Lost Lake Tribune 1/18/2013

LOST LAKE TRIBUNE 

January 18, 2013

Fugate Brothers Are Settling into Fischer Home

          Benjamin and Aaron Fugate are settling into their new place of residence on the north side of Plymouth, MN. On December 1, 2012, Aaron and Ben moved in with Carl Fischer, a long-time resident of the Minneapolis area. Carl owns a four-bedroom home that he had built in the late 1980’s. John Trenter, a member of Bethlehem Baptist, occupies the other bedroom in the Fischer home. Carl is a dedicated Vikings fan and an outspoken witness of the gospel. At age 17, Carl had an accident at work in South Dakota and has been paralyzed from the waist down since. Carl worked as mechanical drafter and project engineer for over 40 years. He attends a fellowship in Ramsey.

            Aaron lives downstairs now and works at Subway. Ben lives upstairs and now works full-time for Hannon Security on the night shift. Ben had been working at Tennant with Orbio as a temp for Express Employment. He had sales support and admin responsibilities. Ben had been working over 50 hours a week. He had 32 hours with Hannon and more than 20 with Tennant.

            In October, Ben applied for a supervisor position with Hannon, but a candidate with a little more experience received the promotion. In January, Ben applied for a full-time customer service position with Tennant, he was again turned away for a candidate with more experience. Ben will be working night shift full-time for Hannon with a two percent raise.

Republicans Are Making Push to Change Electoral College

BOSTON — After back-to-back presidential losses, Republicans in key states want to change the rules to make it easier for them to win.

From Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, GOP officials who control legislatures in states that supported President Barack Obama are considering changing state laws that give the winner of a state’s popular vote all of its Electoral College votes. Instead, these officials want Electoral College votes to be divided proportionally, a move that could transform the way the country elects its president.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus endorsed the idea this week, and other Republican leaders support it, too, suggesting that the effort may be gaining momentum. There are other signs that Republican state legislators, governors and veteran political strategists are seriously considering making the shift as the GOP looks to rebound from presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Electoral College shellacking and the demographic changes that threaten the party’s long-term political prospects. “It’s something that a lot of states that have been consistently blue that are fully controlled red ought to be looking at,” Priebus told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, emphasizing that each state must decide for itself.

Democrats are outraged at the potential change.

Obama won the popular vote with 65.9 million votes, or 51.1%, to Romney’s 60.9 million, or 47.2%, and won the Electoral College by a wide margin, 332-206 electoral votes. It is unclear whether he would have been re-elected under the new system, depending upon how many states adopted the change.

The core of the Democrats issue with the changes is not the move from electoral votes to a popular vote, but that the changes would be laid out unevenly. The Democrats fear that only very close states that went blue would shift over to the new system while other states that are more reliably red, but still contain a significant number of Democratic votes — such as Arizona — would remain winner takes all. If it works out like the Democrats fear, it could mean a Republican winning the White House at the same time that a Democrat won the popular vote with significant numbers.

However, if the changes are spread out more evenly across the states, the process could align the results of the electoral college closer to the popular vote. While some Republican officials warn of a political backlash, GOP lawmakers in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are already lining up behind proposals that would allocate electoral votes by congressional district or something similar.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he “could go either way” on the change and doesn’t plan to push it. But he said it’s a reasonable issue to debate and that he prefers that leaders discuss it well before the next presidential election. “It could be done in a thoughtful [way] over the next couple years and people can have a thoughtful discussion,” Snyder said.

Republican leaders in the Michigan Statehouse have yet to decide whether to embrace the change there. State Rep. Peter Lund, a Republican who introduced a bill to change the allocation system two years ago, said some Republicans might be more receptive to his bill this year following the election. “We never really pushed it before,” he said, adding that the bill wasn’t designed to help one party more than the other.

Democrats aren’t convinced. They warned of political consequences for Republicans who back the shift — particularly those governors up for re-election in 2014, who include the governors of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, among others. “This is nothing more than election-rigging,” said Michigan Dem. Chairman Mark Brewer.

Each state has the authority to shape its own election law and in at least seven states — Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida and North Carolina — Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature and the governor’s office. Already, Maine and Nebraska have moved away from a winner-take-all system to one that allocates electoral votes based on congressional district.

“This is a concept that’s got a lot of possibility and a lot of potential,” said Washington-based Republican strategist Phil Musser, acknowledging that the debate would “incite different levels of partisan acrimony.” Musser also predicted that more pressing economic issues would likely take priority in most Republican-led statehouses.

In Pennsylvania, Senate Republican leader Dominic Pileggi this week renewed his call for the Republican-controlled Legislature to revamp the way it awards electoral votes by using a method based on the popular vote that would have given Romney eight of the state’s 20 votes.

Democrats quickly criticized it as partisan scheme. “It is difficult to find the words to describe just how evil this plan is,” said Pennsylvania state Sen. Daylin Leach, a Democrat. “It is an obscene scheme to cheat by rigging the elections.”

