From the article:

The indictment charges Final Exit, Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert, 84, of Baltimore and Jerry D. Dincin, 81, of Highland Park, Ill., each with two felony counts of assisting in a suicide, and two gross misdemeanors of interfering with a death scene.

[...]

Dunn had “intractable pain” after suffering complications during a medical procedure in 1996, Backstrom said. “She did not, however, suffer from a terminal illness,” he said.

A medical report sent to Final Exit stated that Dunn was “completely disabled, unable to work in any capacity.” Dunn was diagnosed with the neurological condition central pain syndrome; constant pain in her tailbone area; chronic pain in the upper neck, head and eyes; lower back pain; and other medical conditions, the report said.

The question here for everyone is whether you agree with the group’s assertion that simply providing information to an individual regarding methods to commit suicide and then cleaning up the equipment/evidence after-the-fact isn’t enough to convict. Aside from that do you believe that if the group had not cleaned up the evidence after-the-fact that they would have been ok in doing what they did? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks to reader Greg, we have word that a new restaurant is opening up next to Davanni’s at the corner of CR-11 and CR-42 in Burnsville. At this point there isn’t too much information available except the usual:

• Facebook page
• Minnesota business filing

There are no details yet available on Byblos’ Facebook page but they do have a new restaurant sign in place added after Greg took the photo above (The Wife has been dispatched to grab a new photo later today). I have a message into them via Facebook and will post any updates here soon. Being that I work only a few miles away I will be there as soon as it opens to try it out!

Are you excited about the prospects for a Lebanese restaurant in the South Metro? Do you think it will do pretty good business at this location? What other ethnic foods are you still waiting to be represented South of the River? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Address:
Byblos Lebanese Grill
14637 County Rd 11
Burnsville, MN 55337

Phone:
612-327-3663

On Friday night we had to make a trip out to Shakopee and we originally planned on stopping at reader Sornie’s favorite BBQ joint, Mr. Pig. Unfortunately Mr. Pig is only open during lunch (11 AM – 3 PM) and we needed to find alternate dining arrangements. On our way down, while avoiding the ridiculous amount of traffic on MN-13 on the Savage/Burnsville border, I was reminded that the location which has held various biker bars over the years (Renegade’s) has recently changed hands twice in short order (spending a very short time as “The Edge”) and now sits as Burnsville Ale House.

The Burnsville Ale House is a large and spacious bar/restaurant with plenty of booth and table seating as well as games and a decent sized bar. With happy hour specials on the weekdays from 3 PM – 7 PM and 11 AM – 7 PM on Saturdays, this seems like it will be a popular hangout for those in the South Metro looking to get some food and drink.

My first impression of the Burnsville Ale House was not a good one. For a bar to name itself an “ale house” I expected a wide variety of beers to be available, while they were, but in 2012 and in Minnesota I expect more than the very typical beer fare available everywhere else. No, Fat Tire and 312 are not impressive anymore. The only standout I saw was Tallgrass’ Buffalo Sweat. Time to swap out those pedestrian beers and get something decent on tap.

In addition to the very boring beer list was a very random menu which really had no cohesion. Edamame, clam strips, and nachos don’t really seem to fit a South Metro bar and certainly not all on the same restaurant’s menu. However, happy hour prices allow for half-price appetizers and with a pound of meaty wings (10 in our case) only setting you back less than $4.50, this is a hell of a deal.

We ordered a pound of Buffalo wings with both ranch and bleu cheese and placed orders for two sandwiches: a Philly Cheesesteak and The Bomber. We opted to add waffle fries to one and sweet potato fries to another for $1.50 more.

The wings were out first. They were surprisingly meaty. The waitress noted that these weren’t your typical tiny wings found elsewhere and she was right. While not the standard Buffalo, these wings were big but not as flavorful as I would have liked. There was a little bit of seasoning on them and while they tasted good, especially as cheap as they were during happy hour, I really think they could do more on the sauce. While the wings were good enough, the dressings were not at all. In fact, The Wife and I could not discern between the ranch and bleu cheese by taste alone and only the tiny flakes of bleu cheese in one. Attention restaurant owners and chefs: take the time to make some decent dressings/dips and stop using watery and flavorless ones instead.

