City folk who own cabins in Minnesota should be prepared to put up with stinky smells, the owners of a rural garbage business said in fighting a judge's ruling that they operated illegally for more than 40 years on a recreational lake near Park Rapids.
In December, a Hubbard County judge blasted local officials, calling them incompetent and negligent for allowing a garbage business to operate for decades in violation of the county's shore land-management law.
Chanhassen resident John Knoblauch and his family, who have owned a cabin on Hinds Lake since the 1950s, fought for more than 40 years to get rid of the garbage business that operated next door, claiming it was noisy, smelly and polluted the area.
The judge ruled that the county must shut down the business and issued $20,000 fines to two people who have owned and operated the company over the years.
Now the business owners, Dale Anderson and Nick Davis, want those fines thrown out. In court documents, the owners said the issue should be decided in light of the "standards of ordinary people," meaning the year-round residents of Hubbard County.
"Private-party defendants have been unfairly held to an improper standard based upon the sensibilities of vacationers," the owners said in a court filing.
In a reply filed with the court this week, Knoblauch called the owners' position "asinine," saying it was "as offensive as the slop that spilled" from parked garbage trucks.
A ruling is expected within 90 days.
John Reinan • 612-673-7402
