Posted by fergusfallsmom (anonymous) on September 2, 2008 at 1:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Pat... you have my Vote!!!

Posted by theweasel (anonymous) on September 2, 2008 at 1:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I’m so thankful that when I moved to Fergus I had the foresight to not move to the first ward. What a choice, tweedledumb or tweedledumber.

Posted by rodentboy (anonymous) on September 2, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

i am voting for Jamie. he has made his opinion know and he will be a change for fergus.

Posted by mccain08 (anonymous) on September 2, 2008 at 7:28 p.m.

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

Posted by watermelon (anonymous) on September 2, 2008 at 7:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I, too will be voting for Jamie Cooper. I hope he initiates a mandatory heavy metal listening night at the library, as well as roundtable drugstore discourse on the evils of the Chinese and how delicious the sandwiches at Arbys are.
I especially liked his work of non-fiction "Living in your parent's basement too darn long: living frugally and turning your dreams into reality."

Posted by killdeer (anonymous) on September 2, 2008 at 10:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Go JoEllen Thacker!!! You have all the qualities I would want in a candidate, and still manage to be sweet as can be! Good Luck!

Posted by username (anonymous) on September 2, 2008 at 10:27 p.m.

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 2, 2008 at 11:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)

watermelon,
I am the candidate that purchased his first home at age 17 and has been raising a handicapped son alone for the past 14 years!
my plans for the library include supporting it's expansion.

I don't feel the Chinese are evil, I do dislike many of the horrible practices of their government, and feel our elected representatives should serve us first and should have approved the RTC movie proposal, or at least allowed us to decide via referendum vote!
the fact that we invited these filmmakers here and then double crossed them a year into the process is just plain scandalous! our city's reputation is damaged because of it, and will need repair.

I will remind you of what I hope to acomplish.

1. I want to bring back the annual spring clean up.
2. I want to amend the Law preventing households from
having any inoperable or unlicensed vehicles in their
driveway.
3.I want the water tower built for those
families that reside in the hilltop area, or reduced water rates if we will not proved equal service.
4. I want to cut down on what I consider to be
unneeded studies like $15k to decide if road work is needed.
5. I want to explore options to make our recycling program more profitable to make good on the promise of others before me, who claimed residents would get a break on their trash bills instead of an extra fee.
6. I'm in favor of keeping the liquor stores municipal at least for now.
7. I would like to see our local early childhood education programs expand as to accommodate more families.
8. I support profitable reuse of the RTC, but at the same time feel other options should be looked at in case the CDG fail.
9. I would prefer the city reuse a current structure for the new police dept. instead of building new, and I appose the expensive studies currently being conducted to decide what some Fargo company feels about this issue.
I would like to see a youth center as well as other community projects come to fruition if financially feasible.
10. I will continue to communicate openly and honestly with the public and answer questions.

perhaps you could adjust your criticisms to include something valid now?
intelligent humor is funnier than ignorant stereotyping.

I don't know Mr. Shelstad, but I welcome him to this process and look forward to hearing his solutions to these issues our city faces and explanations as to why they haven't already been addressed during his watch.

I promise you, you won't hear me saying you live on substandard land and that I don't feel its worth spending your taxes on your property.

thanks!
Jamie Cooper

Posted by The_Nick (anonymous) on September 3, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I think Skip needs to find a new campaign manager. If being caught peeing in the street wasn't enough of a hit to your campaign, you have some second grader posting messages on your behalf.

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 3, 2008 at 10:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)

so far my competition for city council ward one is incumbent Ron Burt and the son of retiring alderman Merlyn Shelstad, "Eric Shelstad" who you may also recognize from serving on on the city's Planning Commission since 2003.

on August 18, 2008. Burt and Shelstad both voted against Dav Kaufman's proposal to film a movie at the RTC
http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/2...
thus portraying Fergus as backwards and ignorant to the nation after the story went out over the Associated Press
Ron Burt voiced concern over the film's content and how it would be received by another culture.

but on September 6, 2006 Burt and Shelstad both voted in favor of raising their own city council pay by $100.00 a month.
http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/2...

you do the math!
Jamie Cooper

Posted by GrammarNazi (anonymous) on September 3, 2008 at 11:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I've done the math, Mr. Cooper, and your statement doesn't add up. You can't use MERLYN Shelstad's voting record as an argument for voting against ERIC Shelstad. That just doesn't wash. As much as you'd like to link the two together because they're related, you can't. One person's service record has no bearing on another's qualifications. Period.
~
Has Mr. Burt filed? If so, then his voting record is fair game for discussion. If not, then he's not your competition (yet).