Our sandwiches were out soon after. The Wife’s Philly Cheesesteak came with a paltry 6 previously frozen waffle fries. Yes, that’s S, I, X waffle fries for $1.50 more. I don’t know about you but that seems quite ridiculous to us. Described on the menu as, “Roast beef, sautéed onions, mushrooms, red peppers & Swiss stuffed in a hoagie bun,” ($9.95) this sandwich fit the bill, aside from the fact that based on quantity, I hardly believe anything was “stuffed” in there. The sandwich was good and after asking for mayo, The Wife was pleased with it. The meat was flavorful and the toppings nicely done while retaining their individual flavors. The biggest surprise were the thick-cut homemade pickle rounds accompanying the sandwich. They were tart but sweet and had an excellent crunch. I later asked the waitress how they could be pushing out homemade pickles but serving such crappy dressings. She assured me the dressings were homemade as well and after talking to the chef she promised that on our next visit the dressings would be redone to better meet the expectations set by the good sandwich and killer homemade pickles.

The Bomber, pictured at the top of the post, is described on the menu as, “Roast beef, ham, pepperoni, Swiss, Pepper Jack & giardiniera with shredded lettuce & spicy mayo” ($10.95). The waitress noted that this was not on the menu previously but the regulars knew to ask for it and often did. After changing names from The Edge, they added it to the menu and let everyone else in on the secret. I am definitely glad they did. The dagwood style sandwich is coupled with creamy cheese and the crunch, spice and sour from the giardiniera really makes this an experience I will not soon forget. In fact, as I ate it I knew I’d be back soon for another–even if I have plans to make it for myself at home. My sandwich also came with upgraded fries, this time sweet potato fries which were accompanied by a cinnamon sour cream dipping sauce which was quite good. While my meal came with more than six fries, I still felt like I was ripped off when the fries were simply your typical previously frozen kind. I mean, if you’re taking the time to make pickles and dressings, take the time to make the fries from scratch too. You clearly have the time and the skill, let’s go the entire way, ok?

Overall we thought there were some really great things going on at Burnsville Ale House. The sandwiches, while expensive and coupled with frozen and overpriced fries, had some real promise and good ingredients. They were adorned with some killer housemade pickles and there were plans to fix the boring and indistinguishable dressings which sat next to some really meaty and inexpensive (happy hour priced) wings. There is some real promise here and it’s clear they’re willing to work out the kinks and get things up and running well. We’re going to come back in a few weeks and try some other items as well as the wings. In the mean time I suggest you all get over to Burnsville Ale House and try it for yourselves. I’m guessing if the desire to grow and make changes continues, this could become a real destination for cheap and decent eats.

Address:
Burnsville Ale House
3809 Highway 13 W
Burnsville, MN 55378

Phone:
952-882-2911

Guns and Coffee originally uploaded by John Fischer

Last week’s poll asked about your willingness/desire to travel for work. I have been doing it more and more and have generally thought it was fun depending on the location and amount of time. It would seem that based on the responses provided that most of you agree. Anyone have any suggestions on how to make it better when you are traveling–especially with young kids?

This week’s poll comes from this Savage Pacer article regarding the rapid rise in the number of gun permits granted in Scott County in 2012 and how it mirrors similar trends in other metro counties.

From the article:

Permit-to-carry handgun applications are up 60 percent over last year. On this day last year, the county had 272 permit-to-carry applications. Right now, it has had 456 for the year.

[...]

Hennepin County is experiencing a similar trend, with a 54-percent increase in 2012 compared to 2011, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.

While the article doesn’t go into specific motivations for why individual people are applying, one has to wonder if people are just doing it because they can or because they feel a need to protect themselves more than what existed when the law was enacted in 2003.

Do you have a carry permit and if so why did you choose to get one? Do you feel less safe now than you did say 5 years ago and that you may want to carry a gun for your own protection? Do you have plans to add a permit in the near future? If you don’t carry one on your person do you have guns in your home to protect yourself and your family from some possible future threat? Do you think the current law should be changed and that people should not be able to carry firearms on their person?

