What Hy-Vee is to this area for food, our local NIACC campus is the same for drugs. This campus is and has been a virtual supermarket for any drug you might want. This service has been brought to you by the Athletic Department who also brought you the D-Boys, in fact they brought the D-Boys to our city, paid their way and set them up in business.
The main recruiting centers for NIACC are Detroit, East St. Louis and Chicago. This is where this Junior College goes to find the talent they feel will win ball games. Guess what….it doesn’t work, they haven’t had a winning season in years, maybe they should pick players who are not addicts, or better yet check their arrest records first.
While we’re at it they also help set up thirty-six known drug houses in this city, the majority of which are run by ex NIACC athletes who never left town. Maybe that is what they mean when they say they have a high percentage of graduates who find work immediately after leaving school. In fact business turned out to be so good here, they sent for their cousins to help handle the traffic.
The contingent from Detroit has been in the news lately, not because they wanted to be, or sought out the publicity, it was just basic DNA at work, to these guys it is a way of life….nothing more.
Rochester, Minnesota is now plagued with gangs, more than one exist there, and they migrated down from the twin cities to open new territory. These gangs move to where they find the least resistance and the easiest and most public assistance; that would be Iowa. We don’t want to offend anyone here, least of all the criminals. The chance of a deferred sentence here is almost automatic in this state due to over crowding at the penitentiary. There are no beds so no one goes inside.
That college pipeline is by no means the only drug flow coming into this city and surrounding area, there are more than just one. But it should be noted that the campus connection is one with long history that for the most part as been given little more than a scant glance by authorities for years. Those who might be able to take measures to curb some of it are conflicted by the need to keep the desks full and the dorms occupied; by admitting their was a major drug problem that is run out of there might prevent parents from risking their child’s future.
While colleges are funded by both Federal and State funds, there is still a need for cash flow to make them profitable…..but I ask; at what price to the community?
Peter Children
Peter is a friggin IDIOT!!! Enough Said. I understand this is his opinion, but if so, than have some real facts to back it up. Don’t type the article so it reads like a factual piece of literature, remind the readers that this is your opinion, not fact and not backed up by anything other than hearsay and opinion. I can honeslty say I have had the awesome opportunity to get to know a number of these athletes over the years. They are some of the best and brightest individuals I have ever met. I am still in contact with a great number of them, some that moved on and some that stayed in the area and WOW, none of them are Gangsters.
Get your facts right Pete!!!
Maybe the NIACC administrators should spend a week living in the dorms. Then they would see who lives there and how they behave.
Read a book called Methland that was written about Oelwein hitting rock bottom with the drug culture and how they are digging themselves back out. It’s a “how to”book on cleaning up a town and getting rid of the riff raff.
What ever happened to “Jelly bean”?
I was growing up in MC in the 60s and 70s. Drugs were everywhere. The sellers were homegrown white boys who found a way to supplement their incomes (or to replace it in some cases). Where there is a market, there will be sellers. When the markets demands more, then more sellers will come. NIACC has very little to do with the drug problem in Mason City just as Waldorf has little to do with the drug problems in Forest City. Students from Iowa don’t come to NIACC ignorant and naive. They have been exposed to drugs in their hometowns and they bring their appetites for drugs with them. Pretty simple.
Kevin-
there is one athlete from St. Louis.
These facts were all ready pointed out. Read through the comments all ready, your a little late to the party!!
Only shooting ya some crap!
He does mention in his next article at the very beginning that he does not know a single thing about recruiting at NIACC any longer. So I respect that correction.
NIACC has a state mandated open enrollment policy. Anyone that has a high school diploma or GED will be accepted. In a way it us hard to say No. Many of the people that caused problems merely followed their friends to NIACC with no connection to an athletic team. With all of this being said NIACC has its hands tied when it comes to being able to say no to some people. Agree that coaches don’t need to bring in thugs just to win games. However when the coaches are limited to having low scholarships in the conference it forces them to gamble on the student-athletes that are still available after the colleges get the top people. Kevin maybe your dad should raise more scholarship money for the coaches. The public and local media assumes that NIACC Athletics has the same scholarships as their opponents. Then criticize them for trying to field competitve teams that can’t compete unless everything falls exactly right. Peter has some valid points but let’s look at the finding solutions to the problems. It starts with the NIACC Administration and Board valuing athletics rather than just using athletic programs as numbers builders for their enrollment numbers. If they valued athletics then NIACC would be able to bring in a higher quality student-athlete that has higher physical skills AND personal character.
YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK; WHETHER OR NOT GAMES ARE WON OR LOST SHOULD HAVE NO BARRING ON THE SCHOOL AS A PLACE TO GET AN ACADEMIC EDUCATION.
I thought your point was drugs? You blamed NIACC for allowing thugs to bring drugs to squeaky clean Mason City. This point made is a solution to bring in a higher character student-athlete to lower the cases to drug users and dealers. You are just pointing out problems and not offering solutions. Why don’t you put your money where mouth is and donate scholarship money to NIACC Athletics or buy the MCPD a drug dog. But you won’t do that. You get too much of a kick out of just finger pointing rather than being a problem solver. In fact you just shoot down other people’s ideas and efforts to make things better. If you don’t like the local government then run for a position and make it better. If NIACC doesn’t do things right then get on the Board and do something. You won’t do that because you are a coward that hides behind a blog.
After checking the rosters on the website (www.niacctrojans.com) I was unable to discover a single male athlete from Chicago, Detroit, or East St. Louis.
Additionally, a simple fact check of your story would have led you to discover that NIACC posted winning seasons in soccer (17-3) and baseball (37-21) while also sending athletes to compete at national championship events in wrestling, cross country, and track & field during the previous academic year.
Also not mentioned in your op-ed, due to lack of research I would surmise, would be the academic year long random drug testing program that is in place for both in-season and out-of-season athletes.
A simple interview would have also led you to discover the measures taken by NIACC Security (in cooperation with local law enforcement, no less) including random drug dog searches in the dormitories on campus. The college has addressed these concerns for years, gaining experience and improved judgement as time has progressed.
To write a ‘story’ based on no factual evidence isn’t journalism, it’s libel.
Apparently that is how Peter Children writes everything…he just makes stuff up to make people angery, from what I have seen he is a very upset and mean man with a lot of time on his hands. He really is a disapointment to journalism in the area.
I will say it again. This will be just another frivolous lawsuit.
What Mr. Children has said is factual. Many of NIACC’s athletes over the years have sold drugs in Mason City. I too have boots on the street that can prove this.
Now we have a bunch from Detroit it seams that are doing drugs and the gang thing.
When you NIACC folks start screaming lawyer, then it is obvious that Mr. Children has struck a nerve. NIACC’s leadership has had their head buried in the sand for years. As long as they can recruit and get the tax money the status quo will continue.
It would be a good thing if the NIACC board would call the PD and tell them to put a stop the D-boys, drugs at the dorm, or any other gangs in town.
For some reason we little folk don’t have the power to tell the Police to clean it up but the NIACC big shots do. The PD will listen to them.
When it comes to suing Mr. Children for his opinion, wait until you take depositions from the D-boys fat girlfriends. They will squeal like a pig, and you will find that your lawsuit will be frivolous.
There are no drug dogs here.
Kevin, your comments might be glowing, however, there have been instances of a lot of nefarious activity from NIACC students. I had pointed out the Tanzanian group because there was first hand experience. Years worth. So while there may not currently be athletes from Detroit, Chicago, or E. St. Loo, it has happened in the past.
And their sport record really has no relevance. It is what happens off the field, and in our community.
What a horrible author, Peter Children really needs to get a life…seriously.
Observer-
This article is about NIACC ATHLETICS. You are talking about NIACC as a whole. The article is talking about NIACC ATHLETICS.
Athletes or general population, it makes no difference. The person whom was deported, was an athlete.
Tune back in to January of this year, when five were arrested at NIACC for selling drugs. Including the President’s son. None of them to my knowledge were athletes.
The issue was about athletes, yes. However, it is relevant to point out other instances.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you believe that there is no connection to NIACC and the drug culture in Mason City, you live with blinders on. Is everyone from NIACC part of the drug scene? I hardly think so!
A decade or so ago, they brought in or sponsored a group of Tanzanians. Most were students looking to take advantage of a good education. There were some however, that did not adapt well to U.S. community standards. Drugs were heavily involved. Many moved on to other colleges once their studies were finished here. One, quite thankfully, was deported six months ago.
I don’t subscribe to the idea that the whole NIACC community is a drug haven. I will admit there are some bad actors, who bring with them, the norms of what community was like in Urban areas. Norms that have no place in a small town.
I will add this addendum. Until a person from other parts of the world are brought into our community, there should be some period of adjustment for them. At best, staff from NIACC should held somewhat accountable for bringing anti-social problems into a community.
