Letter to the editor: Kern

Letter to the editor:

My son Caleb Kern was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was nine months old in March of 1991. Since then he has had different types of seizures and has been tried on multiple seizure medications to try and control them. We do not know what the cause of his seizures are. He has had a pilocytic astrocytoma tumor in his left temporal lobe, so he has endured a brain tumor resection in March of 2009, totally separate of his epilepsy. He has lost three years of his memory and struggled with many learning difficulties, so school has been a struggle. Caleb has been in the hospital several times to see the extent and how often he seizes. He was hospitalized for seven days in May 2010 to find the areas of his brain where his seizures start. He has two starters and could have surgery on one side but that still would not control them. So we decided to wait and try the Ketogenic Diet to control or stop his seizures for two-three years.

Caleb, as a team captain, along with his team will be walking in the Stroll for Epilepsy August 9, 2012 at the Eagles Club in Rochester to benefit people affected by seizures. All donations that Caleb raises go to the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota. The proceeds from this event will go to programs that help educate, connect, and empower people affected by seizures. Dollars raised in each community stay in that community to provide awareness. Please sponsor Caleb Kern’s challenging course by donating to sponsor his team.

Checks can be sent to Epilepsy Foundation of MN or mail them to Caleb Kern at 307 5th St. NW, Kasson, MN 55944. You can also give at his garage sale fundraiser selling snow cones, cookies, pop and pearl bead crafts, or in cans placed in different stores in Kasson marked “Stroll for Epilepsy for Caleb Kern.”

            Thank you for your support,
              Caleb Kern & his family
            634-7907

"Open the Valve in 2012" Let the fun flow at the 155th Dodge County Fair

There isn’t much that is more American than the old county fair. The fair just goes back to the very heart of everything and what makes us great. It's just a wonderful tradition. Dodge County Fair is the one County Get Together to promote education, and entertainment for the young and old.

Dodge County Fair, July 18 - 22, 2012 will be an EXCITING WEEK with many new attractions. Grandstand Attractions include: Thursday, July 19th Tractor & Semi Truck Pull Friday, July 20th HAIRBALL BAND Saturday, July 21st Demo Derby (Dedicated to Maynard Swanson)
Midwest Rides will be back with the carnival rides. Be sure to purchase advance ride tickets prior to the fair opening on Wednesday, July l8th. They can be purchased at any of the banks in the Dodge County, Hardware Hank in Kasson, Casey's in West Concord or Mantorville and the Fair Office.
The Commercial Exhibits will be in the former Horticultural & Fine Arts Buildings. Crops, grains, flowers, vegetables and FFA will be displayed in the Pavilion. And the Fine Arts will be in the Women's Building with Foods and Creative Activities. There are many new vendors coming that you won't want to miss. Outside the Four Seasons Arena there will be lots of equipment, campers, etc. Some other outside vendors will be located just west of the Fair Office. Be sure to take a look at the updates done in the Women's Building with the Equal Share Grant received through the Legacy Act.
What more excitement could you want? Scarecrow will be roaming the grounds on Friday and Saturday along with Dave Ferrell (woodcarver). Vogel's Exotic Petting Zoo and the FFA Kiddie Barnyard will be at the Fair all week.

You will also want to visit all the exhibit buildings to see the 4-H exhibits, Open Class exhibits, and Animal Barns. Maybe you would like to see the judging of the animals and there are many Open Shows which can be exciting to watch. 4-H and FFA kids have put in many hours to get their projects and animals ready for the Fair. Check out what our Future Leaders of Tomorrow are doing. 4-H & FFA programs teach so many life skills.

Beer Garden Bands include: Lost & Found on Thursday, July 19th. Standby on Saturday, July 21th. Also there will be Wine Tasting on Thursday, Frozen T-Shirt Contest on Friday, Bean Bag Tournament and Bud Girls on Saturday. Other things in  the Beer Garden include punching bag, pull tabs, juke box and video games. Check out the new exciting look in the Beer Garden.

Senior Citizen Day is Thursday, July 19th. Semcac will be doing a picnic type lunch, followed by music in the afternoon by "Casey and the Goodtimes". Seniors planning to attend the lunch should make reservations by calling Sunwood Manor at 507-634-7526. Daycare & Family Day comes on Friday, July 20th. Bobbie Cox & her Sonflower Puppets will be performing on Friday and Saturday. You will find her at the Free Stage which will be located by the shelter on the grounds.

