Begin forwarded message:
Join Mayor R.T. Rybak and State Representative Keith Ellison for the Grand Opening of the Victory 2004 Coordinated Campaign Office in Minneapolis.
This office will serve as the headquarters for the Democratic Coordinated Campaign for Presidential Candidate John Kerry, Rep. Keith Ellison, school Board candidate Peggy Flanagan, and others.� If you are ready to make America stronger at home and respected in the world, then come doorknock your neighbors, drop literature, register voters, telephone voters, and help in the office.
What: Grand Opening of Victory 2004 Minneapolis Coordinated Campaign Office
Where: 2038 West Broadway, Minneapolis
When: 6:00 PM, Wednesday August 18
Contact: Carrie Johnson at 651-647-5024 or [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit www.keithellison.org.
It has not been a quiet weekend on the north side of the City of Lakes.
Our crime wave again expanded nearly to the Drive with an early saturday morning stabbing near 38th and Thomas. The victim later succumbed to his injuries making him the Northside's 16th murder this year. Here on crack street the crime has been less lethal but frightening enough. The same bunch of felons on the loose that the non profit that thinks there rehabbing the neighborhood evicted are still around, dealing and whoring with clearly no fear of arrest. Last night their customer was smoking crack in a late model minivan that would have brought thousands if impounded, but our overworked police parked, watched for a bit, and drove off. After the heavy arrests of friday night I suspect the jail was full anyway.
Or a least the Republican dominated county board says the jail is full- truth is, they've got 200 beds going unused because the Republicans have underfunded the county to the point they can't afford to fully staff their new jail. To add insult to injury, the county charges us $187.50 for every inmate we drag in, even when they turn 'em loose within a few hours.
Well, the county may run the jail but we run the impound lot, and there's plenty of space there. Now what if our police officers had noted the occupants of this late model minivan behaving in a manner consistant with crack cocaine intoxication. Better yet, maybe they even saw the crack pipe being passed around the car. Having probable cause the officers take the crackheads down for drug testing, and tow and impound the minivan given that there is no competent driver present at the time. At the impound lot we impose a new charge for processing vehicles towed in relation to drug charges or plain old alcohol related DWI, say a thousand dollars or so.... given that some drug residues require hazmat cleanups and we have to thoroughly search a suspect's vehicle to assure the we are not selling a vehicle full of drugs that may poison some new owner's kid, a thousand dollars isn' t too high a fee.
So instead of hiding in a comfy little minivan and smoking crack, truning tricks, and generallly terrorizing the neighborhood our crackheads are stuck on the sidewalk. With no car the don't make it to work monday and their little world starts to collapse. Stuck in the 'burbs with no wheels to procure drugs, after a couple days without crack tratment starts to look attractive. Eventually either the finance company bails out the vehicle or we sell it after a month for a heady profit...
And that's just yesterday's report.... a couple hours back I heard the sound of a single shot, the kind that comes from a cheap gun and ammo that burns in a most nonlinear fashion. Either that or it was a blowout that put a car into the noise wall a couple blocks down crack street. Suffice to say the occupant(s) must not have been innocent bystanders as no victim was to be found. Police response was much improved, with several squads beating the fire and ambulance crews to the scene.
None the less, gunfire is again being heard on a daily basis here in Hawthorne, if fact I've heard gunfire twice today...
headin' outa Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
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.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________
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
