Bluestem Prairie

Collin Peterson's statement on the Arizona shootings

Like Seventh CD representative Collin Peterson, Gabby Giffords is a member of the conservative Blue Dogs Caucus. Peterson's statement about the shootings hasn't been as widely circulated as those of his colleagues, but it did find its way into the Fergus Falls Journal:

“I was shocked and saddened to hear of the shooting of my colleague and friend Gabrielle Giffords, and other staff and constituents in Tucson today.

“Gabby is a terrific Congresswoman, and someone who works very well with members on both sides of the aisle. She is really an up-and-coming leader in Congress. My prayers are with her and her family as she fights to survive, and my thoughts go out to the families of those who died or were injured in this senseless act of violence.”

Hat tip to Al Juhnke's Outstate News at Middle Minnesota.

 

Walz statement on Shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords (and my own thoughts)

That Representative Gabrielle Giffords and many others were shot at a meet-the-congresswoman event at a grocery store made today's tragedy in Arizona a little closer to home.

I'd been to a couple of Congressman Walz's famous stops at Hyvees and other grocery stores to observe and report on the Mankato Democrat and his staff listen to constituents' concerns. Over the years, I've got on a friendly footing with the staff, and knowing that those shot in Arizona are probably much like my friends here--kind, caring people who work hard for the people the boss serves--was a bit of a gut punch.

And I know other staffers for representatives and our two senators--so the notion that one of them might be murdered at work is chilling indeed. My sympathies go out to the victims and their families; it must be particularly brutal for the family of the dead child to go through such heartbreak.

We should be able to meet with elected officials without fear. And when people are angry--as Americans sometimes are--a soft answer should be able to turn away wrath, as Minnesota witnessed in the confrontation between Governor Dayton and a group of Tea Party protesters earlier this week.

Reactions to today's shooting are coming in from around the state and nation. Congressman Walz sent out the following statement:

Gwen and I are devastated. This is an unthinkable tragedy for our nation. Attacks on public servants and their staff have no place in America. Our thoughts and prayers are with Gabrielle, her husband Mark, Gabrielle’s staff and their families, and the families of everyone who was hurt or killed today.

Photo: Congressman Walz talking to Southern Minnesotans in a local grocery store, 2008.

Commemoration: three views of the 1862 mass execution in Mankato

Today marked the 148th anniversary of the largest mass execution in American history, in Mankato following the U.S. - Dakota War of 1862.  I've written before about the conflict; today the Mankato Free Press and columnist Nick Coleman each touched on the execution.

In Our View: Heeding a history lesson, the Free Press staff writes:

Today, as on many a Dec. 26 of decades past, the Dakota Indians will commemorate the hanging of 38 of their ancestors in the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

They will hold a ceremony at Mankato’s Reconciliation Park to remember this dark time in our history. 2012 will mark the 150th anniversary of the hangings.

Already there are preparations at the Minnesota Historical Society for a large exhibit and report on this significant historical event. Ancestors from both white and Dakota sides will be interviewed. Memories will come forth in a narrative that will be a somber reminder on the price paid by what seems like it could have been an avoidable conflict.

Many Mankato area residents know the story, although more and more it seems, some young people have not paid as much attention to it as their elders. . . .

. . . We should give pause to any reaction to declare a winner in a conflict that extracted so much violence on both sides. As we’ve watched the Dakota commemoration over the years, we see that spirit running through the ceremony. Many non-Indians have been invited and welcomed to the ceremony.

So it’s difficult sometimes to face an annual reliving of sorts of this dark chapter of U.S. and Dakota history, but it’s also a living reminder the reconciliation is just as important to history as the conflict itself.

Read the whole editorial at the MFP. Now writing at his own website, The State We're In, Coleman notes in Minnesota’s Darkest Memory: The Hanging of the 38:

Dec. 26, 1862: The execution of the 38 Dakota warriors at Mankato: Revenge and rage drove the flawed legal proceedings behind the kangaroo-court convictions of 303 Indians who surrendered after the U.S.- Dakota war of that autumn. Only President Lincoln’s aversion to mass punishment limited the hangman’s toll to 38. But the stain of those official killings, followed by the official banishment of the Dakota Sioux from their home (banishment or extermination was the state’s policy) left a mark of shame on Minnesota that has colored all the years since, and which has made it almost impossible to even talk about the events of 1862. Now, proposals have been made to extend a posthumous “pardon” to one of the hanged. Pardoning one man doesn’t even come close to an official recognition of the wrongs done to the Dakota, or to comprehending the scale of an avoidable tragedy that claimed hundreds of lives on all sides of the racial divide that was the cradle of Minnesota’s birth. . . .