There have been many people over the years of the Dodge County Fair, who have been instrumental in making the Fair a success. On Sunday, the Fair Board will be honoring some of these special people by inducting them into the "Hall of Fame". People to be honored this year include: Madelyn Beckstrom, Millie Trapp, Leonard Prescher, Kendall Boyum, Dean Wright and Don Spillman. Sunday's program will also recognize: veterans, Farm Family of the year, commissioners, honorary Fair Board and present Fair Board members.

Plan now to help us "OPEN THE VALVE in 2012" at the Dodge County Fair to enjoy the competitions, educational & commercial exhibits, plus, don't miss that great Fair food, midway ides and much, much more.

For more details visit the website: www.dodgecounty freefair.com

Anyone in the county can be a voting member of the Dodge County Agricultural and Mechanical Society. To be a member, dues need to be paid by the close of the Dodge County Fair, July 22, 2012.

Torn

I am really torn on what to do with bloggers on our DCI web site. Currently people are allowed to make comments without signing their name. We do screen what is written and have had to delete inappropriate comments.

I am a little old school (all right, more than a little). If a person is unable to submit an unsigned Letter to the Editor why should they be able to make a comment on the web site and not give their name?  To me writing a comment on the web and and not signing a name takes much of the credibility out of the content. If you have an opinion and want to express it then tell us who you are.

What do the readers think? I posed that question on the DCI web site this week.

If we were to require people to sign their name the comments would drop considerably. That's just the way people are. They have an opinion, want to share it with the world, but want to share it anonymously. Maybe I don't get it. Being in the newspaper business I put my name to everything I write. Why shouldn't anyone else?

Letter to the editor: Peck

Letter to the editor:

I'm writing this letter in response to the editorial submitted by Bernie Lattner on June 19, 2012. My name is Jason Peck and I am the School Resource Officer working in the Kasson- Mantorville Schools.

As a School Resource Officer, my responsibilities include maintaining school safety and investigating criminal activity that occurs within the K-M Schools. Being a police officer in a school setting is a very rewarding, but often times an under appreciated job. In a perfect world kids would come to school, follow all of the rules and display good citizenship towards staff and other students. When kids behave as expected the school day goes very well. Unfortunately, there are some students who engage in negative, inappropriate and sometimes criminal behavior at school. When a student decides to commit a crime, the matter is referred to me to investigate.

As with most things in life that can be contentious, these investigations often times become no win situations as it is nearly impossible to please everyone who has a stake in the outcome. However, for every parent like Mr. Lattner who does not agree with the work I do, there is a parent or student who appreciates the fact that I took the time to investigate their case, no matter how big or how small, and provided them with a resolution that they found to be acceptable. Contrary to the opinion expressed by Mr. Lattner, my focus is not on "minor infractions". Instead, my focus is on all crimes reported to me by the school district, students/staff who have been victimized or concerned parents of the student victims. On occasion I observe criminal behavior in person and I investigate these matters as well.
In his editorial, Mr. Lattner claimed that I do not focus on "drugs, violence or bullying". This statement is not only wrong, but also very irresponsible as I strongly believe drugs, violence and bullying have no place in a school setting. Had Mr. Lattner taken the time to talk with me before submitting his editorial, he would have learned that in addition to citations for "minor" offenses such as misdemeanor theft, I have also arrested or issued citations to students for drugs, alcohol consumption/possession, assault, terroristic threats and weapons on school property, some of which were felony level offenses.

While I would like to discuss the specifics of the case mentioned in Mr. Lattner's editorial, I am unable to do so because of data privacy. What I will say is that Mr. Lattner only reported some of the facts regarding this matter and of the facts he did report, some were distorted to benefit his opinion.
If anyone would like accurate information about the work I do in the K-M school district, please feel free to give me a call. I can be reached at the high school (634-1196), middle school (634-1636) or the Kasson Police Department (634-4983). While I can not give specific information about cases I have investigated, I can tell you about the types of cases that are being reported, the rationale that goes into making a decision to file criminal charges and about all of the activities I'm doing with students in the school district that have nothing to do with criminal investigations. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Jason Peck
School Resource Officer
Kasson Police Department