Gov. Tom Corbett, who supported a related proposal from Pileggi last year, had not seen the new plan and could not say whether he supports the new version, the Republican governor’s spokesman Kevin Harley said.

In Wisconsin, Republican Gov. Scott Walker has said that changing how electoral votes are allocated was an “interesting idea” but that it’s not one of his priorities, nor has he decided whether he supports such a change.

It’s gotten a lukewarm reception in the Republican-controlled Legislature as well. No proposal has been introduced yet and no lawmaker has announced any plans to do so, but the state Assembly speaker, Robin Vos, first proposed the change back in 2007.

“I am open to that idea,” Vos said in December as lawmakers prepared for the start of their session. “But I would have to hear all the arguments.”

All 10 of the state’s Electoral College votes went to Obama last fall under the current system. If they were awarded based on the new system, the votes would have been evenly split between Obama and Romney.

Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett sent an email plea urging people to sign a petition against the change: “We can’t sit silently by as they try to manipulate the democratic process for political advantage,” Barrett wrote. “We can’t let them attack the very democratic institutions and rights that others have sacrificed so much to gain – just because they don’t believe they can win in a fair election fight.”

So far, Republicans have only advocated for the change in states that have supported Democrats in recent elections. The view is predictably different in states where the Republican nominee is a cinch to win. “The Electoral College has served the country quite well,” said Louisiana GOP Chairman Roger Villere, who doubles as a national party vice chairman.

He continued: “This is coming from states where it might be an advantage, but I’m worried about what it means down the road. This is a system that has worked. That doesn’t mean we can’t talk about changes, but we have to be very careful about any actions we might take.”

 Information Gained from http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/18/democrats-call-gop-push-for-changes-in-the-electoral-college-an-obscene-scheme-to-cheat-by-rigging-the-elections/

GUN SALES RISE IN MINNESOTA

Perched on the corner of Josh and Jocelyn Hirschfeld's bedroom dresser, a new deluxe gun safe sits right next to their framed wedding and family photos. Josh places his fingertips on the safe's slots and taps out a combination. The door pops open, a light goes on and the 36-year-old real estate agent grabs his new 9-millimeter handgun and snaps in a 19-round clip.

He purchased his first handgun just days after the Sandy Hook school massacre, fighting the frenzied crowds that have swamped gun shops and flooded sheriff's offices around the country with record numbers of firearm-permit requests in the five weeks since the Connecticut bloodshed.

"I'm not a commando and I'm not Bruce Willis," Hirschfeld said. "I'm just a normal guy who wants a chance to protect his family and fears his rights might get taken away."

With President Obama vowing to tighten gun regulations, and a reluctant Congress poised to debate a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition clips, the Hirschfelds are among thousands of Minnesotans arming themselves in historic numbers a decade after the state started allowing average citizens to carry guns.

"The political rhetoric on both sides is moving, and suddenly we have this mass insurgence of people wanting to purchase guns and get permits," said Cmdr. Paul Sommer, who oversees gun licensing for the Anoka County Sheriff's Office. "We call it panic buying. It's not the first spike we've seen, but it's the most dramatic."

Across the country, firearms industry analysts point to soaring numbers -- including first-time gun buyers now making up a quarter of all sales and nearly 75 percent of gun retailers reporting sales boosts over last year. Minnesotans are riding that same wave, prompting more than 25,000 law enforcement queries tied to permit applications since Dec. 18. That's more than double the 10,681 checks run for permits during the same period a year ago, according the latest Bureau of Criminal Apprehension statistics.

Those burgeoning numbers worry gun control advocates, who are puzzled that the reaction to the Newtown tragedy has been this massive firearms buildup.

"The National Rifle Association has trained its members that common-sense gun laws are some kind of foot in the door leading to gun confiscation," said Brent Gurtek, who makes and sells guns at his French River Muzzleloaders outlet north of Duluth. An avid hunter and gun aficionado, he hopes the Newtown legacy includes closing loopholes in current federal gun policy.

Sommer now uses the terms pre-Sandy Hook and post-Sandy Hook to describe the changed gun-buying landscape since the elementary school shooting suddenly moved the gun control issue to the front burner -- from the White House to Hirschfeld's two-story house in St. Cloud.

Down the hall from his Anoka County office on Thursday, postal delivery supervisor Brendon Mulvaney and beer truck driver Dean Anderson were among the latest filing their paperwork to become Andover's newest firearms owners.

Mulvaney, 25, just learned his wife was expecting their first child. The baby, the Newtown shooting and prospect of stricter gun laws prompted him to buy his first handgun.

"There's an underlying concern or fear that there's going to be some legislation to take handguns away," said Anderson, 43, who wants to add a new handgun to his collection.

Gun shops picked clean

None of the nearly two-dozen proposals Obama outlined last week -- from deeper background checks to high-capacity ammo and assault rifle bans -- would have much of an effect on handgun sales. But jittery gun aficionados worry that more sweeping changes could be coming, so they're loading up. "Get 'em while you can," Anderson said -- a sentiment shared by many of the Minnesotans behind this new gun boom.

