Rough-N-It Disabled Veteran Camping

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About

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Project Pitch:

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We are raising funds to stop St. Louis County, Minnesota, from weaponizing zoning and environmental laws to shut down a nonprofit that provides free, lawful camping therapy for disabled veterans.

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Rough-N-It Inc. followed every ordinance. Yet County staff erased veteran information from official reports, ignored statutory deadlines, spread false public narratives that caused serious reputational harm, and imposed an unlawful Environmental Assessment Worksheet that cost nearly $100,000 — even after admitting the required permit was not active.

This is not a routine land-use dispute. It is a breakdown of democratic checks and balances. County officials protected their own mistakes, rubber-stamped discriminatory decisions, and ultimately passed a targeted “pre-crime” resolution authorizing lawsuits for hypothetical future violations — aimed at our property alone.

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They then used that power to threaten litigation unless we agreed to ban disabled veterans from camping on our land — something every other landowner is allowed to do.

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We now have a 21-count federal civil rights complaint ready to file, alleging ADA discrimination, First Amendment retaliation, due process violations, and extortion under color of law.

Your support will help us stop this government overreach, restore democratic checks and balances, defend disabled veterans’ right to heal in nature, and protect the constitutional rights of all landowners.

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Organization Information:

• Plaintiff Organization: Rough-N-It Inc. (Non-Profit for Disabled Veterans)

• Key Plaintiffs: Multiple Disabled Veterans, Rough-N-It, Warriors Next Adventure, Christine Wyrobek 

• Legal Counsel: Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson, P.A. (Erick G. Kaardal)

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Milestones

 

PHASE 1 – SETTING UP CAMP AND CHALLENGING THE COUNTY ($200,000) – COMPLETED

 

Standing up to the hostile county has meant confronting a system that repeatedly refused to follow its own rules—not just once, but across ten separate incidents where the county had the chance to act lawfully and fairly.  Instead, they created barrier after barrier, shifting standards, contradicting their own records, and using their authority in ways that felt punitive and arbitrary. When a government behaves this way, it stops being a neutral decision-maker and becomes an adversary to the very people it is supposed to serve.

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• Securing Opportunities for Disabled Veterans:

  • Initiating Campsites: We built a limited number of primitive campsites—fully allowable under current laws—to give disabled veterans a simple, peaceful place to heal and reconnect.

  • Hosting Disabled Veterans: We openly advertised not only to veterans and their families, but also to veteran-support programs so they could use the sites to stretch their resources further and support even more veterans in need.

• County Mishandled Procedures We Were Forced to Defend:

  • Wrongly Processed Applications: The County exposed a system where the rule of law is ignored, allowing discrimination against disabled veterans while eroding the very foundations of democracy.

  • Illegal Environmental Review: The County’s late decision to impose the EAW on our property—after already denying our application—was an abuse of power designed to create extreme hardship and cover up its own errors rather than any genuine concern for the environment.

  • Defending the Minimal Campsites: We stood firm in defending our vested right to welcome disabled veterans onto our property, determined to provide them with support and healing even when the County’s actions attempted to interfere with that purpose with multiple harassing “Possible Violation Letters” that mislead ordinances and flip-flopped positions.

 

PHASE 2 – Education, Resistance & "Pre-Crime" Defense ($75,000) – COMPLETED

 

This phase included the County Board pushing through the resolution even though they had already been warned by email and through direct testimony. They dismissed every concern, misled the public, and enacted a law targeting only the plaintiff, This ultimately forced a federal civil rights lawsuit which had been developed.

• County Board “Rubber Stamps” Discrimination:

  • Email Warning: The plaintiff Wyrobek emailed the County Board on September 9, 2024 warning them about inappropriate procedures and conduct and reminding them this is about disabled veterans. 

  • Discriminatory Vote: The board votes against its own ordinance to deny the rezoning by “rubber stamping” two discriminatory recommendations.

  • Public Testimony: Plaintiff Wyrobek testified before the County Board on September 9, 2025, correcting the record.

• Exposing the Retaliation:

  • Public Testimony: Plaintiff Wyrobek testified before the County Board on September 9, 2025, correcting the record.

