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Responding to Johnson letter

To the editor:
In answer to Cathy Johnsonís letter of Jan. 18, I would like to answer your questions about my letter.
You asked who I was. First, I joined the Marines in 1942 at the age of 17 and retired from the Marine Corps in 1964. I was taught by some pretty hard men, if you break the rules or regs., you pay. In those days, depending on your C.O., it could be 30 days in the Brig, on bread and water, one meal a dayñno seconds. It made believers out of us who did nothing wrong! God help you if you misused the taxpayerís equipment or dollars! It was an automatic Court Martial and a trip to the Navel Prison of Mare Island ñ within 30 days. The only time breaking the rules was allowed, was when lives were at riskñand then you had better be right! I realize that civilian life is a little more laid back, but nowhere does it say that certain people are above the law.
I carried mail for 16 years out of White Bear Lake and was a shop steward of about 50 people when the carriers struck against the federal government. I later became the safety officer of Branch 28 (St. Paul) Letter Carriers. There was, at the time, over a thousand of them. Our branch paid the tab for our president to negotiate the local contracts. It is laughable to think that the Post Office would pay a shop steward to attend. I doubt very much if state employees are paid by the taxpayer to negotiate there own contracts, or any other government body, for that matter. You never mentioned what union you were in, or who you negotiated with. I would be interested to know. My number is (651) 358-3561.
I take note that you ignored the fact that these people broke the Open Meeting Law in doing what they did, and also broke a number of other laws. I hope you are not one of these people who pretend something did not happen, because of friendship. These are my neighbors too. I voted for some of them and supported them at meetings until they started breaking laws even though I read the information to them out of their own manual. It is not like they did not have an opportunity to correct a problem before I started writing. You call what they did, ìintentional misdoings.î Try the words, intentional breaking the law. Maybe the solution is to get them before a judge and have them explain why they feel they do not have to abide by the law, like the rest of us. Would you be for that? Could happen.
If you read the paper your letter was in, a lot of other people, from Harris, North Branch, to name a couple, want answers from their boards and accountability. You seem to think it is scandalous to express an opinion or object to what a government body does. Try to remember that this is a democracy, and you will be OK. There were about 1,000 votes in the township at the last election. Three well-known incumbents are gone, so I am not the only one dissatisfied with their actions, it would seem.
You suggest that I should run for office. I am going on 78, nearly deaf, and have other physical problems, besides my mind being a little slow at times. Then too, my wife likes to travel.
Thomas Hennemann
Rush City

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