Going through some old documents at the
Historical Society I found the following letter to Minnesota Territory
Representative Henry Sibley, coincidentally date March 2, 1854 - 150 years
ago to the day from Kathleen Geibel's letter to St. Paul Mayor Randy
Kelly:
Dear Rep.
Sibley,
Where are you
going to put another 7,000 Swedes? Lord knows the place is full up already
with wagon loads of Germans and Norwegians, and don't get me started on the
Irish and the Polish. They're living in shacks as it is up and down the
river and not one in ten can speak the King's English so you can understand
them, and you want to bring more? I shudder to think what this great
territory will look like in a hundred fifty years if more people with
names like Anderson, Rolvaag, Durenburger, Carlson, Kelly, and
Gostomski come crowding us out. Everyone knows they're dumb
foreigners and will never amount to anything. We got here first and it's
best we just shut the door and keep it that way.
Hermann Geibel,
Winona County
[Research courtesy of Phil Carlson,
Mpls]
The Winona Daily News carried a very short article about the
St.Paul Mayor's trip to Bangkok. A dangerous bit of information in an
election year.
Dear Mayor Randy Kelly,
Where in St Paul are you going to put 7000+ Hmong
immigrants? Are you going to turn the capital lawn and the St.Paul parks
into a rice paddies so you can feed these people? Are you and your
family going to spend your nights and weekends volunteering as ESL instructors
so these people can learn to vote for you?
The Winona Daily News carries stories begging people to donate to
our local food shelf because of the stock market down swing and our elderly
neighbors may be starving as we speak. Is it different in St.Paul?
The paper also carries stories of farmers who can't afford the fuel to plant
their crops. I see more and more of our local townspeople riding the bus
because they can't afford gasoline. I know most families with children
have multiple jobs to keep there lifelong dream of a home to raise their
children in. It's publicized that we Minnesotas are such hard workers
that we work more than one job. The publicity doesn't mention how
expensive the energy bills are,that prevent freezing to death. Mayor
Kelly, I'd be happy to save my Winona Daily News for you to read, so you can
know what nlife is really like outside of St.Paul.
How many teacher's salaries were spent on your trip, Mayor
Kelly? I hope these Hmongs have a long list of relatives to sell their
PTA fundraisers to. That's how we do it out here. The extras only
come from the generosity of relatives, neighbors,and parents during the PTA
fundraisers.
While you were welcoming these people, did you explain to them
what a 40 below windchill really feels like? Do they realize grass roofs
are not energy efficient?
Mayor Kelly, have you ever seen the corpse of a human being who
has starved to death in this great state? Regretfully, I have. It
was horrible! Ask your civil servants who experience these things their
opinion about your glitzy trip, rolling out a welcoming mat..............I
thought the ideas that this was the land of milk and honey was long gone in
the age of information. I stand corrected.
If you want the city of St.Paul and its bountious residents to
suceed from the state, hand over the petition, I'll sign it. I'll vote
for Governor Pawlentry again, if he signs it,too.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Giebel
P.S. Vote for more Democrats so we can maybe have some REAL
problems.
P.P.S. Get out tonight and write those party platforms so they know
we aren't illiterate yet!!!
