Topic: Albert Lea... "For the GOOD Life"
started by: White Pride
Posted by White Pride on Oct. 06 2007,2:00 pm
Since there seems to be a lot of talk about what is bad, and that no one is stating anything good, about Albert Lea, I thought I would put it to the group to list ONLY the good points of the community, even if they are a double-edged sword (like the new school). Janurary started doing such in my last topic. I would like to keep this forum clean, no rebuttals, etc... only the GOOD, including our attitudes, and treat everyone "Minnesota NICE" K?So, to start off with, I am list just one thing.
I like the fountains on Fountain Lake. They really touch off the Katherine Island lake view well.
Posted by bianca on Oct. 06 2007,2:36 pm
Posted by bianca on Oct. 06 2007,2:39 pm
Expanding on that I think the bridge they redid over the lake going or coming from Shoreland and the lights around the lake are beautiful!And Shoff park in the Summer with all of the flowers. Beautiful! I saw someone had an outdoor wedding there under the arbor and thought how beautiful that was with all those flowers.
Posted by White Pride on Oct. 06 2007,2:47 pm
(bianca @ Oct. 06 2007,2:39 pm)
QUOTE
Expanding on that I think the bridge they redid over the lake going or coming from Shoreland and the lights around the lake are beautiful!
And Shoff park in the Summer with all of the flowers. Beautiful! I saw someone had an outdoor wedding there under the arbor and thought how beautiful that was with all those flowers.
And Shoff park in the Summer with all of the flowers. Beautiful! I saw someone had an outdoor wedding there under the arbor and thought how beautiful that was with all those flowers.
I was a groomsman in that wedding! It was a perfect day indeed!
Posted by ANTILIBERAL on Oct. 06 2007,9:27 pm
January is awesome and I agree with White Pride about keeping this positive. I thoroughly enjoy the parks in Albert Lea. We have several nice, clean parks that are green spaces with lots of trees and nice playground equipment. Edgewater for me is so relaxing and my kids love to play there. We will pick up Subway, eat it at the park and play all day. We take walks by the water and just have fun. We are truly blessed with "pretty" parks and lake areas.
Posted by grassman on Oct. 07 2007,12:22 am
Every time we come back to town we drive around Fountain Lake, it is very nice what has been done!
Posted by JeffJimenez on Oct. 07 2007,10:18 am
Blazing Star Trail. I do a lot of bike riding and take the trail atleast 2 times a week. I've seen deer on numerous occasions and the serenity is great! Friendly people. I met someone new to the community the other night and one of the first things she said was how friendly people are here. Though we are not a perfect community, you have to admit, when you go out somewhere it is a nice feeling to see people you know.
Posted by forsure on Oct. 07 2007,11:42 am
I have to say that I love boating on Albert Lea Lake. It is really beautiful this time of year as the leaves change colors. I really think it is neat to see the Eagles flying above the trees at the state park. The fishing has also been fun, caught a few nice crappies and walleyes. 
Posted by katlade on Oct. 11 2007,1:52 pm
I think all in all Albert Lea is a beautiful city. The lights around the lake look nice and provide security for those walking around the lake. Love the fountains. The crap apple blossoms in the spring. Whoever plants flowers in our parks in the spring does a great job. I also like the lights around the businesses uptown (or downtown depending on who you are)In my opinion I think AL is much prettier than Austin and Owatonna. Just my opinion.
Posted by jimhanson on Oct. 11 2007,3:48 pm
The Parks. Owatonna calls itself "The city of Beautiful Parks"--but they don't compare to Albert Lea. Edgewater, Bancroft Bay, Helmer Myre, Blazing Star, the park on the end of Broadway, neighborhood parks, Katherine Island, the bike/walking trail, fishing areas, the public fishing dock on Albert Lea Lake--we have SO MANY BEAUTIFUL PUBLIC AREAS.We've had MANY people fly in, and comment on what a beautiful city this is. Each year, several transient aircraft will ask PERMISSION to land here--when we tell them it is a public airport, they invariably reply "It is so lush and beautiful with the lakes, golf courses, and everthing--we thought it might be one of those private, fly-in communities!"
