Senior Rock Defacing, Communication Outage and 7 DWIs: Feedback Friday

Each week, Patch users contribute numerous insights, opinions and observations. The following is a collection of the most thoughtful, moving, controversial or just plain funny comments that appeared on Patch sites in Edina, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Richfield, Shakopee, Plymouth, St. Louis Park and St. Michael. Click on the headline to read the full story and join in the conversation.

(The comments below are not meant to reflect the opinions of Patch or its staff.)

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A group of  students responsible for graffiti spray painted on a memorial rock outside of  caught a substantial amount of flak over the weekend.

Patch broke the news Saturday that Minnetonka's senior rock had been defaced by what appeared to be EHS students. The school district later confirmed it had identified the responsible students and would be punishing them accordingly.

The rock had previously been decorated in honor of . The formerly blue rock was painted green and white, with "Edina Hornets" written on it.

Patch readers had plenty to say about the incident. User Abby LeGare said she thought Kennedy himself would not have made such a big deal about the graffiti:

I'm as disappointed with Edina's actions as the next girl, but since I have known Kennedy, I know that he would have wanted us to respond to this in love. Kennedy would never take revenge or even speak badly about what was done. Kennedy would be someone who would turn the other cheek and be the bigger man, and I think the Tonka community should do the same. Respond to injustice with love, that's what Ken would have wanted. Miss ya Ken! Hope we make you proud!

Meanwhile, user —pretty sure that's not his real name—said his grandson was actually responsible for the graffiti. John was proud:

My grandson was the one who painted it, and when he told me it was him I was proud of him, you may be thinking I'm just a cold harted self centered old man that has a lot of money, but painting the rock has been a tridition that has started in my generation, even I painted the rock when I was a young cake eater, so I know that my grandson ment no harm to this Kennedy fellow, I do find it very sad that he has passed away, but no kid could have known that. So let the tridition continue, but we need to find a new rock Edina because there is no need to mess with the dead.

After the "senior rock" defacing, the Edina school district reached out to officials in Minnetonka.

David Abrams put the prank into perspective:

If all the kids did was paint a rock then I'm not even sure this is newsworthy. Mtka kids can just paint it again.

if they painted a rock that was specifically a memorial to Kennedy Maddox then this involves a level of insensitivity that we would expect to see only in politicians and pundits and the kids should have known better.

If you had service via Charter Cable or Verizon, you were missing out yesterday in St. Michael and beyond.

Cari N said:

Thanks for reporting on this! I was so frustrated to lose internet AND my cell phone. I wondered if there was a connection! Charter is horrible and cuts out service quite frequently and won't admit it. On the other hand, we have Century Link which oversold the area and the internet connection is so slow that you can't use Hulu or Netflix!

My Pillow founder Mike Lindell said Monday he plans to take his growing pillow manufacturing plant and about 200 jobs from Carver to Shakopee. Shakopee Mayor Brad Tabke rolled out the welcome mat and applauded the decision via Twitter. 

Shakopee Mom didn't appreciate Tabke's thoughts on the matter:

Why does the Mayor need to self-aggrandize constantly? it's seems Mr. Lindell picked the location out in Shakopee by himself. The mayor should be more than a Twitter Welcome Wagon. Can we have at least one week of articles that we don't hear about the Mayor's tweets, blog or comments? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Richfield Police Arrest 7-Time DWI Offender for Drunken Driving

A St. Paul man with at least seven previous drunken driving convictions and eight convictions for driving with a canceled license was arrested last week in Richfield and charged again with DWI.

Michelle B. had this to say:

His bail should be 2mill so he cannot get out and kill anyone the next time. Obviously revoking his driving privileges is not working!

Melanie Sharpe started Mission Animal Hospital, located at 4338 Shady Oak Road on the Hopkins-Minnetonka border, because she doesn’t think there are many options for affordable pet care in the Twin Cities. While working for shelters, she saw many families struggling to keep their pets. Her goal is to offer critical services at a reasonable price.

That’s a goal that resonated with christine:

The headline of this article sure caught my interest. I have a border collie that I get 3 different scrib's ,One I can only get at the pharmacy @ $183's a pop, The other 2 I can get at the vet but that's not cheap either, it's killing my wallet, I cannot get rid of my dog. Maybe this clinic will help and be a bit cheaper or have a better alternative to what we are doing now. :o)