Thursday, May 17, 2012
Apparently there is an "evil" clown that is hired to scare a child in the days leading up to his or her birthday. What?
A couple weeks ago, our Parents Talk discussion was on creepy kids toys. Many agreed that a clown, anything having to do with a clown or anything resembling a clown was straight up creepy. Well, an actor in the Swiss city of Lucerne has set himself up as the "evil" birthday clown. According to the Huffington Post and the Austrian Times, for a fee, parents can hire this psychotic clown—played by actor Dominic Deville—to leave menacing, booby-trapped letters for their children. He will also tease through text messages and phone calls. Deville warns the children they are being watched and that they will soon be the victim of an attack. At the end of the terror-filled week, the birthday boy or girl catches a cake in the face. According to the …
Monday, May 14, 2012
Rep. Joyce Peppin talks about the Tax Relief and Job Creation Act and why she voted against the Vikings Stadium. She asks residents, "Should we expand the use of 'Legacy' tax dollars that are currently earmarked to 'cultural heritage' to include the futur
Editor's note: The following is reprinted, with permission, from Rep. Joyce Peppin's weekly email newsletter dated May 14, 2012. Peppin (32A) represents several communities, including Maple Grove. Dear Neighbors, The 2012 Legislative Session came to a close on Thursday. Despite accusations that the session lacked progress, the record proves otherwise. Looking back at the last two years, we have had notable success by balancing the state’s budget without raising taxes and passing significant tax and education reform legislation. Unfortunately, Governor Dayton vetoed many bills – including several of my own – that would have further spurred private sector job growth and reformed our education system. Next week I will send out a list of …
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Minnesota Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) talks about the closure of the 2012 Legislative session.
Editor's note: The following opinion piece is reprinted, with permission, from House Speaker Rep. Kurt Zellers (32B) email newsletter May 11. Zellers represents Maple Grove. Dear Neighbors, The 2012 legislative session has come to a close. Our accomplishments over the past two years will help create a stronger economy that encourages job growth throughout our state, reduce the reach of state government and curb state spending. Republicans brought fiscal stability back to the state budget. In just over a year, our state has gone from red to black. We turned a $6.2 billion deficit to a $1.2 billion surplus by supporting a strong private sector economy, defeating job-killing tax increases and reducing projected state spending to stop the …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Moms, here's your chance to think big.
The gifts range from breakfast in bed to nothing—with flowers, manicures and greeting cards in between. Moms, perhaps your families have been thinking about your big day for the past month or maybe Sunday will be the first they hear of it. Regardless of your family's style of celebration, Sunday is Mother's Day. And with more than $16.3 billion expected to be spent on the day this year, it is a highly consumer-driven holiday as well. Now's your chance to tell us what you really want. Would you like a clean house? Expensive jewelry? Maybe the day away from all of them? Or maybe, you'd like to buck the tradition and have a donation made in your name, from an organization like World Vision. For $75, your kids could buy a goat for a familiy in…
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Peppin: "The Legislature faced disheartening news as Governor Dayton vetoed four key pieces of legislation that were endorsed by a broad coalition of supporters."
Editor's note: The following is reprinted, with permission, from Rep. Joyce Peppin's weekly email newsletter dated May 5. Peppin (32A) represents several communities, including Maple Grove. Dear Neighbor, In light of last week’s bipartisan optimism, the Legislature faced disheartening news as Governor Dayton vetoed four key pieces of legislation that were endorsed by a broad coalition of supporters. In this issue: 1. Gov. Dayton vetoes legislation to provide small businesses with tax relief and to incentivize job creation 2. Gov. Dayton calls bipartisan redistricting effort “not appropriate” 3. Gov. Dayton blocks broadly-supported education reform 4. Gov. Dayton says no to pro-life legislation 1. VETO: Tax Relief and Job Creation Act Just …
Minnesota Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) responds to Gov. Mark Dayton's veto on Friday.