Supported By:
Ken Schuck
Chief of Police
Kasson Police Department

Letter to the editor: Lattner

Letter to the editor:
Criminalizing Minors

You won't believe where our civil liberties are being attacked now. My 13 year old son and two others like him were facing a misdemeanor charge by the Kasson-Mantorville Police School Resource Officer (SRO). The offense was for being offered and/or taking less than $.30 of "Frooties" candy from a friend's locker. The boy who owned the Frooties candy, gave his combination to other boys who opened the locker and were getting candy. My son asked what they were doing and they asked him if he wanted some candy. My son said, "yes" and took approx 20 of the small pieces which he also handed out to his friends during the day. The owner of the locker noticed the candy being gone and reported it to Officer Peck who was nearby. Officer Peck reviewed the school camera film, conducted a recorded interrogation of the minors without a parent or lawyer present, and issued criminal citations that were forwarded to the Dodge County Court.

For this offense, three of the four boys were given a three  day out-of-school suspension and were later charged with criminal misdemeanor theft. Another boy known by the officer received no citation or out-of-school suspension at all. The family of and the boy who reported the missing candy to Officer Peck asked that no charges be brought against these minor boys. Officer Peck pushed it through till it reached the Dodge County Prosecutor and Court. The Court threw the case out when the first minor appeared for this court hearing.

When I spoke with the Kasson-Mantorville Superintendent of Schools, Mark Matuska, he was not aware that the District had signed off on forwarding the charges for some candy and felt the punishment was not proportional to the alleged offense. The Dodge County Court said they would not normally take a case like this but because it was pushed through they are obligated to hear it. The children were being charged under the same statute as taking items off war dead (MN Statute 609.52). No such charges appear from Triton or Hayfield School Districts which also report to the Dodge County Court.

The Districts outside of Kasson-Mantorville refer drug and violence cases which are better suited for the legal system and its limited resources. We never had these problems under our previous SRO through the Dodge County Sherriffs Office. Our Kasson Police Department SRO primarily focuses on candy and food fights for criminal action.

The problem is that SROs are in our schools to protect against real crime: drugs, violence, and bullying. Unfortunately, some like Officer Peck are taking away the rights of active parents to raise their young children and discipline them in a way that brings them to a healthy and productive adulthood. Instead of working with the parents, he throws it into the courts.

The use of school-based citations, interrogations without a parent or attorney present, and arrests as a means of addressing even minor, non-violent disciplinary infractions should raise serious concerns for educators, parents, and the wider community.

While there is no question that guaranteeing the safety of our public schools is important, we must never come to view criminally citing minor infractions committed by minor aged school students as just another approach to discipline.

Instead, every time a school-based citation or other police punishment occurs, we must ask: Was this a rational, proportional, and evenhanded response to the misbehavior? Was it really necessary? Was there another way?

Plainly, SRO’s can help make schools safer. But with the wrong SRO, his presence also may encourage a criminal justice response to misconduct better addressed by school administrators and active parents who work with those administrators.

Unfortunately, there is a trend over the last few years of criminalizing our Kasson- Mantorville children, through increased reliance on selective zero-tolerance school discipline, school-based interrogations, and citations. This is beginning to create an atmosphere of the "school-to-probations pipeline" for our minors.

There is a lot of documentation available in the local media and the Dodge County Court to see this trend occurring here in the K-M School District. The focus is not on drugs, violence, or bullying. This SRO has put his focus on minor infractions and has escalated them to where our court is becoming the mandated parent of our children. Again, is this the most rational, proportional, and evenhanded response to minor misbehavior?

                  Respectfully Submitted,
                      Bernie Lattner

Letter to the editor: Huppler

Letter To the Editor:

Dear readers:

This year marks a major milestone for the Mantorville Theatre Company. We are embarking on our 40th season of summer melodramas in the Historic Mantorville Opera House. To commemorate the event, the MTC Board has selected four of our favorite shows from the past four decades, to reprise for our audiences. I am personally looking forward to being a part of the audience for each and every show this summer, because in my own three-decade-plus relationship with the Mantorville Theatre Company, I’ve been privileged to act in all four of the shows. For reasons that will become apparent, allow me to briefly discuss them in reverse order:

Sandra Hennings Miller has supported the Mantorville Theatre Company as a Board member, actress, costumer, playwright and director. This year, she is reprising one of her popular scripts. “How Now Brown Cow” or “Don’t Bully Me” has all of the elements of a classic melodrama: villainy, heroism, pure hearts triumph over evil – with some elements of bovine humor and not a few references to the “immortal Bard” (Not to worry – no iambic pentameter!). This year, the season has been extended beyond Marigold Days, with Sandra’s show playing the last weekend in August and the first three weekends in September. Patrons will want to check the specific dates because there are a couple of normal show dates without shows.

