For a few years, Mike Haege’s sister lived in north Minneapolis. He knows the neighborhood at least a little bit, and when a tornado tore through the area on Sunday, May 22, he took notice.
On the news he saw trees strewn about lawns and streets. Then inspiration struck. He wanted to help. His schedule for Monday, May 23, was wide open. And, since he operates Custom Cut, a tree trimming business here, he figured his services could be put to good use.
“I thought it would be the perfect chance to help,” he said. “I knew there would be people needing help.”
[…]
What happened next shocked Haege.
h/t Paul H.
Then there was the farmer in a flooded area of Canada who got charged with illegal fishing when he took fish from a nearby river off his flooded fields. I guess they should have known not to swim from the river to his farm. Civil Servants can be the dumbest animal on the planet.
“Ya know, it’s almost enough to make you wonder whether destruction and suffering are parts of their plan.
Posted by: nick at June 6, 2011 9:35 AM ”
Nothing to wonder about,nick. Just look at the history of ANY commie/socialist/fascist/Islamic/leftard country,and you have your answer.
Burocrates are natural slaves with the whole mentality behind it.
They only see what the City tells them to see, no matter what. I know this well.
You should see what happens to these people when forced to retire. Theri whole life was there petty little kingdom of control & bulling.
They fall apart like a cheap wineo. Watched this insanity for 27 working years now. It never stops. Maybe 1 in 10 city employee’s have any sense or integrity anymore. Those that do are persecued right out.
JMO
JMO
When progs rule…..
MinneCRapolis
Remember the collapsing bridges in Minneapolis?
That was 4 years ago…. report blamed faulty design … but designs are approved by bureaucrats.
And inspections are done by bureaucrats …. and reports are approved by bureaucrats…
Minneapolis is one of many such cities in the US …. in the 1980s they were a boom town …. by the end of the 1990s businesses that had brought head offices there were exiting daily….. now the place is hanging on by dint of tourist money and living completely beyond their means.
Not to be outdone by Minnesota, Pennsylvania gets into the action, albeit a few years ago. I am told that this is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries regarding a pond on his property. It was sent by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Quality, State of Pennsylvania . This guy’s response is hilarious, but read the State’s letter before you get to the response letter.
SUBJECT: DEQ File No.97-59-0023; T1 1N; R10W, Sec. 20; Lycoming County
Dear Mr. DeVries:
It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity: Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond
A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity. A review of the Department’s files shows that no permits have been issued. Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.
The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted.
The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2006.
Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure to comply with this request or any further unauthorized activity on the site may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action.. We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
David L. Price
District Representative and Water Management Division.
Here is the actual response sent back by Mr. DeVries:
Re: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Lycoming County
Dear Mr. Price,
Your certified letter dated 12/17/02 has been handed to me to respond to.
I am the legal landowner but not the Contractor at 2088 Dagget Lane, Trout Run, Pennsylvania .
A couple of beavers are in the (State unauthorized) process of constructing and maintaining two wood “debris” dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond. While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I think they would be highly offended that you call their skillful use of nature’s building materials “debris.”
I would like to challenge your department to attempt to emulate their dam project any time and/or any place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic.
These are the beavers/contractors you are seeking. As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must first fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity.
My first dam question to you is:
(1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers, or
(2) do you require all beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request?
If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, through the Freedom of Information Act, I request completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits that have been issued.
(Perhaps we will see if there really is a dam violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.)
I have several concerns. My first concern is, aren’t the beavers entitled to legal representation? The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay for said representation — so the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer.. The Department’s dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed during a recent rain event, causing flooding, is proof that this is a natural occurrence, which the Department is required to protect. In other words, we should leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than harassing them and calling them dam names.
If you want the stream “restored” to a dam free-flow condition please contact the beavers — but if you are going to arrest them, they obviously did not pay any attention to your dam letter, they being unable to read English.
In my humble opinion, the Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build their unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water flows downstream. They have more dam rights than I do to live and enjoy Spring Pond. If the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection lives up to its name, it should protect the natural resources (Beavers) and the environment (Beavers’ Dams).
So, as far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be referred for more elevated enforcement action right now. Why wait until 1/31/2006? The Spring Pond Beavers may be under the dam ice then and there will be no way for you or your dam staff to contact/harass them.
In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention to a real environmental quality, health, problem in the area. It is the bears! Bears are actually defecating in our woods. I definitely believe you should be persecuting the defecating bears and leave the beavers alone. If you are going to investigate the beaver dam, watch your step! The bears are not careful where they dump!
