'll state for the third time that I cannot name one Twins player. If I scratch my head I suppose I can come up with one: Byron Buxton. OK but definitely no others. 
I should note that I do not have a TV contract. And I don't care at all: I have a laptop with WiFi access to YouTube. Is there anything that YouTube cannot provide? I guess it cannot provide live Twins baseball. I remember a discussion on Fargo radio 2-3 years ago about how a lot of people there had signed up for "YouTube TV" in order to watch Twins baseball. And then you know what happened in these fluid times: the Twins left YouTube TV! 
I try to avoid such disruptions. I'll take what I can get from regular YouTube. You can tune in to play-by-play descriptions or "watch parties" for WNBA basketball. Sometimes the game is on the screen but with an obstruction in middle of screen. I do not consider that arrangement to be hopeless. I'll sometimes call that up and watch for a fairly long time. You can listen for play descriptions and analysis of course. 
And a "watch party" will involve one or two pretty entertaining people describing it all for you. Having fun in the process. And this keeps my attention! I am certain there are others like me. And this is basketball in summer. Women's pro basketball. I'm enjoying it. 
And my interest has passed a huge test with the frequent absence of Caitlin Clark thus far in the season. She is now quite brittle. There should be no surprise here. She really is pretty slightly built, and look what she has put her body through over the last few years. A hint of the seriousness came when she missed the pre-season opener. Who misses the pre-season opener? 
Then she had a "quad" injury. And then she had a second quad injury which the team said was different from her first. What? Hey Caitlin, get a second opinion on some of this. It did not end there. Now it's a groin injury. Very sad of course but I cannot  be too surprised. I don't think the fans fully realize the punishment that gets administered to these pro athletes' bodies. 
People my age will remember when so many major league baseball pitchers flamed out with sore arms. Finally, once the teams started investing more $ in their players, greater care was taken of the players' health. You might say the players were expendable before that. The great New York Yankees dynasty during my youth (and well before that) really crashed and burned after '64 because three players were not properly cared for: Roger Maris, Tom Tresh and Jim Bouton. No wonder Bouton ended up bitter and wrote "Ball Four." 
Our society's worship of baseball in past times led to little league baseball being a summer staple for our kids. Today, we learn that many large cities are removing "ball diamonds" from their parks because ballfield sports are not as popular. In fact, why do summer sports have to be played outside? A better question would be, why do spring high school sports have to be played outside? 
The early-spring weather is never ready for the kids. And so we hear about postponements all over the place. Basketball indoors is set up perfect under perfect conditions through the end of winter and into early spring. Zero influence of weather. Everyone can plan and enjoy the activity. 
The spring season becomes so anticlimactic. I wondered about this over the many years when I wrote about sports in the Morris newspaper. To be blunt, I found spring sports to be a "downer" much of the time, sorry. 
You-know-who
The pro women's basketball league is easily demonstrating that basketball is fully practicable for summer. Caitlin Clark was the catalyst. But the growth has gone well beyond her. I can name players from around the WNBA now. I enjoy Kelsey Plum and Sabrina Ionescu to name two. 
And look at Lexie Hull and Sophie Cunningham of the "Fever," Caitlin's teammates. Not only are they good, they are glamorous by the standards of heterosexual males. If you are not heterosexual, then you are entitled to your own tastes. "To each their own." 
I will state emphatically that the WNBA will shoot itself in the foot if it permits players with the "butch" look. I wonder if they actually have a policy to discourage that. They might say to players "we do not care about your sexual orientation, but we want you to have the standard look of a 'woman' with reasonably long hair."
I did not like how Janelle McCarville had her hair so short. Just grow it out and be more appealing as a female. McCarville and Lindsay Whalen were quite the pair on behalf of our state of Minnesota. However, they did not really come across as endearing with their images or personalities. And Whalen flamed out as coach of the Gophers, left ignominiously  So she's now assistant with the Lynx? She can't do any harm there. Ms. Reeve is quite in charge. Whalen helps sell the team with her name. 
So let's get over this notion that summer belongs to baseball! Make way for more basketball! I'm loving it. I'm hoping that "CC" comes out of her injury funk. At the same time, I think her injury handicap is more serious than we might think. Career-ending? I would not even rule that out. The girl might be in denial about this. "Invulnerability of youth." 
Let's pray she can put the woes behind her. I guess I'm more of a Fever fan than a Lynx fan. And don't you think the WNBA would love to get Caitlin Clark in New York City or Los Angeles?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com 

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Big test for the SCT today!

