Is Doug Dahlberg the Little Falls School Board snake in the grass?

This afternoon, Cassie Fredregill forwarded an email to me from Doug Dahlberg, who is a member of the Little Falls School Board. The email was sent using an email that isn't his official email listed on the school board's website. On the school board website, Dahlberg is listed as being the treasurer, with his email address being ddahlberg@lfalls.k12.mn.us; on the email sent to Cassie Fredregill, his email address is Doug@pinecountrybank.com.

What's interesting is that there's a line at the bottom of Dahlberg's email to Fredregill that says "IMPORTANT NOTICE: This message may contain confidential, privileged information and is intended only for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not use, copy or disclose any information contained in the message. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete the message. Thank you."

Since Mr. Dahlberg has a Little Falls K-12 email address listed as his official school board email address, why is he doing official school board business while using his bank's email address? The answer to that question is the sentence at the bottom of the page in tiny print. That's where it says (in Times New Roman size 8 font) "IMPORTANT NOTICE: This message may contain confidential, privileged information and is intended only for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not use, copy or disclose any information contained in the message. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete the message. Thank you."

I'm not the intended addressee. Then again, this email is about Little Falls School Board business, which is supposed to be done through his official school board email address. Here's the picture of the bottom paragraphs of Dahlberg's email:

Here is the top part of Dahlberg's email to Fredregill:

There's no question that this email is official school board business. Dahlberg admits as much when he wrote "I have had an opportunity to look over the packet you provided the school board members on Monday, March 13th at the school board meeting."

Kelsie Herzog, listed as the clerk, and Dan Schilling, listed as the director, also have K-12.mn.us email addresses. That isn't the only thing that jumps out at me. This also jumped out at me from Dahlberg's email:

I know you feel that your right to Freedom of Speech is being violated because of the communication plan. If there is more documentation you can provide showing that this is the case, I will do my best to make sure the communication plan is revisited and removed. However, just because we all have the right to Freedom of Speech does not mean we can yell "Fire" in a crowded theater. There are certain limitations to those rights and consequences that go with them when they are abused.

First, what is Mr. Dahlberg referring to when he talks about yelling fire in a crowded theater? What did Fredregill say that directly put people's lives in danger? That's the test that must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If a prosecutor doesn't prove that, the case is history.

Next, is Mr. Dahlberg aware that the First Amendment was adopted to protect controversial speech? Is Mr. Dahlberg aware that political speech is the most protected speech of all? Non-controversial speech is still protected but that isn't why the First Amendment was adopted and ratified. Since it isn't controversial, nobody protests against it. On the other hand, controversial speech is why the First Amendment was adopted and ratified. It needs to be protected. Further, political speech is the most protected speech to guarantee our right to redress grievances against our government.

Dahlberg sounded sympathetic to Cassie Fredregill's case Monday night. Less than a week later, he's far from sympathetic to her grievances. Go figure.