According to an article that appeared in the Dakota County Tribune (hosted by the illustrious Thisweek Live, Bill McNeff of the Mutual UFO Network claims that there have been more than 50 UFO sightings in Dakota County of which 30 referenced intelligent beings. Being that I’m as skeptical as the next person I checked out their database and only found 11 listed some of which go back as far as August of 1953 and nothing since May of 2006.

Now, I looked through the listings (it’s based out of a perl script and I’m too lazy to get you linked straight to any of these, sorry) and saw this gem from September 20th, 1973 that was posted in late October of 2006:

9/20/2006 7:15-30 PM
Jessica and I were driving home from having dinner, just as the sun was setting. We were heading west on Cliff Rd in Eagan. The night was cool (50s) and clear with a brilliant blue sky. The only exception being some clouds that looked like they had been painted in the sky. The clouds looked like they had been created by the strokes of a paint brush using violet colored paint. They formed the shape of a flame. The source of the flame appeared to be yellow glow of the sun that was now hidden by the earth. This caused a few clouds toward the horizon to appear to be bright orange. The shape of these clouds looked awesome in the bright blue sky. The sight was so impressive that we pulled over to get a better view of this beautiful sunset (at the Park and Ride at Cliff Rd, Blackhawk Rd and 35E). Then something caught my eye, just above where the clouds ended. It looked like a black dot or disk off to the south-west of us. At first I thought it might be a helicopter, but then I thought that it was too high in the sky to be a helicopter. I kept looking over at it as we drove home, which was probably just about a half a mile in distance. As I kept looking over at the object, it did not seem to move at all. When we got home, I went to a clearing on a near by hill and found the object still in the same spot in the sky. I sat and observed the object and it seemed to be stationary for the most part, only moving slightly from time to time. A few times I saw an energy surrounding the object like an aura. It almost looked like there was a tiny black hole in the bright blue sky. Besides the energy that I saw around the object, I never saw any other lights come from it. At the same time planes were passing through the area, heading north toward the Minneapolis/St Paul airport for a landing. Using them as a reference I would say the black object was at least 30-40,000 feet above the earth. After observing this object for about 5 minutes, it stated to move west and slightly north in a somewhat straight line. The object did not move that fast. Many planes flew past me in the same time it took the object to be position just south and almost directly over head of me. Then as the object continued to travel in a westerly direction, it started to gain altitude and began going in and out of sight until it was no long visible in the now dimming sky.

9/20/2006 around Midnight to 12:30 AM
Then around midnight, I was about to go outside to enjoy the clear night sky when I sense beings roaming around inside our house. The energy they created in the house startled Jessica and woke her up. Prompting her to come out and ask what I was doing. Telling me to come back inside and shut the door. She told me that I was freaking her out, though it was really the energy of the beings that was making her uneasy. I could feel from time to time, me and a being’s energy pass through one another or my body being touched by these beings. This lasted for about a half hour and then I could sense the energy leave the house. Then Jessica went back to bed and I went out to enjoy the clear night sky.

PS. I have attached a photo that I found out on the net that looks similar to what I saw in the sky that day, so it is not a photo of what I actually saw.

Now, this is quite a bit of detail for someone remembering an event that occurred 30 years prior and some of the language makes them seem like they might have been partying with Ken Kesey. Feeling energy around you, auras, clouds painted in the sky, etc are all common interpretations of what those under the influence of psychedelics would recall.

Now, if none of that is the case and they did indeed see all of what they claim to have, I have to take it all with a grain of salt when they give their PS that they have attached a photo similar to what they saw and then offer a representation like this.

Any of you seen a UFO, while high or not, in Dakota County?

When a new store comes to Apple Valley, two miles from another similarly sized store, residents from surrounding areas seem to feel that it’s the second coming and a sign that the stars are aligned properly to make Apple Valley the next Woodbury. Fortunately, that blind support of corporations isn’t followed quite as closely in neighboring Eagan which has a group of residents quite upset over the newly planned addition of the smallest Cub Foods store in the metro as an anchor to the Diffley Marketplace.

Planned as some sort of suburban miniaturized “unique neighborhood-friendly” design, it will be replacing what was once planned as a “Rademacher’s Fresh Market” (which is also owned by Cub Foods’ parent company SuperValu) and will include a TCF Bank and an unnecessary pharmacy as there is already a Walgreens nearby. According to an article in the Pioneer Press about the new Cub Foods in Eagan, this particular store is unique because they are going to include tile floors, lower ceilings, softer lighting and no in-store storage areas towering above shoppers’ heads.

The concerned neighbors fear for their children’s safety with the increased traffic that will occur because of the entire development, especially now that the Cub Foods brand name will be even more likely to attract traffic now that the name has changed from something less familiar to Eagan residents. While I do not fall prey to the “save our children” rhetoric, I am glad that this particular group of residents has been fighting the development for the last three years unlike Apple Valley residents which cheered on Target and even encouraged them to put in a new SuperTarget instead of a plain old boring Target next to their million dollar homes on undersized lots.

Apparently, because of delays the developer sued the city in 2006 and an eventual agreement was reached causing the developer to put aside $20,000 in a “pedestrian safety fund” which would be used to create sidewalks or a trail near the new development. Now, there is nothing more friendly than a trail leading from a neighborhood straight to a commercial development. Mmmmm, self-serving safety actions supported by city government.

Obviously, if the space is so limited that a full-sized Cub could not be supported why is the city even bothering to allow yet another grocery store to go in there? They should listen to their citizens and not the greedy desire of a developer and continue on happily without this new and unnecessary grocery store.