I am totally intolerant of this kind of inconsistency. Everybody has to step up to the plate and sacrifice the easy buck for the common good. The owner is free to sell all legal products, but in the light of our problems, exercising that right gets to the issue of community goodwill vs. opportunistic relationship with the community. When we know who we are really dealing with at the core, we can exercise the appropriate amount of healthy cynicism and caution. There are some people we accept and some we guardedly tolerate. Inconsistent partners fall into the second category.
-----Original Message----- From: Dennis Plante [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 10:45 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Samuels, Don H; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Mpls] Racial bias in the criminal court system/Bias in the Hood Keith asks; Is it reasonable to expect the corner store owner/operator to refrain from selling exclusively drug-sales related paraphernalia, i.e., scales, microbags? I do not include "papers" or "blunts". Subsequently, when said merchant touts all his efforts to help rid crime from his parking area and corner, should his efforts be a little suspect if he profits by enabling drug processing and marketing? What would the neighbors say, and do, if I, Keith Reitman/landlord, offered these same "legal" products for sale from one of my front porches, to our neighborhood youth? Dennis Responds: The store owner (who lives in Woodbury) has flatly denied selling such items. Maybe that's why neither item is displayed openly. They're both kept below the counter, out of sight. It'd be very easy to view asking the store owner to stop selling these items as a reasonable request (by the public), as the revenue loss would be very small. However, the 12-18 youths that buy these items from him on a regular basis also provide him with a very large revenue base in the manner of food/drink, the wrappers for which mostly end-up on the ground in our neighborhood. Personally, I see a fair amount of irony in the fact that the owner was viewed as somewhat of a "hero" for "rescuing" (unlocking his store door and letting them in) two reporters lasy August that were being beaten by a mob of people that were rioting in response to the drug warrant being served and subsequent wounding of the child (by CRT) on the house directly across the street. Dennis Plante Jordan _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8: Get 6 months for $9.95/month. http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ 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
