Star Tribune
Itasca County faces backlash over 10 Commandments display in new jail
DULUTH — The new Itasca County jail includes a two-story-tall display of the Ten Commandments, a choice under fire by many who discovered that and other religious quotes painted on its walls during recent tours of the northeast Minnesota facility.
The display was so overwhelming it made Grand Rapids resident Dana Butler tremble, she said, while walking through the new $75 million jail last week.
“The whole time I was thinking if I were in here, it would be very clear to me that I was not in a safe place,” she said.
The Madison, Wis.,-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has fielded 20 complaints, it said, many alleging the displays are unconstitutional. It sent a letter this week to the county asking it to investigate and remove the displays. “Repaint and repent,” a press release says.
Itasca County Sheriff Joe Dasovich, new to the role in 2023, said he didn’t make the decision to install the words, but he took responsibility for it. He’s weighing the decision to remove the religious displays but said he’s heard an overwhelming call to keep them.
A social media post from the Lighthouse Christian Academy, a private school in Grand Rapids, called on its followers to tell the Itasca County Board to leave the jail quotes as they are. The post said a “group of atheists” wanted them painted over.
When Dasovich first saw the walls, “I knew that it would cause people to feel a certain way,” Dasovich said, but he didn’t sense there would be opposition from inmates because voluntary faith-based programs offered to them at the jail are well attended.
“I’ll take everything into account and make a decision, and I may not be happy with my decision,” Dasovich said, acknowledging the potential of a lawsuit.
Jail administrator Lucas Thompson, who Dasovich credited for an efficient, “well-thought out model” of a jail, was responsible for overseeing the project on the jail staff end.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation argues that the religious displays violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which says government must remain neutral on the topic of religion. One quote painted on cell block walls and attributed to former President Ronald Reagan reads “Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.”
“What the county has essentially done is to say to these inmates … that if they want the answers to their woes, it has to come from the Bible,” said Hirsh Joshi, a legal fellow from the foundation who wrote the letter to the county.
And it’s a captive audience, he said, with no way to avoid the apparent proselytizing for those who hold different beliefs.
Last year, county government fielded complaints about a different constitutional controversy: an under-the-radar county board approval of a gun-rights resolution stating opposition to new laws that would infringe on Second Amendment rights.
The jail quotes seem like another way Itasca County government is showing its “authoritarian” leanings, said Grand Rapids resident Brian Vroman, who sent a complaint to the Freedom from Religion Foundation.
“This is government imposing religion,” he said, on incarcerated people who still have rights. “It’s pretty audacious and pretty reckless.”
Aside from the overt religious tone, some have pointed out that a few quotes are inaccurately attributed. One credited to first U.S. President George Washington was actually said by George Washington Carver, a Black scientist and inventor.
The Itasca County justice center in Grand Rapids includes government offices and a courthouse addition, increased space for inmates and programs and a mental health practitioner on staff, a rarity in northern Minnesota. It includes 184 beds for inmates, up from space for 75 at the current jail. The county of just over 45,000 residents overwhelmingly approved a 1% sales tax to pay for the project in 2022.
Now, union leaders are calling on HCMC leadership to change hospital bylaws to guarantee labor unions can select their representation on the oversight board. “If they are truly serious about honoring the voices of frontline workers, this is the path forward,” Olson-Ehlert said.
The latest disagreement is part of an ongoing clash between workers at HCMC and hospital leadership, including CEO Jennifer DeCubellis. Nurses, EMTs and other union members began speaking out last year about changes to their health insurance, safety in the workplace and ongoing recruitment and retention challenges.
“Unfortunately, the current executive leadership at HHS, and specifically the CEO, have not prioritized the voices of frontline employees,” the Hennepin County Association of Paramedics and EMTs said in a statement, noting the importance of the hospital to the region. “We should expect that the board of that institution represents frontline workers and the communities we serve.”
Workers went as far as calling on the county board to take back control of HCMC, which commissioners did not support. The county created Hennepin Healthcare System in 2006 to run the hospital and other clinics.
County leaders spent most of 2024 probing the hospital’s budget and how it affected workers. In November, the County Board unanimously approved the hospital’s spending plan and new board member recommendations for the coming year.
It didn’t take long for someone to realize that passing the driving test was not going to happen.
A driver taking a road test midday Wednesday at the Chaska License Center sent the SUV front-end first into the building while trying to park, police said.
The driver mistook the gas pedal for the brake and struck two other vehicles before hitting the building, according to police.
No one was injured, police said, and that includes the employee who took the day off and was not at the desk on the other side of the damaged wall at the center on Pine Street.
Police confirmed the obvious: the driver failed and will have to try again another time.
Who was the driver? Police did a good job of showing empathy and kept the name out of its statement and also blotted out the license plate of the vehicle in the photo they posted on social media.
The humorous aspect of this oops moment aside, “we’re here to remind you that these unexpected turn of events highlight the importance of treating the privilege to drive with care,” the police statement read. “Vehicles are powerful machines that come with significant responsibility, and we ask that every driver — whether seasoned or still learning — gives driving the diligence and respect it deserves.”
DULUTH – In the late 1960s, James Ulland was a commercial tree farmer with 660 acres of tax-forfeited land he had acquired between French River and Alborn, in northern Minnesota. He had started with 10,000 trees and quickly expanded to 140,000 — with plans to add 60,000 red pine and white spruce seedlings in the spring.
This rated as a superlative: In the previous two years, Ulland had planted more trees in St. Louis County than any other private individual. He told a reporter from the Duluth News Tribune at the time that the red pines wouldn’t hit maturity until he was 109 years old.
In 1968, Ulland’s occupation was listed as economist/tree farmer when was elected to the Minnesota House and later to the Minnesota Senate from traditionally Democratic-leaning Duluth. He spent 15 years in state politics and was later appointed by Gov. Arne Carlson to be the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce. In 1997, he founded Ulland Investment Advisors, a boutique Minneapolis firm where he spent the rest of his career.
“It didn’t matter whether it was politics or business or family and friends — he was very funny, very smart with a quick wit, and very active,” said Ann Glumac, who is married to Ulland’s brother Bill Ulland.
Former Gov. Arne Carlson remembered Ulland as bright with a good sense of humor and a delight to work alongside. He is remembered as a strong environmentalist with a message about the hole in the ozone layer and its impact on mankind, Carlson said.
“He was the first [layperson] to grasp the early stages of what we now call climate change,” Carlson said. “He began to realize over time that we had to develop policies that had a long-term impact and to recognize that the earth’s climate was changing and it was harmful to man’s ability to survive.”
Mike Jaros, who served in the Minnesota House about the same time as Ulland and represented neighboring areas, said he always admired Ulland. They came from different parties, but DFLer Jaros said he enjoyed working with Ulland.
