Crow Wing State Park is usually booming with visitors over Fourth of July weekend.
Not this year.
With the state of Minnesota potentially shutting down Thursday night, state parks found themselves with few answers in regards to what to do with campers’ reservations. Without a budget passed, state parks, including Crow Wing, would have to ask campers to leave and close the park gates indefinitely.
Workers at Crow Wing State Park spent most of Thursday trying to answer questions from park guests wondering about the park’s availability over the holiday weekend. “We just don’t know — we haven’t gotten the official word,” said a Crow Wing State Park worker who asked not to be named. “You just feel incompetent. You can’t even give an honest answer.”
Brainerd resident Jade Nelson was visiting her parents Thursday afternoon at their Crow Wing campsite. Nelson’s two children, Gavin, 11, and Alayna, 6 were visiting with their grandparents when Nelson came to pick them up in light of the potential closure of the park. “It’s kind of a shame,” Nelson said. “I definitely didn’t think it was going to come to this.”
Nelson said her parents were disappointed about the closure, but were considering moving their camping weekend to Dower Lake, a smaller, city-operated campground in Staples. “What a crappy time for this to happen,” Nelson said. “With the holiday and all — I know they are really bummed out.”
William Allen, an art teacher from La Crosse, Wis., said he drove six and a half hours to the Brainerd lakes area to camp for the holiday weekend.
“I just got done with summer school so I thought I’d come up for a few days,” he said. “I had no idea it was actually going to close down.”
Allen said he arrived with his two dogs at the campground on Tuesday night and was told he could pay for two nights. “I was just hoping they would come up and say — you know they straightened themselves out — and tell me I could pick up a few more nights,” said Allen who was planning on his brother joining him for the remainder of the holiday weekend. “I guess that won’t happen.”
Coming from Wisconsin, a state that has dealt with its own political unrest this year, Allen said he can relate to the frustrations Minnesotans are facing. “I’m a little disappointed,” he said. “I leave the lunacy in Wisconsin and I find out its happening here, too.”
Just before 4 p.m., Thursday, Allen said he still didn’t have a clear answer as to what he should do. He said if he was forced to leave the park he would pack up his camper and head down to his brother’s home in Rogers. “I’ll just go camp in his yard.”
Allen said his concern was more for those with state park reservations that would have to be canceled for the holiday weekend. “For a lot of people this is their weekend,” he said. “Now there is no place to go ... They lose their vacation because politicians can’t figure it out.”
Joan Olson of Upsala, spared no feelings in her reaction to the park shutdown. “It just makes me mad,” she said. Olson and her husband had planned to spend the holiday weekend camping in Crow Wing State Park, and said with the park closing they would likely just head home. “I feel sorry for the people with reservations,” she said. “Now what are they going to do?”
Olson, a member of the Upsala City Council ,said there is no excuse for the delayed budget agreement and impending shutdown. “If I couldn’t balance my little city’s budget and put my residents at the expense the state has put taxpayers — I better get out of my chair,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned they should be fired. They’re not representing the people, they’re representing the parties.
“Figure it out. It seems pretty simple to me.”
Crow Wing State Park Manager Paul Roth said he and his staff are feeling the weight of what a shutdown means for the park. “This is kind of the peak of our summer season,” he said. “There are so many ramifications involved.”
Roth said campers can make reservations at the park up to a year in advance, and normally Fourth of July would be a full weekend for the park’s campgrounds.
“When people make reservations they assume they’ll have a place to camp,” said Roth, who is concerned that sending park visitors home on such a busy weekend may jeopardize future visits. In addition to the campgrounds, the shutdown will force to park to close its boat landings, hiking trails, picnic areas, and information offices.
Roth, who worked at Crow Wing State during the 2005 government shutdown, said he is not sure what re-opening will look like for the park. Once the park does close, the gates will be locked and park workers will put barricades in place. There is no set time or date for re-opening until the budget is passed.
Roth said, remembering back to 2005, that the Legislature went up to the wire in settling on a budget. The park closed in the afternoon on June 30, 2005, and received a phone call around midnight that night saying they could re-open. “It felt very surreal,” Roth said. “It should have been a very busy time and there was no one around.”
SARAH NELSON may be reached at sarah.nelson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5879.
Comments (31)
Add commentThese people are obviously
These people are obviously Democrat freeloaders. After all, Republicans support local businesses and stay in hotels and resorts while on vacation.
If you can't afford to stay in a hotel, then stay home. We don't need your freeloading ilk in these parts.
Or better yet, sell the parks to a business (since only the private sector can create jobs), and let them charge a fair rate for staying at the parks, let's say $100/night. They can even put in a pool if they're charging enough. Pour in plenty of chlorine to keep Bambi from drinking it and killing the profits.
