Park Board Meeting

Dec 31 1969 - 6:00pm

Agenda documents for this meeting are available in Microsoft Word format at this location.

Schedule:

4:30pm Standards & Conduct - complaint against Dziedzic 5:00pm Regular Meeting 5:15pm Other - review legal services, Brian Rice. 5:30pm Operations & Environment 6:15pm Administration & Finance

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Background information on complaint against Dziedzic
  • On Tuesday, August 26, 1975, Jack Mason was physically attacked at a School Board meeting by a school employee. The Interim School Superintendent, Donald D. Bevis, was quoted in the September 3, 1975 Minneapolis Tribune saying, "There was no question that the attack was one sided--there was no attack by Mason." The official who attacked Jack was suspended without pay for 30 days as a result.
  • Jack Mason is the late husband of park commissioner Vivian Mason.
  • In 1975, park commissioner Walt Dziedzic was a Minneapolis police officer heavily involved in politics, receiving the patronage of Mayor Al Hofstede after helping him get elected in 1972.
  • On August 18, 2004, at the public meeting of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, Dziedzic made the following statements in response to questions posed in a civil manner by Vivian Mason and Annie Young:

    Commissioner Walt Dziedzic: I have been [an] elected official since 1977, and in all that time, been through a lot of holy hell. I've never seen elected officials treat the staff as bad as I saw them being treated this evening. And I think that BS gotta stop! Because from now on, when I see elected officials pick on staff, I'll tell you what, I'm gonna get loud. [reaches forward and deliberately turns off his microphone] I'll tell you right now, I'm gonna get real loud! [shouting] Because I remember a fistfight that occurred at a Park Board...at a School Board meeting, and that could happen [bangs fist twice on the table] right here!

    Commissioner Berry Graves: Are you threatening people, Walter?

    Commissioner Dziedzic: [shouting] I'm not threatening anybody!

    Berry Graves: Well then why are you raising ...[unintelligible]

    Dziedzic: [shouting] I'm stating a fact! ...

    President John Olson: All right, all right...

    Dziedzic: [shouting louder] I'm stating a fact! ...

    Olson: That's enough! ...

    Dziedzic: Because I'm sick and tired of being ... [unintelligible]

  • Definition of a legal Terroristic Threat in Minnesota law, statute 609.713.
  • Example of a terroritic threat conviction legal opinion can be read here.

Posted by webmaster | Tue, 10/19/2004 - 11:55am | Login to post comments

Here's the video clip of Dziedzic threatening Mason on YouTube, taken from one of two cameras which captured the event.


Posted by webmaster | Mon, 01/15/2007 - 2:19am | Login to post comments

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