Will our print media come through?
 
Ah, there's a million stories in the naked city. I guess some of them should be kept under wraps. Discretion is the better part of community newspaper work? Or should "the press" be undeterred, the way our local publisher suggests is the way to go? The press should be a "watchdog?" 
And of course that would mean updating the public on the occasional messy subjects. Sometimes I guess "conflict resolution" comes up short. And so we have the City of Morris with its closed council meetings and multiple sheriff's deputies assigned to be at meeting locations. A well-known retired Morris attorney rolling up his sleeves to fight for a particular party using an online forum. 
The attorney's spouse wrote the following to me:
 
I'm sure the City Manager won't address the thousands of dollars in tax funds that the citizens of Morris will have to pay for attorney fees and investigator fees. She had already charged $9000 to the library budget for the first fees due!
Anyway, we'll attend the rest of the hearing in August. 
 
But what about the venerated print media? Is it not supposed to be a beacon? According to lots of popular rhetoric it is. But where the rubber meets the road? Like right now with the kerfuffle based on the Morris Public Library? 
The library ought to always be a benign topic, wouldn't you think? It's not as if it even provides an essential service. I can't even get my receipts printed through their computer department any more. This is a big deal. Systems are "tightening up" with ID verification. 
Is the Morris paper enlightening us on the details of this quite untidy struggle involving various players with the library? The city manager is primary in this. The council has devoted considerable time in closed meetings. Deputies are deemed needed to watch over deliberations. Where would the violence come from? Is it safe for me to even be writing about it here? I'm an "unattached" journalist. Unattached to corporate interests. 
The Morris paper is of course the "Stevens County Times." 
Here's an email I sent to a friend this morning (Tuesday):
 
Del - Today is the big test for the Morris newspaper. The new issue comes out and we'll see if there's a substantial follow-up on the library matter, because of last week's meeting at the courthouse and all the intrigue. Right now I'm guessing there will be, because there has to be. I'll go downtown to library at maybe 5 p.m. and see. We'll see if there's anything to Ward's theory that there might be a "cover-up."
Kevin Wohlers never answered me!
I've been around a lot but I've never seen anything as mystifying as this. And there's Anne at the library as if nothing happened.
Why would anyone want to run for the city council now?
- BW
 
Think I'm isolated with my thoughts? Here's an email I got from a quite respected senior member of our community a few days ago.
 
Sorry to say, I am not privy to any info about the librarian mess. In fact, I learned more just by reading your blogs. I wish the newspaper would shed some light on this, but maybe they've been told not to.
 
"Been told not to!" 
We should feel flummoxed by this comment. Are the elected city officials muzzling themselves too? As reflected in how our mayor did not respond to a most reasonable inquiry I sent him recently? No answer at all. Maybe he wouldn't want to give me the satisfaction of knowing that I at least asked valid questions. So if I had to guess, I'd guess he would say my email was too long. 
Sometimes an issue like this demands such attention. I know in the Internet age people don't have much patience to read. So go ahead and call me a dinosaur. You may want to call me some other things too. I have a long pattern of being skeptical about today's Republican Party, and this makes me a real outlier here in the rural hinterlands. 
Perhaps a target for visceral action? 
Kevin Wohlers is in good company because Rep. Michelle Fischbach did not answer my most recent question to her either. It was about DJT commuting the prison sentence of a major defrauder of Medicare. I thought Republicans were so concerned about Medicare and Medicaid fraud. 
They appear to be passing the "big beautiful bill" now. You all should be self-motivated to find out what's really going on and to not automatically follow the Republicans. Fischbach would appear to follow the lead of DJT completely. Can you dispute that?
 
