By Griff Wigley, on November 28, 2012, 10:52 am
    
Members of the Park and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) skatepark met with the Northfield City Council last night in a work session to discuss the recommendation to permanently locate the skatepark at Riverside Park and to contribute $30,000 towards its construction (concrete).
PRAB members Neil Lutsky and David Hvistendahl presented the details of their report which was approved earlier this month by the PRAB. Chair Nathan Knutson was there to make sure they didn’t screw up. Member Grace Clark presented her dissenting view that the skatepark should be located in Babcock Park.
I was pleased with the thoroughness of the discussion last night and if I was on the council, I’d vote to accept the PRAB’s recommendation.
I’ve turned off comments on this blog post because the current discussion about skatepark issue is happening over here (117 comments to-date).
See Rob Hardy’s amazing comprehensive collection of skatepark-related news and resources on Northfield.org.
By Griff Wigley, on May 8, 2012, 9:10 am
I was surprised to see on page 17 of the April 24 Council packet that there’s a letter (separate PDF here) from Northfield attorney David Hvistendahl to the CPA firm of Abdo, Eick & Meyers in which he’s telling them to not disclose any financial info about the Northfield Rescue Squad Association to the City of Northfield:
 Remember your firm’s fiduciary duty owed to the Association on the basis of your professional services to the Association. We assume you will honor that duty and not disclose any information pertaining to the Association without our written consent.
Unless the city has a written agreement with the Association that gives them the power to request such an audit, or unless a Minnesota statute grants the authority to a municipality to compel an audit, the city lacks the standing to request an audit.
The Northfield Rescue Squad Association (NRSA) is separate from the Northfield Fire Relief Association (NFRA). The NRSA runs the bingo and duck race fundraisers during DJJD. I don’t know the history on why there’s a need for two organizations. I don’t understand how the gambling/pull-tab revenue is handled.
But regardless, why is it important that the City not know the Northfield Rescue Squad Association financials?
By Griff Wigley, on March 20, 2012, 8:48 pm
After my confrontations with Northfielder David Hvistendahl over the weekend, I emailed him a request to be a guest on his KYMN Law Review radio show this week. He replied:
U R hereby invited to a verbal smackdown, 6 pm, KYMN. Will B War of the Worlds II. Will expose U as a royalist and rumor monger.
 We did the show tonight. KYMN emperor Jeff Johnson was on hand to moderate (he used a digital referee whistle) but only had to use it a couple times.
The audio of the show is now available in this mistitled KYMN blog post by Jeff:
Law Review | SMACKDOWN! Wigley cries UNCLE!!
(For the culturally deprived, see the Wikipedia entry for Uncle Wiggily.)
By Griff Wigley, on March 18, 2012, 7:59 am
By Griff Wigley, on March 18, 2012, 7:32 am
 The Northfield Historical Society held its 37th annual meeting last night at Carleton’s Great Hall.
The NHS honored the Hvistendahl family at the event (Marion, David and Susan Hvistendahl) for being long-time supporters. The blog post by Executive Director Hayes Scriven has more on their contributions over the years.
See the large slideshow of 10 photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:
By Griff Wigley, on March 10, 2012, 6:10 am
    
While listening to archived Law Review radio shows on KYMN recently, I noticed that Attorney David Hvistendahl, a member of the Northfield Park & Rec Advisory Board (PRAB), was particularly disparaging of the Northfield City Council, Northfield City Administrator Tim Madigan, and Northfield Safety Center Director and Police Chief Mark Taylor.
Here is a compilation of some of these remarks, all rolled together into a single 3-minute audio clip.
If you have trouble with the above audio player, try playing and/or downloading this MP3.
By Griff Wigley, on July 24, 2011, 11:26 pm
I attended a meeting of the City of Northfield Park & Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) last week because of my interest in two items on their agenda: A) seeing what could be done to get a campground (tent and RV) in Northfield; and B) what to do about the goose poop problem. See my notes (campground here; goose poop here).
Do you know who’s on the PRAB? I didn’t know everyone there so I thought I’d post these photos of not quite all of them (Eric Hong and Neil Lutsky were absent) sitting around the table in the Library meeting room.
 
PRAB members: Grace Clark, Erik Hong, Nathan Knutson, David Hvistendahl, Dick Johnson, Dale Gehring, Neil Lutsky. City staff Liaison: Lynne Young.
Also in the above photos for the meeting: City of Northfield Streets and Parks Supervisor TJ Heinricy, Northfield Public Schools Community Services Recreation Coordinator Erin Mayberry, City of Northfield Recreation Manager Allison Watkins, City of Northfield / Maintenance Facility Administrative Assistant Barbara Thompson.
By Griff Wigley, on March 22, 2011, 11:43 pm
  
David Hvistendahl showed me the high water mark from last September inside Froggy Bottoms this morning when the pub was destroyed. We’ve got a long way to go to beat that. David said that hydrostatic pressure starts forcing water up from the floor when the Cannon River tops the orange ‘danger’ sign on the 4th St. bridge. We’re getting close to that.
Like last fall, I’m continuing to add photos to the same photo album, in this case Spring flooding 2011.
By Griff Wigley, on April 9, 2010, 7:08 am
 On the agenda for the April 13 Rice County Board of Commissioners meeting is a CUP Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for a “Private Hunting Club/Dale Petelinsek for Les Ferris.”
Petelinsek, owner of Buck Creek Deer Camp, has proposed a hunting preserve/club/farm in Forest Township, about 2 miles north of Circle Lake and a mile west of Union Lake. From their website:
Buck Creek Deer Camp (BCDC) is dedicated to breeding world-class, typical, trophy whitetails for delivery to breeders and game preserves throughout America. Founded in 2007, our genetics come from the best lines; Flees, Waldvogel, Thiex, and Borntrager. We are located in the big woods of Rice County, Minnesota. Our goal is to winter 100 animals and sell 12 Boone and Crocket 200+ class bucks to the market each year. New in 2010 will be a game preserve to harvest trophy animals for a once in a lifetime hunting opportunity.
Personally, I’d rather see hunters going after white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virgineanus, AKA ‘forest rats’) in the wild to make the world safer for motorcyclists like me. But as an occasional carnivore, I don’t have any objection to the existence of hunting camps. (I see them somewhat similar to dating services, a handy way to increase your odds. My wife objects to that analogy.) Whether this is the place for one is the main question.
Attorneys David Hvistendahl and Kim Decker, of Hvistendahl, Moersch & Dorsey, representing the neighbors opposed to the preserve, discussed the proposal on their Law Review radio show on KYMN this week, Proposed "Hunting Farm" in Rice County.
I got this email from Larry White, detailing the opposition:
Continue reading Proposed game preserve for harvesting trophy-sized Odocoileus virgineanus stirs up opposition
By Griff Wigley, on June 25, 2009, 9:13 am
 David Hvistendahl has a new weekly show on KYMN Radio called Law Review. For this week’s show, he and associate attorney Britt Ackerman, discuss, among other things, legal matters involving former Northfield City Administrator Al Roder. They revealed that Roder’s former home in Northfield is now in foreclosure. And they confirmed with the Goodhue County attorney’s office that the investigation of Roder is still open. The connection? “Follow the money…” they say. For background, see these Oct. 2008 Northfield News articles:
Continue reading An update on former Northfield City Administrator Al Roder
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