Being unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to contact you on your dam answering machine, I am sending this response to your dam office.
THANK YOU,
RYAN DEVRIES
&THE DAM BEAVERS
all one can say is “wow”.
OMMAG – “Minneapolis is one of many such cities in the US …. in the 1980s they were a boom town …. by the end of the 1990s businesses that had brought head offices there were exiting daily.”
Sadly, Calgary is becoming like that. Just heard about another condo having water main breaks between the walls.
Shoddy construction, no inspection. palm greasing.
Calgary’s day of reckoning is coming I am afraid, just you stated.
“We are sometimes puzzled by the alliance between the left and the radical islamists. We wonder what common ground unites them.
It’s submission.”
Exactly.
This is the usual parasitic bureaucracy plus a chronic government shortage of cash.
Of course the major reason they’re short of cash is that they have to pay the salaries of the parasitic bureaucracy.
At least the cops have duties that are important, like dealing with crime. Regulators don’t do much of anything that is useful or necessary.
videos exist as they now do with the ubiquitous cell phones and digital cameras.
phone calls are logged, resentment runs deep in times of severe distress.
there will be an accounting ‘after the dust settles’.
or maybe not. why not make some calls yourself dear reader or do you prefer to just whine whine whine.
the problem is the zealous cops. it always gets back to the zealous cops doing all to justify their jobs. in local news, a 71 year old woman had her wrist broken and sent to the hospital by the cops, so yours truly had some fun with it.
911 operator: your emergency please.
moi: help me! help me! Im a 71 year old woman and the police just broke my writs! help me! help me!! HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!
cops are WORSE than gangsters; they can turn around and arrest you when you fight back. they all deserve every milligram of grief they get. there are and always will be only 2 kinds of cops, the ones that bully and ALL THE REST that tolerate it. therefore they all deserve the grief they get even to the point of death.
videos exist as they now do with the ubiquitous cell phones and digital cameras.
phone calls are logged, resentment runs deep in times of severe distress.
there will be an accounting ‘after the dust settles’.
or maybe not. why not make some calls yourself dear reader or do you prefer to just whine whine whine.
the problem is the zealous cops. it always gets back to the zealous cops doing all to justify their jobs. in local news, a 71 year old woman had her wrist broken and sent to the hospital by the cops, so yours truly had some fun with it.
911 operator: your emergency please.
moi: help me! help me! Im a 71 year old woman and the police just broke my wrist! help me! help me!! HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!
cops are WORSE than gangsters; they can turn around and arrest you when you fight back. they all deserve every milligram of grief they get. there are and always will be only 2 kinds of cops, the ones that bully and ALL THE REST that tolerate it. therefore they all deserve the grief they get even to the point of death.
There’s a follow-up to the original story where a City official is claiming that Mr. Haege, the tree trimmer, was in a dangerous area and that’s why he was asked to leave. Covering their a$$es, or trying to. It’s baloney, of course, and will hopefully bring more ridicule to City politicians and bureaucrats.
A few words about the police – however poorly individual cops sometimes act, as a group, police in situations like this get their direction from police brass and local politicians. The job they were given in this specific instance was to remove Mr. Haege. Anyone who thinks that was wrong needs to direct their criticism at the proper targets.
What is unbelievable is that they had the time to do this during an emergency like that. But, I am sure that there were people trying to make money who probably had to pay somebody off for their license and those enforcing the rules were just living by the new motto. “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
“Imagine the carnage and chaos if a municipality allowed unlicensed tree pruning services to run rampant.”
It would be like South Florida, where you can get your trees cut and trimmed pretty cheap. Can’t have that.
Licensing schemes are almost always designed to prevent competition – services presented free are ” taking ” business from the locals, just as much as those offering them for hire. Hence, the opposition.
We have a similar environment in the heavily democratic rusy belt city where I live. Locals in some of the city’s worst neighborhoods want to spiff up some vacant lots (of which there are many) by putting gardens in them.
Stupid city government action #1: You need a PERMIT to do this as the city owns many of those vacant lots.
Stupid city government action #2: Some permits have been held up in the bureaucracy for over TWO YEARS now.
Stupid city government action #3: The city will be more than happy to slap fines on those who go ahead and plant a garden in a vacant lot without a permit.
So much for the local citizens trying to make their neighborhoods look a little nicer. I mean, how dare they?