That'll cut down on the riff-raff liberals who just want to get something for nothing.
Why spread the money to park rangers, and spread pleasure to tens of thousands of liberal rabble when our corporations, desperate for money for their CEOs and board of directors, can create needed minimum wage jobs here and overseas?
It's not parties
Gee! I thought taxes were the subject here. I am retired and I can't afford a $100. per night gig. I worked hard and voted and this is the thanks I get too.
But it's about taxes. Get it right. ALL people need to learn to spend with some efficiency. NOT one side or the other. We ARE way overboard and if all the cash in the world could be collected, it would NOT pay off the national debt. And we are being asked to contribute MORE debt on a state level? Think about this for a while.
We're on the same page here,
We're on the same page here, friend! You've got me convinced that it shouldn't be $100 per night, but instead $150 per night.
After all, once our benevolent corporations take over the state parks, they can charge whatever they want, and they should be guaranteed a profit since they are the engines for jobs as our Republican brethren remind us on a daily basis.
Government should get out of the way of the corporations so that they can do what they do best: create money and shelter it in offshore accounts. Regulations only hurt businesses, that we can agree on! Look at Wall Street: We are told by the conservatives that regulations are bad for business, and I agree. How could anyone have predicted the consequences of mortgage-backed-securities? If we had forced government to step aside and allowed the banks to do the right thing, we wouldn't be in this mess now!
We need to pull all Wall Street regulations and get out of the way so they can create money and jobs overseas. Wall Street bankers eat lobster dinners every night so that fishermen in Maine can feed their little Democratic families. See how that works?
I have given great thought to your comments about creating MORE debt on a state level. I see where you're coming from. It's time for the state to batten down the hatches, tighten its belt, and let loose the Kraken. After all, normal families are expected to balance their budgets. And they do this every month while paying off the minimum balance on their credit card bills and making their mortgage payments.
This debt thing is not going away, Mr. Sourdough. Let us join the Republican chant and eliminate all superfluous services such as health-care for the poor, indigent and mentally handicapped. Let's place a moratorium on road construction for the next ten years. Good Republicans drive big SUVs which are capable of handling the bottomless potholes of our roads and highways. Do away with State Parks, and Wayside Rests. Most modern SUVs have toilet facilities, don't they? Eliminate state and federal gasoline excise taxes. This will free up money for the self-same Republican SUV drivers to drive more. This creates jobs, which creates more gasoline demand, which in turn creates more work for our military to invade foreign countries to ensure that we have enough fuel to power our Republican driving machine. You see how that works? Everyone's busy and everyone's happy.
Now, what do you have against our military? Support our troops, drive an SUV!
GOP protects the top 2% even if it destroys the state
GOPers are high-fiveing each other tonight as they have happily driven the knife into the backs of the average Minnesotan in their quest to create a two class Minnesota. The ultra-rich and the ultra-poor. It is truly a sad sad day for Minnesota that a political party would destroy 98% of the population to enrich the top 2%
Who needs em?
People are really so dependent that you think you need park rangers and administrators to camp on a piece of publicly owned dirt. Shame on US.
Taxes yes--on Millionaires!
That was the final position of the governor--more cuts than he initially wanted and a tax restoration only on millionaires and up--and the republicans still said no! Beyond that, media is reporting they demanded other typical concessions like new abortion restrictions!
How do they define
How do they define "millionaire"?
Wolf,
According to Obama a "millionaire" is anyone making $250,000 or more a year, according to Dayton it's anyone making $135,000 or more a year.
A government of the people, by the people, for the people.....as long as you belong to the Democratic Party..... shall not perish from this earth.
There were some opion pieces floating around
There were some opion pieces floating around awhile back quoting a poll on who felt rich.
People didn't feel rich until thier money was almost an embarassment. Folks making $250K felt like they were struggling (I'll leave it up to others to figure out what might be implied).
If I can keep current on bills I feel rich.
LLR, So even Warren Buffett
LLR,
So even Warren Buffett would not have to pay the higher taxes if he lived here. I believe he only pays himself 100K a year. LOL But I know he leans left, so I guess he's what they would consider a "good billionaire"
Republicans
are doing their best to protect the "good Democrat billionaires, like Buffett, Soros, Gates, Kennedy, Kerry, Dayton, etc. Kind of ironic isn't it! Of course in the minds of the liberal posters on this site only the evil Republicans should be taxed, not the good Democrat billionaires.
