AFTER THE BIG LIE 

241. Welcome to Blog 20. I want to start off today by following up on where I left off on Blog 19. I want to talk about Officer Jago. My first recollection of him was back on March,2021 (see Blog 2 Point 78). At that meeting, we started off talking about what was going on around town. Minnesota bars were closed because of the pandemic and bars in Superior were super busy. I told him and his partner that there had been more incidents due to the large increase in business. His partner chimed in and said that things down closer to the bridge were way crazier. He even said that he was in the biggest bar fight of his life down there recently. And then he talked about Mellisa Hyatt complaining to the Mayor and Chief about music on after 2am. I took care of that right away. I thought the meeting was very cordial and they didn’t seem very concerned about things at Shorty’s or the Palace.

The next time his name came into my life was over a year after that meeting, with his press release on May 26,2022. I spoke about that in the last blog.

Then in 2023, when I started getting copies of texts and emails from the city, I saw his name attached to several of the communications. I thought it was odd, but I really didn’t give it much thought.

On September 2,2023, I received copies of texts between Officer Jago and Melissa Hyatt. The dates start on Jan 21,2021,which is before the meeting I had with him in March,2021. I was absolutely stunned. The meeting I had with him was over two years ago, but if he had told me about these texts, I’m pretty sure I would have remembered. He told me at the meeting in March,2021, he was just checking in with all the bar owners to see how things were going. Kinda of like a meet and greet. At the time, it seemed to make sense considering how things had changed so much in the bar business with the pandemic closures still going on in Minnesota.

Looking at it today, I really don’t know if that was the purpose of the meeting. I always had a good relationship with the SPD and the city from the day I opened Shorty’s in August, 2013. That all changed in April 16, 2022 when I got that letter from Mayor Paine (see Blog 1 Point 12). But here is Officer Jago having all these conversations with Melissa Hyatt prior to our meeting, and instead of discussing these concerns with me, the only thing he said was the Mayor and Chief were tired of her constant complaining (which I also knew nothing about), and then asked me not to have the music on after 2:00 am, which I completely agreed with and took care of.

242. After getting these texts on September 12, 2023, I felt betrayed by Officer Jago. Like every other public official including the Mayor, the Chief and the City attorney, nobody ever reached out to us to discuss any of the allegations and/or concerns from Melissa Hyatt. But I also feel there is a certain slimy side to this. Officer Jago is having a cordial discussion with me, while at the same time, he is also having discussions with the serial complainer, Melissa Hyatt to enact procedures to harm my business. Like all the others, there is no discussions to bring us all together to see if we can work on a resolution. And that is the common thread isn’t it? I thought that the job of public officials was to fix or to solve problems. But this Mayor and his minions seem hell bent to create problems. And there is the old saying “There is always two sides to a story”. Every public and private person that holds any type of power should live by that saying, so in the end they can make a fair and intelligent decision. 

Unfortunately, that is not what we have here currently in this city. And that is why I feel that Mayor Paine needs to be removed from office. My initial feeling back in 2021 when I met with Officer Jago was that he was nice guy. Now, I think he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I am 100% pro law enforcement guy. Always have been. Like a lot of little boys, I wanted to be a cop when I grew up. I still am pro law enforcement, although I have been tested throughout this process. And that is why it makes me sad to see people like Officer Jago and even the Chief get caught up in this mess that I believe the Mayor and Melissa Hyatt concocted. I personally feel they are good people. And, I wonder if back then that if they knew it would come to this, that they would have made different decisions.

The good news in this thread between Officer Jago and Melissa Hyatt that I received on September 12, 2023, is, this is the first time in writing, that confirms all this stuff started long before the ONLY shooting at the Palace on March 18, 2022. If you have been reading the Blog, all the texts etc., start on March 18, 2022. I have been trying to get information for quite some time from Mayor Paine’s office without success for earlier communications. (more on this on the next Blog).

Clearly by the language used, they had had previous communication. If it was by phone, there would be no record. If it was text or email, I don’t have it. Everything I have is posted on this blog. And then Jago talks about “meeting with the Mayor’s office”.

