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LEIF ENGER: Paul Moline knows exactly how he wants Governor Carlson to use his 3 minutes.

PAUL MOLINE: One thing he really needs to stress home is that whatever harvesting the Native Americans choose and exercising their rights, that there's no conflict. Stay away. Let them do what they're going to do.

LEIF ENGER: Moline owns a Holiday station and Trophy's restaurant, neighboring businesses on Highway 169 near Onamia. He walks a careful line. Though unhappy with the treaty rights decision allowing Ojibwe to net and spear, he says people who might protest those practices at public landings will only harm those who make a living from the lake.

PAUL MOLINE: The sportsmen need to unite and not cause any type of conflict, any type of difficulty for them. Let them come and exercise their right. And let's look at another avenue of prevention in the future. But conflict is not the avenue.

LEIF ENGER: In recent weeks, fears over the effects of tribal fishing have faded as a more prominent fear takes shape. While every local newspaper, every local sports group has spoken against open protests-- the Mille Lacs Fishing Digest even asks readers to keep idiot friends in check-- the threat of violence is strong. It's reinforced by talk of 6.5 million for law enforcement, by TV reports reprising old video of Wisconsin protests, even by the governor's rare appeal for media time. The constant speculation annoys Greg Larson, a member of the group Proper Economic Resource Management, who last week attended a treaty hearing in Elk River.

GREG LARSON: It seems to me that the state is trying to promote violence. It's being pushed in people's faces constantly. And rather than talk about all the things that they're doing to prevent violence and things, I think, maybe hopefully, Carlson will come out with some type of approach that will mellow things out a little bit. Personally, I don't see the tension there myself.

LEIF ENGER: Law enforcement officials say they've prepared for the worst. Each of the counties in the ceded territory asked the state for money to hire extra deputies, hence, the 6.5 million. Officers have taken special training in crowd control. One official estimated, in a crisis, 300 police from various agencies could be on hand in half an hour. Mille Lacs County Sheriff Dennis Boser espouses peace through strength.

DENNIS BOSER: We as police officers have to realize that the people that are across the line from us are our people. I mean, they are citizens that we all know. And we are there just as peace keepers. We will not be some group that will escalate any problems.

LEIF ENGER: Despite the buildup, some law officers say, privately, they don't expect anything like the scale of violence seen in Wisconsin, largely because residents around Mille Lacs have been so outspoken against it. A peace group has planned a march for later this month. Local clergy have asked for prayer in their congregations. Eunice Boeringa, an Assemblies of God pastor in the lakeside community of Wahkon, says the governor has an opportunity to lead in the right direction.

EUNICE BOERINGA: I guess I would like to hear him say that it's time to be calm. There's a verse that comes to my mind. And it's that the anger of a man does not work the righteousness of God. If we have to take a few less fish or we have to have a little bit smaller fish, it's not going to kill our community. Anger won't get us anywhere. Let's work together. Let's talk this over. Let's think this through.

LEIF ENGER: Boeringa has her Bible open to Proverbs. "An offended brother," she quotes, "is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel." Leif Enger, Mainstreet Radio.