After reviewing his extensive history of learning and writing about the war and its aftermath, Coleman includes his column from December 19, while observing that through the comments on columns about the conflict published at the Strib, he'sdiscovered:

through the kind of readers’ comments those efforts have received that the well of ignorance and outright racism remains deep and largely unplumbed in this state.

There's a great deal of truth in that observation. What will the 150th anniversary of the war draw from most: the spirit of the commenorations in the park today--or from that poisoned well at which so many readers of Coleman's columns drink?

On December 23, MPR aired a segmented about how a New documentary remembers largest mass execution in US history:

— The largest mass execution in U.S. history occurred 148 years ago, when 38 Dakota warriors were hanged from a single scaffold in Mankato.

The shock waves of that mass execution still reverberate today among the Dakota people. A new documentary film remembers the 38, and also a group of Dakota who ride on horseback each year at this time to Mankato to commemorate the executions of Dec. 26, 1862.. . .

At the end of Dakota 38, the filmmakers reveal that one of the young men featured in the film recently committed suicide.

Dakota 38 co-director Sarah Weston, a member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, said the suicide is part of what she calls the 'historical grief' left over from the traumatic collision in the 1800's between Native Americans and white settlers.

One of the film's messages, Weston said, is that the Dakota and other Indians should take a simple but difficult step: forgive the misdeeds of the past.

"The past is really, really traumatic," Weston said. "But we're going to reach our hand out and say that we forgive. Because when you're not in a forgiveness place, you're linked to that person or that trauma for the rest of your life, all day long. And so by forgiving we're no longer linked to that."

A point worth reflecting on in a dark and snowy December.

Image: Condemned Dakota men in the Mankato prison. Via The Dakota Conflict Trials.

Gwen Walz's statement on the death of Elizabeth Edwards

= I knew that Gwen Walz and Elizabeth Edwards had formed a friendship on the campaign trail. Today, Gwen and her spouse,  Congressman Tim Walz, issued this statement, released by the Walz campaign office:

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Elizabeth. She was an inspiration to us and we were honored to call her a friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with her children.”

Below you will find a tribute Gwen penned after Elizabeth’s passing yesterday.

Elizabeth walked into our home and our hearts on a rainy day in September, 2004. Tim and I were hosting a discussion about military issues during the Presidential election. Elizabeth engaged in this discussion with a deep sense of awareness. She knew the issues and cared about the people. We were amazed at her genuineness. Elizabeth immediately felt like a dear friend.

Hope and I gave Elizabeth The Humanity bracelet. Elizabeth loved the words on each link: Hope, Courage, Truth, Family, Kindness, Passion, Loyalty. She wore the bracelet on campaign stops throughout the election in 2004 and after. I wear my bracelet regularly and am reminded of her. She loved words and knew their power.

Her influence on my view of the role of a political spouse has been profound. She was fearless in her advocacy of the issues and people about whom she cared. Elizabeth was never afraid to share her stories, lessons, and insights – it was a way she stayed true to herself, she said.

When Tim was elected to Congress in 2006, one of the first calls came from Elizabeth. She ended that call and many of those after with a comment about how proud she was to know and be associated with me. I was always humbled by her words. At the most unexpected times she would call. She knew the perfect thing to say – always. She was complete in her generosity of time and encouragement.

She is grace and dignity. I will profoundly miss her in the campaign of every day. Elizabeth was an inspiration and a friend. She signed notes, books, etc. to me “with love and affection. Elizabeth”

Good bye friend. With love and affection. Gwen

Photo: Elizabeth Edwards and the Walz family, 2004. Photo supplied.

Demmer names campaign chair; move should help identify contributor Vin Weber's job

According to Vin Weber joins Demmer campaign, a Hot Dish Politics' post, Randy Demmer has made a bold more:

Demmer’s campaign announced today that former Minnesota Rep. Vin Weber has signed on as campaign chairman. Weber served in Congress for Minnesota’s sixth and second districts from 1981-1993 and was an adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Currently, Weber is co-chairman for Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Freedom First political action committee and works for D.C. lobbyist group Clark & Weinstock.

