Deal, or No Deal.

Glenwood City in St. Croix County thought they had a deal for a frac sand plant, to be build a half mile from a local school. They signed the contract, but turns out, the CEO of Vista Sand was facing other issues...

“I pray that we make the right decision here tonight.”

Those were the fateful words of landowner Scott Teigen as he made a personal appeal to the Glenwood City Council to approve an annexation petition, the last obstacle standing in the way of opening a frac sand mining operation a half mile from the school. It worked. In front of a room packed with embattled city residents, by a vote of 4-2 the council approved the petition making valid the pre-annexation agreement they had previously signed with Vista Sand of Texas to begin mining operations.

That was three months ago. Although County Road G has been resurfaced in preparation for the heavy truck traffic expected to accompany the commencement of mining, the contract remains unsigned by Vista.

Monday, Aug. 18, it was revealed that Vista Sands CEO and operating partner, R.J. Sikes, had been incarcerated June 30 in Ellis County, Texas, to begin serving concurrent four-year sentences on charges of child sexual assault and indecency with a child-sexual contact. KWWL TV in Waterloo, Iowa, reported that the charges stem from an incident with a 14-year-old girl back in 2010. A third charge was dismissed. According to Christine Cooper, a spokesperson for the Wayne McCollum Detention Center in Waxahachie, Texas, Sikes is scheduled to be transferred from McCollum to the State Prison Gurney Unit in Palestine, Texas, to serve the rest of his sentence.

“When I learned yesterday about the charges that were brought against Roger Sikes and the way he deceived this community the last two years, standing up front there, I have three daughters, to say I’m mad as hell is an understatement. Obviously the victim of whatever crime he committed, you feel for them,” said Ken Peterson, Glenwood City Council member.

Council member Crystal Booth has consistently opposed the mine proposal since its inception.

“I cannot speak for the council. From the beginning of this process, my concern was that 1) the mine was very near a school population and what, if any, negative environmental and health concerns it would carry to that entity; and 2) I had reservations about Mr. Sikes personally. I made my concerns about his character public at at least one council meeting with Mr. Teigen present. I personally have extreme trust issues with this particular company, to make sure they follow through on promises and guarantees that ensure Glenwood City citizens and the surrounding community will live in a healthy and environmentally safe area,” said Booth.
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Glenwood City Mayor John Larson said he’d known about the Sikes situation for about a week prior to meeting with council members on Monday, Aug. 18.

“Unfortunate, but it is what it is. City Council was informed Monday evening at a committee of the whole meeting about the library. We certainly didn’t need any more controversy surrounding this whole mining issue. It’s been fed by a lot of misinformation and now this. There are a lot of people jumping to conclusions. Yes he’s (Sikes) in jail, but you don’t know and I don’t know what happened. Our dealing and our agreement is with Vista Sand the company, not with R.J. Sikes personally,” said Larson.

Asked whether the nearly two months it took Vista to inform him about Sikes’ incarceration impacted their credibility in his eyes, Larson’s trust was unwavering.

“I have no issues with the credibility of Vista Sand. We are not under the gun here to get things rocking and rolling. It’s kind of up to them. Things happen. It’s happened to one of their people.

“According to the company he is no longer involved in any management or officer capacity at the company. He has no input into any of the decision making. He’s gone. Our attorney’s position is that we have a contract out there with Vista Sand,” added Larson.

“It does appear they are dragging their feet on getting us a signed contract. Why that’s happening, I don’t know. It doesn’t concern me, because to a certain degree, time heals everything. I think we want to get something done before the end of the year obviously. We are going to move forward,” said Larson.

We get it -- he really, really wants this deal to happen...
Can you say "tone deaf", Mayor Larson?
I knew you could!