A Criminal Homicide is Covered-up in Central Minnesota by a Wealthy, Powerful Gasoline Distribution Company, a Corrupted Minnesota State Patrol, and in Milaca a Corrupted Mille Lacs County District Court

A True Criminal Homicide, and Systemic Corruption of Minnesota's "Public Servants"

"Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen...If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself...To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means ...would bring terrible retribution. Against that pernicious doctrine this court should resolutely set its face."

--Associate Justice Louis D. Brandeis of the United States Supreme Court, dissenting in Olmstead v. United States.

"...be sure your sin will find you..." The Holy Bible, King James Version, Numbers 32: 23.

A semi-gas tanker truck driver who was traveling behind that minivan shown above, would terrorize-to-the-top that minivan's driver, and then he'd kill him [fatal crash site photos above].

Tanker driver Randy Veurink of Pease, Minn. pop. 163, click here, which is four miles south of Milaca, would bash out that minivan driver's brains; killing Clarence Waage of St. Paul, Minnesota, click here.

Veurink commited criminal homicide.

Veurink would not get so much as a traffic ticket for his criminal homicide.

Why?

Because of public corruption in the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, and because of public corruption in the Judicial Branch of Minnesota's government.

Milaca-headquartered Gas jobber Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. was Veurink's employer, and it was an Eggen's Direct Service semi-gas tanker truck that Veurink was driving when he committed the homicide.

Veurink's killing, that type of killing, that bashing-his-brains-out killing with a 40-ton tanker truck, would send van passenger Irene Waage, Clarence's wife, into a hell of unspeakable traumatized horror.

But the laughing-killer-tanker-driver Veurink--he was laughing as he left the courthouse years later with his laughing gas jobber foreman of Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. at his side--Veurink was laughing after his then attorney, Fred Grunke, called him, Veurink, a "Good Samaritan" for stopping at the fatal crash site--a fatal crash site that he, Veurink, had created.

And Jury manager Carol Eggen was laughing too--in the Mille Lacs County District Courthouse in Milaca.

And yes, Carol Eggen is related to the Eggens who own the gas jobber Eggen's Direct Service, Inc, Veurink's employer.

And yes, the judge, Judge Michael Jesse, had allowed her, Jury Manager Carol Eggen, to work extensively on her own family's business's wrongful death case in the courthouse.

And yes, Judge Jesse had granted Eggen's Direct Service, Inc.'s and their driver Randy Veurink's request for summary judgment, which in effect threw out the Waage's wrongful death case against the Eggen's Direct and Veurink.

But the Minnesota Court of Appeals would later unanimously overrule Judge Jesse saying that Jesse was wrong to have thrown out the Waage's case against Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. and its Driver Veurink. To see that ruling, click on the following hyperlink: http://www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us/archive/ctapun/0309/op030246-0930.htm.

And when Eggen's Direct and Veurink appealed that Court of Appeals decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court, claiming that the Court of Appeals had somehow improperly arrived at their unanimous decision, the Court denied Eggen's request for such a review, indicating that they thought the unanimous decision was arrived at properly, click on the following hyperlink to see the denial: http://www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us/archive/supct/0312/pfr12-23.htm.

But even after the Waage's wins at the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, Jury Manager Carol Eggen knew that the case was dead anyway against her family's company and its driver because the first trial in the case--the Waage's trial against the dump truck driver [see the Court of Appeals ruling's hyperlink in the paragraph above]--had been successfully rigged in her, Carol Eggen's, corrupt Mille Lacs County District Courthouse, and consequently her family's company and driver were perfectly protected by the binding legal principal of res judicata, meaning no more could be won in the second trial than in the first, wherein the corrupted jury gave the widow and her grieving family $4,000 for the loss of Clarence.

[So why did the Waage's attorney even appeal the first trial if res judicata applied? Waage Attorney Roger Roe did the appeal because a win at the Court of Appeals would give him, Roe, some leverage against Judge Jesse when Jesse awarded costs and expenses regarding Eggen's attorney Fred Grunke and himself, Roe--more on how incredibly unfair and cruel Judge Jesse was to the Waage's regarding that aspect, later.]

