Kira Simonian Murder--Still No News
1 Comments Published by Loosestrife on Thursday, August 16, 2007 at 7:05 AM.
While some at Crimeblog assure us that the police are working this case and an arrest is just a matter of time, it doesn't feel that way to me. It has been seven weeks now.
Lots of searchers are still ending up here looking for any information on Kira Simonian's murder. It's absurd in a way: I am just someone from south Minneapolis who happened to make a blog post about the murder. I have no special insight or connection to this crime or its victim--except that the blasé response of the "community" to a 32 year old woman being slaughtered in her apartment simply pisses me off and that I used to live in Whittier neighborhood where the murder took place.
Since I am getting hits from around the country on Ms. Simonian's killing, I am going to post some contacts in the media and local government. Perhaps if some of you coming here would contact these individuals and ask about what is happening with this case, we will see some action. I am open to other suggestions as well--just post them as comments.
Jason DeRusha, in my opinion one of best local television reporters in the Twin Cities, covered the vigil for Kira Simonian. He is also from Chicago. You might contact him to urge a follow up report.
His email is
jrderusha@wcco.cbs.com
Esmay Murphy did an early story on the murder and judging from her work, likes the crime beat.
ecmurphy@wcco.cbs.com
The Minneapolis Police Chief is Tim Dolan, and Sharon Lubinski is the Assistant Chief. Inquiries to them to check on the progress in this case might get things moving. Lubinski has a beating heart--I am less sure about Dolan.
They share an official email
police@ci.minneapolis.mn.us
Lubinski's phone number is (612) 673-2853. Dolan's is (612) 673-3787.
You might bug our mayor too. His name is R.T. Rybak.
rt@minneapolis.org
As you probably know, we had a major bridge collapse here. I am afraid that unless some people raise a ruckus, the Kira Simonian case will be moved off the back burner, off the stove entirely. If you are coming here for information on the killing of someone you loved, admired, or appreciated, take a moment to contact one of the people above to urge some action.
--Loosestrife
Lots of searchers are still ending up here looking for any information on Kira Simonian's murder. It's absurd in a way: I am just someone from south Minneapolis who happened to make a blog post about the murder. I have no special insight or connection to this crime or its victim--except that the blasé response of the "community" to a 32 year old woman being slaughtered in her apartment simply pisses me off and that I used to live in Whittier neighborhood where the murder took place.
Since I am getting hits from around the country on Ms. Simonian's killing, I am going to post some contacts in the media and local government. Perhaps if some of you coming here would contact these individuals and ask about what is happening with this case, we will see some action. I am open to other suggestions as well--just post them as comments.
Jason DeRusha, in my opinion one of best local television reporters in the Twin Cities, covered the vigil for Kira Simonian. He is also from Chicago. You might contact him to urge a follow up report.
His email is
jrderusha@wcco.cbs.com
Esmay Murphy did an early story on the murder and judging from her work, likes the crime beat.
ecmurphy@wcco.cbs.com
The Minneapolis Police Chief is Tim Dolan, and Sharon Lubinski is the Assistant Chief. Inquiries to them to check on the progress in this case might get things moving. Lubinski has a beating heart--I am less sure about Dolan.
They share an official email
police@ci.minneapolis.mn.us
Lubinski's phone number is (612) 673-2853. Dolan's is (612) 673-3787.
You might bug our mayor too. His name is R.T. Rybak.
rt@minneapolis.org
As you probably know, we had a major bridge collapse here. I am afraid that unless some people raise a ruckus, the Kira Simonian case will be moved off the back burner, off the stove entirely. If you are coming here for information on the killing of someone you loved, admired, or appreciated, take a moment to contact one of the people above to urge some action.
--Loosestrife
Some Thoughts on Collapse (2)
0 Comments Published by Loosestrife on Wednesday, August 08, 2007 at 6:48 AM.
Actually it's George Carlin on education, but it (especially that latter half) seems extremely relevant after watching the post collapse Carol and Timmy show. When we discuss blame for this bridge collapse, let's not forget the owners who fund the mannequins and pull the strings.