I wish the president of NIACC would have lived next door to the chap that was deported, it would have opened his eyes to the sort of frustrations put upon citizens of this community. Years and years of frustrations.
Oh, and Peter I will never vote for President Obama again. I admit my mistakes.
I voted for change and we got chains. The man doesn’t know how to tell the truth or the same story twice in a row.
Obama also doesn’t’ have a clue how to run this country and create jobs. Please rethink your blind loyalty to a destructive cause.
This will be just another frivolous lawsuit.
What Mr. Children has said is factual. Many of NIACC’s athletes over the years have sold drugs in Mason City. I too have boots on the street that can prove this.
Now we have a bunch from Detroit it seams that are doing drugs and the gang thing.
When you NIACC folks start screaming lawyer, then it is obvious that Mr. Children has struck a nerve. NIACC’s leadership has had their head buried in the sand for years. As long as they can recruit and get the tax money the status quo will continue.
It would be a good thing if the NIACC board would call the PD and tell them to put a stop the D-boys, drugs at the dorm, or any other gangs in town.
For some reason we little folk don’t have the power to tell the Police to clean it up but the NIACC big shots do. The PD will listen to them.
When it comes to suing Mr. Children for his opinion, wait until you take depositions from the D-boys fat girlfriends. They will squeal like a pig, and you will find that your lawsuit will be frivolous.
I didn’t know NIACCs’ presidents’ kid was an athlete.
One nut, Peter C., Writes an article and a second nut, Peter L., chimes in an agree’s with everything he wrote.
This artical is a shame to the inteligence of everyone in North Iowa that knows the facts. I think Peter has been taken apart on about every statement in his article except the one that said NIACC has by inference, cultivated 36 known drug houses in Mason City.
Peter, can you identify the 36 drug houses that you reffer to in your article? (I know there are drug houses in town, but to claim NIACC cultivated them is an insult to everyone’s inteligence.)
PC knows all about the real world; the rest of you want to pretend it does not exist.
I played Fullback @NIACC in 93-94. I’m from Houston. Mason City is still one of the best places I talk about to this day. Would send my kid to the school. Sounds like someone squeezed Lemons in this guys blood stream.
Thank you for your positive remarks about Mason City! I happen to like it here too. I’ve lived here since the late 60’s and don’t care to go anywhere else. I feel safe and I know my kids and grandkids are safe. The so-called “gangs” aren’t after us. They’re after each other, and they’re in every city of any size.
I don’t know this guy, but i appreciate him being willing to take a stand and without compromise put forth what he believes in the face of detractors!
Peter:
I see what you are trying to say but I think you are reaching a little too far on this one. BTW…You and I know each other and have mutual friends although I have not lived in Mason City for more than 25 years. One of my sons was recruited to play football at NIACC in 2005 from a Cedar Rapids public high school. (The NIACC football program was dropped in 2008) We found the coaching staff to be genuinely interested in the welfare of my kid from the start and proved it many times druing his 2 year enrollment. Including personal welfare issues that were communicated to me by the coaching staff who also supervise the dormitory. The roster was made up primarily of Iowa kids (about 75%) with the remainder from as far away as Florida. Many of these kids (including Iowans) had issues with broken families and were wounded mentally and sometimes physically. Yes, there were “gangsters & thugs” among them….just like there is everywhere else Peter. However, my kid, and all the rest of the players, were given a chance to compete and were held accountable. I also know the NIACC baseball coach who is a first class individual and serves as a great mentor for his players. My point is this: The people you are referring to would have showed up in Mason City even if NIACC was not there. Just like they show up in Ottumwa, Oskaloosa, Des Moines, etc. Open your mind a bit and embrace the positive impact that NIACC brings to your community. There will always be a few bad apples my friend.
I just wrote an explosive article in which I accused NIACC of looking the other way when it comes to the proliferation of drugs on their campus. Now lets stop right there; who among you is stupid enough to believe I would expose myself to something I could not prove?
The blogs about my being racist are pure folly; I received an invitation to Obama’s inauguration because of the amount of money I contributed to him. I want him to be president for life!
I am against drugs, I don’t give a good God damn what color you are, if you’re dealing dope I am going to expose you…if I can prove it; if you don’t believe that, ask the police.
Some of you say I only write negative things, think again. I write about what a certain segment in this community would just as soon not talk about, and although they can contort the truth by hiding their true identity, they are too chicken shit to stand up to what they believe in. If truth would be known, those are the real racists on this site.
