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PUBLIC NOTICES: City budget, variance requests, and more PAGE 13A
Couple’s love story gets some help from fate
INTERNATIONAL PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE PHOTO
Max Nelson, Mahtomedi senior, has competed in two World Cups and is now headed for the Paralympics.
Mahtomedi skier headed for Paralympics
The well-traveled Rappas visit Sedona, Arizona, in early 2020. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
CORINNE STREMMEL STAFF WRITER
Their missed connection turned into 63 years of marriage. Bernard and Diane Rappa, who now reside in Grant, have one of those love stories that make us wonder about the power of fate.
The pair originally met during their freshman year while they attended college in Chicago. “I remember walking down the street with my buddy and seeing this girl, and I asked him, ‘Do you know that gal?’ and luckily, he did,” Bernard Rappa said. Their first date was on a chilly day, as Rappa recalls. He had asked
Diane out to the local jukebox club across the street where song requests cost just a nickel. “I was just smitten with her blue-green eyes and that infectious smile,” Rappa said. Diane and Bernard dated for two years, going to pizza parlors and driving around in Bernard’s Ford
BRUCE STRAND CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Max Nelson, the Mahtomedi athlete who’s placed first and second in his conference Nordic ski meets despite being nearly blind, has been chosen for Team USA in the Paralympic Games coming up in March in China.
SEE LOVE STORY, PAGE 8A
SEE MAX NELSON, PAGE 8A
Sign stirs controversy in ‘scenic, tranquil & a little quirky’ village A resident’s contentious sign, “Let’s Go Brandon,” is down now, but don’t be surprised if it reappears. Birchwood resident James Nelson, who is not a fan of President Joe Biden, believes he has the constitutional right to display the sign, even if others find it offensive. The city disagrees.
For those who don’t know, the political slogan painted on his sign is a euphemism against Biden that got its start at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. A sportscaster interviewing NASCAR driver Brandon Brown last October misheard a chant from the crowd, which wasn’t “Let’s Go Brandon,” but a much more vulgar phrase, “F--- Joe Biden.” Right-wing conservatives started using
the G-rated phrase to show party support. In Nelson’s case, the sign represents his displeasure with Biden’s southern border policies and the administration’s strategies toward China. Erected in his front yard sometime late November, the controversial sign drew chuckles from some and distaste from others. Resident(s) complained to City Hall.
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City code in Birchwood Village — described as scenic, tranquil & a little quirky on its website — clearly states that complaints first be resolved by “polite contact” between residents. If that does not correct the situation, or if someone prefers to skip that step, a complaint may be filed on a city form identifying the persons or properties SEE SIGN CONTROVERSY, PAGE 9A
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This anonymous “gift” showed up at James Nelson’s door a few weeks ago. Inside the book titled “The Politics Industry” was a typed note “from your neighbor” that said the sign was “disheartening and reflects poorly upon you and Birchwood.”
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