Melissa Hyatt makes an excellent point when she says “I am going to get told it’s my problem for living next to a bar”. Yes Melissa that is the point. If you lived next to a city dump, would you complain that it stunk? In fact you have a bar on each side of your business. You can’t expect to have country living when you live on the main drag downtown nestled between two bars. And by the way, those two bars have been there for decades before you were there. I really don’t know what you were thinking when you made that decision, but at some point you have to accept responsibility for your choice and either move on or move out. It is not reasonable for you to expect any business to change the way they operate just to please you and put themselves in a situation that could put them in a competitive disadvantage with their competition. And shame on the Mayor for not pointing that out to you.

This is when it gets ugly, real ugly. Jago states “I have a meeting with the Mayor on Thursday and officers have been assigned to walk into the bar and check in back minimum of twice a night for the next three months.” I have stated in a previous blog that I was totally against these “bar checks”. Having been a patron of the bar scene for all of my adult life, I lived in Ottawa for 36 years, Fort Myers for 15 years, Superior for 15 years and now Nevada for almost a year. Superior is the only place I have ever seen this. When I opened Shorty’s in 2013, right from the start, it became the new “in spot”. And not long after, here comes the “bar checks”. The first time I saw that I thought “what the hell is going on here”. 

Being a big fan of old black and white movies, it reminded me of the old war movies when the soldiers would go into peoples homes, confiscate their books and burned them. Once I talked to some people and learned about these bar checks my inclination was to call the police chief and talk with him about them. But being the new guy on the block, I decided to hold off. In hindsight, I do regret not calling him, but I was surprised that the Tavern League or a group of bar owners had not got together and express what I believe is overreach of police powers. Maybe they did, but I am not aware of it. The rest of the texts were just the regular Melissa garbage, but the one thing that seemed strange is on March 4, 2021, she sent a picture of a garbage can and the next text was Jago sending her a text on March 23, 2022. That’s a year later.

I was so ticked off about these bar checks. I felt they were overstepping their power so I sent the Chief the following email on September 13, 2023. What I didn’t know is how bad it really was. (See below)

From:brian noel 

Sent:Wednesday, September 13, 2023 7:23 AM

To:Alexander, Nicholas F. 

Subject: walk throughs

Hi chief,

I was just curious about the unannounced police walk troughs that the SPD conducts.

I am not asking about the Palace Bar, just the policy in general.

1- When or what year did this policy start?

2- Who's idea was it?

3- Are there any stats that exists to their effectiveness?



Thanks,

Brian

HIS RESPONSE OR AS I CALL IT THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY

To:brian noel

Cc:Prell, Frog

Wed, Sep 13 at 9:12 AM 

Good morning Brian,

As long as I have worked at SPD, so over 25 years, there has always been an expectation to perform bar checks. There is no written policy on it just something that was passed down from the Command Staff to Sergeants and then Sergeants would disseminate to their patrol shifts. My experience has been that all establishments should occasionally get walked through and then places where we were seeing more police calls would see more visits. Certainly some of the visits are nothing more than community policing and making contact with the public even when nothing criminal is going on.  I am not sure who created the idea or concept but it was before my time here at SPD. I am not aware of any statistics that we have tracked to identify the effectiveness. Overall in policing the concept of presence has been identified to have a positive impact on reducing crime and improving community relations.

Once again I’m at odds with the Chief.

You don’t know when it started.

You don’t know who started it.

You have no stats to prove if it’s effective.

Then you go on to say the following.

“Overall in policing the concept of presence has been identified to have a positive impact on reducing crime and improving community relations. “

I do agree with what the Chief is saying here in the following context. When I am on Fremont St. or the Strip in Las Vegas, on Bourbon St. in New Orleans, at a large sporting event or concert, yes, I want to see a police presence, but at a local bar, no thanks.

The owners (at least the ones that I know) hate it. The customers hate it. In fact, many hate it so much, it bothers me that they have such a bad opinion about our local police. I would submit that this policy has the exact opposite effect from what you are saying. Because what has happened here is that you have weaponized this policy to a degree that is insane, and I will prove this on my next Blog.

See you soon and I won’t be doing a walk through at your home.

Brian