Whatever you have to say about this one vote on the sidebar and then comment on below. After you do both of those things feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.

From the article:

The machines are branching out, though. They’ve started generating stories about restaurants.To be fair, that’s another situation where “stepped to the dish” is a useful turn of phrase. Other sports terms are, of course, less useful. Particularly useless for restaurant-reviewing robots: “We’re gonna shock the world!” and, particularly, “It’s gut-check time.”

“Grand slam” could be useful, but only in the very specific situations when the computer is reviewing a Denny’s.

[...]

Besides, there will always be things I can do that no robot can replicate. I bet I take better pictures than a computer, which can really only photograph the cubicle walls around it.

How many different articles do you think are worthy of being written automatically by a computer? Do you think that the majority of stuff that the local weeklies put out could be replaced? With most newspaper articles sticking to the facts and interjecting random quotes from those who are interviewed, do you think that it would be possible to do more automation in this area? What about opinion pieces, like restaurant reviews? Could I be out of a “job” and relegated to the back page now that a computer could do my job?

What would make you switch to a robot generated restaurant review over one written by a human? Would it be the pictures as mentioned in the article or would it be that there’s simply no way for a computer to understand the finer points of food? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

From the complaint:

On January 26, 2012, a Dakota County correctional deputy was assigned to the intake area of the Dakota County Jail, in the City of Hastings, Dakota County, Minnesota. While bringing in the defendant, Christopher Anthony Jones, the deputy asked the defendant to remove his shoes. When the defendant took off his right shoe, the deputy noticed a hard, clear substance fall out of his shoe. When the deputy asked the defendant what it was, he said it must be snow. The deputy responded that snow would have melted, and the defendant stated, “It must be meth then.” Deputies swept up the substance and placed it into a plastic bag and asked the defendant if he had any more on him. The defendant stated that he had more in his underwear. Deputies found a small plastic bag in the waistband of the defendant’s underwear that had a similar hard clear substance in it.

The St. Paul Police Department Crime Laboratory conducted a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry test on substance in both baggies. The test indicated the presence of 1.89 grams of methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance.

Are you surprised this guy didn’t try to come up with a different story after the snow job failed? Do you wonder what other excuses criminals come up with when drugs fall out of their hiding spaces? Are there a lot of drugs collected on people at this time or are they mostly found during preliminary searches of a person during an arrest? Should police officers do a more thorough job during an arrest so as not to allow criminals to bring these sort of contraband into the jail or are their current efforts enough? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.

From the article:

Having worked with Branning on city-county collaborations such as the Cedar corridor project and creation of the Dakota Communications Center, Hamann-Roland said her decision to run for county commissioner was motivated by a desire to continue the partnership-focused, community-building approach Branning brought to the board.

While no one is a stranger to my dislike of Mayor Mary, I have to admit the woman is very slick when it comes to the media and she can certainly fool people into thinking that she isn’t having her city staff members break the law while she campaigns for another four years she doesn’t intend to fully serve or convincing everyone that a $21 million transit station, which hasn’t been used in over a year, is art. However, considering that Will Branning was a mastermind of lying to the public while convincing them that he was working so very hard to waste our tax dollars so that his possible future replacement could hold the County ransom to get her way and have more bridges running over Cedar to unused transit stations.

While it’s likely Mayor Mary will become Commissioner Mary due to the poor pool of possible candidates to run against her, this comes down to one simple line item: Mayor Mary knowingly and purposefully misused city resources during her campaign in an attempt to win and should have been removed from office when she did. The fact that she is now happy to go to the County level and have at her disposal and even wider array of services and people to operate in an inappropriate manner is unacceptable. While negatively and illegally affecting the lives of 50,000+ people is awful and reprehensible, having the opportunity for her to negatively impact the lives of 400,000 is not something the voters should allow.