Posted by Ned Kelly on Oct. 11 2007,6:18 pm
(jimhanson @ Oct. 11 2007,3:48 pm)
QUOTE
The Parks. Owatonna calls itself "The city of Beautiful Parks"--but they don't compare to Albert Lea. Edgewater, Bancroft Bay, Helmer Myre, Blazing Star, the park on the end of Broadway, neighborhood parks, Katherine Island, the bike/walking trail, fishing areas, the public fishing dock on Albert Lea Lake--we have SO MANY BEAUTIFUL PUBLIC AREAS.
We've had MANY people fly in, and comment on what a beautiful city this is. Each year, several transient aircraft will ask PERMISSION to land here--when we tell them it is a public airport, they invariably reply "It is so lush and beautiful with the lakes, golf courses, and everthing--we thought it might be one of those private, fly-in communities!"
We've had MANY people fly in, and comment on what a beautiful city this is. Each year, several transient aircraft will ask PERMISSION to land here--when we tell them it is a public airport, they invariably reply "It is so lush and beautiful with the lakes, golf courses, and everthing--we thought it might be one of those private, fly-in communities!"
Well said.........
......ned
Posted by MADDOG on Apr. 09 2015,4:40 pm
QUOTE
< STAND UP AND FIGHT >
A few weeks back, I saw the ticket I received March 3, 2014, finally in the legal notices and it reminded me to encourage every one of my fellow citizens to take their tickets to court and exercise their Constitutional rights to be innocent until proven guilty. And when you do, perhaps my experience can help prepare you.
My first court date was only weeks after the alleged violation. I had high hopes at this point, but after going through the trouble to rearrange my work schedule I only ended up being there for 15 minutes to enter a plea of innocent.
They also set my actual trial date, however, so before I had even left my parking space at the courthouse, I had already called work for May 30. Work wasn’t happy and neither was I, but I was determined to go through the process because I had done nothing wrong and was anxious to prove it.
I also learned I had the right to a speedy trial and “speedy” is considered to be within 90 days so a May 30 court date for a March 3 citation made perfect sense.
Unfortunately, that date never happened. Apparently the officer was unavailable. When I was informed the prosecutor requested a reschedule (continuance) I wrote a letter to the judge telling him of the inconvenience this would cause me with my work schedule, and I also mentioned my right to a speedy trial. I received a prompt letter back basically saying “too bad” and that my trial had been rescheduled to June 27.
Well, that date never happened either. I guess this time the prosecuting attorney was not available. Another letter to the judge turned into a pointless endeavor and my fourth court date was set at Aug. 22, nearly six months after the alleged violation.
When I finally had my “day in court” I was denied my right to make an opening statement because, unbeknownst to me, the subject of my statement was open to judicial review so I was interrupted several times and told I couldn’t say what I wanted to.
Once the trial started, the rapport between the judge and the prosecutor was difficult to ignore and the officer’s testimony was full of misstatements, but this was obviously due to the amount of time that had passed, how many stops he had conducted since and the fact that when my ticket was written he had only lived in town for a few months.
The entire experience was enlightening. Make no mistake; in regards to misdemeanor offenses, a trial is just for show. The goal is revenue. And to achieve that goal, the state will make it as inconvenient as possible for citizens to exercise their Constitutional rights hoping we will give up, waive our rights, sign our ticket (admit our guilt) and pay our fine.
Needles to say, my experience with the Freeborn County courts was horrible and you may wonder why I am recommending that anyone go through this hassle? Why lose hundreds of dollars at work and waste time on scheduling and rescheduling with a system predicated on predetermined guilt for the sake of revenue that has no respect for the people whose tax dollars allow it to exist?
The answer is simple: Because such a system needs to be challenged. It needs to be because it requires even more of our tax dollars still and it levies those taxes in the form of nuisance fines. And those fines were originally meant to be small deterrents but have since turned into much larger randomly assigned road taxes (in my case a $40 fine, with tax, was $130).