And so, when Irene Waage returned to Carol Eggen's corrupted courthouse for an administrative matter after the Court of Appeals win for the Waage's, Carol Eggen had something to say to the grieving widow, the grieving widow whose husband Carol Eggen's family's company, Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. and its driver, Randy Veurink, had killed.

"Looks like another win for the Dark Side," Jury Manager Carol Eggen said to Irene and her son David when they were in the courthouse And immediately after that statement, Jury Manager Carol Eggen laughed in the face of the frail, elderly Irene, a WWII veteran, about the death of her WWII veteran husband, Clarence, who had served at Pearl Harbor--Eggen laughed a long and hearty laugh in both Irene and David's face knowing that her relative's business and its semi driver had gotten away with criminal homicide scot-free--with the aiding and abetting from her, Carol Eggen's, corrupt courthouse friends, and a corrupt Minnesota State Patrol.

Is this the type of justice, the type of country, that Irene and Clarence thought they were putting their lives on the line for when they enlisted to "fight for freedom" in WWII? Irene suffered a permanently injured knee, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other injuries from the crash. But it was Eggen's Directs and Veurink's taking of her husband's life, with whom she had just celebrated her fifty year anniversary with, that devastated her completely, "They couldn't have done anything worse to me," she said.

Listen to Carol Eggen and her laughing courthouse friends and co-workers as they attempt to illegally block for a second time the distribution of a public document that undercut the credibility of Eggen's key defense witness in this wrongful death case--by clicking on the adjacent photo of her, Carol Eggen's, courthouse [below]--as she tells the dead man's son, that yes she is indeed an Eggen of the Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. family, [the admission comes in the last two sentences of the tape].

[This phone call/sound file opens and plays on iphones ipads, other internet phones and computers.]

The then court administrator, Ron Tvedt, would later state--in writing--that it was NOT a violation of court policy for Carol Eggen to work, and work extensively, on her own family's business's wrongful death case in the courthouse, because she was not individually named in the suit.

The Mille Lacs County District Court "does not have a written conflict of interest policy," said the then Court Administrator Tvedt in a letter. Click here to see that letter.

The laughing Tvedt stated in that letter that in The Carol J. Eggen Court, the "unwritten" policy is that--We of the Eggen Court do hereby decree, that if a court employee happened to be a "party" in a suit, THEN The Eggen Court would stop that worker from working on their own family's business' wrongful death case defense.

But of course this "unwritten" policy is subject to revision if the business in question is the Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. business--So let it be written, so let it be done--signed, the Eggens of Milaca, Rulers of the Mille Lacs County District Court by virtue of their inherent financial power of their then ten-million dollar a year gas jobber business and Rulers also by virtue of their inherent power of associations--just you remember that this is a court of men and of Carol Eggen, not a court of laws--and remember that the real authority is situated at the Eggen's business's throne, Eggen's Direct Service, Inc.'s headquarters, located two blocks from the Milaca courthouse.

And also remember that We, the Eggens, own the cops and the Milaca courthouse, and just you remember that any Eggens or employee therefore is above State and above Federal law in this neck of the woods, and that We, the Eggens or any one of our employees, can kill another human being with impunity, and anyone questioning this decree will be punished, so sayeth the Eggens of Milaca, Minnesota.

It's Carol Eggen's court now, not your's, fellow Minnesotans. It's Eggen's Direct Service, Inc.'s court, the law no longer matters there now; it has no say.

Tvedt ends that letter in a supposed attempt to clear up any "confusion" about Waage's agent Kevin's--a private detective--request for a public document that was earlier illegally denied by Court Clerk Carol Eggen.

Kevin had requested a transcript of the Ken Ruis DWI court hearing. Ruis was then an Eggen's Direct's key defense witness.

Regarding Tvedt's words on that subject--Bullshit. What happened is on the tape for you to hear, and it is clear what had occurred between Kevin and Clerk Eggen.

Court Clerk Carol J. Eggen purposely and illegally misled Kevin in an attempt to advance her own family's business' wrongful death case defense--and she was caught on tape doing it [listen to the taped phone call at the above court photo hyperlink], and then Eggen attempted to illegally do it--wrongfully withhold a public document--again.