Mayor Mary should do herself and all of her potential constituents a favor and bow out of the Dakota County Commissioner race immediately. She is unfit for local office, never mind county office. She has purposefully misled taxpayers and attempted to hold millions of dollars in funding ransom so that she can tack her name on another plaque spanning a road which no one likes to drive in the first place. While she is mostly harmless at the city level, Mary Mayor does not deserve to be allowed to represent us at the County level. As taxpayers we must stand against her clearly unethical behavior and reject her in this coming election.

What do you think about Mayor Mary attempting to become Commissioner Mary? Do you agree that her unethical actions at various times in her career as mayor should weigh heavily on the voters as they mark who they believe should represent them at the county level? Do you think that Mayor Mary is capable of being an effective Dakota County Commissioner or do you see her doing more of the same–championing the buzzwords and fooling her constituents and the media into believing that her words are more than the paper they’re written on? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The blurb (in its entirety):

Join your Better Business Bureau on Tuesday, May 22, for an Open House event at their new offices in Burnsville at 220 S. River Ridge Circle, in Burnsville.

The public and business community are invited to explore our new building and learn more about BBB programs and services. There will be food, beverages and door prizes too.

The event is from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public

Please RSVP here. or any questions, contact Mackenzie Kelley at 651-695-2482 or mkelley@thefirstbbb.org.

How many of you have paid the least bit of attention to the BBB in the last 10-15 years? Do their ratings really mean anything to you? Who do you rely on to ensure that the work being done or the services provided are up to snuff? Are you surprised the BBB still exists at all? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

From the Letter to the Editor:

The Farmington School District is working on a plan to provide customized learning for every one of our students. A key part of that plan is putting a personal learning device is every student’s hands.

[...]

We fully back this initiative. From our discussions, it appears that all of the other Farmington School Board members do as well.

There’s almost no question that iPads will start showing up in students’ hands this fall.

But some board members, both of us included, have questions about how fast we go. For instance, will every student have an iPad by the end of the next school year, or is it a better idea to phase in the iPads over two or three school years.

[...]

The iPads are an exciting and necessary step forward for our schools. Sharp questioning of our staff by school board members about how we do this is an important part of making sure that the board and our community can move ahead with confidence.

While there are plenty members of the public clamoring for iPads in the classrooms, many others may definitely agree with the direction laid out here by two members of the Farmington School Board. There is only some doubt that technology in the classroom is important and can definitely be beneficial but it really all depends on how it is used and how the teachers/staff implement their use. It would appear that a staggered approach to rolling out the iPads to entire district would be a relatively conservative one and being that school budgets are down and classroom costs continue to rise, it may make the most sense to approach any new classroom technology in this manner–especially one which teachers may simply not understand all that well.

What do you think about the guidance offered by Tim Burke and Julie McKnight regarding iPads in ISD192′s classrooms next year? Do you think that a more conservative approach, as they seem to best support is the way to go or do you believe that every student must have one in their hands in order to get this done quickly and effectively? Are you concerned that they will simply be large paperweights or causes for distraction/theft? Do you believe teachers are properly equipped to roll these out to their students and use them more effectively than more traditional methods? Whatever you have to say about the Farmington School Board’s possible plans for iPads in the classroom go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Last week’s poll asked whether public employees should be subjected to more frequent drug testing. While most people voted “No”, the voting was fairly close. There was some really excellent discussion with some believing that the public sector should have more control over the firing of employees for poor performance which may have been caused by drug abuse.

This week’s poll comes because the new job I took a few months ago has required me to do some more traveling for work. I went to SAS Global Forum in Orlando a few weeks back and I have two trips (one day and one week) coming up. I always enjoyed intermittent travel for work but with a growing family I am not enjoying it nearly as much as I once did. I talked to a friend on Friday who went to Chicago for about 24 hours and spent most of his time in the airport. He noted that he hates traveling for work. So I wonder what you all think about it.

Are you a fan of traveling for work? Do you prefer a lot, a little, or no travel? Does it all depend on location? Does it depend on the reason why you’re traveling for work (conference as opposed to meetings)? Do you avoid jobs that require travel? Whatever you have to say about this one vote on the sidebar and then comment on below. After you do both of those things feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.