Editor's note: The following opinion piece is reprinted, with permission, from House Speaker Rep. Kurt Zellers (32B) email newsletter May 6. Zellers represents Maple Grove. Dear Neighbor, Minnesota received some disappointing news on Friday. Governor Dayton vetoed more than 7,000 union construction jobs, a property tax freeze for every Minnesota business, property tax relief for homeowners and much more. Local Government Aid payments for 18 cities, extending the bovine TB tax credit, Angel Investment for rural Minnesota, a new Greater Minnesota Internship Program and a tax credit for hiring Minnesota veterans -- all of them gone with a callous swipe of the governor's veto pen. This is disappointing especially for small business owners who …
Thursday, May 3, 2012
The death of a friend's son has me asking what I can do for suicide awareness and prevention.
The son of one of my friends killed himself last week. My friend found him. When I heard that on Monday, I had a rush of emotions: disbelief, despair and anger. Five days earlier, I read a story about a woman whose son, Dustin, committed suicide in fall 2011. The story was by Mike Schoemer, St. Michael Patch local editor. At the time I read the St. Michael story, I felt a tremendous amount of empathy for Dustin's mother, Gretchen Harrington. But it wasn't until I heard about the death of my friend's son that I felt some of the anguish of a suicide survivor. I cried for my friend, who came home from work to find her son dead. I wanted to hug her and sob with her for as long as she needed me; long-distance prayers and Facebook posts seem so …
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
What do you think about Congressman Erik Paulsen's postion on cyber security? Tell us in the comments section below!
Editor's Note: All media and information has been provided by Congressman Erik Paulsen's office. In his continued effort to keep the lines of communication open with his neighbors, Rep. Erik Paulsen (MN-03) took time recently to answer questions from Anne in Wayzata and Keith in Bloomington. This week, the House of Representatives took up legislation aimed at providing American companies with voluntary access to the tools they need to confront the growing threat of Chinese and Russian cyber attack. Rep. Paulsen heard from many of his neighbors regarding this important issue. Anne, In Wayzata, wrote in with her concerns regarding the cyber security bill which passed the House in Thursday. Also this week, Keith from Bloomington called in …
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Is there a toy you avoid buying because it’s too creepy or scary?
I swear it was possessed. Furby. That furry little menace always sat idly and quiet on my daughter’s shelf when she was younger. However, the minute I walked into her room or even just walked by, Furby would start talking and doing his creepy thing. It wouldn’t have been a toy I would have ever brought into our home willingly – just the gremlin-like look of it was disturbing enough. It was one of those gifts from a relative that you try to tolerate – for a while. Eventually Furby happened to find its way into the bottom of the box of toys during a move. To this day, I’m still fairly certain I removed Furby’s batteries before it went into the box. The minute we loaded the boxes in the van, we could still hear Furby trying to interact with …
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Erik Paulsen is up for re-election this November and represents Maple Grove.
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Wednesday, April 25
Information was provided by U.S. Congressman Erik Paulsen (3rd Congressional District) I spent last week in Washington, but was able to meet with neighbors and small business owners during one-on-one meetings, business tours, a “Congress on Your Corner” and a Telephone Town hall event the week prior. The underlying concern for Minnesotans I spoke with was how important it is to continue to push for pro-growth initiatives to restart our nation’s economic engine in order to get out-of-work Minnesotans off the sidelines and back to work. This week, I’m happy to report, the House of Representatives took another step forward in helping small businesses expand, grow and hire, with the passage of the Small Businesses Tax Cut Act. Here is the …
Michael Rose
9:01 am on Friday, May 18, 2012
This does seem a bit cruel and unusual. However, I might be inclined to hire someone to mess with my 18+ child (I don't have one...this is hypothetical). That actually could be kind of funny..."Punking" your college freshman son/daughter could be cool. For instance, maybe you could hire an impostor dorm roommate, who would be the biggest jerk of all time. Then, a few days in, you could reveal the… more ›