Background of the Wisconsin shooting area

Ping for those who wished to follow the Wisconsin Murder story.

I remember a few years back there were several incidents of those immigrant mushroom pickers aggressively defending their "territory" here in Oregon, much like the coast range marijuana growing operations are guarded.

There were a couple of deadly encounters in the Bend-LaPine area, where they established elaborate camps and covered large areas. A day's picking could be very valuable, and one or two in each group would guard the storage area with rifles. I think most of the pickers carried as well.

Haven't heard of any violence in quite a while, but then I see shitake mushrooms in every produce section now and the price is much lower than I think it used to be (commercial growers must be producing them now), so picking in the woods couldn't be as profitable as it once was. But I don't see any profit in a deer stand in the north woods, so I'm not sure what that was all about (but around here nobody stakes claim to a hunting spot, we just try to get there first, and if it's occupied we move on to one of the very plentiful others).

Thank you!

But are you really sure that white men are not guilty of the most heineous of crimes against the pure innocence of America's diversity? Don't think I'm picking on such a low testostorone male such as you, because I'm trying to be sensitive to your sensitivity, really.

Wow, I used to do the same thing, 15-18 years old, right down to wrapping the line around a can. We'd mostly go to Sheboygan. We constructed a pull cart for our tackle and goods to take out on the pier. I remember when one of us had a "fish on," how courteous everyone was in pulling up lines if need be and getting out of the way. We all had a sort of bond. Thanks for bringing up a great memory.

To: marktwain

There is little racial or ethnic tension in the area

First of all..your post was well thought out and very well written..I wish I could write as well as you, but as my wife likes to remind me when I get too down on myself...I do ok for a guy with brain damage

Your post accurately characterized many if not most of the people that settled, logged, and now farm in the north woods of WI...at least the kinds I grew up with.

The people of northern WI. are people of fine character hard working, self sacrificing, fiscally conservative, family men and church goers there was never any time for racism beside it was an ignoble pursuit...

I would not characterize Lutherans as quite as 'Socialistic' as other's..it is hard enough to characterize the people you grew up with let alone the one's you did not associate with as much for either social or religious reasons

My home town area was pretty much a Republican...keeping our home town son Congressman Mel Laird in office many years..and When he became the Sec Def he took another of our men with him Bob Froelke to be his Sec Army..

Which brings me back to your characterization of the people of the north woods...the big woods...

The MSM and the leftie HMONG Association are painting the victims as racists...and as brutal thugs...

They hint at trailer trash...or rednecks with guns...picking on a poor SE Asian immigrant...

The Hmongs and the MSM (Gannet news which owns nearly all if not all local newspapers) have already put out the notion that this murder was precipitated by the 'bad white people' of northern WI....they harassed, picked on, shot at, and humiliated a poor Hmong whose only crime was to be lost in the woods and then rest a while in a tree stand he though didn't belong to anyone (never mind the fresh boot prints all around )..and the evil white settlers did this because of HIS RACE (just like they did to the red man and the black man they now do to the yellow man)...It is the proclivity of the white rural Christian conservative gun toting trailer hauling typical RACISTS from the 'North Woods' of Alabama, Montana and Wisconsin that did this as they have done for centuries - signed...Karl Marx

If you read Mr. Vangs 'confession' he lays it on the victims...'it was their fault'...'they called me racist names'...'they surronded me' ..'they threatened me'...'they shot at me'..

The truth is these victims of a most foul murderer were business people..not unlike my or your relatives...trusting good hearted folks willing to help (witness those who offered Mr. Vang a ride out to the road when he said he was lost and out of ammo) sure these folks are a bit naive at times...they are helpful to strangers...etc...You don't run a business in Northern WI ,or for that matter anywhere, by being bitter, or surly to strangers...Strangers, are by definition 'potential customers' they have money..they buy rural property ,they build vacation homes...and need plumbers, cement work, carpenters, wood workers, landscapers, bankers,electricians etc etc etc...

Business men tend to be friendly, rational, accepting, helpful, friendly, courteous, brave, clean and reverent...if you aren't you will lose business...to the other guy...who is...

As to your statement that there is little racial tension or ethnic tension in the area...except for poor 'Olie and Lena' there is not much...at least not much in the woods...