According to the IRS, the top
According to the IRS, the top 1% of earners already pay 38% of the federal income taxes in the US. Top 1% in 2008 was $380,354 in 2008 (the latest year data is available). The bottom 50% of earners paid 2.7% of the federal income taxes. I am not sure of the exact numbers and percentages for MN taxes, but my guess is that they are not that different. So in light of that, maybe the bottom 50% - those making less than $3,048 - need to pay more :-)
Which group has consistently
Which group has consistently benefited the most in the past 30 years?
contract parks out
every 5 years renew private contracts with contractors to run the parks. the dnr can cruze thru once in a while to keep the natural resourse's up to snuff. the state makes money,the public will be better served and no shutdowns.
80%
of the rest areas only see a state employee when they stop to use the biffy. Private sewer guys take care of that stuff. Gov. moonbeam only closed them to make people suffer and needs a recall so he can get treatment again.
campground shutdown
It is just plain stupid to close parks etc. People should be able
to camp and clean up after themselves.
After following all the requests presented to the Judge for
exceptions, I say there are way toooooo many people and
organizations that are dependent on taxpayer money.
We need this money so we can operate etc. There is way to
much duplication of effort for one thing.
Also, I hope readers will search for all information on the
budget, shutdown. I noticed the Tribune neglected to include
information about Dayton's lack of budget plans.
Raising taxes on millionaires is going to help balance the budget very little.
I guess I could respect him more if he would have used his
inherited money to start a business or create jobs instead of
using it to get elected so he could spend our money
where
are all the commies that normally dominate this forum at, 6th & wash. exhorting the laborers? They are a bunch of oganizers and BA s I think. They always get paid even when their union slaves suffer.
I disagree with the folks that think
I disagree with the folks that think we can police oursellves at the campgrounds.
I base this on experiences:
I grew up near the iron mines in Crosby; it wasn't very long at all before the area became everybody's dump, and after 20 years or so of Ma nature taking over, it wasn't uncommon to see people taking advantage of "free camping" out there. Only a very few ever cleaned up after themselves.
I was the site manager for a church camp for a few years back in the 1980's; our camp had enough space to allow camping and a lake access without interrupting summer program. We enjoyed some of the same crap from the general public out there too, and had to close the camping off to everybody not connected with a church event.
I already shared a story elsewhere about Tom Joad and his hillbilly clan down on Mille Lacs, where my family was horning in on their "free camping".
campgrounds
I said that people should be able to clean up after themselves
knowing they are lazy. They should, but don't.
Maybe they are the same people that don't pay any taxes.
They certainly don't take any personal responsibility--
freeloaders.
Happy 4th to all
whats a big
landowner doing horning in on some poor hill billies? I thought you was the guy that stood up for the downtrodden around here.
Big Landowner?
Big Landowner? Well maybe. I guess I don't fit in the same pants I did when I was 16, so I'm bigger than I was then...
And yes, I do stand up for the downtrodden. I stand up for people that sometimes don't know better, but eventually realize something aint right and figure it out. Or even ask for help figuring it out.
OTOH, I get a bang out of rubbing you "conservatives" the wrong way; most of you have a "one size fits all" solution for everything. For example, "all welfare slackers are just milking the system and should be booted"
Some are. And of those, some even know better, and could probably figure out how to make a life for themselves if they had to work and earn a living. But what about the ones that couldn't really figure it out on their own, the ones' whose mommas never taught 'em nuthin' or the ones who got sumthin' wrong with 'em?
I can't respect you folks...you've hijacked conservatism and made it a hateful, selfish thing. When I was young the NRA, the republican party and fundamental churches got together and had picnics, taught kids to shoot and respect each other, and life was good.
Now you folks bomb abortion clinics but when innocent people get hurt you shrug and say " we're fighting a war".
You declared a war on drugs, but when the S.W.A.T. team shows up at the wrong address and blows grandma away, you shrug and say "we're fighting a war"
Iraq & Afghanistan (an endless money pit for the taxpayer, and a boon for some well-connected folks). "we're fighting a war" (oh, but when Obama tries to play the game..."not so fast, bucko!...you're NOT fighting a war!")
For you guys everything is a zero-sum game, and you gotta eliminate someone or there won't be enough to go around.
I forgot
howya gonna blame Libya on Bush? It's not a war? your heroe's murdering innocent people there and broke the law to do it.
answer
why you can use property you don't own.
Clinic bombers ain't my homies, Darnit...
Clinic bombers ain't my homies, Darnit...so they must be yours.
And I aint blaming Libya on Bush. But if Obama had sat on his hands I bet you guys would have been all over THAT, too. OTOH, the Bush administration (not just G.W.) looked high and low for an excuse to attack...and when they couldn't find it, they made it up. What bugs most of us "libs" wasn't that G.W. wanted to go after Saddam, but that he lied to us...and to you guys that was OK, as long as the right guys were lying!
why you can use property you don't own
I think you mis-typed something, because I'm not sure what you mean to say. Could you clear that one up?