If the North End had not erupt into violence and the thread tying the Detroit Boys to it, and the knowledge that NIACC recruits there had not happened, then I probably would have left it alone. But enough is enough….this has to addressed by the entire community. If you have useful information that could help put an end to it then contact the police.
Furthermore I have access to not one but several students who were approached on campus and offered drugs….so go get your lawyer, but first learn about the repercussion of false accusations as it relates to yourself.
You say you can prove it so prove it. Otherwise shut it. Saying you have proof and actually showing it are two different things.
Get a lawyer, then sue me and take me to court. I will easiely prove everything I said in a courtroom, but I don’t even owe you a reply. I had six students that had contacted me beforeI wrote this story, now that number has doubled. There are plently of good kids who attend that school, and they don’t appreciate beingh hustled for drugs. After I prove it I will sue you, big talker.
Funny how Peter runs his pie hole and then doesn’t even try to defend himself. He just likes to stir the pot. Can’t stand him
Jealous
Peter, How are you compensated for writing all these brilliant manuscripts of yours?
I would say it was the housing authority advertising in Chicago and Detroit that brought thugs from these areas – the premise was they could get a housing voucher and only had to stay here one year and then could take their voucher anywhere in the country. Many stayed. Or they didn’t stay in the house but other relatives did for that year? It was Charles City housing that was advertising starting about ten years ago. I believe that is what was the beginning of the problem on the north end.
Something definitely needs to be done about the north end. Most people are not aware of all that goes on. It has changed so much.
“The main recruiting centers for NIACC are Detroit, East St. Louis and Chicago. This is where this Junior College goes to find the talent they feel will win ball games. Guess what….it doesn’t work, they haven’t had a winning season in years,”
This isn’t true.
The football program was cut in 2008??? somewhere in there.
If you want to refer to past athletes and a program that does not exist….that is one thing. Talk about that team, maybe show which players were from those areas. But you can not write the information from the paragraph written above.
That is not fair to a hard working NIACC athletic program and a very good AD that overlooks it.
Calm down CB
I’m all for opinions. If you want to puff out your chest and try to bring down all the negativity you believe is going on in the city, that’s fine. Do what you gotta do.
I enjoy this website. Find a lot of the articles comical and enjoyable to read to be quite honest. Sometimes some good points and different perspectives are brought up.
But this article is not okay. Zero facts. Defending it by saying the MCPD were called to the dorms….. what does that have to do with athletics?
Maybe listening to some of the facts brought up and instead of letting your ego defend everything in your nonfactual opinions would be the better route to take on this one.
@facts: This is an OP-ED. It is ONE man’s opinion. There is a big difference between an op-ed and a matter-of-fact story. NIT doesn’t stand behind nor endorse any op-ed unless it’s written by me.
With that said, there are some great people at NIACC, great teams, people that do good things, and they deserve a ton of credit. NIACC in general is a positive for the community.
As far as this op-ed goes, in my opinion, I think PC is referring to a small, bad element which exists there and has lingered in the community. When I first read the op-ed it seemed to me that he was referring mainly to the former athletes that stuck around here and caused problems. Reading it more closely, I think the words could be construed to include more than those individuals, and that is a shame. The information that I posted about the number of police calls to the dorms was simply information, 35 calls. Is this a high number, a low number? I am not a criminologist, I cannot answer that, but the information seems relevant. The readers can decide if the numbers are good or bad.
Hiding a smear campaign behind the term Op-Ed is cowardly. I hope a libel suit bites this guy hard.
SAME PERSON: Baloney1, Enough, Troof, Can Read, Jb, Witness
Just because this is an op-ed piece doesn’t mean you get to just accuse people or institutions and then get off scot free. Look at the allegations here:
1) “This campus is and has been a virtual supermarket for any drug you might want. This service has been brought to you by the Athletic Department who also brought you the D-Boys, in fact they brought the D-Boys to our city, paid their way and set them up in business.”
2)”maybe they should pick players who are not addicts, or better yet check their arrest records first.”
3)”they also help set up thirty-six known drug houses in this city, the majority of which are run by ex NIACC athletes who never left town”
Pretty serious stuff. It’s one thing to state drugs have been found at the college but quite another to state that the drug houses are a direct impact of the athletics program, especially as shown that most of the athletes do not come from these areas.
This is my biggest dislike of this website. Anyone can post anything and the only rebuttal is “well, this is an op-ed piece.”
If you want to do an article on the NIACC DORMS….then write about the NIACC DORMS.
