Last week I sent my column to the Timberjay at the correct email address and before the printing deadline (just like always). The main point of my column was that a number of anti-mining folks were throwing verbal rocks at me because I said that Sustainable Ely was trying to pull off a couple hoaxes by saying that Ely has a vibrant and sustainable economy and by sending a canoe with signatures to Washington, D.C. I said that only one person even tried to address one of the points I had made. I joked at some of the things people said about me and reminded folks not to say mean things to their neighbors.

Imagine my surprise when I bought a Timberjay and my column was nowhere to be found. Instead I found Marshall Helmberger’s column and a letter to the editor from Paul Schurke, both critical of me. Guess what else! They were both throwing rocks, spinning my message and not addressing whether Sustainable Ely is trying to pull off a couple of hoaxes or not.

Mr. Helmberger said that I was trying to tear down a significant and influential segment of our community. He said that I was “bloodletting”, my comments were “frustrating and destructive”. I “spoke from anger and ignorance”. He implied that I was trying to silence a segment of the community and discourage investment in Ely other than mining. Paul Schurke said that I was a bald faced bigot. A naysayer who’s message was that if you don’t think and look like us you’re not welcome. Good stuff, it shows a lot of creativity. I can see why Marshall wouldn’t print my column, it discounted much of what they said.

Here are a couple of points I’d like to make this week:

If you publicly say something is a bald faced lie and then the persons saying it call you a bunch of names but never address whether it really is a lie or not, well guess what…..

Marshall, stop censoring opposing views, print my column.

The anti-mining folks have made it very clear, especially to the average person, that if you challenge what they say, they will attack you in a mean way, from every direction.

Marshall Helmberger asked what the city’s economic development strategy is. It’s simple; we keep an open mind to any development ideas that come along and try to encourage anything that will have a positive impact on our community. An example would be when Paul Schurke said in his anti-mining testimony that he and his wife were considering restarting their clothing business in Ely. I went and found Ely’s economic developer, John Fedo, that night, and told him to call Schurkes the next day, to see if there was any way the city could help. Not exactly the behavior Schurke and Helmberger have tried to pin on me. I’m open to all sorts of development. Some other folks should be as open minded toward all possible economic development.

Ross Petersen

Ely, Minn.

Editor replies:

A few week’s ago, Ely Mayor Ross Petersen found himself in hot water after he spotted a person of color re-roofing a Sheridan Street office space and used his observation to make sweeping (and unverified) assumptions and accusations about the tenant of that space, Sustainable Ely.

This week, Mr. Petersen proves that he failed to learn from his mistake.

In the above letter, which Mr. Petersen sent to us late Tuesday, he accuses me of censoring his recent column, which is false. And just as with his previous comments regarding Sustainable Ely, Mr. Petersen leveled his allegations without the slightest effort to check his facts. He never called to inquire as to why his column did not appear in last week’s paper. Had he done so, the explanation would have been pretty pedestrian. We received it too late to make the paper and scheduled it to run the following week instead.

Far from censoring his comments, we had made the decision earlier this week to place his column on our editorial and letters page, which runs in all three editions of the Timberjay. In the past, his column has only appeared on local Ely pages, but given the large volume of letters we received in response to his recent column, we felt it was appropriate to place his response in the same part of the paper, so all readers could see it. Indeed, we had already placed it on page 5 of this week’s paper, where it still resides, when we received Mr. Petersen’s accusatory, and utterly baseless, letter.

Mr. Petersen, of course, is free to conduct himself as mayor in whichever manner he chooses. But when he chooses to act recklessly and irresponsibly, by leveling allegations against individuals, local businesses, or organizations, without evidence or even minimal due diligence, he should accept the accompanying criticism as the consequence of his actions. Either that, or he could think twice before shooting himself in the foot yet again. M.H.