Im thinking you're accusing me of using property I don't own, but I'm not sure what you mean? One thing that comes to mind is that there are a few people around Crosby-Ironton that resent it that the state ended up with some of the mining-company holdings and resent that it isn't a free-for-all playground/dump for locals anymore. Maybe you're the guy in Dairy Queen that insulted some bicyclists suggesting they had "stolen it"
Nobody stole it...its still there. You're still welcome to fish the pits if you buy a fishing license and trout stamp; your bike is welcome on the trails and you can hike anywhere you want (watch for poison ivy and woodticks, though).
Or maybe you're still stuck on the re-routed road near Mille Lacs. Sorry, Darnit...everybody used that for picnics and playing on the beach starting in the 1960's when they moved the road. It was (and is) still public property, but not managed or controlled by anyone. At some point people began to fight over who could use it and for what purpose and it got attention; access was closed down. Did those hillbillys have any more right that we did? No, they just used it for free for a long time and developed the feeling that they could bluff others out.
Maybe if they and others like them had been discreet and circumspect there would have been no complaint and it would still be open.
Last time i checked this is a
Last time i checked this is a Minnsota Problem! Not a National Government problem! what is being asked is for wiser spending and for the rich to give a little more in taxes! compare bottles to bottles! the rich have XXX Bottles and are able to spend spend spend on frivlous things and seem to be able to aleviate taxes; find ways for them to store monies not to be taxed! the middle class has XX bottles and some are having a hard time making ends meet right now! but here is the lower class with X bottles and ends to meet are at a bottom low with no help for them! you tell me what needs to be done!
Last time i checked this is a
Last time i checked this is a Minnsota Problem! Not a National Government problem! what is being asked is for wiser spending and for the rich to give a little more in taxes! compare bottles to bottles! the rich have XXX Bottles and are able to spend spend spend on frivlous things and seem to be able to aleviate taxes; find ways for them to store monies not to be taxed! the middle class has XX bottles and some are having a hard time making ends meet right now! but here is the lower class with X bottles and ends to meet are at a bottom low with no help for them! you tell me what needs to be done!
Lets talk truth on MN tax rates
Another fallacy touted by the far right wing zealots is that the rich pay way more taxes than the rest of us, and way more than their fair share.
Although simple and easy to find, the actual MN tax structure is NEVER explained by these politically motivated zealots, for good reason--it doesn't support their position!
Look it up folks!
There are just three tax rates in MN.
5.35%, 7.05%. and 7.85%
I am in the 7.05% tax bracket. That bracket covers income levels from $33,771 to 134,170, for married couples filing jointly (it's app. $23,000 to $76,000 for single folks).
That means that Mark Dayton himself, the Pohlads, and other multi-millionaires pay only 0.85% more in tax rate than I do.
Put another, way, if you are single and declare as little as $77,000, Dayton and other multi-millionaires have the SAME TAX RATE as you!
Dayton is asking the republicans that not to raise those rates at those income levels--but to target only those reporting incomes of 1 million dollars or more--and raise the tax on them to a point they used to pay back in the boom economy in the 80's!
Yet Republicans refuse--just who they are protecting ought to be clear, if you just care to investigate the easily obtainable tax rate #'s for yourself!
taxes on the rich
Millionaires that inherited their money don't pay off that tax rate as they did not earn their money. They have interest,
capital gains and places to shelter money. The Dayton
money for instance is managed in S.D. For the millionaires
that earn their money --I don't know how much of the million would be paid at the tax rates. They may take it in stock, etc.
There are simply not that many making big salaries that make
any difference.
Maybe just tax the ones more that inherit money and don't
earn it. I have to say I am turned off by the tax the rich because they can afford it. That is not why we pay taxes,.
Tax refunds
Thanks for the tax bracket info Windyhills but I still need an explanation on tax refunds..how are people getting back thousands more than paid in? Should we be giving tax refunds as high as say $9000.00? (This is for two dependants.) Who can shed light on this for me?
Flat tax rate across the
Flat tax rate across the boards
If you dont pay in Taxes then you dont get any kind of return
If you are on welfare, you should not be able to file for a tax return.
Because someone is lazy and does not want to work why should I have to pay my taxes and hand over any return to people who choose to be lazy/
Fix the welfare system and take a big bite out of Washington
Eliminate foregin aid, why should we as Americans have to hand out all of our tax dollars to people who talk chit about us, burn our flags?