Posted by tsy86h (anonymous) on September 3, 2008 at 11:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Before you vote for Cooper check out this quote that he made:
"instead of earning a paycheck and answering to members of my community, I will be forced onto disability benefits which pay about the same anyway.
the only losers if I am not elected, will be the taxpayers.
either you can pay me to perform a service for you and answer to you, or you can pay me to sit around and criticize whoever is elected."
http://www.fergusforum.com/forum/thread-......
/
Also check out some of his creative work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7usCTU0tx......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKyTadoWC......
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_qu......
/
Cooper really shows his true colors if you read through all his comments he made for this article:
http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/2...

Posted by Jerry (anonymous) on September 3, 2008 at 12:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I have never seen a better example of "laziness". There is a job for everyone if, they really want to work! But then there are people that never saw a government program they didn't like.

Posted by oh_its_you (anonymous) on September 3, 2008 at 12:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Ok, enough with Jamie Cooper. I hate even reading the online version of the paper because after nearly every single article there are way too many posts by him and way to many people bashing him. I have no doubt that you have the best of intentions, but I am not sure you are right for the job. I think that there are way too many things about city government that you do not understand, such as how much influence you will have over certain things, as well as proper semantics, syntax, and pragmatics of the English language. I understand that there are terrible things that have happened to you that you had no control over and that the world is out to get you, but come on, so have many other people in this community, but they do not go and rant about it at every chance they get. I know that you have accomplished much, your son is a great student and that is great for him, it will help him to get ahead in life. However, there are many, many people in this community that have raised their children that have a different ability (disability is such a negative work, both in connotation and denotation, as is handicapped, look up the origin of that word). You are not alone or unique in that. Maybe if you spent some time volunteering on some boards and learning more about what actually goes into all of these projects you are proposing, you could run again next time and do really well. Until then, please everyone, stop bashing Jamie, it isn't doing any good, and Jamie, maybe narrow it to one or two comments after each article, and realize that not all political commentaries have anything to do with you and your candidacy.

Posted by mn10klakes (anonymous) on September 3, 2008 at 10:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Jeesh Coop. I dug around for information regarding vet homes' voter registration and it didn't even make one of your ten.
And isn't it oftentimes financially sensible to rebuild than renovate? Think about the needs of a police department; is there really an empty and unused building structure in FF that could accommodate that?
> * Make this a note to self: oppose.

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 4, 2008 at 9:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)

mn10klakes, the vet homes' voter registration problems have already been resolved.
as for empty unused structures locally?
have you ever drove around this city?
perhaps tearing down and building new is financially a better option sometimes, the only problem is that tearing down buildings also robs us of our history.

Jamie Cooper

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 4, 2008 at 10:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

oh_its_you, so now you're tired of people bashing me?
kind of hypocritical of you to post something like that.
you being one of the bashers.
for a nitpicker you should perhaps bother with accuracy.
like for instance, I haven't posted in even 1/2 of the articles that are posted here, and if I chose to, I have just as much right to do so as anyone else.
as for your criticisms of the words "disability", and "handicapped", I suggest you allow those of us living with disabilities and/or handicaps, decide if we feel offended by those words.
go ahead and diminish the fact that I have successfully raised a handicapped child alone while coping better than many with the disease I have.

and Jerry, what a Lazy man I must be for running in an election.
I must be milking government programs with all the nonexistent assistance I'm not getting?
you are right about some things though, I don't understand a few things our city council has done, like for instance, why it's acceptable to vote themselves $100.00 per month raises while our city was trying to compensate for lack of funds, or why the pebble lake water levels are more important than decades of unacceptable water pressure for the Hilltop drive neighborhood.

this more of the same attitude is what is destroying this city as well as our entire way of life.
once society is 100% polarized between the ruling class and the working class, what do you think will happen?
most likely exactly what has happened to every capitalist society with those conditions.
"proletariat revolution!"