Kevin said later, "She [Court Clerk Carol J. Eggen] flat-out lied to me."

See Carol Eggen's then job description by clicking on, here

The Crime

"Nous aurons raison parce que nous avons raison." Anatole France, taken from Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters by Louis Begley, 2009.

From the Court of Appeals oral argument--Chief Judge Edward Toussaint, Jr. of the Minnesota Court of Appeals: "Now, about this collision between the tanker and the van..."

Attorney Roger Roe, Jr. : "There was no collision. They didn't collide. They [Clarence Waage and his wife, Irene] were pushed."

Anybody who has seen Steven Spielberg's first major film Duel knows the core horror plot of the terror instilled in minivan driver Clarence Waage just before he was killed on Highway 169 in the small rural central Minnesota town of Princeton, Minnesota. Princeton, Minnesota: A town so laughably and obviously corrupt in the 1980's it made it into Time magazine, click,here. For another source on that infamous cocaine smuggling kingpin "Casey" Ramirez, then operating a front business in Princeton, click here and then here.

In both the Spielberg film, and in this real life fatal crash, a 40-ton semi-gas tanker truck came up from behind the unsuspecting driver, and began to push.

Imagine looking into your rear-view mirror and seeing the big grill of a semi-gas tanker truck bearing down upon you. You're seeing that tanker closing fast, and fear rises up as you're sure the tanker will be hitting your minivan's back end. But it doesn't hit; instead, that 40-ton behemoth comes up against your Minivan's back bumper, and begins to push on it.

Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Robert H. Schumacher wrote in the Court's unanimous decision: “The record demonstrates there were no other vehicles between the Waage van and [Randall] Veurink's tanker..."... Judge Schumacher wrote in the unanimous opinion: "...Irene Waage felt a "strong force" push the van, heard a "terrible roar," and heard, as they were being pushed sideways, the "whoosh" of a passing vehicle.”

You feel that hurricane-like power pushing your minivan down the road, overwhelming fear. You're feeling that incredibly strong force that just keeps pushing, as you watch your steering wheel go whirling, zipping uncontrollably through your hands. You're in sheer terror now as the behemoth behind strips all control from you, and you sense your imminent death.

Judge Shumacher wrote: "... accident reconstructionist, David E. Hamerski, Ph.D…report …concludes, based on the Waage van's tire marks, the van's path was not chosen by the driver but was the result [of] an outside force…. The minivan spun out of control and collided with the dump truck."

Mercilessly, the driver of that semi-gas tanker truck keeps his tanker pushing on your minivan's back bumper, pushing the minivan out of the left lane, and into the right. The push sends the minivan's left front tire on a perfectly straight pushed-path from the left lane to the right, while causing the backend of the minivan to spin like a top--you feel like you're in a tornado or in a hurricane, with no control. "I don't want to die," you're screaming in your mind, "I've got important things yet to do for my kids, my grandkids."

At the right lane's fog line, the spinning ends--and so does your life. At the fog line, your minivan smacks into the tailgate of a dump truck, and everything goes black. Your life is gone, suddenly, and wrongly, gone. That precious life of your's has just been taken from you by semi-gas tanker driver Randy Veurink of Pease, Minnesota.

Judge Schumacher: “In his affidavit to the court, Hamerski states it is his opinion the Veurink tanker's contact with the Waage van supplied this force....Hamerski relied on the methodology frequently used by accident reconstructionist, namely tire marks left at the scene and positions and speed of the vehicles involved. He then applied the laws of physics and engineering to these facts. There is nothing in the record indicating that Hamerski's qualifications as an expert were challenged nor is there any evidence he lacked foundation for his conclusions. "

That dump truck that you just slammed into is fully-loaded with crushed rock, and weighs 28,000 lbs. It was traveling illegally on the road's shoulder: Minn. Statutes 169.18 subd.10 click, Here and also view 169.01 subd. 31 click, Here]

When your minivan hit that dump truck's tailgate on your driver's door, you were killed--wrongly, criminally killed. But instead of justice prevailing and Veurink being sent to prison for his crime of criminal vehicular homicide, Veurink will not get so much as a traffic ticket, because of a corrupted Minnesota State Patrol; this is elucidated below, beginning at the section: "Corrupt Troopers and a Criminal Breach of Trust."