--Loosestrife
--Loosestrife
Still nothing in the Kira Simonian case. Still lots of hits to this blog looking for information on her murder.
Meanwhile, this murder recedes from the city's consciousness, especially now with the bridge collapse. I am still disturbed how this gruesome killing was treated as a mere blip by the press and the Minneapolis "community."
A milestone of sorts was passed last week as the case was relegated to page two of Crimeblog.
Speculation at Crimeblog still breaks down into two camps regarding the suspect: the husband, Matt Gretz or somebody else.
Somewhere in the 740 or so messages there, someone mentioned that forensic evidence may be forthcoming this week. Let's hope that is true and an arrest is made.
--Loosestrife
Meanwhile, this murder recedes from the city's consciousness, especially now with the bridge collapse. I am still disturbed how this gruesome killing was treated as a mere blip by the press and the Minneapolis "community."
A milestone of sorts was passed last week as the case was relegated to page two of Crimeblog.
Speculation at Crimeblog still breaks down into two camps regarding the suspect: the husband, Matt Gretz or somebody else.
Somewhere in the 740 or so messages there, someone mentioned that forensic evidence may be forthcoming this week. Let's hope that is true and an arrest is made.
--Loosestrife
Some Thoughts on Collapse (1)
2 Comments Published by Loosestrife on Monday, August 06, 2007 at 7:14 AM.
I left town just before the 35W bridge collapsed. While running pre-departure errands, I was on it twice the day before it fell. What follows are some thoughts upon my return to Minneapolis.
***********
It is instructive to watch a news event happening in your home city from a hotel in another.
The first thing I noticed was the total inaccuracy of the national media in reporting the event: I learned in the first 24 hours of reporting that I-35W connects St. Paul and Minneapolis, that the collapsed bridge connected downtown to the University, that Tim Pawlenty has a soul--all patently wrong.
Then, I began to feel resentment at that media, descending on the collapsed Minneapolis bridge like famished vultures--each "reporter" chanting the same useless mantras of manufactured empathy and wonder at "how this could have happened." Then they went to find the hero mode--one of hero(ine)s, Shanna Hansen, "The Face of the Rescue," didn't save anybody--she was damn telegenic and white though, looking all serious as she checked barely submerged cars and appearing on TV the next day with coiffed blond hair and wrap around shades.
The national hype around this bridge collapse was enormous--way beyond the scale of the event in terms of the loss of human life. There are traffic accidents that kill more people. I am waiting for Anderson Cooper to devote three days of coverage the fact that there were 42,642 highway traffic fatalities in the US in 2006 alone. Cars kill a lot more people than terrorists, and the expenditures for auto based infrastructure are gigantic.
Yet, transit advocates should gird their loins because already "grassroots" voices are using the auto bridge collapse to attack LRT funding as some kind of luxury. As usual, Avidor has sniffed it out.
David DeGrio, most notable as an unabashed Tammy Lee acolyte, rushed out on Lloydletta a piece called Pointing Fingers and Moving Forward... A Rational Approach, in which, he says we are all to blame for the bridge collapse and shouldn't be trying to determine responsibility for this fiasco. He then equates the Central Corridor with the Twins Stadium, saying that we should should take funds from both to rebuild the bridge while not raising taxes.
"So today I extend my hand to Democrats and Republicans, to conservatives and liberals and to all women and men in my city and my state and I say let this not divide us, but allow us to join hands and move forward together," says DeGrio.
To him I say, we need a painstaking investigation of how I drove over a bridge on Tuesday that collapsed on Wednesday without ever being notified that it was indeed the "Half Chance Bridge" as Nick Coleman called it. In the meantime, Tim Pawlenty should remove Carol Molnau as Transportation Commissioner and install someone with real expertise in that position. It would help if that person gave a shit: Molnau clearly does not, explaining away this disaster by saying her daughter drove over that bridge twice a day. Take minute Ms. Molnau and think about that before you use it to defend yourself. Don't you feel just a twinge of horror?
