|
►AY,
<br />3,
<br />L
<br />ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS
<br />L
<br />L
<br />B
<br />SECTION
<br />Y
<br />s
<br />N.
<br />s
<br />to
<br />:k,
<br />Ian
<br />t
<br />?r,
<br />a
<br />Y
<br />le
<br />ids
<br />a-
<br />52
<br />s
<br />NORTH SUBURBAN EDITION • WWW.TWINCITIES.COM
<br />RAMSEY COUNTY
<br />Challenge to gun ban is promised
<br />Opponents criticize proposal before County Board
<br />BY TIM NELSON
<br />Pioneer Press
<br />Gun - rights advocates told
<br />Ramsey County commissioners
<br />on Tuesday to expect a legal
<br />challenge to their proposal ban-
<br />ning guns from county parks,
<br />offices and other facilities.
<br />"This body has no legal
<br />authority to enact the proposed
<br />ordinance," St. Paul attorney
<br />David Feinwachs told the com-
<br />missioners. "It's doomed to lose,
<br />and as a taxpayer, I object to this
<br />political stunt."
<br />Feinwachs and five other gun -
<br />rights proponents spoke at a pub-
<br />lic hearing during the County
<br />Board's regular Tuesday meeting.
<br />Three others, including for-
<br />mer St. Paul City Council Mem-
<br />ber Bobbi Megard, spoke in sup-
<br />port of the measure, which would
<br />make carrying a firearm on any
<br />county property a misdemeanor.
<br />"County and city officials and
<br />employees deserve the same pro-
<br />tection as legislators," she told the
<br />board, noting that guns are highly
<br />restricted by law at the Capitol
<br />Opponents cited other laws
<br />that prevent local units of gov-
<br />ernment from enacting gun regu-
<br />lations of their own.
<br />Hamlin University law pro-
<br />fessor Joe Olson spoke on behalf
<br />of Concealed Carry Reform Now,
<br />one of the driving forces behind
<br />Minnesota's new Personal Pro-
<br />tection Act. "If you send employ-
<br />ees out to arrest people on a
<br />statute that you know is void,
<br />there is going to be liability for
<br />everyone concerned," he said.
<br />Olson also indicated there
<br />might be a further challenge to
<br />gun restrictions, such as an order
<br />by Chief District Judge J. Thomas
<br />Mott, who last month banned
<br />firearms from the courthouse and
<br />four other county buildings.
<br />GUN -BAN CHALLENGE, 3B
<br />s d e, the g
<br />ests this season
<br />Size:
<br />Largest No
<br />American
<br />heron, up to
<br />4 feet tali,
<br />7 -foot wingspa
<br />Physical
<br />features: Long'
<br />necks, legs and
<br />bills. Blue -gray .
<br />upper parts,
<br />white crown,
<br />of head,
<br />dark streak
<br />over eyes.
<br />Diet:
<br />Mostly fish.
<br />Nests: 20 to
<br />60 feet up
<br />in trees.
<br />How to spot
<br />them in
<br />flight: Their
<br />necks are
<br />folded in an
<br />"5" shape, not
<br />extended like
<br />cranes.
<br />Source: Cornell
<br />Laboratory of
<br />Ornithology
<br />Peltieir Island;
<br />encouraging
<br />around.
<br />For the past
<br />three years, re-
<br />searchers have
<br />been trying to
<br />figure out why
<br />the herons
<br />would return
<br />and start nest-
<br />ing but then
<br />leave around
<br />Memorial Day
<br />weekend, five
<br />months earlier
<br />than they
<br />should and
<br />long before
<br />their chicks
<br />could survive
<br />on their own.
<br />"They weren't staying around long enough to
<br />raise their young. We found dead chicks in nests,"
<br />said Steve Kittelson, nongame wildlife specialist
<br />with the state Department of Natural Resources.
<br />Soon the island's heron population, once the
<br />second - largest in the metro area, had been cut
<br />roughly in half and dropped to fifth or sixth
<br />ANOKA
<br />co. n
<br />Peltier
<br />Island
<br />PIONEER PRESS
<br />HERONS STAYING HOME, 3B
<br />PHOTOS BY JOE "ODEN, PIONEER PRESS
<br />A pair of great blue herons roost on their nest on
<br />Peltier Island on Lake Peltier near Lino Lakes.
<br />HIGHER EDUCATION
<br />MnSCU
<br />begins
<br />hashing,
<br />slashing
<br />Budget plan freezes jobs
<br />and wages, raises tuition
<br />BY KRISTINA TORRES
<br />Pioneer Press
<br />Wilson Bradshaw, president of
<br />Metropolitan State University,
<br />began consulting with students in
<br />January. He could see what was
<br />coming.
<br />"I don't want a 15 percent
<br />(tuition) increase," Bradshaw said
<br />Tuesday, having forwarded a recom-
<br />mendation for just that to leaders of
<br />the Minnesota State Colleges and
<br />Universities system. He already
<br />expects to cut or freeze 19 faculty
<br />and staff positions, increase mini-
<br />mum class sizes from 15 to 18 stu-
<br />dents and not rebuild reserves —
<br />spent down to about 2 percent — for
<br />the next two years.
<br />"If we could do it with less, we
<br />would have," he said.
<br />Welcome to the trickle -down
<br />effect of the state spending signifi-
<br />cantly less on higher education.
<br />A MnSCU committee of its Board
<br />of Trustees on Tuesday for the first
<br />time received budget proposals for
<br />next school year from its 33 institu-
<br />tions. Committee members made lit-
<br />tle comment, though a few asked
<br />questions as central administrators
<br />gave them background on the sys-
<br />tem's expectations and budget
<br />process. Final approval is expected
<br />next month.
<br />"This is simply the opening
<br />salvo," committee Chairman
<br />Andrew Boss explained, noting two
<br />upcoming public budget hearings.
<br />Discussion will heat up next month.
<br />Last year two of six committee mem-
<br />bers voted against a budget that
<br />MNSCU HASHING, SLASHING, 3B
<br />MET AREA
<br />•
<br />
|