From the complaint:

On or about November 2, 2011, Lakeville police were contacted by the victim, C.W., stating that she wanted to report a fraud on her bank account. According to the victim, she recently noticed fraudulent charges after she was trying to balance her checkbook, and with the assistance of her bank, located the names of two people associated with the transactions that she knew.

Through the investigation, officers learned that the following charges were posted to the victim’s bank account using her account routing numbers, and without her consent.

November 29, 2010: $388.89 to Verizon Wireless
December 16, 2010: $324.08 to Verizon Wireless
January 13, 2011: $374.96 to Verizon Wireless
January 20, 2011: $374.96 to Verizon Wireless – Attempted Only
January 26, 2011: $374.96 to Verizon Wireless
February 14, 2011: $258.40 to Verizon Wireless
March 14, 2011: $266.85 to Verizon Wireless
April 18, 2011: $285.98 to Verizon Wireless
May 19, 2011: $286.00 to Verizon Wireless
August 19, 2011: $289.58 to Verizon Wireless
September 21, 2011: $276.90 to Verizon Wireless
October 4, 2011: $450.00 charge to Public Storage
October 20, 2011: $308.26 charge to Verizon Wireless
November 1, 2011: $131.60 charge to Public Storage

Total unauthorized transactions taken out of the victim’s bank account equaled $4,016.46.

There are a few oddities about this complaint…the first being that someone actually pays ~$280/month to Verizon for five mobile phones on one account. Are there that many people out there who pay such high wireless rates?! The other is that the woman discovering the fraudulent charges didn’t do so until she balanced her checkbook a year later. While few people still balance their checkbooks, how is it that someone wouldn’t notice several months where nearly $1000 was taken out of their checking account–over the course of a year?!

What do you have to say about this one? Are you more surprised that someone stole $4000 over the course of a year from someone’s checking out without them noticing or the fact that they wait until the end of the year to balance their checkbook? Maybe you’d like to comment on how high your mobile phone bill is (mine is less than $70). If you were paying for five phones do you think you’d allow the others to have such high cost plans? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

In college we used to hit up a restaurant which served sauced chicken chunks covered in a variety of different toppings which, thinking back, are very similar to what is available at The Wienery in Minneapolis for hot dogs instead of chicken.

We didn’t visit often enough to be overly obsessed with them but we’ve been saying for years that it would be nice to recreate them at home. Well, on Saturday morning the craving hit and I set about obtaining the ingredients and making one of our college favorites, hundreds of miles away, at home.

The Wife’s favorite item were the FreakBalls: FireBalls (sauced chicken chunks) topped with New Fries, Cole Slaw, and Cheese. I always preferred the CarolinaBalls: FireBalls topped with Original Chili, Cole Slaw & Cheese. While the fries and coleslaw are easy to buy in the store and doctor up if needed, I refuse to buy chili in store and thus this would be the most difficult part of the recipe but certainly became my favorite.

Chili:

1.5 lbs of ground chuck
1lb of ground sausage
1 medium yellow onion
1 medium red onion
1 (ea) green, red, and yellow bell peppers
1 (ea) jalapeno, serrano, and red chili peppers (choose whatever you like but I didn’t want this scorching)
1 can kidney beans in hot chili sauce
1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons chili powder
random other seasonings as I saw fit
1/2 cup of Frank’s hot sauce
1 12oz beer (I used an IPA but it came out too bitter, stick to mild lagers)
1 1/2 cups Famous Dave’s Sweet and Zesty BBQ sauce (I used this to even out the bitter)

—

Brown the beef, sausage and then drain grease
Add chopped vegetables, beans, tomatoes, seasonings, beer, hot sauce
Simmer on low for two hours and add BBQ sauce
Serve (I froze the extra in muffin tins for single serving sizes)

The chicken chunks (adapted from Crisco’s Spicy Buttermilk Battered Fried Chicken):

1.5 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
1.25 pounds meaty chicken pieces cut into 1.5″ chunks
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Enough vegetable oil to evenly fry the pieces

—

Whisk the buttermilk and hot sauce together and place the cut up chicken in a container with them for an hour or so (up to overnight).