Email to the mayor
I am most happy to share with y'all the email re. the library that I sent to Mayor Wohlers. I'm sharing it by putting a permalink here to my June 27 post on "Morris of Course." That is my companion blog. I started two different blogs a long time ago when I had more access to local sports information and I did not want any one site to get "clogged" with sports! Here is the link to the post that includes my email to Mayor Wohlers: 
 
I'll share one last quoted passage from one of my own emails regarding the library. Here goes:
 
There has got to be something BIG going on with library, when you consider what the city is spending on investigation and the very sharp words by city officials/attorneys. No way is this going to turn out innocent. Can't we all assume now that Anne isn't worth the trouble any more? Good grief we're just talking about the library. If council members learn Anne is innocent or if charges are overblown, wouldn't they come down quickly on city manager? 
What a PR black eye this is for Morris. And Bob Dalager was right when he was shocked at how three LE officers were needed for the closed city council meeting. As if violence might be done. Very very odd. Good grief. 
Please try to nail down the shoeshine guy. Man, if this whole thing ends up being small potatoes, then our council should be tarred and feathered.
The matter has not been discussed further on "Anonymous." Dalager really used that for a time.
- BW 
 
"The shoeshine guy"
My occasional references to "the shoeshine guy" are kind of an inside joke with a friend. You would know the background if you watched the old "Police Squad" satirical TV series that starred Leslie Nielsen. This was when Nielsen was well into the new iteration of himself as a comic actor. 
Nielsen's police character would scout around for info on crimes going on. First on his list was to visit "Johnny the Snitch" who worked a shoeshine stand! And of course a "shoeshine guy" would overhear tons of stuff about the underbelly of life. Our current library matter I guess is in line with the underbelly. It is untidy. 
So the community newspapers of today would find it unsavory to look into? Of course the city is funded with public funds. So I'd suggest getting all this out in the open. Can you tell me why not?
 
The image below shows Leslie Nielsen as "Lt. Frank Drebin" trying to get "the real story" from "Johnny the Snitch" at the shoeshine stand. Unfortunately there is no shoeshine stand in Morris. Johnny would always feign that he knew nothing at first. Then "Drebin" would peel out some cash and hand it to Johnny whereupon Johnny, after a moment of looking right and left, would "spill" what he knew!

 - Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Monday, June 30, 2025

Society retreating some on gay rights

Good Shepherd Church in Morris, let's say rural Morris, does not wish to be known as gay-bashing. There was a popular belief especially among the young adults that the church had its basis for existence in the skepticism I just noted. 
Maybe the skepticism was not intended as a broadside toward the gay folks. Not an indictment of them as human beings. Just think: We are all God's children, right? So I think there was more to the matter than whether or not to turn thumbs-down on gay people. 
Some intelligent and respected people were not inclined to stick with their ELCA Lutheran churches. So were those people just Neanderthal? It's hard to judge that way. Never wanted to, yet I felt the days of gays staying "in the closet" should end. I inferred that some suicides were even connected to the stigma. I can think of a couple people connected to Morris from my long background. I must add that these examples are anecdotal. 
I sat next to a devoted Good Shepherd member at a public supper a few months back, and this person said "gays are welcome to worship at our church." I assume there's still a policy against gays being eligible for ministry in that denomination which is "LCMC." 
I have come to believe there isn't so much of a gap between the ELCA and LCMC. I can understand the LCMC's argument against gay clergy from the standpoint that it's the heterosexuals who procreate. I don't think gay people should be upset about the policy. "It's just no big deal," I would say. It's just one occupation. 
And maybe the day will come when Lutherans will be thankful that gay pastors are available! I'm sure the gays would be very sharp and committed. But I would advise one thing strongly: no need for "gay activism" within the church. Forget it. It is not necessary or needed because it's not related to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is simply no need to address "sexual orientation." 
We continually hear talk about how it's like pulling teeth for ELCA churches here in the rural Midwest to get pastors. Rather comes across like horror stories - it's that bad. I keep asking "what about the principle of supply and demand?" 
A person close to the Faith Lutheran management of Morris says ministers actually get paid well. The two of us joked about when a pastor is on the way out, "they are sure to burn up all their vacation time!" 
First Lutheran had a bad experience with a pastor who conveniently left here after one year. At the conclusion of that episode, my eyes were opened at how difficult it had become to find someone. 
Lutherans did not even allow women ministers up until 1970! Isn't that incredible? As I "surf" online for Lutheran services out and around, I notice that some women ministers come off as the most dynamic. It makes total sense, because the Christian church is meant to be a nurturing institution and women are natural nurturers. Men? Let's not characterize them. 
First Lutheran Church
I can sure cite my own church as an example of the rough waters being experienced by the ELCA. We are "stretching" this summer to even keep our existence going. It is so humbling, or discouraging, we might wonder if it's time to just close our doors. 
I was at a Catholic funeral on Saturday. The Catholics of Morris really have their act together because they are consolidated in one nice big church, a nice big building in the heart of Morris. And they can rely on a well-developed hierarchy to make sure their needs are met. 
Oh my, look at the Lutherans. I might say "the pathetic Lutherans" all diffused and spread out, I guess over theological differences that I would say don't amount to a hill of beans. 
I could generalize about the "moderate" churches of which the ELCA is certainly part. And in that group I would also place Federated, the church across from the public school. First Lutheran and Federated actually have a formal partnership this summer! I have no choice but to frown about this. Just another example of how our community "fades" in summer? So many people gone? Gone to the lake? 
First Lutheran's first obvious evidence of decline was when we went to one Sunday service in summer. We would then go back to two in the fall. We'd have a big "UMM Sunday" in the fall and it really was a big deal. The stresses on us steadily grew. Was our church leadership really willing to just live with all the crumbling? Well I guess they were. I would question that. 
I grew up in a time when First Lutheran was an absolute bastion for propriety and conformity. That eroded with the ELCA's drift toward what is popularly described as "liberalism." And man, what a wrecking ball that became. Prior to this summer, was there ever a Sunday when First Lutheran did not at least have a nice little service in the morning? 
Do not assume that the "survivors" with First Lutheran are hardcore "liberals."  I'm sure mostly these are people with a Lutheran background who simply found the institution appealing, a nice place to find fellowship. But the numbers and I presume the money have thinned. So this is the toll of the ELCA's drift in the liberal or progressive waters, and the embrace of "gay rights." Man that has been kind of a sledgehammer. 
 
Some retreat on gay rights 
Should us survivors just "hang in there?" Hoping for an upturn in fortunes? There may be some hope. There is now a sense that the public wants to backtrack some on gay rights. Even gay marriage. Many of us may have gone along with the marriage thing because we had a finger in the wind. I'm not so sure I support it now. But we want to welcome our gay brothers and sisters into the big tent of Christianity at the same time. 
Hey, I have never been married myself! It is possible to get through life this way. 
I echo what my Good Shepherd friend said: "Gays are welcome to worship at our church." She said it with sincerity. But we need not have gay activism. I guess some leaders in the ELCA power structure are gay activists. Well, we don't see those people locally anyway. And the ELCA might tone down a lot of this if the polls indicate a continuing retreat. 
So maybe we don't need to see a "gay rights" flag, or to see a gay pride float in the local high school homecoming parade. Maybe some of the high-profile stuff could be countenanced as part of our awakening or enlightenment. Now that we have been enlightened, maybe cool it a little. 
But is this too late to save First Lutheran of Morris? I think it may be. 
I was so heartened to be at the Morris Catholic Church on Saturday. I felt I was having the bona fide Christian experience there. I went up for a "blessing" from the priest. I felt tremendously uplifted by this. After all the Catholic Church's problems, I still feel they might be closer to God than the other churches. As a kid I had friends who took me to "Catholic bingo" here in Morris!
 
