Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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State Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, and 16 other legislators sent a letter to Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf Friday, sharing their concerns about the recent decision to suspend special teams coach Mike Priefer.

They contend that the team’s punishment of Priefer, who admitted to making a homophobic statement to former punter Chris Kluwe, was “totally inadequate.” They also called on Wilf to make public the full report of the investigation into Kluwe’s allegations against Priefer.

 a week ago.  At that time, the team also released a statement from Zygi and Mark Wilf expressing their disappointment in the report's findings and saying team members will be held accountable.

In the letter, the lawmakers said Priefer’s comment, alleged by Kluwe and corroborated by long snapper Cullen Loeffler, about wanting to “round up all the gays, send them to an island and then nuke it until it glows” was “shockingly out of bounds” and “tantamount to calling for the genocide of all LGBT people.”

“A three, possibly shortened to two, game suspension for Priefer is an underwhelming response,” they wrote. “Imagine if Priefer had called for the extermination of any other group of people – communities of color or religious minorities, for example. It is a safe bet that the rush to sweep the whole subject under the rug would not be so fast.”

Dibble and the other legislators also told Wilf that his organization needs to be held accountable, given the taxpayers’ large contribution to the new Vikings stadium under construction.

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Tim Pugmire

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State Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, and 16 other legislators sent a letter to Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf Friday, sharing their concerns about the recent decision to suspend special teams coach Mike Priefer. They contend that the team’s punishment of Priefer, who admitted to making a homophobic statement to former punter Chris Kluwe, was “totally…

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