  • The "General Warrant": Documented the Board's passage of Resolution 25-442, a "pre-crime" authorization to sue for future hypothetical violations, driven by the County Attorney's desire to avoid "playing whack-a-mole". 

• Drafting the 21-Count Federal Complaint:

  • ADA Violations: Documenting the exclusion of disabled veterans from public zoning services (Title II).

  • Constitutional Claims: Drafting claims for Fourth Amendment violations (General Warrant Resolution), First Amendment Retaliation, and Equal Protection "Class of One".

  • Damages Modeling: Calculating over $300,000 in direct damages from legal fees, lost opportunity, and wasted application costs.

  • Declaratory Judgment Strategy: Preparing arguments to secure the rights to the campsites.

 

PHASE 3 – Federal Litigation & Trial ($300,000)

 

Duration: 1 - 3 Years

The execution of the federal lawsuit to secure damages, injunctive relief, and a permanent victory for the disabled Veterans and Rough-N-It.

• Filing & Preliminary Injunctions ($60,000):

  • Filing the Complaint in U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota.

  • Seeking immediate injunctive relief to stop the County from enforcing Resolution 25-442 or filing state court actions.

• Discovery & Depositions ($100,000):

  • Deposing County Commissioners and Staff regarding the "rubber stamping" of denials and the "whack-a-mole" strategy.

  • Uncovering internal communications regarding the "these people" comments and the decision to reclassify RVs as "Dwelling Units" to block the project.

• Summary Judgment & Trial ($140,000):

  • Defeating the County’s motions to dismiss based on qualified immunity.

  • Presenting the case to a jury to award compensatory and punitive damages against individual officials for malicious conduct.

  • Goal: A federal court order striking down the "pre-crime" resolution and permanently allowing non-fee disabled veteran camping on the Wyrobek properties.

 

PHASE 4 – Final Campground and Expansion ($500,000)

 

Duration: 1 - 3 Years

Once litigation secures the right to operate without harassment, Rough-N-It will complete and expand its veteran programs.Complete the campsites allotted following litigation and implement the services necessary to provide meaningful assistance to disabled veterans, and expand our program.

• Complete the Vermilion Campsites ($150,000):

  • Finish the allotted campsites and septic requirements. 

  • Develop programs to build trails, docks, and water accessories.

• Working with Partners ($75,000):

  • Develop and build workshop areas for coalitions with Veteran Service Organizations.

  • Advertise and welcome veterans and their families to come closer, heal, and enjoy the restorative power of nature

• Expand to New Location ($275,000):

  • Help current property owners develop and manage a site to help veterans on their land.

  • Finding land, we can develop further sites of our own in a strategic location to support veterans.

 

PHASE 4 – Develop Movement of Government Accountability ($200,000)

Goal: This matters because democracy only functions when government is accountable, transparent, and bound by the rule of law. When those safeguards collapse, power shifts away from the people and toward unchecked authority. If a nonprofit helping disabled veterans can be targeted and silenced, any citizen can be next. This effort is about rebuilding those safeguards and ensuring that the government once again answers to the people. The only way that happens is through the people themselves — their voice, their vote.

 

Duration: 1 - 5 Years

 

• Strengthening government Oversight

 

• Ensure that all government actions, decisions, and processes are open, accessible, and clearly communicated to the public.

 

• Create meaningful oversight so governments can no longer prioritize their own internal interests and act in the public’s best interest as the constitution demands.

 

• Push for clear and improved ordinances to prevent arbitrary enforcement, discrimination, and misuse of government authority.

 

• Establish legal tools and judicial review to hold government officials responsible when they violate procedures, rights, or ethical standards.

 

• Increasing Citizen Participation 

 

• Provide citizens with the knowledge and resources they need to recognize, question, and challenge government overreach. 

 

• Create safe and accessible channels for individuals inside and outside government to report misconduct without fear of retaliation and reassurance they are heard.

 

• Ensure that disabled veterans, marginalized groups, and those without political power receive fair treatment and equal access to services.

 

• Bring together landowners, nonprofits, veteran groups, advocates, and citizens to collectively defend transparency, fairness, and constitutional governance.

 

• Empower citizens to reclaim local democracy by participating in elections, public meetings, and community advocacy so government once again serves the people.