“Nobody understands southern Minnesota better than Vin Weber,” Demmer said in a statement announcing Weber as chairman.

We beg to differ, being of the opinion that thousands of people who have lived there in the current century may have acquired a some understanding along the way--perhaps even more than a lobbyist in the District of Columbia.

As for Demmer, this move will certain help with FEC compliance. As I reported early Wednesday, Randy Demmer had spent nearly a grand of contributor cash on FEC compliance, but his report was riddled with incomplete but mandated information. I was able to locate most of the information for Demmer, but he has yet to find it in himself to make a Paypal donation for all that work! Maybe some of Weber's clients could fork over the money

One of those "Best Effort" blank spots in the report was for:

Vin Weber 7701 Ridgecrest Dr Alexandria, Virginia 22308	Best Efforts	06/30/2010	2000.00
	Best Efforts		2000.00

I filled in the blanks there:

Vin Weber 7701 Ridgecrest Dr Alexandria, Virginia 22308	Best Efforts	06/30/2010	2000.00
	Clark and Weinstock		2000.00

I hope that, between my due diligence and Demmer's own press release, the campaign can finally figure out the paperwork.

Join Southeast Minnesota area unions at District 6 MnDOT offices for Workers Memorial Day

 My friends at the Southeast Minnesota Area Labor Council sent Bluestem this invitation:

Decades of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions. But the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous. Each year, thousands of workers are killed and millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs. The unions of the AFL-CIO remember these workers on April 28, Workers Memorial Day.

The first Workers Memorial Day was observed in 1989. April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the day of a similar remembrance in Canada. Every year, people in hundreds of communities and at worksites recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job. Trade unionists around the world now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning.

Please join us for our annual commemoration of Workers Memorial in Rochester, MN.

Speakers include MNDOT Commissioner Tom Sorel, Congressman Walz's Office, and Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede among others.

Date: Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Time: Refreshments begin at 8:30 am; Program at 9:00 am

Place: MN DOT District 6 Offices, 2900 48th Street NW, Rochester, MN 55901

Please drive around the back of the offices to the Cold Storage Area

Read more about Workers Memorial Day at Workday Minnesota. Other events around the state from the article:

Superior, Wis., Federation of Labor tree planting and observance
9 a.m. – Bear Creek Park, Highways 2 and 53 and Moccasin Mike Road, Superior

Minneapolis and St. Paul Building & Construction Trades Councils observance
Noon - United Hospital Project Site, downtown St. Paul

AFSCME and MnDOT observance
2 p.m. - Cedar Truck Station, 1900 E. 66th St., Richfield

West Area Labor Council observance, featuring singer Ron Franz and speakers
5 p.m. - Bringewatt Park, 2205 - 24th Ave. So., Grand Forks, N.D.

Southern Dakota County Labor Assembly and St. Paul Regional Labor Federation observance
7 p.m. - Lebanon Cemetery, 6442 - 140th St. W., Apple Valley

Panel discussion on current safety and health issues
7 p.m. - St. Paul Labor Centre, 411 Main St., St. Paul
Featuring Francisco Altamirano, Painters District Council 82; Lisa Brosseau, University of Minnesota School of Public Health; and Belinda Thielen, United Food & Commercial Workers.
Sponsored by the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service and co-sponsored by the Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Image: Poster from a collection of international images at Hazards.

CD1 news digest: candidates, conventions and correspondence

Once again. Bluestem will be putting together a digest of news from First Congressional District newspapers.

The congressional work break is ending, with the House convening in the afternoon. Papers throughout the district reported on Congressman Walz's visits throughout the district. One of the last stops was Austin. The Herald reports in Walz visits Austin for roundtable with businesses owners:

First District Congressman Tim Walz commended the City of Austin Thursday for its collaborative efforts such as the Hormel Institute.

Calling the research facility a worldwide leader that combines resources of the city, Mayo Clinic, the Hormel Foods Corporation and the University of Minnesota, Walz told a roundtable of area business people that he has enjoyed watching a community long anchored by a meat packing plant reinvent itself. . . .

The Caledonia Argus has published a group of moving photos of the burial of a Fallen Marine laid to rest in Houston County cemetery.

