Without going into the whole history of Sheridan: Armed civilian patrols (including attack dogs) were proposed for our neighborhood by the former neighborhood group, STAY, before SNO was formed. This was about the time that Mr. Paris Getty was "hired" as our community staff person. However, a neighbor who was a board member of STAY had been bragging for years about his own armed civilian patrol, his laser-sight rifle, his having "criminals" beaten with rubber hoses, and blah, blah, blah. (He denies everything now, natch.) When he ventured into threats, I broke off all contact with him.
Mr. Getty's tenture marked the lowest point for STAY when he, and subsequently the board, ran amok and harrassed innocent citizens in the name of "fighting crime." That and other complaints was what prompted people to form the Sheridan Neighborhood Organization. The fact that we didn't know how much of the gun-toting was real, or just bragging, or who "patroled" where; that these guys were definitely not a well-regulated militia, and made racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks to boot; that they had recruited kids from outside the neighborhood to "help" them; and that these kids often acted out, were aggressive, and had behavioral issues; and that the staff member appointed without our consent to "protect" us was circling the block in his truck and glaring at us through the windows of the Modern Cafe while we held our meetings, severely ratcheted up the level of fear and panic in what was an already outrageous situation. When these clowns began peppering city officials with vitriolic letters about me, I was petrified, wondering if there was indeed a gun or a rubber hose with my name on it--which upon reflection, was probably what they wanted me to think. (A few STAY board members have since apologized to me, saying that they were tricked or intimidated into going along with these stunts.) As a result of this experience, I thought I had something to say about the introduction of weapons in any civilian patrol, anywhere: bad idea. Bad, bad move. Even talking about it ratchets up the level of fear and paranoia in people, and somewhere along the line in a mob mentality, people start feeling invulnerable and justified in doing just about anything. Then some innocent person gets hurt. And from what I heard of the other comments to MSNBC, the idea is already bringing out the lunatics. Kristine Harley Sheridan _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