Gun shop owners say their shelves have been picked clean and they're struggling to restock.

"After the Sandy Hook deal, it just went crazy -- utter chaos," said John Monson, owner of Bill's Gun Shop outlets in Robbinsdale, Circle Pines and Hudson, Wis. "We had people lined up four or five deep for each employee I had."

Sales are less chaotic now, Monson said from a Las Vegas gun show, "but the only reason is everybody is out of product. The whole nation has run out of everything."

Although there's a clear anti- Obama undercurrent, not all those arming themselves oppose the stiffer gun control measures the president pitched last week.

Hirschfeld supports deeper background checks to assure "only the right people have weapons." Mulvaney thinks no one needs assault rifles.

In Duluth, retired elementary school teacher, Vietnam War veteran and lifelong National Rifle Association member Paul Fleming says it's time to limit to 10 the number of rounds in magzine clips.

"If the NRA heard me talking right now, they'd probably revoke my membership but I don't care," said Fleming, 65. "I don't believe in their philosophy about rifles … you don't need a Bushmaster [semi-automatic rifle] to go hunting in the woods."

Back in St. Cloud, when Josh Hirschfeld started talking about buying a handgun last year, his wife first said: "Absolutely not." With 6-year-old Ava and little Ben about to turn 2, she feared bringing a gun into their home. Then two teenagers were shot to death breaking into a house in Little Falls, Cold Spring police officer Thomas Decker was gunned down behind a bowling alley, and children and teachers were killed in Connecticut.

Hirschfeld told his wife what his friends were saying: "There was a breaking point after that rash of violence; we'd come to a point when harder restrictions were coming and you'd better get what you want now, or your options will be limited." He requested a handgun permit and signed up for gun safety classes, where the instructor stressed retreating from confrontations and using guns only as a last resort. "As Josh went through the classes and background checks, I became more comfortable," Jocelyn Hirschfeld said.

A sales executive for a health care company, Jocelyn is now considering taking gun safety classes and learning how to use the new weapon locked in the safe on their mahogany bedroom bureau. As for proposed changes up for debate in Washington and St. Paul, Jocelyn remains skeptical. "If you can prove to me that stricter gun laws around the country actually reduce crime and violence, I'm all for it," she said. "But if it's strictly politicians pandering to their bases so everyone feels good, I absolutely don't agree with that."

'Unfortunate phenomenon'

Supporters of strict gun laws, meanwhile, bristle at the fear-mongering they say is driving the gun rush. "It's an unfortunate phenomenon that fear is being used as a way of marketing their products," said Heather Martens, the director of Protect Minnesota: Working to End Gun Violence.

She cites a study that shows when a gun is brought into a house, it's 22 times more likely to be used in an accident, suicide or homicide than thwarting an outside threat.

A few dozen people attended two St. Paul house parties Thursday night, hoping to galvanize support for more stringent gun laws and broader background checks. "More guns in the community make more gun violence likely," said Leroy Duncan, 30, who hosted one of the parties.

Mike Clark, 66, a retired Anoka school librarian who keeps a gun in his nightstand, shrugs at such comments. "There are people who wish guns were never invented, but they're out of the box," Clark said. "If I'm lucky, I'll go through the rest of my life and never have to use my gun. I mean no harm, and if someone kicks in my garage door, I won't shoot them. I'll call 911. But if you come in the house uninvited, that could be different."

Information Gained from http://www.startribune.com/local/187554781.html

Fourth Baptist Hosts Homecoming Games

            Fourth Baptist Christian hosted four basketball games on Friday for their homecoming events. The JV girls lost to the Owatonna Christian School Lady Sabres’ JV girls team 16-3 in the first game. The Fourth Baptist JV boys lost to the OCS varsity team by a score of 52-25.

            The OCS varsity girls held a lead for the bulk of the third game but were up by just two midway through the second half. The Lady Warriors could not tie the game and missed several shots down the stretch to lose 31-26.

            The varsity boys game featured the Warriors of Fourth Baptist hosting the Warriors of Cambridge Christian. The visitors jumped to an early lead. Fourth Baptist came back but Cambridge closed the first half with a 27-21 lead. In the second half, the home team started it off with a 9-1 run capped by a three-point play by center Matthew Bruffey. Cambridge Christian erased their two-point deficit with an 11-0 run to take a 39-30 lead. Fourth Baptist got it as close as 6 points at 43-37 but Cambridge Christian would not allow their opponents any kind of comeback. The visiting Warriors pulled out a 65-54 win.

VCA Lions Win Vital Game

            Senior Sports Editor Kyle Courtney reports to the LLT that the Valley Christian Academy Lions won the most important game of the season on Friday night. The Lions went on the road to entertain the Coast Union Broncos in Cambria, CA. The Santa Maria school had a 27-26 lead at the break. In the second half, VCA outscored Coast Union 36-12 and won easily 63-38. The Lions shot 19-22 from the charity stripe in the game to aid their victory. The Lions are now poised their conference outright.