Hello: I read a lot of posts on this topic and some asked about some history of this individual. I think I can add some history but I will respond to Shawn Zierman's post first. I think it was sometime way before the 2004-05 owl irruption that I posted the photo of the man's shed with his written threats painted on the south side of the shed's wall on my blog I posted the photo of the man's shed because it was part of of a blog entry I made about my run in with the man during a bird tour I led. I think Shawn Conrad was part of the tour where the cars in the back of the caravan stopped to look at some bird on east side of the road. I remember calling on my radio to not to stop because of the issues the homeowner had with people stopping on the public road in front of his home. Soon enough this thin man came running out in his home wearing just his viking purple pajamas towards the parked cars and then he began to toss rocks at the cars at the end of the caravan. I was stunned and kept telling people to get back into their cars and head down the road to get away. The man began to race after the last car waving and shouting and gesturing for us to come back and fight. That was my first and last episode of all my travels in the "bog" regarding this man.
This location is somewhat a known location to many birders to avoid based on past MOU listserv postings from other birders who had run ins with him but discussing this again on the MOU listserv is good way to get the word out to more people who did not know of this location. Even if Cindy forgot about where she was parked or knew there was a risk in stopping at this section of the Stickney Rd still doesn't warrant this man's behavior to aggressively pursue her, forced her to stop her car and then verbally harassing her or scaring her is plain wrong and as some lawyers say .. its warrant enough to pursue legal action. To not pursue legal action because of some idea he may want to shoot some owls or raptors to get back at the birders who called the police on him or got him arrested is like saying.. "well lets not report crimes at all because we do not want those criminals coming back at us for reporting them and possibly doing harm to us" Isn't this how criminals get away with crime because we fear retribution from them if we report them? First I truly believe Cindy Edwardson should by all means report this incident to the St. Louis County Sheriff Virginia office. For those who are traveling to the "bog" and want to carry the St. Louis County Sheriff Office number for emergency reasons here it is: 218.749.7134. To view the website: http://www.co.st-louis.mn.us/slcportal/SiteMap/HomePage/Departments/Sheriff/ContactUs/tabid/594/Default.aspx No one really knows this man and even his neighbors really do not know him but he is well known amongst his neighbors for his erratic behavior acts and his threats towards people he feel are violating his privacy. No one knows for sure that he even served in the marines during the Vietnam War as a sniper and no one knows for sure if he's has some serious behavior issues but what I do know is that he is very protected of his property even the public road in front of his home. The latest I heard about this individual is that he just got out of jail recently for pulling a gun on someone or shooting a gun towards someone. I do not know the full situation on why he pulled a gun or shot in the direction of someone but IF that information I received is true then all his guns were most likely confiscated by police after his arrest. Well to me it comes down to people's safety or birds. I choose people as much as I love birds but people come first over owls and other bird species that live in the "bog" There is no history of him shooting owls, raptors and other bird species in retaliation because of birdwatchers he had issues with in the past. The man just wants his privacy and that includes his land and the Stickney Rd from the creek crossing to the south all the way to intersection with the Sax Road. Yep that public road that runs on the east side of the property is a area he defends from his neighbors who live in the area, deer hunters and birdwatchers are all fair game for him to threaten and harass. So again please do not stop on this portion of the Stickney Rd. even if there is a Great Gray Owl perched in his yard.. keep driving! I think anyone who is harassed in any way by this individual should report the incident by calling the number given above. The city of Virginia is about 30-40 minutes away from this area of the bog ( birding areas north of CR 52 (Arkola Rd) Good Birding! Mike Hendrickson Duluth, Minnesota Website: http://www.mikehendricksonbirding.com Blog: http://colderbythelakebirding.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545367 ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