Jamie Cooper

Posted by mn10klakes (anonymous) on September 4, 2008 at 11:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Proletariat revolution? Please. Would someone else like to pick this one up? I would but my lunch break is almost over.

Posted by theweasel (anonymous) on September 5, 2008 at 10:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)

What was the first name that Cooper guy, (our first hijacker), who jumped out of the airplane somewhere over the north west United States? I was just thinking that if he hit the ground head first he must have some traumatic brain injury today.

Posted by lookitup (anonymous) on September 5, 2008 at 11:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"I haven't posted in even 1/2 of the articles that are posted here" - metasonics has 350 posts here since June 22 (about 75 days) - that is an average of over 4.5 posts per day. Looks to me like a "spam revolution".

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 5, 2008 at 5:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

lookitup, how can these numbers be possible?
I thought they were saying I was lazy?

Posted by oh_its_you (anonymous) on September 5, 2008 at 11:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)

How could you possibly know if I am or not living with a disablilty, or if a close friend or family member is...who are you to think that you are the only person that deals with crap on a day to day basis. How arrogant. You should maybe put the person before the disability instead of letting that single aspect of the persons life define them. There are plenty of people living with diseases that are much worse than sarcoidosis. But they do not use it as an excuse for their lives, and I know, you don't complain either. I was trying to be half way decent about people bashing you, as I think that sometimes it goes a bit too far, even though I think that you running for an election is a joke. You continue to offend people that have different abilities everytime you try to use them to your advantage. And when is someone saying you have a good kid and that it is great that he does good in school "diminish the fact that I have successfully raised a handicapped child". I was merely pointing out that you are not alone in that. Stop using it as part of your pity ploy.

Posted by bluebird (anonymous) on September 6, 2008 at 12:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Tell us again Jamie how Ron Burt is your competition. Tell us again how Merlyn's voting history has anything to do with Eric running against you. Funny how you felt it was necessary to come back to this article on 9/4 to "correct" oh_its_you, mn10klakes and Jerry, but you had nothing to say about GrammarNazi's post which followed yours on 9/3. What kind of math are you suggesting we do?

Swing and a miss. Strike one.

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 6, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

oh_its_you, can you give me an example of what sarcoidosis is?
you talk about like its a minor inconvenience.
strange how inconvenient, inflammation and scarring of every internal organ and joint is until of course it's kills the sufferer, like it did recently to Bernie Mac.

wow what a arrogant crybaby I am, to run for a position on our city council.

I never said Eric Shelstad was his father.
I'm sure he's a great person, I also imagine he is proud of his father and shares many of the same views.
I wonder if he would like to comment about how he feel's toward pay raises for city council members during financial difficulties in our cities budget?

council members voting records should never be considered off limits for discussion! how ridiculous to suggest so!

Jamie Cooper

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 6, 2008 at 5:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)

bluebird, thank you for your first post ever!
I am honored, strike one and a miss? how so?
until Sept.9th there is plenty of room for anyone else wanting to join in this election.

as for the math, well lets see, what does an extra $800.00 a month add up to?
one of the details I found odd was that the Mayer wasn't even at the meeting, and they voted him an extra $100.00 a month too.
so now that brings us to $900.00 a month in pay raises for council members who apparently aren't even required to show up to the meetings.
good thing they're paid a salary in addition to the hourly pay.

if you can't see my point here then I suggest you take some refresher courses at our Community College.

Jamie Cooper

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

Jamie, you are the master of twisting peoples words to suit what you want it to be. THere are people in this town that are suffering from diseases that will take their lives before they even have a chance to begin. There are people suffering from diseases that take the away people's will to live, but for some reason you think that you are worse off than anyone around. Get a clue. There are people in our community that would love to have their child use a wheelchair, because at least then their child would be with them and not in a grave. And yeah, I did research on Sarcoidosis, and since in an earlier post you claimed that wikipedia is a reliable source, it says that "Approximately half of the cases resolve or can be cured within 12-36 months and most within 5 years. Some cases persist several decades". Not knowing which type or how severe your situation is, I didn't feel that it was necessary to mention what I have found about the disease. Since you have a manageable disease how can you go on and say that you deserve some sort of special treatment. You sicken me...