I think the reason is...at least in the case of the Hmongs is that The concentrations of Hmongs and their gang banger offspring is not in the north woods per se, but in the small cities not far away...with most of the trouble trickled along a line...Highway 29 from Minneapolis St. Paul to Eau Claire, Wausau, Green Bay, the Fox Valle and at least a while back in La Crosse...there was no competition from Mexican or Black gangs in these towns..they were ripe for picking especially by an already protected group that was well established and had lots of fans and sponsors

...Liberal white folks, social services, psychologists, public school teachers and liberal politicians encouraged and fostered the growth of the Hmong gang bangers and anti white strife and anti Hmong backlash though overt expression of anti-Hmong sentiment is fairly well suppressed..

If you sent your children to public school in Wausau WI for example....you would find your statement about racial or ethnic tension to be erroneous ...contrary to what the leftie press Gannet news and the 'city mothers' are putting out..but your children would know and be in fear or angry about the things they witness...(not unlike public schools in big cities everywhere these days)

Wausau WI is a seriously socialist hotbed...and many like it that way....David Obey and his ilk rule...

While I have no direct experience with the 'all the Hmongs' of 'anywhere' including Hmongs of Minneapolis St. Paul ,La Crosse, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Appleton, or Oshkosh etc I have had enough bad experiences with bad Hmongs to suit me...and lots of them..Bad Hmongs from Minneapolis St Paul and Wausau WI.

Just FYI and honestly not to brag but too explain...in a group of the elders I am considered to be a good friend..for something I did for them many years ago..though many of the young ones would probably love to cut my throat if they got the chance...

Some folks will like you, some folks never will ,and some you just cant tell...

I also have friends who grew up in some of the other WI towns I mentioned that also have significant concentrations of Hmongs and they have also reported some of the same negative experiences with Hmong gang bangers who are in their 30's (and still surly)...and have watched the problem escalate the last 20 yrs or so.

I too grew up in the great 'up nort' lived here most of my life...my father was career Navy CWO4 and retired to Central WI ..where my mom grew up...my dad moved us here from Coco Solo,Panama

On my mother's side my family settled here before the Civil War.

My grandfather, uncles and cousins were for the most part dairy farmers and cheesmakers small town prominent business men...not at all unlike those who from Rice Lake who were murdered.

I also am a Vietnam vet having served both as a combat medic and rifleman in action with the US Army's 9th ID working with the Mobile Riverine Force, the 2/39th and 6/31st Infantry...I did not work with any of the mountain people but did work with ARVNS and a NVA Col. who defected to us..(If not the greatest than one of greatest soldiers I ever met...dont know if I would still be loyal to him if his kids were trying to kill mine after he moved here though as much as I owe him)

My mom was a nursing dept. head in a large well known area clinic..my little brother is a game warden in Northern WI...

IMO I am as connected to my home and the lakes and woods around it as anyone who settled here 150 yrs ago. To my way of thinking it was one of the things I was fighting for even if the people I thought I did it for werent exactly gratefull at the time..

I learned to track and trap and bow hunt, and spent many enjoyable hours alone in the woods near the area where that 'local hunter' was shot in the back twice...Where the unsolved murder took place three years ago...not far from where the car with the 'three' Asian men was seen leaving....

I still find it curious that Mr. Vang had an out of state WI hunting license issued to him that same year of this other murder...as he had years before and since...I wonder how many deer he actually registered during his 'deer hunting'? If wandering around other people's property during opening day is his normal MO probably not too many

The small town where I went to grade school and high school ,like yours,had almost no racial tension either..since there were no other races we picked on people for being geeks or skanks or pizza faces and in turn got picked on for being whatever was needed for being picked on...that week

The only kids of other races were a few local Indian kids..and also my friend Zed (from the P.I.) His dad was a local MD (it was a sad day when his family packed up and moved to Eau Claire I sure miss all the trouble we would have gotten into had his family stayed...probably one reason they moved)...A couple years later we got a German foreign exchange student whose dad was a general in the German army so we picked on him for being a Nazi...which he probably wasn't..(but why let facts stand in the way....Klaus..was too easy going and affable and for that reason alone wasn't all that much fun to tease anyway..

There were a few Indian kids who lived in a half way house who were also teased a bit...so I guess that was some 'racial tension' at least for them..They did not deserve to be teased...it wasn't well known that they were wards of the state..without families or at least without families willing to take care of them..

They did not receive the compassion they warranted...and the teasing hurt them...probably as much as their absent familys hurt them. It was shameful to have teased them.

Do you think the Hmong pick on people who are not like them back in the hills of Laos?...more than likely they just strung them up torture...maybe skin them alive or just kill them outright for being of a different race or being stupid enough to tresspass on their opium or hunting land.. and they probably still do..

Yet these folks are being brought over here by the plane load and dumped into northern WI communities...and the North Woods folks are pretty much under the gun to not utter of word of protest.