Mix the flour and spices together and drop in the chicken pieces to coat. Dredge into the buttermilk and place back into the flour one last time.

Heat the oil to ~350F and place the chicken in until they cook through (about 6-8 minutes) and are crispy and golden brown. Drain on paper towel lined plate.

Hot sauce:

1 stick of butter
2 cups of Frank’s
1/2 cup of Sriracha

—

Melt butter in saucepan on med-low heat. Add hot sauces and stir until combined. Toss fried chicken chunks and serve immediately

Depending on what sauce you want to recreate (I wanted to do garlic Buffalo but The Wife does not agree with garlic when pregnant) or what menu item you want, the rest is up to you. We had a buffet of items including store bought coleslaw with mayo, cider vinegar, sugar, pepper and celery salt mixed in to make it creamier, french fries (store bought, frozen), chili, and cheese.

The Wife noted that it was excellent and if she could have fit more in her mouth she would have. I was particularly impressed with how nice the chicken came out and thought that if I were into boneless chicken wings, this would be the recipe to use.

Overall we loved reliving our college days in our dining room and we hope you’ll try it and let us know what you think. Have you ever eaten at any of the Jed’s locations in NW Ohio? If so which FireBalls did you like best? Did you ever get to order the 64oz PBR with take home cup? Do you find yourself craving meals you can’t find here in Minnesota so much that you’re willing to recreate them? Whatever you have to say about Jed’s FireBalls in Minnesota, go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Last weekend I ran into reader Kassie who happened to be running around South of the River. She was kind enough to share a bottle of New Glarus’ Wisconsin Belgian Red Ale with me. Rated at a 96/100 on BeerAdvocate and winner of numerous awards in the last 15+ years, I have to admit that this one intrigued me even if I am not at all a fan of fruity beers.

I took it home on Saturday planning to drink it that night. Unfortunately I didn’t get around to it until Monday night instead. The bottle is a big beast at 25oz (a little over a pint and a half) and is sealed with wax making it look a lot like a wine bottle. The labeling is simple and was applied unevenly but I wasted little time cracking it open.

The first whiff was of sweet cherries and nothing else. I poured it into a pint glass even though New Glarus suggests a brandy snifter or champagne flute and immediately noticed the deep red color and lingering head. The cherry smell almost overwhelming, so much so that I really began to reconsider trying it at all. However, I pushed through and took a deep drink.

My first impression was that this beer wasn’t a beer at all and instead was simply a recreation of my childhood favorite soda, Cherikee Red. It was sweet, carbonated, and had a strong cherry flavor that seriously tasted artificial. The only difference between New Glarus’ offering and any cherry sodas is that the mouthfeel afterwards is very similar to hard cider–a dry and parched feeling.

I was surprised that I made it all the way through the bottle. While I really expected this to be a sip or two and down the drain with it, I have to admit that I found myself wanting to make the drive to WI soon to get stock up on this stuff. While this isn’t something I can drink on a daily or even weekly basis, it’s certainly something I would enjoy from time to time throughout the year.

New Glarus notes that it goes well with many different food items including spicy ones. While I think the carbonation would really enhance the spice levels of the food I eat in a negative way, I could certainly agree that it would work with a lot of different dishes and I suggest that even if you are not a fan of fruit beers that you give this one a try if you have a chance.

Have you ever had New Glarus’ Wisconsin Belgian Red Ale? If so what did you think of it? Are you a fan of fruit beers in general and if so what others have you tried that you’ve enjoyed? Whatever you have to say about New Glarus’ cherry beer go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

All I’m asking for is some sort of original content, it can be anything from 300 to 2000 words (generally my posts range from 300 – 1500) and span the spectrum as long as it’s not hateful or directly related to religion. You’d author a post by June 1st, 2012 and send it to me in an e-mail and I’d queue it up. You can include pictures (as long as you own them and provide me with permission to use it in perpetuity or have permission to use them on my site through some other means (Creative Commons for Commercial Use, etc), embedded video, etc, etc, etc. The only thing I ask is that you write something you feel would be interesting to the rest of the readership.

