Congdon Trust Juanita Kammerman DPPA member Letter To Editor - DNT? I watched the recent coverage on PAC-TV of the Duluth City Council meeting at which Councilors voted down the leasing of the Congdon Trust land for the McQuade boat launch. I was impressed with the thoughtful consideration councilors gave this topic and the well-informed remarks of public speakers. It was a marvelous example, I thought at the time, of democracy in action. Some attendees that night accused Council members who would not be backing the McQuade project of changing their minds. It didn't appear to me that the Councilors did change their minds, since it was not until this vote that the City Council was ever asked to give a formal go-ahead to McQuade. But even if they had changed their minds, why would that be a failing? Learning to change one's mind when circumstances and information dictate is a mark of maturity. Sticking stubbornly to a position even when proven imprudent is not. I was greatly disappointed in the recent editorial by the News Tribune's publisher, Ms. Jacobus, about this McQuade vote. Ms. Jacobus disparages the judgment of the City Councilors, dismisses the interested citizens who spoke at the Council against McQuade, and treats Emily Van Evera - Chester Congdon's great-granddaughter - as an irrelevancy. In addition, Mary Jacobus's claims in her editorial that the City Council votes solely based on who happens to fill the Council Chambers is not worthy of her, and City Councilors should call for an apology. I extend my thanks to those six city councilors who did the right thing by refusing to break the Congdon Trust and lease that North Shore land for an unneeded and costly boat launch: Hogg, Gilbert, Stover, Fena, Eckenberg, and Stewart. I believe you have spoken for the citizens of Duluth - both today and in the future. These articles are retained on the web for historical interest and do not necessarily reflect the views or goals of DPPA today.