Posted by Notthere (anonymous) on March 5, 2008 at 2:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Yep the city of Fergus has sure has went down hill.And constantly continues too. Great place to raise kids, huh? MAYBE til they are 18 and LEAVE.
And what has changed? The mayor ONCE. But I guess that is what the citizens wanted. They are the ones who vote. from mayor to city counsel.
I still cannot believe how much smaller cities like Alexandria or Detroit Lakes can have so much going for them. I talked to one gentlemen that was on the city counsel for a while. He had a great idea of building a pavilion at Pebble. For rental and such. But he said his fellow members looked at him like he was crazy.
And what about a major film company wanting to film in Fergus but they said no. It would hurt the image? WHAT IMAGE IS THAT? On all of my travels I have to describe my home town of Fergus "well it is about 40 miles from fargo".
So if I were a current resident I would say "out with the old and in with new".

Posted by Notthere (anonymous) on March 5, 2008 at 2:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Can you say, Fergus Falls is full of conservatives?"
And they are going to conserve that city right into the ground!

Posted by adam (anonymous) on March 5, 2008 at 6:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Well me and my wife have 4 boys ages 1 to 9 and i totally agree. Nothing here but sports, sure think that atleast we need a mall with a arcade or what about the Rollerskating!!! Kids work hard in school! They deserve a good weekend!!!!!!!! What are the kids around here supposed to do for fun other than get into troble!!! NO WONDER things are getting vandalized and broke into they have nothing better to do.

Posted by tanker8 (anonymous) on March 5, 2008 at 8:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Danner for council!!! Viva La Revolution!!!

Posted by toad3 (anonymous) on March 5, 2008 at 8:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree, Danner for council! The ones we have now are empty suits!

Posted by Bass (anonymous) on March 5, 2008 at 11:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree. The hockey rinks should be open.The city has all ready shut down the cleavland rink for the year. There isn't much for kids to do in this town to begin with, now they can't even skate in there local nieghbor hood. The city has said that the rinks are in poor condition. I don't think the kids care about condition, they just want a place to go and have fun. I know I enjoy playing boot hockey and now I can't even do that and there is some nice days coming up that I would love to be out at night on the ice.

Posted by WOWfactor (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 9:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"So if I were a current resident I would say "out with the old and in with new"."

Why even comment on an issue within the City when you don't even reside here? Nothing else better to do I guess. I took my children down to Cleveland several evenings and there was plenty of room to skate as there was hardly anyone using the facility. It even has great sleding hills to utilize as well. A nice winter complex for families to use.

As far as the Mayor issues, we hold elections for this position and anyone is able to sign up and run. The vote is the vote folks!!

Posted by Notthere (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I did for 35 years. Does that count for anything?

Posted by ffguy (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 10:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Cleveland is a great complex I agree! Great sledding.
I skate there too. I think all of the rinks should be open though, not just one. I think that is the point.

Posted by tanker8 (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 11:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

How have the baseball diamonds stayed open? The softball complexes have never looked better.
Bring back a city broomball league using all the rinks. Team participation fee's can generate funds to help maintaim them.

Posted by ffguy (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 11:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)

That is a great idea! Get some people to rally! What a fun thing to do. Bring Broomball Back!
I think they should spray for mosquitos though, softball is very hard when being eaten alive. Families can hardly stand to watch.

Posted by Notthere (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 11:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I totally agree with the mosquito problem at Delagoon. I always felt sorry for anyone playing outfield. I wonder if any city counsel members have been there after dark!

Posted by toad3 (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 12:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)

mosquito spraying is like cleaning streets, it costs money!
I called the city a couple years ago about street cleaning and they said it cost a lot of money to replace brushes on the street cleaner,. oh really! Too bad we have all those garbage containers, maybe we could afford to clean the streets better and spray for mosquito's

Posted by success (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 12:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I completely agree with everything Matt wrote. My husband and I took our 3 children to Cleveland on a beautiful Saturday and there was approximately 15-20 others there and the warming house was closed. The following nights my husband would take our kids back to Cleveland to skate after supper and had to shine his headlights on the rink just so they could see. How pathetic is that. I suppose they had someone sitting in the warming house while it was 25 below out. I too wonder how so many things in FF can change and not for the better. I remember being brought to Pebble to swim and having the docks, swim raft & slides there. The place use to be packed. Seems like everyone has been constantly complaining about the same issues. When is the City Council going to listen to what the citizens of this city want? That's why these people are elected, to help us grow and make this city a better place to LIVE.

Posted by donnyguinness (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 1:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The rink at Broadway park is also empty. It is basically used for dogs to do their business in. In the summer that park is packed with kids for little league.