Harrison Ornes writes the editors to say Republicans want the ‘Bad Old Days':

Just as they did with Social Security in the 1930’s and Medicare in the 1960’s, Republicans are saying ‘No’ to reform of our health insurance system once again!

Just last week 68 Minnesota Republican legislators urged state Attorney General Swanson to repeal the new health insurance law. They want to return to the bad old days of medical bankruptcies. They want to let insurance companies deny people’s legitimate medical claims and to deny care to those of us with pre-existing conditions.

Alliance for a Better Minnesota reported that in just one day, thousands of average Minnesotans had showered these legislators with over 140,000 letters. Their message? That working people don’t appreciate the Republicans putting insurance companies ahead of them yet again.

I just wish the Republicans would stop being against any and all reform efforts, and cooperate for once with the Democrats for some positive change.

The Fairmont Sentinel reports in Pending cuts hurt the vulnerable:

The $347 million in proposed cuts to the state's health and human services budget may look good on paper, but could actually increase costs to the state in the long run.

"The cuts to human services acts as a tax on the most vulnerable people in Minnesota," said Steve Larson, public policy director for ARC Minnesota. "It will be more expense on these people and their families."

Members of ARC Minnesota and ARC Southwest, along with Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, and directors of programs such as REM and STEP Inc., gathered Saturday to speak out about how some of the proposed cuts will affect people with disabilities and the organizations that serve them. . . .

The Jackson County News notes Another Senate candidate, the entry of Rep. Doug Magnus into the open seat created by the retirement of Senator Jim Vickerman. Here's the lineup so far:

Magnus joins two Jackson County residents, Mike Garbers and Kim Hummel, in the race for the GOP nomination. Murray County Commissioner Kevin Vickerman recently announced his intention to seek the Senate seat currently held by his uncle, Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy. Kevin Vickerman is also running as a Democrat.

Readers at the Mankato Free Press write to say New law will benefit Americans with cancer and Respect Walz for his restraint, transparency. Independence Party activist Michael Burger wants A [tea] party for the radical centrists.

The editors give an thumbs down to having Falsehoods reign:

Thumbs down: To a large portion of society and a stunning number of Republicans who accept loopy falsehoods as facts while party leaders fail to disavow such nonsense.

A new Harris Poll found those polled who identified themselves as Republicans believe as fact: That President Obama was not born in the U.S. and so is not eligible to be president (45 percent); that Obama is Muslim (57 percent); that Obama wants to take away Americans’ right to own guns (61 percent); that Obama is doing many things Hitler did (38 percent); that Obama is the “domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitution speaks of” (45 percent); and that the president “may be the Anti-Christ” (24 percent).

It’s one thing to vehemently disagree on political issues, it’s another to disregard well-vetted facts in order to demonize.

In Two for tea: Tax day protest being organized the papers reports on the local rally for Thursday:

. . .Speaking, though, will be restricted to a pre-ordained list of local residents and political candidates asked to talk about three issues: fiscal responsibility, constitutional limits on government and the importance of free markets.

So far, one Independence Party candidate for Congress is planning to speak, as are Republicans seeking congressional and legislative seats. Democrats were invited but are not expected to attend.

Johnson Jr. is on the board of the Minnesota State University College Republicans, but he characterizes his views as independent/conservative. His father was active in the Ross Perot presidential campaign and was a supporter of Jesse Ventura’s campaign for governor.

“We don’t want the Republican Party to think they’re going to absorb us,” Johnson Sr. said. “We’re not an organization that endorses candidates.” . . .

The Rochester Post Bulletin says Independence Party endorses Wilson to run against Walz. Steve Wilson was endorsed by the GOP for SD28 in 2006 and has spoken at several Tea Party events. There will be a Tea Party rally in Rochester on April 15, the paper reports in School district investigates e-mail encouraging protest at Tea Party rally. The lineup of speakers:

. . .Maves said several candidates are expected to be at the rally representing the Constitution Party, Independence Party and the Republican Party. Several speakers are expected to address the crowd at 6 p.m. They include KROC conservative radio host Tom Ostrom, Republican Secretary of State candidate Dan Severson and former Republican 1st District Rep. Gil Gutknecht.

