Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-08-27
DEFENDS COUNTY BOARD:

Editor Askov American:
Mr.. Gustafson's reply to my explain
alton of the controversy between the
county board and himself would have
passed by unnoticed by me IL he had
not Just as much as called me liar.
However. l will pardon him for this,
inasmuch as he is of the type who,
when faced with the facts, attempts
to get out of a tight place by resort
ing to the use of slang and smart
aleck slanderous remarks, thus hop
ing to take the readers minds off the
real point. He probably thought he
would pull a real clever stunt in
switching this salary matter to the
Willow River school affair. l wish to
inform my readers right here that the
Willow River school matter had moth
ing whatever to do with this matter.
DR.. Ehmke of Willow River, has now
come to the rescue of Mr.. GustafsOn
and states that the county commits
sioners should not continue their at
tacks and thus try to draw the pres
ent county superintendent into their
political difficulties.
Now, DR.. Ehmke, the commissioners
have no difficulties in this matter
The difficulties are yours and Mr.
Gustafson's. Mr.. GustafsOn started
this row by circulating untrue state
ments about the county board and
when the truth starts to come out
you want to call it off. Maybe when
we get to the bottom of it, we will
find that you also had something to
do with the starting of it. AS far
as the truth of my previous article
is concerned, the figures that l used,
took from the circular that Mr.. Gus
tafson prepared and sent around the
county, if they are not right, he must
be the Liar. The resolution of the tax
PAYERS that l mentioned is on record
in the court house. The criticism OF
his office, by the public examiner, is
also on record in the court house.
The county board is not concerned
about all the Dragging he does about
himself, but is concerned about the
wishes of the taxpayers as regards
what is done with their money. The
sum and substance of the whole thing
is that Mr.. Gustafson is sore because
the county board will not grant him
the increases that he wants, also be-
cause the board has seen fit to Ques-
ton and disallow some of his bills for
mileage and supplies. l never pub
lished a word about this matter until
after he had covered the county with
circulars making untrue statements
about the county board. He stated
at a county board meeting that ii his
demands were not granted he would
put the county board ION the spot"
whatever that means He admits that
he has had his assistant spend day
looking up facts regarding his salary
and expenses. The results OF what
his assistant found were mimeO-
graphed on county paper and at least
some of them sent out in county enve-
lopes. 1t would appear that he is
making the taxpayers foot the bill for
his efforts to carry out his threat to
put the county board ION the spot
Early this year the county board
got tired of his continual agitation
of the salary question and disregard
ing the resolution of the taxpayers
compromised with him by raising his
salary $17o year, making it $1S75
a year. The board thought this would
ho hrf OF tho
ing he was back again demanding
what he called, back salary. This
was denied and he then started his
campaign to put the board on the spot.
In addition to his regular salary he
received $155O3 this year from the
unorganized territory. This makes his
annual salary considerably above
$4,000. His mileage for the past 10
months was $643.O8. l think that
every fair minded person will admit
that he is we'll paid when they take
into consideration the effort that is
required of the taxpayers to get dol
lar.
He states that my article was a wolf
story to cover up bad administrative
work, to this 1 want it distinctly un-
derstood that 1 have nothing what
ever to cover up and therefore, have
no need for such nonsense as wolf
stories. When l read this remark
of his, thought he must have some
thing in mind in his own office and
so 1 checked over his mileage bills
and found that they should have been
more closely scrutinized before they
were passed. Since he has been in
office his mileage bills show visits to
schools as follows: II schools that
he visited once, 33 schools two
times, 20 schools three times, Is four
times, II five times, 6 six times,
seven times, eight times, 1 nine
times, 2 ten times, 1 eleven times,
thirteen times, 1 fourteen times.
seventeen times, 1 nineteen times, /
twenty-three times, 1 twenty-five
times, thirty-six. times.
Part of the law governing his office
reads as follows: County superin-
tendents shall visit and instruct each
school in their counties at least once
in each term, except those under the
immediate charge of city or district
/