Addendum: Let me just say that it warmed my heart to see Fr. Alan Wielinski Saturday. I hadn't seen him in 20 years! We had a lot of association in the days when I represented the Morris newspaper. I knew him better than any other Catholic clergy here. He was like a rock for the church to depend on. I think he would have recognized me! 
I wrote an article that appeared in the Diocese newspaper once. Also I took a feature photo: that was of Fr. Botz at time of his retirement getting a gift of a golf cart and driving it up the aisle! He was joined by Fr. Nic Dressen. 
I will never forget receiving the blessing from Fr. Wielinski on Saturday. Rest in peace Shirley O'Keefe. The O'Keefe and Williams monuments are located close together at Summit Cemetery. I couldn't ask for better "neighbors." 
I heard there were people who wanted to buy their next car at the Morris Ford dealership because they wanted to buy it from Mike O'Keefe! Mike would always ask me "are you married yet?"
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com 

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Distress over the park and the library?

I took this photo of East Side Park with a wide angle lens. - BW
Why the fuss over certain "frill" issues lately? Why do we have East Side Park as a crux matter? The "preservationists" build this major movement. As if a threat was looming of the park being somehow destroyed! The irony is that the movement arose in response to a proposal to actually improve Morris by doing something new with the park. It's not as if certain people wanted the park wiped out to make way for a commercial purpose. 
Why should be want to discourage "NextGen" which was seeking to be dynamic on behalf of Morris? And for that, they put the wheels in motion for an aggressive "nay" response? I wouldn't blame them if they withdrew permanently. 
The preservationists fight for the park as an "open space." It is true that parks have value as open spaces. But, if that's what really turns you on, walk three or four blocks north of the park and you can look out over all the open space you'll ever want to see. 
By the same token I have always wondered about UMM's policy of requiring parking permits. Goodness there is nothing but wide-open spaces to the east of campus. But UMM would say there's a reason. I heard once it's because UMM does not want students to drive cars. But then, students who do not want to buy a permit will park close to campus and become an annoyance for residents and businesses where they park. 
It was reported to me that students sometimes park at Willie's in the morning and leave their cars there all day. The sanctity of residential neighborhoods can be violated too. 
I imagine the residents around East Side Park develop the same wariness about having lots of activity at the park. I would be sensitive to their argument. Where I live, the tremendous growth of Superior just down the road might be a potential issue because noise does emanate from there. I would not voice any concern at this time. But if the company's growth continues, might be concerning. 
I remember saying to Blaine Hill "what if Superior snakes around behind my neighborhood?" Right now we on Northridge Drive have farm field to the north. I am not seeking to make an issue at the present time. I only bring it up to try to show I'd be sensitive to the concerns of residents who live tightly around East Side Park. 
I remember hearing a smattering of concerns in this vein when the Killoran stage/building was first proposed and developed. Frequent noisy concert events there? It was a legitimate concern. You have to be sensitive to how property owners feel about such things. "A man's home is his castle." 
The threat of noise from the stage has absolutely not been borne out. Mostly the Killoran thing has seen negligible use. The best argument that could have ever been made for it, was in connection to the "old" Prairie Pioneer Days. The original PPD is the stuff merely of history. It was such a grand step forward for this community when it was on. This is not overstatement. I remember well the atmosphere. 
Were the surrounding neighborhoods ever concerned about it? I don't think they were. It was such a wholesome event. And on Saturday night the park had to go dark anyway because the Miss Morris pageant was held at the school. You should know that the pageant was originally at the park, probably should have stayed there. I think that was before the involvement of Miss Minnesota. It was strictly locally organized. 
What was wrong with that? Is Miss Morris still held? I haven't made the rounds for the Morris newspaper since 2006. Increasingly I think such pageants are sexist. This was remedied for a time with the injection of the term "scholarship." "Miss Minnesota Scholarship program." This to make clear at least superficially that it was not an "eye candy" event. I still thought it came away that way. There was a time when America totally accepted such a thing, the Bob Hope sexist days. 
Heck, there was a time when girls athletics did not even exist, right up to around 1970. The year 1970 was also when the Lutheran Church allowed the first woman pastor! Could blow one's mind. I do not forget such things, nor the tragedy of the Vietnam war. 
I began this post by mentioning that Morris has been getting excited by "frill" things. Might we say "de minimis?" So let's cite another one: the library. The library is a "fringe" service, I mean not essential, certainly not in our advanced Internet age. 
It is quaint to think back to when defenders of the "print" media would wring hands and say "not everyone is online." Isn't nearly everyone online now? And there's no limit to what you can access online? C'mon. 
It's tough to question or criticize the public library because the library is like Mom and apple pie. You see young mothers with their children in there. I'm sure it's a costly service. And maybe there is growing sensitivity about that. 
 
