<quote who="Dennis Plante"> > > Living in North Minneapolis, I am continually faced with having to make > the decision as to whether or not it is prudent to pass a vehicle that > is illegally parked on a right of way, or to wait until they finish > chatting with the individual they're speaking with.
I have encountered the same in S. Mpls. What is even more irritating is there are plenty of parking spaces by the curb. But no, they just like put their car in park right in the middle of the street to carry on conversations with pedestrians or even worst, people sitting on steps of their front home or apt. > Unless Council Member Johnson-Lee was in a designated parking/stopping > area, the officer was well within their right AND their duty to request > that she move. And while questioning the officers' justification is > the right of every citizen, obeying the law is as well. An illegally > parked car is illegally parked, regardless of who you are. I originally saw this story on Fox 9 when it first happened. I agree with Dennis. If the allegations are true, the officer did his job. If the officer didn't do his job properly, then Ms. Lee certainly can contest it in court. I've contested situations where I felt the officers were ticketing me because I was driving a car with minorities in there. Yes I've won those cases. But if I was parking my car in the middle of the street with moving traffic 'cause I need to finish a conversation with my buddy, I sure wouldn't whine and complain about the ticket I got. Some people are crying racism with this situation. Oh please. Racism exists. We know that. However, minorities shouldn't be allowed to commit an act that is illegal just because they are minorities and we excuse that act by crying racism when they are caught. And before some of you call me a racist, let me re-iterate that I'm a minority. I've been profiled by the police before in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The officer in this case did his job. Crying racism for everything will defeat the fight against racism. It "numbs" the word and makes it less effective, Instead take action, be proactive and try changing situations. Again, for those that missed the above, I acknowledge that racism exists. But I don't think the incident with Ms. Lee is motivated by racism. An officer simply did his job which we pay him to do. > As for Rochelle Olson's biased reporting - reporters have imput into > stories, but very rarely make the decisions about the overall complexion > of the article. I've not read the article. Can't comment on this. The information I received was from Fox News. Thomas T. Thai // Whittier TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