Gutknetcht's [sic] speech is aimed at firing up the crowd to get conservative candidates elected. He said that while he has not been involved in the Tea Party movement, he said he has been impressed by how passionate members are about politics. . . .

The paper looks forward to this weekend's GOP endorsing convention in Republicans set to endorse challenger of Walz and profiles each Republican contender. As these are rich fodder, I'll discuss them in a separate post in the morning.

District Republicans are hosting several candidate forums in advance of Saturday's endorsing convention. The Owatonna People's Press reports in Local Republicans plan fundraiser, free public forum:

The forum will be upstairs [Tuesday] at the Four Seasons Centre in Owatonna. A fundraiser — an ice cream social — begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission to that is $5 per person. The forum itself will start at 7:30 p.m. There is no charge to get into the forum.

 The room can accommodate more than 100, Schiell said. The forum will be a warm-up for the endorsing convention in Mankato, when delegates will select one of the five to vie against Walz in the upcoming election.

According to their web site, the WSU College Republicansto host First District GOP Candidate Forum on Wednesday, April 14 at 7:00 p .m.

Bonnie Austin of Wykoff sent a Letter about immigrant workers to the editor of the Fillmore County Journal: she supports CIR. A university student writes Letter about many helped by Walz Vote in appreciation of a provision in the health care bill which allows her to retain coverage on her parents' health insurance plan should she need it.

Agri News notes that Vilsack focuses on health care benefits for farmers.

William Shores tells the editors of the St. Peter Herald that there's More to story with Health Care Reform Act:

. . .  Republican members of Congress have called it the ruination of “the best health care system in the world”. Don’t believe it. Indeed, the USA has the best-trained providers, the best hospitals, the best and newest technology....and yet ranks in the lowest quartile among industrialized nations in many health quality indicators, including infant mortality. . . .

. . .Technically, we can’t call the Republican Congressmen liars on this issue. With their privileged position and Cadillac health insurance, they do indeed have the “best health care system in the world”! They just don’t want to share it.

The Winona Daily News reports Spokesman: Pawlenty filled out census form. I'm happy he remembered where he lives.

In Mankato, 147 years ago: America's largest mass execution

On this day in 1862, 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato, after being found guilty of war crimes in charges stemming from the Treaty Conflict earlier in the year. The trials are thought by most modern historians to be a miscarriage of justice, since each trial last an average of 15 minutes.

For many years, the mass execution was celebrated on commemorative plates and commercial giveaways, but work by Amos Owen and other leaders helped begin the hard work of reconciliation.

The incident will forever remain a blot on the city's name, however.

The execution wasn't the only cruelty that befell the Dakota bands. Dakota people were marched to concentration camps, then exiled to reservations far from their homes. Children were forced to attend schools where native language and religion were banned. Dancing and other important expressions of Dakota culture were forbidden until the 1930s, and Native American religions were not secured full protection until the early 1970s.

An excellent video about the exile in the words of Dakota people can be viewed here.

Ho-Chunk bands who lived on the "Winnebago" Reservation south of Mankato were also deported. Although none of the Ho Chunk participated in the war, they were still deported to the Dakota Territory and their lands stolen. Some returned to Minnesota and Wisconsin (their original home), while others went to live on the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska.

Photo: the concentration camp at Fort Snelling. Minnesota State Historical Society

Seven years ago today: the legacy of Paul and Sheila Wellstone

Seven years ago today, a plane fell into the forest near Eveleth, Minnesota. All on board, including U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila and daughter Marcia, University of Minnesota prof and DFL associate chair Mary McEvoy, staffers Tom Lapin and William McLaughlin, and pilots Richard Conry and Michael Guess, died in the crash.

The greatest legacy of their lives and passing is the growth of robust grassroots leadership in Minnesota. I know dozens of people who changed their lives to work for change, from the young adjunct college instructor who is now a labor organizer to factory workers who started to engage in their local communities.

I like this video of Paul talking about grassroots leadership in October 2002, mostly for the fact that he speaks about ordinary people finding their voice in their communities.

It's not pie-in-the-sky talk. Seven years ago today, I was working on a state senate campaign in the Northfield. On the day the plane crashed, I attended two memorials quickly thrown together  by friends in Paul and Sheila's hometown. One was a Carleton, where Paul taught before getting elected to the Senate, and the other was at the local UCC church. What struck me most at both places was not the well-known people who praised the fallen leader, but the common people who rose to tell their stories of how their dead mentor helped them improve their workplaces and their local communities.