The last time we did this, the posts were very well received by the readers and comment counts were through the roof. While not everyone appreciates my allowing guest posts (one person said, “I read YOUR site for YOUR content, not someone else’s), I’m not here to make everyone happy ;-)

So, if you’re interested feel free to sign up below. Your information will only be known by me and The Google. I’m looking for at least 10 posts but will take up to 20 (that’s 2 to 4 weeks worth, not including poll posts on Sundays). If you’re interested in being called upon to write more than one post in the event we need it, there’s a spot for you to enter that as well.

—

So feel free to ask any questions you may have below or just fill out the form to sign up. I’m interested in knowing what you liked best (or not at all) about the last time we did this and how you think it could be better. Feel free to beg those regulars you want to see post and shower them with offers of your undying love or promises of virtual applause. Whatever you have to say go ahead and comment on below!

Hi Bill,

It will be extension of Spice, Savage. Hopefully, we can get it ready by mid June. Stay tune.

Thanks for your inquiry.
Chad

So with a June opening it will coincide well with the anniversary of the opening of Ronin (July 4th, 2008) and hopefully we can again have another decent option in the Apple Valley/Lakeville area for Thai. While I haven’t had Spice in years, I remember it being good however my experience with Thai has grown considerably and I look forward to trying them again.

With the concentration on sushi at both Ronin and especially at Fin, are you hoping to see some sushi remain on the menu or would you prefer they pull out the sushi bar entirely and simply stick to Thai dishes? Have you eaten at Spice Thai in Savage and if so what did you think? Do you believe Spice Thai Cafe will be able to stick it out in a location which has been generally doomed from the start? Whatever you have to say about the new Thai restaurant opening in Lakeville go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Address:
Spice Thai Cafe
7704 160th St
Lakeville, MN 55044

From the article:

“The Governor’s reasoning is hardly transparent and frankly obscure,” Judge Ungaro wrote in her Thursday ruling. “He offers no plausible rationale explaining why the fact that a state employee’s work product and financial status are publicly accessible leads to the conclusion that the employee’s expectation of privacy in his or her bodily functions and fluids is then diminished.”

While I have had jobs in both the public and private sectors, the only place where there was no fear of retribution for anything was within the public. No, drug use should not be condoned by the taxpayers and all government workers should definitely be drug tested at the start of employment as well as randomly (suspicionless) throughout their time with the state. While the private sector is free to operate as they see fit, the members employed by the taxpayers should be held to a higher standard and be required to prove their work is not impacted by their off (or on) hours drug use. The governor’s comment which made the absolute most sense was when he noted that if the government workers didn’t like the rule they should find work elsewhere. Exactly.

What about you? Do you think public sector employees should be drug tested regularly and randomly? Are you surprised to learn that public employees are NOT drug tested at the beginning of their employment (at least in MN)? Do you think that public employees should be held to a higher standard than the private sector? Whatever you have to say about this one vote on the sidebar and then comment on below. After you do both of those things feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.

From the Letter to the Editor:

I live in downtown Savage on the corner of 125th Street and Princeton. I came home on Friday, April 20, and looking out my kitchen window around 5 to 5:30 p.m. I counted over 20 cars within a half hour go through the stop signs at the four-way stop.

Yes, they slowed down, but not one of them stopped. I thought there was a law that you had to come to a complete stop at stop signs.

Perhaps if so many accident free rolling-stops can occur, the proper thing to do would be to consider replacing the stop signs with a different control mechanism all together. Clearly it was a poor planning choice to add the stop sign at that intersection if people do not really need to stop there so why not make a change to something a little less rigid such as a yield sign instead? While the Savage resident is certainly within her right to suggest to the Savage PD that they patrol the intersection, why not solve the problem at what may potentially be the root cause?