Posted by bluebird (anonymous) on September 6, 2008 at 5:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

WHEN DID I SUGGEST THAT VOTING RECORDS SHOULD BE OFF LIMITS FOR DISCUSSION??? I never did! You're ridiculous for twisting my words! Voting records SHOULD be used for discussion. But just like GrammarNazi busted you on, you can't use Merlyn Shelstad's voting record to pre-judge Eric Shelstad in an effort to gain votes...which is exactly what you were attempting to do. I guess you're too big a man to apologize for screwing that up. Still think Ron Burt is your competition? What math are we supposed to do again? Regarding voting for pay increases: I don't agree with it. Plus, I think both YOU and ERIC should promise to donate ALL your city council income to charities once one of you is elected.

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 6, 2008 at 10:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)

oh_its_you, what special treatment have I asked for?
when did I say that I'm worse off than anyone else?
I know about killer diseases, my mother just died this Feb and my father a few years ago from Cancer.
my niece died a few years ago and was like a daughter to me, so I can relate somewhat to losing a child.
I'm not asking for pity.
I find it rather sickening how you attack me for having an incurable debilitating disease.
I was under the impression that it would be favorable to attempt to stay useful to my community however I could rather than crawl out of sight.
in case you haven't noticed, I have offered a full agenda.
despite your allegations and attacks, I understand the plight of people with disabilities and incurable diseases in ways you obviously do not!

I am interested in this cure for sarcoidosis because I have never heard of one.
I read about a claim a phd had that he found a cure but my doctor told me if I took the meds this guy was claiming worked I would die within hours.

Jamie Cooper

Posted by GrammarNazi (anonymous) on September 7, 2008 at 9:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"I never said Eric Shelstad was his father." -- Neither has anyone else in this thread. Where did you get that from? We can only assume that was some kind of attempt to deflect attention from your foolishness in the issue at hand. Is "I'm sure he's a great person, I also imagine he is proud of his father and shares many of the same views" your rationale for your voting record analysis? If so, that's incredibly presumptuous and unfair. Again, one person's voting record has NOTHING TO DO with the qualifications for office of another person, WHETHER THOSE TWO PEOPLE ARE RELATED OR NOT. If you insist on adhering to that standard, then we as voters are free to make assumptions about your fitness for the office by comparing you to anyone else at random and making blind assumptions based on that comparison. Does that sound fair to you?

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 7, 2008 at 12:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

GrammarNazi, it doesn't matter what I think of your personal decision making process, comparing similarities between my son and I would not only be rationale but realistic.
obviously we all have individuality, but as family we have inherited traits, both genetic and from sharing environment.
it's ridiculous to suggest comparisons between father and son are at all like comparing two random people.
if this were the case, why would a son mention his father to help identify himself to the voters? families share many traits!

this city has been run by an elite group for longer than I have been on this planet.
I'll take it a step farther and suggest this concept is more in line with monarchy than democracy.
this is why some have labeled me an outsider.
this elite group have voted themselves pay raises while keeping numerous financial opportunities out of reach of the average city resident. it's clear who they serve.
some are more equal than others in Fergus falls and people are just plain sick of it!
You may not see this reflected on these forms because the average voter chooses to publicly remain silent, opting instead to voice their feelings in the form of their vote.
the vast majority of this community want positive changes and they realize the only way to get it is to vote for new blood!

now I have a question for you, do you feel handicap accessible entrances to our city hall are accessible when they are locked? does it make it any more accessible once these doors are opened only to find there are stairs to get anywhere once inside?
I mention this because it's a metaphor for how city business has been conducted for far too long!

thank you,
Jamie Cooper

Posted by GrammarNazi (anonymous) on September 7, 2008 at 3:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"(I)t's ridiculous to suggest comparisons between father and son are at all like comparing two random people." -- Wrong. We're discussing voting records. If you're going to insist that Eric Shelstad can be expected to perform in anything remotely resembling the same manner as Merlyn Shelstad has, then you need to provide some concrete evidence of their philosophies being similar. Absent that evidence, there is absolutely NO basis upon which you can make that assumption. NONE. Not even their familial relationship.
~
"(I)f this were the case, why would a son mention his father to help identify himself to the voters?" -- I have seen no instance where Eric Shelstad has identified himself to the voters as Merlyn's son. The DAILY JOURNAL has noted that relationship. Eric has not. What are you talking about?