The biggest irony of this event is that the bridge collapsed on the day before the planned Twins stadium ground breaking, and I am all for DeGrio's call for the diverting of funds from the stadium to bridge reconstruction. In addition, I think the "rational approach" would be to call for a moratorium on all new road construction and expansion until a full accounting of the responsibility for the bridge collapse and of the condition of all roads and bridges in the state is complete. In the meantime, we should proceed as quickly as possible to build a viable transit system.
Cars cost a lot of money and lives. We have just had a graphic illustration of that fact. The long term economic viability of the state depends on forward thinking transit construction. Not on auto based infrastructure and not on pipe dreams.
--Loosestrife
***********
It is instructive to watch a news event happening in your home city from a hotel in another.
The first thing I noticed was the total inaccuracy of the national media in reporting the event: I learned in the first 24 hours of reporting that I-35W connects St. Paul and Minneapolis, that the collapsed bridge connected downtown to the University, that Tim Pawlenty has a soul--all patently wrong.
Then, I began to feel resentment at that media, descending on the collapsed Minneapolis bridge like famished vultures--each "reporter" chanting the same useless mantras of manufactured empathy and wonder at "how this could have happened." Then they went to find the hero mode--one of hero(ine)s, Shanna Hansen, "The Face of the Rescue," didn't save anybody--she was damn telegenic and white though, looking all serious as she checked barely submerged cars and appearing on TV the next day with coiffed blond hair and wrap around shades.
The national hype around this bridge collapse was enormous--way beyond the scale of the event in terms of the loss of human life. There are traffic accidents that kill more people. I am waiting for Anderson Cooper to devote three days of coverage the fact that there were 42,642 highway traffic fatalities in the US in 2006 alone. Cars kill a lot more people than terrorists, and the expenditures for auto based infrastructure are gigantic.
Yet, transit advocates should gird their loins because already "grassroots" voices are using the auto bridge collapse to attack LRT funding as some kind of luxury. As usual, Avidor has sniffed it out.
David DeGrio, most notable as an unabashed Tammy Lee acolyte, rushed out on Lloydletta a piece called Pointing Fingers and Moving Forward... A Rational Approach, in which, he says we are all to blame for the bridge collapse and shouldn't be trying to determine responsibility for this fiasco. He then equates the Central Corridor with the Twins Stadium, saying that we should should take funds from both to rebuild the bridge while not raising taxes.
"So today I extend my hand to Democrats and Republicans, to conservatives and liberals and to all women and men in my city and my state and I say let this not divide us, but allow us to join hands and move forward together," says DeGrio.
To him I say, we need a painstaking investigation of how I drove over a bridge on Tuesday that collapsed on Wednesday without ever being notified that it was indeed the "Half Chance Bridge" as Nick Coleman called it. In the meantime, Tim Pawlenty should remove Carol Molnau as Transportation Commissioner and install someone with real expertise in that position. It would help if that person gave a shit: Molnau clearly does not, explaining away this disaster by saying her daughter drove over that bridge twice a day. Take minute Ms. Molnau and think about that before you use it to defend yourself. Don't you feel just a twinge of horror?
The biggest irony of this event is that the bridge collapsed on the day before the planned Twins stadium ground breaking, and I am all for DeGrio's call for the diverting of funds from the stadium to bridge reconstruction. In addition, I think the "rational approach" would be to call for a moratorium on all new road construction and expansion until a full accounting of the responsibility for the bridge collapse and of the condition of all roads and bridges in the state is complete. In the meantime, we should proceed as quickly as possible to build a viable transit system.
Cars cost a lot of money and lives. We have just had a graphic illustration of that fact. The long term economic viability of the state depends on forward thinking transit construction. Not on auto based infrastructure and not on pipe dreams.
--Loosestrife