Judge Schumacher wrote in the Court of Appeals unanimous decision: "...The Waages argue that Irene Waage's deposition statements and Hamerski's opinion raise a genuine issue of material fact as to Veurink's involvement in the crash. We agree."

A State Patrol Corrupted, and a Criminal Breach of Trust

"Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live." FDR 1933.

"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley.

Here's your "Heroes' " work concerning your fatal crash "investigation":

• Illegally kept secret and concealed "smoking gun" evidence in a trooper's "private home files" for years, despite repeated written legal requests for that evidence.
• Did NOT do an accident reconstruction for this fatal crash, and admitted to that obstruction of Justice when placed under oath.
• Falsified official reports, and did not even do other required official reports.
• Committed perjury.
• Many instances of dereliction of duty by all troopers involved, in this so-called investigation.
• ignored the evidence of the victim's wife's statement made immediately after the crash and her subsequent statements, and failed to investigate when given new evidence from the victim's family's reconstructionist--both being evidence that the Minnesota Court of Appeals would later uphold--unanimously.
• Conveniently "lost" only that critical evidence that would have correctly shifted the cause of the crash to the two local commercial drivers, and admitted when placed under oath that they had"lost" that critical evidence.
• Fabricated evidence, repeatedly, to mislead--for the purpose of shifting the cause of the crash off the two local commercial drivers and onto the minivan driver, and admitted that fabrication of evidence when placed under oath.
• Typed"Inaudible" numerous times into a Patrol transcript of a Patrol recorded phone call, but these numerous "inaudible" gaps were audible on the actual Patrol recording--and damning of the troopers that conducted this investigation,
• failed to give alcohol tests to the two local central Minnesota commercial truck drivers involved in this fatal crash, despite the troopers' easy opportunity to do so, instead only obtaining an alcohol test for the dead Twin Cities minivan driver [the minivan driver didn't drink, the test found zero alcohol]. Testing the commercial truck drivers should have been "automatic" in that situation, said a legal expert in the commercial trucking section of the Patrol.
• Lied about which trooper came first to the fatal crash site. Patrol practice is that the first trooper who comes to the crash site assumes the lead investigator role, but that did not happen here, according to two different radio dispatcher logs, and an interview with one of the first law enforcement officials on the crash site. Those sources indicated that the first trooper on the crash site stepped aside and the second trooper on the crash site assumed the role of lead investigator. Why does it matter? Read the next bullet.
• The lead Patrol investigator argued vehemently with the assistant county attorney when she ordered him to issue a citation to the dump truck driver, William David Sager, according to the assistant county attorney. The assistant county attorney said also, "He [the lead Patrol investigator] didn't even want to charge them with these equipment violations, and a man was killed here! I couldn't believe it!" the assistant county attorney shouted on the phone in a phone call to the victim's son.
• In the Patrol's General Orders Manual, which informs each trooper of his/her duty, it states:" Fatal accident follow-up: After an appropriate grieving period the investigating Trooper or a supervisor familiar with the accident should visit the next of kin, or at least offer to sit down with the family to discuss the results of the investigation." The Waage family actually had to write to the Governor and to the Attorney General's offices and then an Attorney General staff member actually had to personally phone the lead investigating trooper to get the lead investigating trooper to sit down with the family and discuss the investigation's findings; needless to say, this should not have been the case. When the entire Waage family showed up for the meeting and asked the lead investigating trooper for a copy of the final report of the accident investigation, the trooper put his forearms on each side of the report on the conference table, looked down at the report and shook his head no. He told the family that if they wanted a copy of the report that they would have to write to his boss at the St. Cloud headquarters. He would not even let the family hold and review the report themselves. That report should not have been withheld; the meeting took place more than a year after the crash; the case was closed as far as the Patrol and the county attorney were concerned--that report should have been simply handed over to the family.
• other acts of obstruction of justice
• other acts of fraud
• "For all the other victims who haven't gotten justice, I say one thing: Don't give up..." --John Walsh, host of the television show America's Most Wanted speaking on 16 December 2008 upon finally learning who killed his boy, Adam. A failed police investigation in Florida caused Mr. Walsh and his family to have to wait 27 years to learn who killed and decapitated his six-year-old boy.

Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Robert H. Schumacher wrote in the Court's unanimous decision:

"...Irene Waage felt a "strong force" push the van, heard a "terrible roar," and heard, as they were being pushed sideways, the "whoosh" of a passing vehicle.  The minivan spun out of control and collided with the dump truck...There were no vehicles between the Waage van and the Veurink tanker [behind]."...Irene Waage's statements that she saw a big black grill, felt a force pushing the Waage van from behind, and heard the "whoosh" of a passing vehicle, in a summary judgment analysis must be accepted as true.  The factual inference from these statements is that a truck with a big black grill struck the Waage van.  The record demonstrates there were no other vehicles between the Waage van and Veurink's tanker, and therefore there is a reasonable possibility that Veurink's tanker contacted the Waage van, thus causing Clarence Waage to lose control and collide with the dump truck."

"...The Waages obtained the opinion of an accident reconstructionist, David E. Hamerski, Ph.D.  In Hamerski's technical report he concludes, based on the Waage van's tire marks, the van's path was not chosen by the driver but was the result [of] an outside force.  In his affidavit to the court, Hamerski states it is his opinion the Veurink tanker's contact with the Waage van supplied this force....Hamerski relied on the methodology frequently used by accident reconstructionist, namely tire marks left at the scene and positions and speed of the vehicles involved.  He then applied the laws of physics and engineering to these facts.  There is nothing in the record indicating that Hamerski's qualifications as an expert were challenged nor is there any evidence he lacked foundation for his conclusions. "

"...The Waages argue that Irene Waage's deposition statements and Hamerski's opinion raise a genuine issue of material fact as to Veurink's involvement in the crash.  We agree.

Also taken from the Court of Appeals unanimous Opinion for the Waage's and against gas jobber Eggen's Direct Service, Inc., and their tanker driver Randall [a.k.a. Randy] Veurink, et al. --an Opinion written by Judge Robert H. Schumacher:" ...We conclude there are genuine issues of material fact regarding Veurink's involvement in the accident. We reverse and remand." Further below you can click on a link to read in-full the Minnesota Court of Appeals unanimous Opinion in this case.

The Big Cover-up

"If we were just two guys sitting in a bar having a drink, and you told me what you just said to me--I'd say you were railroaded," a prominent Twin Cities attorney to the son of the killed man.

Tanker driver Randall Veurink and his then gas jobber employer, Eggen's Direct Service, Inc., escaped all civil and criminal accountability for this criminal homicide. How could this injustice happen? Who's to blame? This incredible injustice happened because of systemic public corruption among central Minnesota's cops and courts--a rottenness that has been in-place and ignored for decades.

This web site will expose that corruption; it will present irrefutable proof that this criminal homicide happened as represented on this web site; and it will prove that this criminal homicide was committed by Randy (Randall) Bruce Veurink, of Pease, Minn.

You can click on the next blue hyperlink below to see an accident reconstruction for this fatal crash. And at that link you can see the evidence that proves that this was a criminal homicide committed by Randall [a.k.a. Randy] Bruce Veurink, using the weapon of an Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. 40-ton semi-gas tanker truck. You will see the full-story of what really happened in this crash and in the crash's aftermath, including what happened regarding the willfully-blind chain of command at the Minnesota's Dept. of Public Safety.You will be able to see, that it all adds-up to biased rural troopers entering into a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice, with a complicit chain of command. "We call them cowboys," said one licensed private eye in St. Paul, Minnesota about central Minnesota troopers in general who are headquartered out of St. Cloud, Minnesota [a town 65 miles north of the Twin Cities]"because they do anything they want."

Despite these troopers' attempt to bury the truth with the victim--Magna est veritas et praevalet--Great is truth it prevails. Click Here to see the evidence, and the full story of what really happened in this fatal crash and investigation, and the full story of what happened in the crash's aftermath, and continue on below to keep reviewing the summary.