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 7, 2008 at 5:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)

GrammarNazi, what am I talking about?
on September 6, 2006 our city council voted themselves a pay raise that costs the taxpayers over $800.00 a month, when our city was having difficultly compensating for lost revenue as stated by Hal Leland.
I'm also pointing out that we are now being asked to vote for succeeding family members?
thankfully we have an election to decide the outcome.
I'm not faulting anyone, just stating facts.

perhaps some candidates would like to prove me wrong?

I don't profess to know how Eric Shelstad feels about our city council raising their own pay but I imagine He has an opinion after all he served on the city's Planning Commission since 2003 and owns owns Shelstad Financial Services.

Jamie Cooper

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 7, 2008 at 5:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)

He owes the voters an opinion at least

Posted by lookitup (anonymous) on September 8, 2008 at 8:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Hopefully not as many opinions as you offer.

Posted by bluebird (anonymous) on September 8, 2008 at 12:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"I'm not faulting anyone, just stating facts."
Facts?
Like "factually stating" that Ron Burt is your competition? Like using facts regarding Merlyn Shelstad to pre-judge Eric Shelstad in an effort to gain votes?
Ha!

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 8, 2008 at 1:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

oh bluebird,
I would think it would be common sense to consider an incumbent competition.

pre-judge Shelstad?
it's kind of impossible to prejudge someone who has been on the city's Planning Commission since 2003, just look at all the opportunities, improvements, and population growth.

Some in this election have voted pay raises for themselves while the city was struggling to make ends meet?
these are all facts!
http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/2...

lookitup, if what the voters really want is silent council members that vote themselves pay raises while not even showing up for the job consistently, then just vote for those who have already shown that record and don't bellyache next time they prevent money and opportunities from this city!

as long as you vote for the same old, you'll get the same old!

Jamie Cooper

Posted by lookitup (anonymous) on September 8, 2008 at 3:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

There is a vast difference between silence and spamming. Try to find the middle ground sometime - you seem to have a need to comment on just about everything - and cross-posting the same info on several threads is quite annoying as well. You may not understand this, but very few people really care about your opinions or your "issues", because very few people take your candidacy seriously. But good luck in the election - if the residents of FF are foolish enough to vote you in, they deserve it.

Posted by chakk_zaos (anonymous) on September 8, 2008 at 7:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Jaime Copper dont know his place these other boys goin smack you down you just playin a fool thats just how it is and how is goin stay you all need quit crying about the taxes and get yorselfs jobs. jonny Mccain is gonna fix things up in here anway

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 8, 2008 at 7:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

lookitup,
the vast majority of people in Fergus falls are not happy about how things have been handled.
this needs to change! the only way change will happen is with fresh ideas and new people.
obviously there are some who share your opinion and I would defend their right to do so.
all I ask is that people stay honest.

chakk_zaos,
history has shown us that change is inevitable.
I have respect of a great many people who will be voting this election for standing up in the face of adversity.
It's important that our elected remember who these tax dollars belong to.

thanks,
Jamie Cooper

Posted by HotFergusMan (anonymous) on September 9, 2008 at 9:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Jamie,

First off.... I thought you were a women. But then read that someone called you Mr. Cooper. Sorry for the miss understanding.

Secondly.... I understand you have a desire to be on city council; As do many others. Why is it that through this entire blog post have you, and no other candidate, had to defend yourself instead of acknoledging differences. Could your approach be off.

Lastly.... if I lived in your district and after reading this; you would become the last person I'd vote for. It's nothing personnal about you (as I didn't even know your sex)... other than your means of communcitation. People get tired of bickering and you seem to be good at it.

MR. Jamie Cooper, forgive me if I sounded rude or have hurt your feelings. This was not my intent. It's just sometimes my couth is misplaced.

I wish you and all your oponents the best of luck....

Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on September 10, 2008 at 7:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)

many a horrible thing have happened because good people chose to be silent.
perhaps some view this as bickering?

noone criticized anything I posted until I wrote a letter to the editor criticizing the war and the republican party.
everything I've posted since has been criticized.

add the fact that I've given names and proof of misused power as well as I'm the only candidate willing to openly post here and I think it should be self evident as to why I am being criticized.

Jamie Cooper