Here's to a man who understood that grassroots leadership isn't about someone else being a "voice for the voiceless," but sharing the tools that allow anyone to have a voice in working to make a better future.

If you like what he's saying, and you have some extra coin, the next best way for honoring the Wellstones (after your own civic engagement) is to donate to Wellstone Action.

Bluestem will publish a story in the early evening tomorrow morning about not-so-progressive local leadership in Austin, Minnesota. 

Outposts from The Small of America: Early Warning

Elegy for Samoans and Sumatrans.

By Tom Driscoll

Cold wind shreds the upper branches of a thick-waisted oak. The woods, the more dark with wet black bark, whispers loudly, “No secrets here.”

Underbrush up and evaporated weeks ago. Leaves rain brown. Cinch up my hood, hunch a shoulder into the blow and head dead north on a trail of stooped-over grass where once, as heedless dogs approached, a possum woke up with a warning hiss and bared a currycomb of teeth filed down to puncturous steel points. Should have recognized then the harbinger, but hate to admit to naturalistic superstitions.

Then, at the bifurcation of purpose near the river where the first settlers must have peeled back redheaded reeds and peered down narrow native Indian trails, one doglegging you back to where you come from, the other a point vanishing forever far into their future, I heard the foreboding crack of an overhead limb.

Wind’s ablowin’ thorns about like ice. Frozen there at the exact center of What Happens Next thinking, “October,” in a protracted, breathless instant falls faster than light an oak limb still swelling with weather heavy in its million green sails. Boom. Far enough into the future by just this much, it missed me and the dogs with unintentionally beautiful claws that could rip the hide off a deer.

Well, heh heh heh, should have seen the sign. When I was little, in the early fall when the first cold winds rattled the windows, my Dad liked to drink a cup-or-two of green tea and then read the leaves for me. But augury didn’t save him when the roar of the last big wave sat him up straight in the middle of the night, then fell him like an elm.

Whistled-here the dogs and sent them ahead around the fallen limb to reconnoiter least resistance. Thinking back, the dialogue between wind and leaves, the possum trail, and pausing where past and future part ways just long enough to let the oak talk to me, the oracle had clearly spoken. The dogs, as if in response to a forecast for more thunder, high-tailed it up the hill toward Nothing Happens while I squirmed through knotty fingers and a snaggle of raspberry fiddle bound for Safely Home.

A few minutes later, somewhere between here-and-there, a whimpering one-handed clap shivered through the forest as the great oak sprawled across possum trail, sparing nothing where once its opaque early morning shadow fell.

Minnesota writer Tom Driscoll reports on politics, economic development and life in rural America at The Small of America. He can be reached at smallofamerica@aol.com.

Sunday night vigil in Stillwater for three fallen Minnesota National Guard members

There aren't many degrees of separation in these parts of rural Minnesota. Unlike some Americans, most of us in greater Minnesota count friends and family among those most intimately mourning the 63 military deaths of Minnesotans in the Iraq War.

I didn't know Spc. Carlos Wilcox, Spc. Daniel Drevnick, or Spc. James Wertish, the three Minnesota National Guard members who died in Iraq, but the mourning isn't far removed.

A friend and former student served with Drevnick. She said he was great guy.

A dear friend in the Minnesota Farmers Union is first cousin to James' father and lives on the adjoining place in Renville County; the Wertish clan are respected family farmers. My friends Gary and Jeanne are gentle people, though passionate in their work for farm families across Minnesota.  The cousin's son seems cut from the same cloth. One paper notes:

Wertish enjoyed working on the family farm, the National Guard reported.

He was born in Redwood Falls and graduated from the Olivia high school. He enlisted in the National Guard in 2006.

The Guard said his fellow soldiers reported that Wertish "would literally give you the shirt off his back."

Read more about the fallen soldiers here, here and here. The Pioneer Press reports that there will be a vigil for the three men at 6:00 p.m. at Veterans Memorial, Third and Pine Streets in downtown Stillwater.

I thank the three men and their families for their service to our country and sacrifice.

Photo: Spc. James Wertish, 20, of Olivia, Minnesota. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota National Guard.

Note: Comments that politicize this time of sorrow for family and friends will not be approved.