Months after their win at the Court of Appeals, Waage family members made two unannounced visits to the Milaca courthouse to look at their case file, and they found two items in that file that shouldn't have been in there. One of those items was a photocopy of the oral argument script used by Eggen's attorney Fred Grunke--the script that Grunke used as he made his oral argument for Eggen's Direct Service before the Minnesota Court of Appeals in this case. Why was that Grunke's oral argument script in the district court case file and how did it get there. An oral argument script is not filed with any court and is solely in the control of the attorney that gives the oral argument. Months earlier, Waage had contacted the press about this case. Was that Grunke's script placed in the file for the press to see if they came to examine the file for a story? And who placed Grunke's oral argument script in the district court's file in the Milaca courthouse?

Judge Michael Jesse [left] "Corrupted: a verb. -rupting, rupts. 1. To destroy or subvert the honesty or integrity of. 2. To ruin morally; pervert. 3. To taint; contaminate. 4. To cause to become rotten; spoil. 5. To change the original form of (a text, for example). 6. Computer science To damage (data) in a file or on a disk. --intransitive To become corrupt.

"Conflict of interest: a noun. plural, conflicts of interest. A conflict between a person's private interests and public obligations. --from The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition.

Judge Michael Jesse [at left] did not inform either the Waages or the Waages' attorneys that Carol Eggen--who is an Eggen's Direct Service family member--was working as a jury manager and general clerk in the Mille Lacs County District Courthouse. And that conduct by Judge Jesse violated Minnesota's Code of Judicial Conduct--to view that Code, click: Here.

Judge Jesse and Court Administrator Ronald Tvedt allowed then District Court Bookkeeper/Jury Manager Carol J. Eggen to extensively manage in the court's administration office this wrongful death case--Waage vs. Eggen's Direct Service, Inc.; Randall Bruce Veurink, et al.--a case that the Waages had filed against clerk Carol Eggen's relatives' business-- Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. And that conduct by Judge Jesse violated Minnesota's Code of Judicial Conduct. To view photocopies of court documents that prove this was so, click: Here.

These documents include documents that show clerk Eggen repeatedly acting as an intermediary between Judge Jesse and the Waages' attorneys without disclosing to the Waages' attorneys her last name, nor disclosing to them her family relationship to the Eggens Direct Service family--identifying herself to Waages' attorneys only as clerk "Carol"--and that conduct, allowed by Judge Jesse violated Minnesota's Code of Judicial Conduct.

The court should have declared this conflict of interest to the plaintiffs, who were from the Twin Cities and consequently were unknowledgeable about Milaca court staffers, and the court should then have moved this case to a different venue to have ensured a fair trial--instead, they let the "defendant" run her own family's case in the court's administration office with the plaintiffs and their attorneys unaware of this conflict of interest. To view clerk Eggen's then job description, click: Here.

Several months after the case had begun, Judge Jesse wrongly granted--according to the unanimous opinion of the Minnesota Court of Appeals--the defendants' attorney Fred Grunke's motion for summary judgment that Grunke had filed on behalf of defendants Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. and Eggen's tanker driver Randall Veurink--and that wrongful action effectively threw out Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. and Veurink from the Waage's case, pending an appeal by the Waage's to reverse the judge's decision. Instead of immediately appealing Judge's Jesse's wrongfully granted summary judgment, Waage's attorney Roger Roe went on to trial against the then remaining defendants: the dump truck driver and his employer, Essig's Construction. Roe told the Waage's that he, Roe, would appeal Judge Jesse's granting of Eggen's summary judgment motion following the trial against the dump truck driver and Essig's Construction.

If a Corrupt lawyer is appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to a judgeship, will that Corrupt lawyer be a good judge?

The allegation is made here, that then Eggen's attorney Fred Grunke, left, who was the defense lawyer for Eggen's Direct Service, Inc.'s wrongful death case, had to have known that an Eggen's Direct's family member--Court Clerk/jury manager Carol Eggen--was processing his own, Grunke's, court documents and doing much more concerning the Eggen's Direct's wrongful death case, inside the Milaca Courthouse. We back-up this allegation with documentation at the "full story" link that definitively shows through court documents that Grunke knew, or should have known, that Jury manager Carol Eggen was running her own family's business' wrongful death case inside the Milaca courthouse's administration office. Despite this blatant unethical conduct by Grunke, Gov. Tim Pawlenty appointed Grunke to a judgeship.