Do not post garbage about how NIACC athletics recruits and lump ATHLETICS into the DORMS.
That is as unfair as it gets.
If you want to do an actual informational article….maybe you should do an article about how NIACC athletics is stuck behind the 8-ball with far less scholarship money to recruit with than every other school in there league.
How some of the sports bring home national champions, develop kids into Division one athletes, which allows them to continue there education with the limited amount of money they have compared to there competitors is quite impressive if anyone knew the actual numbers.
Try doing something with an article once. Might be good for this community you so badly want to look out for. Yea right.
Matt-
35 calls to the NIACC dorms?
Does “dorms” translate to “athletes” in a different language? Maybe latin?
I was unaware dormitories was another term for athletics.
Huh. Learn something new everyday.
Defending this article that was written is extremely poor.
Simply offering information from the police department.
Furthermore, I believe PC is referring to past NIACC athletes from certain areas that stayed in town and set up shop to do business here… “ex NIACC athletes who never left town” as he wrote.
I have spent many years around the NIACC athletes, and the NIACC football players of the old days. Also know quite a few of the supposed d-boys (which by the way is only referring to where they are from and NOT a gang) and NONE of them EVER played athletics at NIACC. Some however did attend classes there on their own to further their education. The football team has MANY MANY success stories. Boys that by all rights would have followed a much different path had they NOT went to NIACC and started a football career! NFL players, authors, master chefs, men with seasoning lines, men with PhD’s, the list goes on and on.
And while attending NIACC and dating one of those players, I can tell you that I do not remember any from Detroit! Most were from w’loo, Minneapolis, Omaha, Kansas City, Ohio…
Just saying…
Wouldn’t 35 police calls to the dorms be an indication that the administration isn’t looking the other way?
What current athlete at NIACC is from Detroit, East St. Louis, or Chicago? It is not hard to look at rosters of the athletic teams online. You are quite lazy in your research.
Those are hardly the main recruiting areas for athletics.
Baseball- 26 athletes from IA and MN. 0 from the cities you mentioned.
Basketball-9athletes from IA and MN. 0 from the cities you mentioned.
Cross Country- every athlete on the team from IA or MN…except for 2..which are from WI and KENYA
Mens Golf- EVERY athlete is from NORTH IOWA…oh but that gangsta golf team of area athletes is just raising hell!!! I think you owe the golf team an apology for not checking any of your facts.
Soccer- the majority of athletes were from England and Ireland. Look at a map. Do you know how far away that is from Chicago, Detroit, or St. Louis? England and Ireland are not in the United States..just so you know.
Track and Field- 19 of 23 athletes from IA and MN. one from Wisconsin. Weird how none are from Chicago, St. Louis, or Detroit.
Wrestling – ohhhhh, Wrestling has ONE athlete from St. Louis. I am not sure if he is from EAST ST. Louis. The one athlete on the campus from the cities you mentioned. Maybe this is the only name you looked at in your detailed research??
Womens Basketball- have you seen the local talent the new womens coach has brought in? Go look at her roster for the 2012-2013 season…littered with area athletes and girls from MN.
Womens Golf- once again, I do believe you owe the golf coach an apology. Area athletes fill the roster.
Softball- several IA kids, WI kids, and next year Canadians. Unless Chicago expanded into Canada none of them are from there.
Volleyball- the volleyball coach is well known for wanting area athletes. She has probably never even stepped foot in Illinois, Missouri, or Michigan to recruit. She floods her roster with area athletes.
are you referring to the football program…..which you realize was cut correct?
This is the least factual article I have ever read.
How is this okay to publish? Sad day for this website
Excellent response! I commend you!
Great response….I see you actually took the time to do some research, unlike Peter.
Can’t agree with Peter on this one. Usually I enjoy reading your thoughts; this time you are denigrating an entire school which provides a great education to many, many people throughout North Iowa. NIACC has always had to recruit out of state even back when I was there 30 years ago. Some were good kids, some weren’t. Same today. And it isn’t just the athletes. NIACC recruits students too. Some are good, some aren’t. Some make something of their education, some don’t. Some stay in MC and make a positive impact on the city, some stay and screw it up. Your op-ed is racially charged and goes beyond you. You need to back off and take a deep breath. Think a little before you start blasting away. You seem to have forgotten to do that here. I am disappointed in you.
FROM THE MCPD TODAY: 35 calls to the NIACC dorms in the past year, this does not include other areas of campus.
