Blog Entry #5

One person that has a big role and a lot of responsibility in my community is the chief of police, Sean Rifenberick. I couldn't get a hold of him for this assignment. The next group that has a major role on how the community of Big Lake is the council members. Members are Dick Backlund, Raeanne Danielowski, Mayor Lori Kampa, Chuck Heitz, and Duane Langsdorf. I recently just spoke to Mayor Lori Kampa and got her thoughts on what the citizens of Big Lake might be concerned about. In the past month, there have been a few officers that have resigned their duties. Lori stated that some people may be concerned on how fast they are going to get replacements and what would happen if they didn't fill that spot right away. There was a charitable donation that was just given to the Big Lake Police Department by a family. How the Police Department spends that money, we don't know yet, but they might possibly use it to gain some more officers. I think it's great that somebody sees much importance in the Police force and tries and helps out. You can never be overstaffed in terms of police officers!

Blog Entry #4

The economy is troubling for a lot of people nowadays, some of them are family friends, but most of them bounced back and got back on track with their jobs. There is one place in my community however that seems to be lacking, restaurants. Since I lived here in Big Lake, there have been many restaurants that have came and go. Since the economy took a dive in the past few years, there have been 3 bars and restaurant closings in Big Lake alone. One was called Victory's Sports Bar and Grill, the second that went down was actually the American Legion, and now Mis Amigos, a Mexican restaurant that took over where Victory's sat is now going out of business as well. I heard somewhat bad things about the food at Victory's and Mis Amigos, but I know for a fact that the American Legion had amazing food, and I don't understand how a legion can go out of business. You would think the people who are in that legion group to help support and keep the legion afloat. All of the other restaurants in Big Lake however and doing good for business. Hopefully the next restaurant that comes to town will be able to make it.

Blog Entry #3

I have been to a few of our town hall meetings during my civics class that I was in when I was a freshman in high school. Those ones were at the town hall and it was a pretty interesting debate. The main issue of the night that I was there was about the Big Lake Police Department. The city wanted to reduce the number of Big Lake Police officers and bring in more Sherburne County sheriffs. The city council seemed all up for that idea but some of the citizens did not. Many of them stood up to try and keep the city cops. But I do believe that it was passed, and the number of Big Lake cops was reduced. That town meeting was three or four years ago though, but recently I went to a meeting at our high school auditorium. It was about the referendum for more money in our school district. Last year the vote didn't pass so the school had to cut back to try and save money. This year however, they set up a meeting to try and push the referendum so that they could add back the things that they had to cut last year. People came to agree with the referendum because everything raised in prices such as lunch and sports. Sports prices went from 90 dollars a season to 220 dollars in only three years. People came to disagree with it however because the referendum would obviously raise their taxes.

I think going to those town meetings are pretty interesting. It gives people the chance to see what is going on in their community, a chance to speak their mind, and they can see what other citizens in their community have to saw about certain issues or concerns.

Help for Haiti

I was just recently reading an article in my local news paper and it was about a families efforts to help the people in Haiti from the recent earthquake. Their plans are to get around 100,000 meals to bring over there and help build decent homes for the people that lost their old ones in the earthquake. I'm very glad to see my community try and help a place that is so far away yet struck by tragedy. I also remember reading something a few years back of a couple groups of people from my town that also went down to New Orleans to help with the Hurricane Katrina relief. I just feel good that I live in a community that is set on helping others instead of ourselves and I want to get involved with it as much as I can because we live in a place where that sort of thing can't happen to us and i feel fortunate for that. If anyone that lives in the Big Lake area and would like to help with the relief the phone number is 763-262-HOPE and you can send checks to

Hope Filled Hands, P.O. Box 66, Big Lake, MN 55309.

Blog Entry #1

What makes a blog a blog? That's a very good question. This is my first ever blog so I still need to work out the kinks and find out more about it. If I had a response to what makes a blog a blog though I would say that it gives anyone the chance to let their voice heard. It makes it easier for people to express their thoughts about certain issues without even leaving their own home. What excites me about blogging, is that I get to express what I think about anything I want to the world without even saying a word. I'm not too fond of getting in front of a crowd and speaking, and blogging gives me the chance to do it without the stage fright. I'm also excited to use blogging in school. It could possibly get me into blogging more. There are many challenges I still face with this whole blogging thing. Like I said before, I am new to this whole "blogging" thing but I would like to know more about it so I can do it more in the future.