It appears that it's happening all over again, back in the early 90's when the gang problem had escalated. I remember reading an article somewhere about the very same thing, I believe that gang members had somehow recieved cell phones as part of a program and they would cause a problem, then call everyone to be there...
Which resulted in the same thing as recent events in the Jordan neighborhood. If I also remember the article, then Police Chief John Laux held a meeting for the neighborhood and it got so out of hand that it turned into a riot or something to that effect... Does anyone remember that article or hearing about it? ---- Begin Included Message ---- At 05:51 AM 8/27/02 -0500, Shawn Lewis wrote: <snip> Johnson, however, says she is scared as well as angry. She found herself in a confrontation Thursday night with a neighbor who was telling a TV camera crew that the raided house was not a drug marketplace. "I asked her where she got her information," Johnson said. "Then she got in my face," said Johnson, who stands 5 feet 4 inches and weighs 140 pounds. "She was... huge. But I just stood there." When someone grabbed her hair and yanked her head back, Dennis Plante, Johnson's husband, who is white, stepped in and separated the women. Anne McCandless, a white retired Minneapolis police sergeant who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, said she plans to stay. "I'm not leaving because of some jerks who are passing through," she said of troublemakers from outside. Neither is Kevin Eggleston, who lives with his mother at 26th Street and Logan Avenue North. Eggleston got a call while on his job as a Minnesota Department of Transportation worker that there was trouble near his home. When Eggleston, who is black, and a white co-worker went to the home to check on Eggleston's mother, the crowd tried to attack the co-worker because he was white, said Eggleston, who suffered a bruised arm. "I noticed that there were a lot of strange faces that I know weren't from around here," Eggleston said. "I'm not taking blame totally away from the neighbors, but there were a lot of people here not from the immediate neighborhood. I heard one guy say he came by after he got a call on his pager." There was also a great deal of sentiment in the neighborhood against perceived outsider Spike Moss, a community activist who escorted seven witnesses to the drug bust to a meeting with city officials Friday. "He is not the leader of our community," said Johnson. "He is the leader of an angry mob. He doesn't even live in our neighborhood." Jordan neighbors worry that Moss sends a message that the neighborhood opposes the police in efforts to stop drug traffic in the neighborhood. "We have to tell drug dealers, 'You can't terrorize our neighborhood,' "said Samuels. Neighbors say Moss never attends community meetings where constructive measures for improving the neighborhood are discussed. "He only shows up when there's trouble, and he never shows up when he knows he can't stir things up," McCandless said. ====================== So my question is, why isn't Moss at these other meetings? Why is he only around when there is media? It seems to me that funding Moss is funding the problem and not the solution. Eva Eva Young Near North Minneapolis "You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone - not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be." --Article II of the Bill of Non-Rights. _______________________________________ 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 ---- End Included Message ---- Russell Sasaoka Coon Rapids (Formerly of Loring Park) Working in Minneapolis Get your free Web-based E-mail at http://www.startribune.com/stribmail _______________________________________ 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