Posted by sweetfergusgirl (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 2:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

And the City wonders why so many of it's residents go out of town...I've lived here for almost 25 years and I've seen nothing but a decline in entertainment for our youth and an incline in crime. I'm pretty sure there is a connection.

Posted by RICK33 (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 4:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The city of Fergus Falls is worthless. They focus so much on spending money on crime there and keep adding more and more cops all they do is harass the kids anyway. So the kids retaliate. If the kids actually had some things to do there besides being locked inside and bored off of thier asses, and going out and raising hell. I can't believe they keep doing the same crap eliminating things for the kids to do within the city. We pay what around 500 per team for fri nights and they let the softball fields go to crap with the short fences and them dam bugs. The city could hold more softball tournaments during the summer to help pay for the costs for up keep on the fields. The city also does other things wrong by not letting bigger companies to move in and do business there. There isn't very many high paying jobs there then they wonder why most people leave Fergus after high school. Fergus adverage age is 60 and that's the reasons for that.

Posted by Notthere (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 7:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)

AMEN! Well said!

Posted by WOWfactor (anonymous) on March 7, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)

MOVE THEN!! Why blame everything back onto the City? Where do the parents come into play? It is so easy to blame someone besides yourself.

Posted by citygirl13 (anonymous) on March 7, 2008 at 10:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Something as simple as a hockey rink shouldn't be such an issue and I don't think you need to move to a different city just to get one. What's the point of having the rinks if you can't use them anyway? Thank you, Matt. Let's hope they can make it happen next winter!

Posted by heewayne (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)

was in Alex the other day and drove past a pond used for skating and hockey and it was all cleaned off and two people were out there skating. They must have not had the state funding cuts that Fergus has had. Thats what our city leaders had told us a number of years ago to why the rinks were closing. Have heard the same stories about Fergus outdoor rinks for many years and it always falls on DEAF EARS when it comes to the city. One reason or another they always have a reason why they had to close the rink. Whats the reason this year? I know its Global Warming

Posted by Mel (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at noon (Suggest removal)

"And what about a major film company wanting to film in Fergus but they said no. It would hurt the image? WHAT IMAGE IS THAT?"
Notthere, What movie was that?, I would like to know more.
Thanks

Posted by notcominghome (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 6:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The movie or show"jack@ss". The article was in the journal you should be able to archive it

Posted by notcominghome (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 6:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)

City sends MTV prank packing
It looks like Fergus Falls won't be the site of MTV's prank reenactment after all -- it will be some other place created to look like this city.
Published Tuesday, June 7, 2005

He added that the network does still plan on visiting town to take "foundational photos" of the local setting though. "I'm still not pleased," Brennan said, "because they are still going to glorify a criminal act." The criminal act occurred here two years ago when six area high school students rearranging two residents' Christmas lawn decorations into inappropriate positions. Anthony Oslund, one of the involved students, sent a letter about the incident to MTV last fall to see if they would be interested in using it in their television series, "High School Stories." MTV was interested, and had planned on filming the entire episode in Fergus Falls. "I don't know why they changed their mind," Brennan said, explaining that it was unclear if the network backed off because of local opposition. MTV had previously asked the local police department to block off streets and allow its camera crew access to its station and squad cars during filming; the police station declined to help. Monday night, the Fergus Falls City Council unanimously approved a motion to deny MTV its request to use the police department or the public works department for aid of any kind in its pursuit in Fergus Falls. "We are not telling MTV they can't come," City Administrator Mark Sievert said, "but we won't assist them."

Posted by poohbear62 (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 9:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't see the city trying to make Fergus a good place for anyone to live. I moved here in 1985 because my job moved here and have been stuck here ever since. I'll be out in a couple of years. We used to have a rollerskating rink. I went 2-3 times a weekend. When that left there was suddenly nothing to do for entertainment in Fergus. I understood the YMCA aquired the skates and were going to put them to use. For all I know they were thrown out. When you go driving around downtown at night, you see teens hanging out on the sidewalks. They don't have anything better to do. Heck I don't have anything better to do than sit home and watch nothing on tv. I can't wait to get out.

Posted by poohbear62 (anonymous) on March 9, 2008 at 3:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Fergus needs a community center like Perham has. A pool with a slide. A basketball court that doubles as a roller rink, a place to walk. All that space in the mall is being wasted. It seems like if people weren't so money hungry and really wanted to help the community, someone would start something that would be a benefit to everyone. I realize we have a YMCA but it seems out of reach for some of us.

Posted by Mel (anonymous) on March 10, 2008 at 4:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I'd like to see a movie that uses the state hospital in it. I thought I had heard something like that at one time.
That castle would be a national attraction if given the chance. It would also be a good place for a water park or what ever, you name it.

Posted by citizenkane (anonymous) on March 11, 2008 at 2:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I know that I would use the rinks!