What do you think about the possibility of altering intersections where no one stops anyway into another type of affordable (this eliminates roundabouts) controlled intersections instead? Do you think that this person should have contacted the Savage PD before writing the letter to the editor or is this sort of passive civic interaction the best way to do things? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

From the criminal complaint:

On Sunday, April 3, 2011 at approximately 10:54 p.m., Jesse Jay Cherrier, date of birth 12/8/1980, dialed 911 and reported that an iPad had just been stolen from him. An officer met with Cherrier at a gas station in the City of West St. Paul, Dakota County, Minnesota, to take Cherrier’s report. Cherrier reported that he had listed four iPads for sale on the Internet for $925 to $1,000, and an unknown male had contacted him to purchase one of the iPads. Cherrier and the prospective purchaser sat in Cherrier’s SUV in a gas station parking lot on Robert Street discussing the sale of the iPad. The prospective purchaser took the iPad from where it was resting on the center console of Cherrier’s vehicle and jumped out of the vehicle with the iPad, running west along Marie Avenue. Cherrier stated he chased the prospective purchaser on foot but had not been able to catch him. An eyewitness spoke with another officer and reported that she had seen a man run from an SUV, and saw the driver chase the man westbound on Marie Avenue. The witness reported that the driver took out a gun and shot it down Marie Avenue in the direction of the man he was chasing. When Cherrier was asked if he had any weapons in his possession, he responded that he did, and that he had fired a shot in the air as the prospective purchaser ran away with his iPad. Cherrier was placed under arrest. Cherrier had a Springfield Armory XD 0.40 handgun in a holster on his right hip, and a Smith and Wesson Bodyguard 0.38 handgun in his right coat pocket. A spent shell casing from the Springfield Armory handgun was found about 100 feet from a High School on Marie Avenue. Cherrier had a State of Minnesota Permit to Carry a Pistol, Reference #110031938 in his wallet.

Do you find it strange that someone would list four iPads for more than sticker price and then head to the sale carrying two guns on their person? Do you think they were expecting to confront potential thieves with gunfire? Why do you suppose the seller/gunman decided to use the gun in his holster as opposed to the one in his pocket? Do you believe the seller/gunman’s story that he shot it into the air rather than at the thief running away? Is this the problem with gun carry law; people attempting to do the job of the police?

Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

From the article:

John Clifford, the department’s chief veterinary officer, said the cow from central California did not enter the human food chain and that U.S. meat and dairy supplies are safe. It’s the fourth such cow discovered in the United States since the government began inspecting for the disease to keep the food supply safe.

“There is really no cause for alarm here with regard to this animal,” Clifford told reporters at a hastily convened press conference.

[...]

He said the California cow is an atypical case in that it didn’t get the disease from eating infected cattle feed.

Are you concerned about a possibility for more mad cow cases now that another has been confirmed in the US? Even though they claim the animal did not enter the food chain are you going to take any steps to protect yourself and your family from eating meat which may include animals which slipped through USDA testing? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

From the article:

There is a bill authored by Rep. Michael Beard, R-Shakopee, that would do away with the 33-member board and replace it with a 24-member regional transportation governance planning board, independent of the Metro Council.

Beard’s idea also is to have the transit system operations and planning removed from the Metropolitan Council and run by a new transportation commission. Transportation planning would be done by the new regional transportation governance board with two county commissioners from each of the seven counties, 16 elected township and city officials and some citizen members.

While this is nothing more than an idea at this point, Rep. Beard feels it is something that the legislature should seriously consider in order to reign in the power of the Met Council and hopefully allow for better representation from the counties and cities which feel that they do not receive fair benefit from the Council’s decisions. The editorial’s author then suggests this is not the time when the Met Council’s actions should be altered and/or modified and that maybe instead it should come in another year.

What do you think about dismantling the Met Council’s transit authority and replacing it mainly with elected members and interested citizens? Do you disagree with any of the Met Council’s decisions and do you think that a newly created, cross-functional group will be able to make better and more informed choices about transit than the Met Council has? Being that this is only in the planning stages, is this something that you believe will really come before the legislature in the future or is it simply an attempt to get the Met Council to shift their behaviors and better support Scott County and the constituents of Rep. Beard before their power is affected?

Whatever you have to say about this one, go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.