After the trial, Eggen's attorney Fred Grunke applied for a judgeship in the Milaca courthouse. He was one of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's three finalists for the position, the other two being Daniel A. Benson and Steven A. Anderson. But on 1/12/06, Gov. Pawlenty chose Anderson for the Milaca judgeship, saying at the appointment ceremony at the Princeton Municipal Airport: "'I think it's important to have someone in this position who has a heart for people and who cares,' Governor Pawlenty said," according to the Mille Lacs County Times. To read the full Mille Lacs County Times article, click: Here.But after Pawlenty won the last governor's race by less than 1 percent in November 2006 over Mike Hatch, Gov. Pawlenty then appointed attorney Fred Grunke [see adjacent photo] to a judgeship on December 15, 2006. The judgeship Pawlenty gave Grunke was in the central Minnesota town of St. Cloud. Fred Grunke, another man--like Judge Michael Jesse--for whom decency and fairness are dirty words, and who--like Judge Michael Jesse--should never have been allowed to have put-on a judge's black robe. To view Grunke's "Judge bio" at the Minnesota Courts web site, click: Here.

The majority of Minnesota voters did NOT vote for Tim Pawlenty for governor either in 2002 click, Here, or in 2006 click, Here. So how did he win? He split the vote: three or more people in the race and there is no run-off vote in Minnesota for the two highest vote getters to ensure that the winner gets 50-percent plus one vote thereby guaranteeing that the winner represents a majority of the people in the state--a provision even in effect in Iran! The rationale for such an election system is that the definition of democracy is "majority rules." Even former Minnesota Gov. Arnie Carlson, a Republican, has suggested that Minnesota should go to a run-off system to ensure that the head of our state really represents a majority of the state's citizens. Election experts in recent articles have stated that Pawlenty probably would never have won either the 2002 or the 2006 elections for Minnesota governor had such a 50-percent rule been in place. Only by short-circuiting democracy itself could such an extreme individual have become the governor of this great state.

The day before trial, David Waage, the victim's son, found out serendipitously that the clerk in the Mille Lacs County District Courthouse to whom he was speaking, a Carol, was a member of the Eggen's Direct Service family. Waage told Roe of this conflict of interest, but Roe did nothing. Roe instead took the dump truck driver and Essig's Construction to trial for wrongful death.

Listen to the conversation cited partially below in red quotes by clicking, Here [1.9 mb audio file]. You will hear how clerk Eggen misled a Waage-hired detective and in-effect denied the detective a public document--the DWI court hearing transcript for Ken Ruis, Ruis was the key defense witness for Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. And listen to the tape and hear how clerk Eggen tries to mislead David Waage about the availability of this same Ken Ruis DWI transcript.

In the taped call, the Kevin who is referred to is the Waage's hired detective; and those laughing in the background are Mille Lacs County District Court staffers.

David Waage on the phone, one day before the trial: "Are you related to Eggens of Eggen's Direct Service?"
Court Clerk/Jury Manager "Carol": "Yep."

After Judge Jesse granted summary judgment to Veurink and to jury manager Carol Eggen's relative's company, Eggen's Direct Service, Inc., Roe led the Waages to believe that they, the Waages, could first go to trial against the dump truck driver and his employer, then go to the Minnesota Court of Appeals and win a reversal of Judge Jesse's summary judgment--and then go to trial against Veurink and Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. in district court.

But Roe did not tell the Waages about the legal concept of res judicata, "the thing has been decided" until after the first trial against the first two defendants, and then it was too late. In a nutshell, res judicata means that whatever the first jury would award the Waages in damages, that would be the upper-limit for damages in a later second trial against any of the other defendants in the case. If the Waages had been fully informed, they would have insisted that Roe had gone to the Court of Appeals before taking any defendants to trial, get a reversal of Judge Jesse's summary judgment, and then take all four defendants to trial together.