Sandra Miller and I were both members of the first cast of our third show “The Wedding Will Out” or “A Night in the Nutt House”, written by Mantorville native, Gregory David Miller, and directed this year by Robert Soland, another member of the original cast. Many of you will recognize Greg Miller (no relation to Sandra, except their mutual love of the art) as the artistic director of the Rochester Civic Theatre. If Neil Simon were to write a melodrama starring the Addams Family, it might have turned out something like this. Humor abounds in this tale of lightly twisted personalities, with a switch from the typical format, in that true evil is personified in the form of the villainess. Real treats in the show are the antics of the three Nutt sisters, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that two of the original sisters were my wife, Lynette, and the MTC’s Business Manager, Kristine Knutson.

Now, in a previous version of our second show “Curse You Jack Dalton”, we also had Bob Soland, Kris Knutson, and myself in the cast (If you get the impression that the Mantorville Melodramas are habit-forming, you might be right!). This year’s edition is directed by Laura Marie Kuisle, who also directed a show last year and has been involved in the technical aspects of both MTC’s and Byron’s shows for the past many years. Jack Dalton is a “stock” script displaying all of the features of classic melodrama. It is our most repeated show in the history of the Mantorville Theatre Company, and sure to delight audience members, again.

This brings me forward to the first show of our 40th season: “She Aspired to Greater Things” or “Up the River Without a Paddle(boat)”, written and directed by Cheryl Frarck.  Among the original cast members were Lynette and me, and Cheryl, herself, and also the aforementioned Greg Miller. I’m confident that if you start with this show, you’ll be sure to return for more the rest of the summer. You can find more information in Mantorville stores or on www.mantorvillain.com.
All of these shows are special to me, but “Up the River” particularly rings home. You see, unlike what you will see on stage, about six months after we closed the first edition of the show, the “heroine” agreed to the supplications of the “villain”. This year’s June 15 premier is four days after the 29th anniversary of our entry into connubial bliss (Happy Anniversary, Lynette!)

Karl Huppler

Police Stop

A week ago Friday  I was leaving the office and pulled up to the stop sign at the corner of T & K Towing (across from State Farm Insurance). I was turning left and at this time of the day (4:30 p.m.) traffic can be very busy. I was shaking my head in slight frustration as a sheriff's deputy passed me headed south toward the stop light.  I was thinking to myself, "Maybe I should have gone up to the stop light, waited for the light and then turned left".

Finally there was an opening. I took a left turn and suddenly heard a screeching noise like someone had really slammed on the brakes. I looked around and saw nothing.

I saw flashing lights in my rear view mirror and pulled over. A sheriff's deputy approached me and asked if I knew why he had pulled me over. He said I was not wearing my seatbelt. He saw me shaking my head as he passed and maybe figured I was not belted in.

Anyone who knows me knows that I religiously wear my seatbelt. It's one of those routines I never forget. Never!

The young man was courteous and I repeatedly said I always wear my seatbelt. While running a check on my license I scrambled to find my proof of insurance, which was a temporary one because we had just switched insurance companies. Couldn't find it. "Great, that will really help my cause," I thought to myself.

I received a verbal warning for the seatbelt issue and one for not having proof of insurance in the vehicle.


Had I been issued a ticket for no seat belt I would have gone to court, but I did not receive one and I think he did believe me, I hope.

What bothered me a little bit is the screeching tires. I figured he must have pulled a u-turn in a high traffic area near the stop light to follow me. I stopped back at the office, the door was open and after explaining what happened to one of my employees she said she had heard the screeching tires.

Now if I had just robbed the Kasson Liquor Store I can see the reason to come after me like that. I was driving 30 miles an hour north on Mantorville Avenue for gosh sakes.

I did not realize law enforcement went after suspected seat belt violators the same as someone who has committed a felony. I would have liked to have seen his maneuver.

I was shook up and upset, but I controlled my emotions and had to keep telling myself he was only doing his job. I did not realize seat belt violations were worthy of such pursuit. My heart got a workout.