One of the things I do like about the Hmong..is that they are kinda like a lost tribe of Apaches...kinda like the last tribe of Apaches

I also like Polar Bears, Wolverines and big cats....but prefer not to have them sitting in my tree stand when I come back from lunch.

I also worked for Soo Line Railroad for a few years...back before the union got busted... unfortunately it's back now or fortunately depending upon if you have X wives to support or house payments to make.....I guess

I feel I dont really have to worry about how the WI Central claims to be broke all the time when the peons ask it for a raise..or when it morphs into it's various avatars...Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, SOO Line, Burlington Northern, or whatever...I lost count years ago...havent counted since then < rim shot >

I worked across the northern and western sections of the Soo Line's holdings..WI, MN, ND, SD, Montana...where my crew and I experienced some of those 'racial tensions' you mentioned

For example... when A.I.M. members murdered those FBI agents at Wounded Knee..the Indians took a lot out on the Railroads that cut across their reservations....

And at least one time when my crew got drunk and lost in Minneapolis and stumbled upon some Hispanics stripping somebody's caddy...we experienced some 'racial tension' but we got away from them pretty easily as the car they were stripping seemed more important to them than chasing us..

The guns they pulled on us also convinced me to buy a new Colt Combat Commander series 70.... so I guess it was not a total waste of adrenaline...

We also experienced 'racial tensions' when in sympathy for Wounded Knee fiasco some young members of the 'Menominee Warrior Society' in Kesheena shot and killed my boss near Shawno, WI...great guy too..one of the best I ever worked for....Kenny Monroe...

...A few months later we had more 'racial tensions' when the the MWS took over the Novitiate at Neopite..Marlin Brando the great liberal came out to negotiate with his 'Indian brothers'...he was wearing that impressive fringed jacket he wore in some western movie I think he was a bounty hunter in that one..anyway...after a few minutes of negotiating the Indians threw him out on his ass and he landed in the mud...Marlin got to experience some of our WI. born 'racist tensions'...he left pretty much the next day and when back out to California where the Indians are more civilized...read Marlin thinks 'they' listend to him...money talks...BS gets throw out on it's keister...

It was kind of interesting that even in the 1970s the Indians still had issues with the railroads...but at least had also added fat Hollywood movie stars to the mix.

Getting back to those Northern WI folks maligned by the media and the Hmong Associations

Now the Hmongs have issues with those same religious and decent settlers of the North Woods...and the shock of living in America and trying to figure out who they are through drugs, prostitution, divorce, gang bangers, rap music, womens rights and a life more complicated than growing opium and selling it to the flat landers for chump change compared to what the French got for it in NY City...see The French Connection starring Gene Hackman

Meanwhile two cultures clash and are in shock...The working class north woodzers and the Hmongs....but it is the liberals who are to blame....the liberals who are teaching the Hmongs socialism and racism and how get that government dinner bell to ring while not only robbing those poor middle class tax payers...working 10 hr shifts making windows out in Mosinee...or getting lungs full of paint out at Merrill Steel.. but to hate the poor SOBs paying their freight at the same time...and calling them racists talk about adding insult to injury

....Most of the working stiffs are pretty much in shock after their child support payments and the taxes Dave Obey helped impose on them to give to the Hmongs and all the others with outstretched greedy paws.... a trick taught to them by the socialists in charge..

Those who pay really don't articulate their gripes very well at least over at Pirates Cove and after a few pitchers of beer and some shots...they just know they are angry but not cant really pinpoint any real culprits...though there is rousing debate as to who they might be..

Though I am sure Mr. Vang and his associates will most definately be hot topics of debate around many campfires...this weekend..

The smart working guys however just go home to their wives and kids (and sometimes to their wife's kids and their kid's kids)...they keep their noses to the grindstone...go to church...and keep blinders over their eyes for the things they cannot change...or would take away too much precious family time too change...

But ole Mr. Vang...he kinda put them all on notice...the last time there was a Hmong murder...the Hmong killed his wife and her girlfriend..and that was horrible...and even the Hmongs were pretty upset...but not 'too' upset...seems she was getting a little uppity towards him...and willful...women's rights sort of things kept cropping up I think...and it was not easy for him to deal with...so he got mad one night and killed her and her girl friend who he felt was helping to fill her head with garbage..It was a pretty stupid thing most folks thought..after all he had used the system and affirmative actioned his way into a nice paper mill job..these are not easy to get...they pay very well..so he was making lots of money...but they pretty much put him in a corner pushing a broom so he wouldn't hurt anyone..he said the whites there were prejudiced against him so he wasn't happy...His wife was a Hmong teacher and she like her job..I think that kinda bugged him to...After he killed her and fled WI...They tracked him down to Mexico..where he had spent most of their savings..Mexico did extradite him and now he is in prison...probably be a friend of Mr. Vangs one of these days.

