Wade Petrich’s blog

Third time is the charm

Ashton Parker Petrich was born on Sept. 11 and lots of people have been asking when I am going to put some photos of him on the Web site. Sometimes the third child gets the raw deal, something he will certainly address as he gets older.

These were taken on my iPhone, so the quality is OK, but not great.

Hermantown has first homicide

On Monday (Nov. 10) at 10:03 p.m., the Hermantown Police Department was dispatched to a stabbing call at the Runway Bar in Hermantown (4766 W. Arrowhead Rd.).

As a result of the stabbing, a 27-year-old male victim died while on the way to a local hospital. It is the first homicide in the city’s history.

With the help of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, St Louis County Sheriffs Office and the Duluth Police Department, a suspect was quickly identified and later arrested.

The suspect is a 20-year-old male.  He is currently being held at the St Louis County Jail pending formal 2nd Degree Unintentional Homicide charges.

As of Tuesday afternoon, no names of the victim or suspect will be released at this time pending notification of relatives, formal charges, and further investigation. This case is still under investigation.

Hermantown City Races

Wayne Boucher has been elected Hermantown’s mayor and John Geissler and Darlene Koski were voted in to the two open council seats.

 Boucher will become the city’s seventh mayor in January, having defeated Susie Stockinger. Final vote totals were 2,730 for Boucher and 1,781 for Stockinger. Boucher has served on the city council since being appointed in 2000. He was re-elected in 2002 and 2006.

 Geissler was the lone challenger for the two open council seats, with incumbents Koski and Andy Thielen also running. Geissler was the top vote getter with 2,360, followed by Koski with 2,219 and Thielen with 1,920.

 The election of Boucher to mayor will leave his council seat vacant. The council will make a decision on whether to appoint someone or hold a special election. Due to the costs of a special election, the city has appointed a person to the open seat in the past, most recently with Boucher being appointed to former Mayor Dave Allen’s vacant council seat in 2000.

 In the county commissioner races, incumbent Peg Sweeney in District No. 3 received 1,645 votes in Precinct No. 1 and No. 2, while challenger Sam Haddad received 1,130 votes.

 In District No. 5, challenger Chris Dahlberg received 826 votes in Precinct No. 3 while incumbent Bill Kron received 787.

 For Minnesota State Representative, incumbent Mary Murphy received 3,051 votes to challenger Steve Townsend’s 1679.

 More election information will appear in the Nov. 13 issue of the Hermantown Star.

Learn more, hate less

It is hard to hate when you learn more.

That is what I found out the other day.

I grew up hating Iranians for the whole hostage crisis when I was just a boy. Then I met someone from that country and I really thought he was great. He is more interesting and fun to talk to than most. Then I read a book about what it was like growing up in Iran in the 1970s and 1980s. The writer was the same age as me. I learned I was a lot like her; we just grew up in different worlds.

A young Iraqi boy spoke to our Rotary club this past spring. He was just a young boy, not unlike me 20 some years ago. He had dreams and hopes for the future. He is just growing up in a very violent place right now. He did not want to hurt me or blow up the bus I might be riding.

Over the years I have met Jews, Muslims, African-Americans, American Indians, Hispanics, gays, lesbians, atheists and people who still think the world is flat. When you grow up white, male and Christian, you are often told not to trust some of these people. I no longer trust those who told me to think that way.

It is hard to hate when you have to look into the face of the person you want to hate and say, “I hate you!” Most of us would hate to do that.

I use humor to make the world a little better. It is hard to hate someone who is funny. If they are not funny at all, it might be somewhat easier to hate them. Even then, if someone is trying to make you laugh it is hard to really, really hate them.

Stop hating and starting talking and you will find you will learn more and more about the world around you. The more you know, the less you hate.

A Hair of a Tale

It has been well over a year now that I have grown my hair out for Locks for Love. On July 16, I donated five large clumps of red/grayish hair to the cause.

Jeannie LaPole, owner of a Le Salon in Hermantown was kind of enough to make the cuts and return my hair to something respectable. She recalled story of giving Bigfoot a shave and not having as much hair to cut. I am just thankful the hair was from my head and not my back.

It has been interesting to hear the comments from people about my long hair. It was everything from being labeled a hippie to wondering if I was hoping to play the good Lord in the Jesus Christ Superstar musical. I did look into the role, but was told they were not looking for a chunky Son of God.

Most men would grow out their hair longer, if they could. The belief that it is more professional for men to have short hair in the workplace was made up by The Man who did not have any hair. Many older men said they would love to grow out their hair. Those who hated my long locks were even more frustrated when their wife or girlfriend to me how great it looked.

I had to wait to cut my hair until after my 20-year high school reunion. My wife is more than willing to let everyone know that I enjoy attention. I come across as this shy, quiet guy or sometimes even standoffish. In reality, I crave the spotlight like some D-list movie star who tips off the paparazzi whenever they go outside the home.

As much as I loved the long hair, this time of year it is nice to have a lighter, cooler head. I jumped on the scale and was back down to my high school weight…well…I am closer to my high school weight than I was yesterday.

The only thing that worries me with shorter hair is that it will likely draw my own attention to the fact that I am not in as good as physical shape as I should be, my best vehicle is a mini-van and I am still a million dollars shy of being a millionaire. The long hair even distracted my own thoughts.

It does feel good to know that I might help some cancer patient on the road to recovery. This simple act does not make me a hero. I am still too much of a coward to donate blood. When I heard the story of the man who helped save five people caught in a fire in West Duluth, I wondered if I could ever be that brave.

For now, I am back to my wife and daughter having longer hair than me and I should avoid people tapping me on the shoulder and politely say, “Excuse me mam…OH SORRY SIR!”