outdoors

Oh no!!!! Say it ain't so.

GOP says Dayton's 'essential staff' includes chef and housekeeper By Joe Kimball | Published Thu, Jul 7 2011 1:48 pm Update: Governor says he's paying chef from his own pocket. A Political Agenda item yesterday noted that Gov. Mark Dayton has laid off about half of his 40-member staff during the state shutdown, while 20 are considered essential and still working. On the list of those still working are two staff members, Micah Pace and Michelle Mersereau, who were listed as "Residence Support Staff." This morning, Michael Brodkorb, the communications director for the Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus (and he's also deputy chair of the state Republican Party), called to say that on the governor's official staff list (PDF), Pace is listed as "chef," and Mersereau is listed as "Housekeeper/server." The list he's citing was printed in March and was obtained through data practices request, and does, indeed, list those job titles for the two.

Stories about shuttered parks and closed DNR opportunities are getting old. The real cost of the current shutdown is in the tens of thousands of marginalized Minnesotans - elderly, suffering from mental illness, handicapped in some way, etc., who are without case management and other critical support services. Can we move past the fluff of closed canoe rentals and empty parks to these unfortunate souls who are bearing the real brunt of the shutdown? How about some stories about these truly suffering people?

The real cost of goverment is the stealing from one class of people (those that work and produce) and giving the money to another cllas of people (those that will and those that cannot not) No matter how you say it the process is theft and must be stopped KEEP THE STATE SHUT DOWN We must stop these looters

Perhaps dove banding and canadian goose banding are examples of funds spent that are a waste of money and could be cut. I know it is a small amount, but dollars add up.

moraspeaking - There are other sides to the shutdown that need to be told, but this is an outdoor article by an outdoor writer in the "Outdoors" section of the paper. Seems appropriate to me that this is where we get updates on impacts related to the outdoors!

Sad part is, enforcement, parks, fish and wildlife - all sections in the DNR, take very little and in a couple cases no money from the state's general fund and generate revenue for the state, and yet they are still shut down. They could have worked around this like in 2005 when the DNR and MDA were open, but the politicians couldn't get their job done.

This shutdown must end. We have some young hunters that wish to hunt out of State and without firearms safety, we cannot. I know this is not a big deal but this impass is beyond petty. I call for all the legislators to work on the impass all day, every day until this is solved. I certainly hope that the primcipal people causing this stupid problem are all one term types

Can someone tell me why the DNR is responsible for dispersing geese on farmland? Sounds like just yet another subsidy/hand out from government to the farmers. They are your crops, get rid of the geese yourself.

The shutdown is painful But we I believe we must live through this process In order to stop the thieves from taking all of our money to give to someone else Why should someone pay for me to have the right to walk on someone elses land Before you call me names I am a avid hunter But I do not need you to steal from others to pay for me to enjoy my hobby