The Other Side to Johnny Northside's Invasion into the Helgason House Photo Mission

This post is in response to the post about Jon Helgason's house, written by John Hoff for the Johnny Northside Blog. To read that post, click here http://adventuresofjohnnynorthside.blogspot.com/2009/12/jns-blog-exclusive-while-tj-waconia.html

I will paste some of John's comments and follow with comments of my own.

1. "First, I wanted to publish photos of the spectacular lake home where the family of Jon Helgason still resides"

AJ (Anti-Johnny)- For what purpose? The only person I recall ever asking to see pictures was John Hoff. Since the TJ Waconia case has "fallen off the radar" (from the same post), what was the reason for going to such an extreme to publish pictures?

2. "Second, I would like......mug shots of Helgason and Balko in their new Duluth prison digs."

AJ- Again... Why? If there is a reason OTHER than to attempt to annoy Jim Watkins (which, it doesn't), then what is the purpose?

3. It was a great time to take care of T.J. Waconia Blogger Goal Number One.

AJ- Goal number one? Can John elaborate on this? About the tresspassing, keep reading.

This is what John had to say after he saw the shed on the property.

4. What would you KEEP in a shed that size, I wonder? A recreational vehicle like the "rock star RV" owned by the Koenigs? Snowmobiles, motorcycles, three wheelers and other toys? A workshop to putz around with fun hobbies like, I don't know, maybe classic cars? In any case, the unearned affluence and in-your-face-God gluttony is stomach-turning. While our neighborhood struggles to throw off the cruel yoke of slumlords and their destructive influence, ill-gotten Northside gains appear to flow to exurbia, where a man might be in prison until 2016 but his family still lives like royalty.

AJ- Those comments are very bothersome. John made it clear by explaining all the detail of how he walked & crawled over frozen lake to get his pictures without tresspassing. He wondered what someone could keep in such a big shed and suggested maybe "classic cars" that I highlighted in red. John being the smug, arrogant person that he is, gave himself away with that comment. In other words, he lied about not tresspassing. You see, when I met Jon Helgason in 2003, I learned that he had a small collection of classic cars. Note that it was 2003... BEFORE TJ Waconia began to buy the majority of their properties. Back to the point of John Hoff lying about not tresspassing.
The neighbor that John spoke with knew more than they let on. In fact, they alerted the owner of the house that John Hoff had been there and why. The person currently residing there then went outside to look around. They found footprints all around the house and the property for that matter and they did not appear to be from any kid as the prints were adult sized.
So John lied about not tresspassing and I ask... Why? Why did he have to snoop around? He went on to say that it was one "giant step for journalism" but, how is that exactly?

Also, Helgason bought that house before 2003. John Hoff claimed it was the result of real estate fraud but, he has no idea when the he bought the house.
Further, what is the crime with ANYONE living like royalty? Last I heard, every American has the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Who is John Hoff to question and point a dirty finger at anyone for doing just that?

5. "The value of this property could do much to compensate the victims of the T.J. Waconia fraud. I'm just saying."
AJ- Just saying... What? That is exactly it... He is just saying things that he has no basis to say nor does he have the information to support it.
I say this because, John does not know when the house was bought or how much it cost to buy. John does not know the current value of the property either. He must me equity, right? If that is what he meant, then John is missing the boat on that because, equity is only worth something if you are able to tap into it and convert it to cash. When the market crashes, the equity goes with it. Just ask anyone who bought their house in 2005 or 2006 and ask how much they paid for their house and what it is worth now.
Finally, there is the issue of a MORTGAGE! Did John think the government would have just taken the house and told the lien holder that they are now wiped out so, they could sell the house and get all the profit from it? Nope, John doesn't know what the payoff of the house is nor does he know how much it might sell for if it were on the market.
If all of John's assumptions were in the interest of journalism, I ask again... How?

6. "SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE."
AJ- That is the final sentence in the post by Johnny Northside and I agree completly!
Why a man in his 40's felt the need to go to such extremes so, he could post some pictures on his blog while assuming many things, making claims he had no factual basis for AND tresspassing in order to do it... Is beyond my comprehension.
John Hoff was wrong for doing what he did and I am told the person who lives at that address felt very violated and their privacy was definately invaded.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that John Hoff had no reason to do what he did and he thought nothing of the rights or personal safety of the person who resides at that address by his actions and follow up post.
I am calling for a public apology to the resident who lives in that house as well as to the general public for doing such a thing and claiming it was a giant step for journalism.
As for the tresspassing, I hope the resident took pictures of the footprints in the snow that were found ON the property as they should be able to be matched with the footprints John Hoff supposedly left in the snow on top of the ice as one of his pictures showed.

The lesson learned from this? I don't know. John Hoff does whatever he wants to do and doesn't care about the effect it might have on anyone else as long as he is able to benefit from it and blog about it. Remember, he wrote two books about Dumpster Diving so, he is very used to digging into other peoples' lives and will use what he finds to his benefit. Think I am joking? Read his second book because, it is chilling to read what he has claimed to do with personal information he has obtained by snooping in people's trash.