Did Carol Eggen's relatives learn from Eggen's Direct's then attorney Fred Grunke about the concept of res judicata and then tell their family member, jury manager Carol Eggen, about it, or did jury manager Carol Eggen already know about res judicata from her longtime courthouse experience? What there can be no doubt about is that jury manager Carol Eggen had a conflict of interest in this case. And, what there can be no doubt about is that the jury's award of damages to Irene Waage was incredibly unjust--being way low for a wrongful death case, in fact the award was essentially "nothing." And, what there can be no doubt about is that the jury's award of "nothing" in damages to Irene Waage was perfectly in-line with the Eggen's Direct's wishes, perfectly protecting Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. and its tanker driver Randy Veurink if the Waages should later win at the Court of Appeals which would clear the way for the Waages to take Veurink and Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. to trial for the wrongful death of Irene's husband, Clarence Waage.

So even though the Waage's won with a unanimous decision at the Minnesota Court of Appeals--the Court saying unanimously that Judge Jesse should never have thrown out Eggen's and Veurink from the earlier wrongful death trial, that Judge Jesse should have allowed the Waage's to have taken Eggen's and Veurink to trial for Clarence Waage's wrongful death with the other defendants, the dump truck driver and his company--and that this unanimous win at the Court of Appeals meant that the Waage's could then "technically" take Veurink and Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. to trial for the wrongful death of Clarence Waage--the jury's "nothing" award in the first trial precluded any attorney from doing so for the Waages. How fortunate for jury manager Carol Eggen's relatives.

The jury found that the Waage's prevailed in the trial against the dump truck driver and his employer and then went on to award Irene Waage, who was riding in the van with her husband of 50 years at the time of the crash, was knocked out, and awoke to find her dead husband in the seat beside her--$4,000 for the loss of her husband. The jury awarded Irene--zero dollars for her pain and suffering.

The jury found that Irene Waage was permanently and seriously injured by the crash, and awarded Irene--zero dollars for those future medical treatments that she would need to treat those injuries, money that her attorney had asked for at trial [that ruling being in contradiction with itself, the Waage's attorney complained later in a motion to Judge Jesse. Jesse did nothing].

After the trial, David Waage requested the job description for Carol Eggen from the court's St. Cloud regional office. It showed that Carol Eggen was a jury manager, a court scheduling clerk, a court financial clerk and did general clerk duties. Both the Mille Lacs County district court and the State Court's main office located in the Minnesota Supreme Court/Court of Appeals building next to the State Capitol have since refused to tell the Waage family exactly how Carol Eggen is related to Eggen's Direct Service's founder, and then president, Harley Eggen. But you can tell us, if you know, and you can do it anonymously if you want, by sending us a message--see farther below.

Roe did appeal Judge Jesse's granting of summary judgment to defendants Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. and Veurink, but Roe didn't do the appeal for the purpose of taking Eggen's to trial.

Roe appealed to gain negotiating advantages with the other attorneys and Judge Jesse regarding his own, Roe's, costs and expenses.

And, because Roe won at the Court of Appeals, reversing Judge Jesse's summary judgment for Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. and Verurink, that meant that Eggen's Direct had no right--none--to have the Waage's pay for any of Eggen's Direct's costs and expenses, according to Roe. Yet Eggen's attorney Fred Grunke asked Judge Jesse to order Irene Waage to pay for Eggen's Direct Service, Inc. and Veurink's case expenses--even though Judge Jesse had wrongly denied Irene and her family the trial that they had legitimately sought, according to the Court of Appeals, against the alleged killer of Irene's husband. Judge Jesse granted Eggen's attorney's request, and ordered Irene Waage to pay the alleged killer of her husband of over 50 years, Randall Veurink, $1,500. Can there be any doubt that Gov. Jesse Ventura should never have appointed Michael Jesse to a judgeship.

Gov. Jesse Ventura appointed Michael Jesse to the Mille Lacs County District Court in 2000. That county's courthouse is in Milaca, Minnesota; a town of 2,500 located 65 miles north of the Twin Cities on Highway 169 [runs north-south] at the intersection of Highway 23 [runs northeast-southwest].

In early 2006, Judge Jesse shifted county's, leaving his Mille Lacs County judgeship to work instead as a judge in Benton County, where he had formerly worked as a county attorney. View Judge Jesse's "bio" on Minnesota's Judicial Branch's web site by clicking on: Here.

To see a sequence of still frames from the crash animation that depicts what really happened in this fatal crash, click: Here.

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