Maybe they can collaborate on a book or a screen play...explaining what the heck went wrong

The question still remains...why did Vang kill his victims...were these his first....are other Hmongs involved....is Vang a Muslim convert were these hate crimes..did Vang and some of his confederates murder the hunter murdered three years ago..

Of course the left wing press and the commies have the crime solved already...the victims were racists....they antagonized poor Mr. Vang who is himself a victim of the genocide war started by the CIA lead military industrial complex who also murdered Kennedy

But most of all the lefties want us all to know that this tragedy could be prevented if we all only ate vegetables and were not allowed to own assault rifles...

Once we get those assault rifles and a few nasty amendments out of the Constitution we will have a pretty good country... one free of north woods racists who antagonized a victim forced into being a killer like poor Mr. Vang and his gang banger relatives who terrorize the residents of the north woods and their kids...

The socialists will tell the folks of Rice Lake to put some ice on it...the widows and orphans will suffer...and folks will try to explain it all away without having to revert to any racist overtones...not that there are any

The truth will set us free....don't look to the world to tell us the truth though as the world does not want us free...

Probably the best thing to do is just write Mr. Vang off as being insane...that way his race or culture had nothing to do with it...or the killings will be laid off as the racism of the victims...which wont set well with the folks of Rice Lake..but the MSM isn't going to give a hoot if it hurts a bunch of redneck hicks anyway....the Hmongs probably wont like that either if the goodies stop coming.

My guess is the easiest explanation all around will be the insane thing...it is nice and personal..puts the whole crime on the perp and the perp alone...except when you have to explain in detail what drove Mr. Vang so insane he began killing people over a tree stand...

Then you can go for some organic problem..but then again you have to have an MD prove that...and they aren't likely to fudge data for socialists even if they lean that way...

It will be interesting to see how they lay Vangs insanity off...on the good folks of Rice Lake...the culture that blew his mind (but then why didn't it blow other Hmongs minds?)...gotta go for some sort of weakness in Vang's particular mind or brain...not to get him off mind you just to figure out who or what to blame and not make too much of a mess for the State Dept who brought him here in the first place..

I guess the ending of this story just hasn't been written yet....and the fallout is just starting...as is damage control and spin....

IMO...and my very jaded opinion at that.

thanks for your insite, joe.

You got it just right. I was born on "the fringe" in Eau Claire. I still have a lot of relatives in that area, many of whom hunt.

I agree, the article sounds like the rural areas of Western PA.

This guys not really a “Hmong”. He came to the US when he was a kid ( 9?) He did not grow up in the hills of Laos but in CA. He’s not some farmer who lived in the tribe for
30 years. But a kid who grew up in the good old USA.
( one of those sportsman for kerry you think;)

>>>> It will be interesting to see how they lay Vangs insanity off...on the good folks of Rice Lake... <<<<

You know this is not going to be tried in Rice Lake! The state AG will get this moved to some place like Madison. Just think of the jury pool there.

More later need to get some sleep it’s deer season ya know!

Geesh, they were going to eat those dead fish on the shore of Lake Michigan!!! Those things are nasty and they smell so bad! Good to hear you and your brother showed them the light! LOL

>> You can always pet the bear ;)

There's always the nickel slots at the Mole Lake casino, or you could drop by Weasel's in Clearwater Lake and maybe pet something a lot friendlier than a bear.

*I* remember that they, the Hmong, were fearsome allies against the 'Cong and that I will never forgive 'the media' for losing that 'war' for us. Perhaps now, conservativism resurgent, we can work for an objective media and history (written by US the winners).

We think alike pal. You're also the first one to get the a-holes nationality right.

You know this is not going to be tried in Rice Lake! The state AG will get this moved to some place like Madison. Just think of the jury pool there.

I am concerned about this as well. I made almost this exact comment to my brother a couple of days ago. I trust the jury pool in Sawyer County, but I have my doubts about Madison, which is an intense blue enclave in the Midwest.

The way you describe the people up North is spot on with the character of those I know. You do them all honor.

Bump for one of the best vanities I've ever read at FR. Thank you.

ping for later

Wausau....they're there too.

Howdy Neighbor. From a fellow former Eau Claire-ian.

Glad to be gone from that town.