Local government Gestapo in Minnesota

Haven't they got anything better to do?

Laura Soelberg's fall garage sale began much as it had for 19 years: Friends parked in the church lot next to her mother's Minnetonka house, greeted her with hugs and gifts, and began browsing. But within half an hour, the authorities arrived to shut her down. A police officer and two city workers ordered a halt to the Oct. 24 event, telling everyone to get out, shoppers said. "It was almost like they were breaking up an underage party," said Laurel Elhart, a Minnetonka resident who had attended the sales for at least a dozen years.

Now Soelberg, 72, could face criminal charges -- and if convicted, up to 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine and a year of probation. The city considers Soelberg's yard sales a zoning violation, in part because, while the Deephaven resident owns the house, she does not live in it. Soelberg looks upon her twice-a-year sales as a tradition she started with her mother in the 1980s and merely continued at her mother's home after her mother's death in the late '90s. "I don't understand. This is such a minor, little thing," she said. "Everyone likes a garage sale."

Before each sale, which generally runs four days, Soelberg sends out reminder postcards to those who request them and gives the neighbors a heads up. Andy Martin, who lives next door, wrote a letter to the city in support of Soelberg, saying that his family is probably "the most impacted of anyone by her sale." But her events, in contrast to others he's seen in the city, are infrequent. "Before you sanction her, you would need to sanction many others," Martin wrote.

Yvonne Brown, who has known Soelberg for 20 years, arrived two hours after the authorities did on Oct. 24 and found the few people still there "had stunned looks on their faces. It was like the Gestapo had just come and left," she said. "I couldn't believe it. There are garage sales all over all the neighborhoods. Why this one?"

But the city has raised another question: Are Soelberg's events really garage sales? In general, the city draws a legal distinction between a garage sale and a commercial venture, city planner Julie Wischnack said: "The difference is whether someone is utilizing the sale for an income-generating venture. Is it truly trying to get rid of items around the house? Or is it a commercial operation?" Soelberg declined to say how much money her sales take in. "I don't really talk about that," she said. "I make enough to make it worthwhile." But she denies that what she's doing is akin to operating a business. She holds the sales infrequently, sells second-hand goods that come mostly from her family's homes, does no advertising, collects no taxes and has no employees.

Her "friends/customers," as she calls them, have voiced support for her in letters and a petition. Elhart said most of the shoppers are acquaintances -- middle-aged and elderly women who have met at the sales over the years. And most were shocked by "the police invasion."It's odd that it's been going on for so long and now, all of a sudden, it's an issue," Elhart said.

But the Oct. 24 sale wasn't the first to garner the city's attention. At Soelberg's spring sale, which featured $2 perennials, the city issued her a citation and an invitation to Minnetonka's City Court. Often, violations of city ordinances are handled through the City Court, "an alternative to the regular court system ... intended to be more informal and less intimidating to alleged violators," the city says on its website.

But "if that hasn't remedied the problem, the city will consider pressing criminal charges," said Rolf Stonheim, associate city attorney, who said it's a misdemeanor to violate the zoning code. Wischnack, the city planner, confirmed that the city plans to press charges against Soelberg. But she said she could not comment on the case because it's under investigation. Soelberg said after agreeing last spring to go to City Court, she was never called in. That's why, when fall came around, she decided to hold her sale, as usual

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Slap on wrist for crooked British forensic scientist

The forensic pathologist who carried out post-mortem tests on the two babies of Sally Clark has lost his High Court challenge against a ruling that he was guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Mrs Clark, a solicitor from Wilmslow, Cheshire, was wrongly convicted in 1999 of murdering her sons. She was freed on appeal in 2003. She died earlier this year, aged 42.

Alan Williams, 58, who testified against Mrs Clark at her original trial, was found guilty of misconduct by a General Medical Council panel in 2005 after it was revealed that he had not disclosed key test results in court. He was later banned from undertaking court work or coroners’ cases for three years.

His lawyers argued at the High Court that Dr Williams had been “made a scapegoat” for the miscarriage of justice, but Mr Justice Davis rejected the appeal.

Mrs Clark died from accidental acute alcohol intoxication. Her family said she never fully recovered from the miscarriage of justice.

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