Matt
I can help you with more inside info. Following the arrest at the dorms of the drug dealers that included the presidents son the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Department fielded multuple calls from administration officials of NIACC telling them they are not welcome on campus. YOu can call and get a copy of the calls that night. Now why would NIACC not want drug task force agents on the property if there is not a problem.
Dig deep enough and you just my find out how much bigger the investigation went.
All North Iowa athletes? Then don’t complain when they never win a game. Did you ever consider that their almost nothing athletic scholarships forces their coaches to have to recruit anywhere to field a team that can compete with the other teams in their conference? Higher scholarships wiuld allow them to attract a higher quality athlete with higher level character. What do you expect to get when they have to wait until everyone else is done recruiting to get who is still looking? They are still looking for a reason.
There must wrong info in that article. None are from Chi, D, or StL. And I don’t think either one of the parents of the kid from Mason City played football at NIACC. Pictures don’t make sense either…only one DNA at work in those pictures. Shoot and I was just beginning to believe Peter’s theory. Oh well guess I’ll go back to ignoring him.
No NIACC students ever dealt drugs. Ever.
http://www.northiowatoday.com/?p=5018
It is funny how the presidents son is still aloud at NIACC evan though the studunt cod3e of conduct rules once arrested they shall be expelled.
WOW Peter-are you sure of your facts on this?? I really hate to see you lump all of the athlete’s into one pile. Just because there may be a few who are gangster’s that doesn’t mean they are all bad. I too have wondered about some of the people they have brought in and I know they have some issues at NIACC but I know some of the kids that go there and they are good kids. There are always some bad apples in every barrel but not all. On the other hand I agree with you that a lot of people are in denial on the level of drugs and crime that goes on here in River City. On almost any given night I hear gunshots where we live. I see school age children out walking around after midnight doing whatever and we all know we have a vandalism problem with young people. We need a curfew so we can concentrate on the criminals. The good kids will get off the streets on time if we have a curfew. It also gives the police another tool to stop and question anyone out when they shouldn’t be.
“…basic DNA at work…nothing more.” News flash: DNA (i.e., skin color) has nothing to do with being a thug. If it did then that would mean crazy, old white people are all racist because of their DNA.
this almost makes sense seeing as the ADM of NIACC’s son got busted for dealing. (that is fact)
Petey used to bring in rough drafts of these Op-Ed letters to Mike Morrison as threats to blackmail him into making NIACC stop bringing in students of color. Morrison had courage so he told him he would sue him for libel if he did. Unfortunately the tail wags the dog at NIACC now. Go ahead and make these comments and threats now. The Administration has no courage to stand up to students, parents, or others that make lame accusations. Eventually NIACC leadership will fall because their employees aren’t going to be scapegoats any more and start fighting back in court. Stayed tuned.
That is the problem right there too many wont accept that their precious city has some huge faults, talk to some of the students before spewing “get a lawyer” this town has a huge drug problem and yes most of it did come from NIACC football players that never left town when the program shut down. You also dont hear about the drive bys that happen so Im sure they never happened right? So why dont people talk? Because they are scared shitless for their families because when they do say something people like you say “you better have all your facts right because I dont belive a word your saying, that couldn’t happen in our town”. Keep the blinders on till this town is full of thugs then bitch about no one doing anything about it.
Do you ever have any positive comments about this community? Every day, week, month, all you talk about are negatives. I understand you are entitled to your opinion but come on man!! If you dislike Mason City so damn much then move! There are good things that happen in this community, heck just look at this weekend; MacNider Art Festival, Walk in the Park, 5k in Clear Lake for the Women’s Health Fund, etc. But I’m sure you’d find something negative about all of those events.
You are more than entitled to your opinion, but always having a negative opinion makes you a spiteful person. Get over it and start supporting the community you live in some rather than constantaly bashing it. I’m not saying bad things don’t happen here, but they happen everywhere. I for one am very happy I live in Mason City!!
so what i am getting from this is ur now gonna blame niacc for the problems on the north end r u kidding me .. there have been problems in this city for many many yrs .. there have been drugs and fights in bars also .. i agree hope u have a good lawyer ..
Sorry Pal, you’ve gone way to far on this one. You better have some pretty good sources to back this up – for example which sports are you referring to? Which athletes are you accusing of this? As someone closely involved in this area I can state you are way out of line.
Like the previous commentator stated, I would be checking in with your attorney.
Also – Matt, have your checked with your attorney? Just because this is an op-ed doesn’t mean you get to just publish anything and claim no responsibility.
Hope you have a lawyer.