When well over 90 percent of us just pay these extra taxes to avoid the inconvenience of exercising our Constitutional rights, the system has no incentive to improve or attempt to live up to its namesake of justice.
Please, take the time if you get a ticket. The amount already includes the cost for your day in court so get your money’s worth. And good luck.
A few weeks back, I saw the ticket I received March 3, 2014, finally in the legal notices and it reminded me to encourage every one of my fellow citizens to take their tickets to court and exercise their Constitutional rights to be innocent until proven guilty. And when you do, perhaps my experience can help prepare you.
My first court date was only weeks after the alleged violation. I had high hopes at this point, but after going through the trouble to rearrange my work schedule I only ended up being there for 15 minutes to enter a plea of innocent.
They also set my actual trial date, however, so before I had even left my parking space at the courthouse, I had already called work for May 30. Work wasn’t happy and neither was I, but I was determined to go through the process because I had done nothing wrong and was anxious to prove it.
I also learned I had the right to a speedy trial and “speedy” is considered to be within 90 days so a May 30 court date for a March 3 citation made perfect sense.
Unfortunately, that date never happened. Apparently the officer was unavailable. When I was informed the prosecutor requested a reschedule (continuance) I wrote a letter to the judge telling him of the inconvenience this would cause me with my work schedule, and I also mentioned my right to a speedy trial. I received a prompt letter back basically saying “too bad” and that my trial had been rescheduled to June 27.
Well, that date never happened either. I guess this time the prosecuting attorney was not available. Another letter to the judge turned into a pointless endeavor and my fourth court date was set at Aug. 22, nearly six months after the alleged violation.
When I finally had my “day in court” I was denied my right to make an opening statement because, unbeknownst to me, the subject of my statement was open to judicial review so I was interrupted several times and told I couldn’t say what I wanted to.
Once the trial started, the rapport between the judge and the prosecutor was difficult to ignore and the officer’s testimony was full of misstatements, but this was obviously due to the amount of time that had passed, how many stops he had conducted since and the fact that when my ticket was written he had only lived in town for a few months.
The entire experience was enlightening. Make no mistake; in regards to misdemeanor offenses, a trial is just for show. The goal is revenue. And to achieve that goal, the state will make it as inconvenient as possible for citizens to exercise their Constitutional rights hoping we will give up, waive our rights, sign our ticket (admit our guilt) and pay our fine.
Needles to say, my experience with the Freeborn County courts was horrible and you may wonder why I am recommending that anyone go through this hassle? Why lose hundreds of dollars at work and waste time on scheduling and rescheduling with a system predicated on predetermined guilt for the sake of revenue that has no respect for the people whose tax dollars allow it to exist?
The answer is simple: Because such a system needs to be challenged. It needs to be because it requires even more of our tax dollars still and it levies those taxes in the form of nuisance fines. And those fines were originally meant to be small deterrents but have since turned into much larger randomly assigned road taxes (in my case a $40 fine, with tax, was $130).
When well over 90 percent of us just pay these extra taxes to avoid the inconvenience of exercising our Constitutional rights, the system has no incentive to improve or attempt to live up to its namesake of justice.
Please, take the time if you get a ticket. The amount already includes the cost for your day in court so get your money’s worth. And good luck.
Posted by grassman on Apr. 09 2015,5:27 pm
What do you expect from a county court, look at the USSC.
Posted by Self-Banished on Apr. 09 2015,5:54 pm
This happens in most traffic courts 
Posted by alcitizens on Apr. 09 2015,6:53 pm
A defendant has a right to a jury trial for any offense punishable by incarceration.
Posted by MADDOG on Apr. 10 2015,11:08 am
(alcitizens @ Apr. 09 2015,6:53 pm)
QUOTE
A defendant has a right to a jury trial for any offense punishable by incarceration.
huh?
QUOTE
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.