Our Morris Public Library
Another kerfuffle 
So at the same time we see the East Side Park preservationists making a big fuss, my goodness we see our Morris Public Library at the vortex of. . .controversy? 
I would argue the library is not worth the trouble. Life would go on fine without it. 
Republicans don't like libraries because libraries leave the door wide open for critical thinking. But that's a matter to discuss separate from what's pertinent now. What's pertinent now is the status of the library director. Hoo boy. And the matter just stretches on and on. 
Aren't city leaders just embarrassed by how the "controversy" reflects the library now? At a certain point couldn't the leaders just say "we're going to end this, whatever it takes." 
Here's from an email I got from a friend the other day:
 
I also don’t understand this Anne Barber thing. Either she is guilty of improprieties or completely innocent and the City Manager has some bug up her butt about Anne, which makes no sense. I thought it was resolved and behind us, but then this meeting came up. So now we wait until August. I wonder if there’s “something in the wood pile,” as Keith D. might say. 
 
I will not explain to you the Keith D. thing. He is a much beloved local resident and amazing with his longevity.
So, there was a meeting on the library director on Tuesday. At the courthouse? Library director appealing her suspension? It appears suspension ought not be her biggest worry. 
Someone sent me a heads-up but I decided not to attend. I have also heard about the meeting after the fact from a friend. This is a different source from the one I just quoted. Guess I'm a little like Woodward and Bernstein! So here goes: 
 
We went to the council hearing that started at 3. The City's attorney and City Manager were very aggressive towards "all of the fraud" perpetrated by Anne. The investigator they hired testified that she couldn't find 67 items on the invoices (she did not let Anne look for them in the library since she was suspended  at that time.)  She had not talked to any of the library staff, either. The CM testified that she believed Anne committed fraud and should be terminated. When it was Anne's turn to testify, she very calmly and thoroughly explained all of the claims against her, including where she had found all of the "missing" items that she had in a box in her office now.  The CM leaned over to a couple of city employees at that statement and they made a beeline to the library to check. Anne's husband Gary followed them and filmed them going through the box in Anne's office. They came back and nothing was said. The meeting went until 7:15 when the City Council was meeting, so it was continued to August 6th.  A decision will be made by the Council at their Aug. 12 meeting. A big deal was made that Anne had ordered personal items using the library's tax exempt number and defrauded the citizens of Morris by using their hard-earned tax money. Anne explained that all of the items she had ordered were for library use, and she had never ordered anything for herself using library funds. I'm sure the City Manager won't address the thousands of dollars in tax funds that the citizens of Morris will have to pay for attorney fees and investigator fees. She had already charged $9000 to the library budget for the first fees due! Anyway, we'll attend the rest of the hearing in August. 
 
Addendum: I hate for this blog post to end on such a dreary note as what you read above. Let's remember when the FFA kids of Morris put up the replica "alfalfa arch" over East 7th Street for Prairie Pioneer Days! I should communicate with Mayor Wohlers. He and I were on the same page for wanting to keep the old Prairie Pioneer Days going. Remember the big Coborn's shopping cart in the parade? Well, Coborn's is gone just like PPD. Legend has it they wanted a liquor license to stay, would have built a nice new store.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com