Dispatches From The Front

For most of us who are mostly on the outside looking in, it's easy to become complacent about the nightly Minneapolis carnage. After all, it's not me, right?

Well, the reality is that crime in Minneapolis is not just criminal-on-criminal anymore. The sewer rats are disrupting the peaceful existence of many good Minneapolis citizens who simply want to live without fear of getting mugged, assaulted, jacked, beaten, killed, or worse.

Yet many of those who live, work, or play in Minneapolis have been unable to rest easy. They're not going to the crime; crime is coming to them. In a big way.

Just so we don't lose sight of how the anarchy affects real people, I'm going to post some recent dispatches from the front. One of the comments comes from a self-described liberal, who appears to have no faith in Mayor Rybak or his minions.

As I've noted before, the good mayor has lost many liberals, which leaves him with an ever-diminishing base.

Read on:

Friday, June 23, 2006 2:26 PM

To: Friday, June 23, 2006 2:26 PM

Public Record - Hennepin Cty. Judges

Hello.

My name is Derek ---- and I reside in the Willard-Hay neighborhood in North Mpls. As you may be well aware, our neighborhood and the city at large has been plagued by an accelerated escalation of violent crime. Last week some local block leaders and I met with Councilor Don Samuels, Sherman Patterson from the Mayor's office, Asst. City Attorney Dusty Murphy, and Officer Troy Schoenberger at the 4th precinct.

In the course of this meeting, the issue of leniency in criminal sentencing and the accountability of County Judges to voters came up as it always does when citizens are trying to be proactive about crime. Correct me if I'm wrong on this but I believe that something like 1/3 of County Judges are elected or reelected every 2 years. This being an election year, I want to know what Bench spots will be on the ballot in November and I'd like to be more informed regarding the record of said Judges.

I understand that the HCBA used to issue a report on all of the Judges and later stopped because some of the Judges were upset by it. Presumably because some Judges lost elections as a result. In my mind, it is very disturbing that they could so easily stop the publication of their record and their tendencies. My neighbors and I (and all citizens countywide for that matter) deserve to know which Judges are giving criminals who rob and kill minimal jail time and thus excuse their behavior. I hear that it is commonplace for some Judges in Hennepin County to give perpetrators in North Mpls. less time because crime is "more normal" here. That is disgusting.

Please let me know how to find out who from the Bench will be on the ballot in November and how to access their records. If you don't know, then please direct me to someone who does. I would greatly appreciate your help on this matter. Thank you.

Derek ----

Derek, you may recall, is the first Rambix reader to have a cold-blooded execution in his backyard. He therefore has some gravitas on these issues.

Next is a comment on this blog from a self-described liberal North Minneapolis resident. This blog is not always friendly to liberal ideology, but welcome aboard; crime knows no political persuasion.

Wow, I am loving this blog. North resident for two+ years....witness to countless drug deals, one shooting (no fatality= no press), fist fights in the park, numerous gunshots....etc., etc.

It is sad that only murders make the news...in my neighborhood, Harrison, we had over 7 assaults (beatings) of people in a two week time period. Only one news station had a 2 second blip interviewing the guy who was beaten with a pipe as he waited for the bus. Over one block from me the block club leader was beaten as he walked home from work after getting off the bus. Suspects were all juveniles. Just random people being beaten on the street, maybe they take your wallet after they are done....want to stop over an visit? The Mayor doesn't even stop in Harrison. He has been on the agenda of our last 2 annual meetings...the big ones...cancelled and didn't show at the last minute.

Sad that these beatings are just commonplace. I guess if you live in North you deserve crime. Why don't you move somewhere else? I can't AFFORD to move somewhere else. And why should I have to!

Anyway I digress, thanks for the information and opinions and links I have found much of it informative....and I'm a liberal.

Rebecca
Rebecca 06.23.06 - 11:45 am

Thank you for the nice comments, and I hope you contact the mayor and let him know what you think, and also what your political background is. It's important for him to understand that he can't just write us off as a bunch of angry conservatives.

And finally, a note from from the trenches by Rmag40ran:

Thursday, June 22, 2006 5:50 PM

A nice Sat. afternoon preparing for a BBQ for children and grandchildren in North Minneapolis. Suddenly a shot rings out, police are called and come. witnesses tell them where the shot came from and gave first hand information on shooter and friends conversation. Shot goes thru the next neighbors porch where young kids were through the next neighbors fence through his wall and into his nice new breadmaking machine. Bullet is still lodged there. The police were not interested in taking breadmaker to see if they could match bullet up with any other crimes. They said "probably nothing will happen about it."

Intersting? Needless to say my grandchildren will not be visiting me again. Property taxes high increase, market value went up! What do you think. Who will buy my house in the war zone?

I hope the Mayor is listening.

Think about this: The city is soon going to try to entice either the Democratic National Convention or the Republican National Convention to be held in Minneapolis. That's a big deal. So how is Mayor Rybak going to explain a 35% increase in violent crime as compared with the same period last year?