MPR’s Sasha Aslainian files a story on wound-healing among Catholics after the church’s not-exactly bonding efforts over the defeated marriage amendment:“More than a month after Minnesota became the first state to defeat a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, some Catholics say it's time to acknowledge how divisive that effort was within the church. … For Father Mike Tegeder, a priest in Minneapolis who was the rare voice within the hierarchy to speak against the amendment, the church still has some healing to do. ‘I think it's important to acknowledge that this has been very painful,’ Tegeder said. ‘I mean, the Archbishop is engaged now in this Rediscovering Catholicism. Well, I think that's putting the cart before horse. I think first we need to go back and say, 'hey, some people got hurt. We had a lot of casualties.' Maybe they were unintended but there were casualties in this process.'" As a first step, maybe the Archbishop will take part in an hour call-in on some radio show?
To quote Jeffrey Lebowski, “Well, that’s like your opinion, man.” Christa Lawler of the Duluth News Tribune writes:“No offense, Duluth. A San Francisco-based filmmaker means no harm with the title of the movie he wants to make, ‘Duluth Is Horrible.’ Vincent Gargiulo has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $10,000 in 30 days to make a 20-minute film composed of semi-autobiographical vignettes set in Duluth. Gargiulo, who has a feature-length film, a few shorts and two videos that have gone viral, plans to live and shoot in Duluth in February and use a local cast and crew if he gets his funding. Gargiulo had already written the movie when the title came to him in a dream. He tested a few other location names, but Duluth felt right. ‘I didn't even know where Duluth was,’ he said in a phone interview.‘I just came up with the name 'Duluth.' I looked it up and, sure enough, it was in Minnesota. I thought, 'Well, it looks OK, actually. It doesn't look horrible at all.'" So will Mayor Ness give him a tour of the Last Place on Earth?
She really is a unique talent …Marianne Combs of MPR says: “The Minnesota Book Awards has named Jana Pullman the winner of the 2013 Minnesota Book Artist Award. The award is presented each year to a Minnesota book artist or group of artists that has shown excellence and innovation in the field over the previous three years, and has contributed significantly to the local book arts community. Pullman is well known in the community for her work as a book binder and conservator, and especially for her work with leather and wood covers. But her knowledge runs deep in several veins of the book arts, including not just binding but paper-making, printing, box-making, and the history of bookbinding.”
A bit more on the Minnesota guy who died after falling into a smokestack in Chicago Thursday.Says Stribber Paul Walsh: “[Nick] Wieme was the son of Pipestone's longtime KLOH Radio country music DJ Bernie Wieme and graduated from Pipestone High School in 2007. He earned an English degree from Minnesota State University, Moorhead in 2011 and moved to Chicago soon afterward. He was scheduled to appear Monday as part of a troupe at the iO Improv's Cabaret Theater. Alumni from iO Improv include Tina Fey, Mike Myers and Andy Dick. Wieme also was registered with Rooftop Comedy, which offers video clips of him performing.”
With only seven days until The Apocalypse, Allen Costantini of KARE-TV reports:“A group of Minnesotans that feels very misunderstood is also one of the most secretive movements in the state. They are the people known as ‘preppers.' Two Minnesota preppers agreed to speak with Kare 11 News with the understanding that their last names and location would not be revealed. Nick, 44, and Bridgett are the parents of five children, ages 3-17. … To the casual observer, there was no indication that the couple was anything but a normal, mainstream Minnesota family. ‘The number one rule about being a prepper,’ explained Nick, ‘is not to tell anyone you are a prepper.’ Nick and Bridgett agreed to participate in this report because they are hosting a ‘Survival Preppers Expo’ on Saturday, December 15th, 9am-5pm at the Thunderbird Hotel (Ramada) near the Mall of America in Bloomington.” But no publicity, please …
What one day giveth, the next shall take away … David Benoit at The Wall Street Journal writes: “Best Buy and founder and ex-Chairman Richard Schulze have agreed to a new pact giving Schulze more time to gather private-equity partners and make a bid. The news sent Best Buy shares back into freefall in premarket trading after the stock had shot higher on Thursday amid a report that Schulze had a full-financed offer ready to be presented this week. Turns out, he doesn’t. At least not yet.”
Still odd and not getting any more understandable … Paul McEnroe and Larry Oakes of the Strib report: “The part-time police officer on a call with Cold Spring officer Thomas Decker when he was killed may have "froze" instead of going after the killer and hasn't been able to recount important details of the shooting, according to a source with direct knowledge of the case. The source said Thursday that the team of investigators trying to find the killer is ‘completely befuddled’ over the second officer's apparent inability to give a detailed description of Decker's killer or events surrounding the crime.‘They are looking at the other cop's actions and whether there was a failure to act,’ the source said. … Authorities have declined to identify the second officer and have refused to answer questions about that officer's whereabouts or actions during and after the shooting. The source who spoke to the Star Tribune said that the officer's failure to provide crucial information has been a ‘critical roadblock’ to solving the case.” I know how this plays out in TV fiction land …
There’s a touch of pathos in a Pam Louwagie Strib piece on that incident in Rochester where a guy — a Seventh Day Adventist minister, it turned out — shot his granddaughter outside his home: “Stanley Wilkinson had a plan on how he would use his gun if an intruder ever came into his home: He and his wife would hole up in the bedroom and call 911, using the gun only to let an intruder know there was someone in the house. … ‘Even if you have a plan for an emergency, you don't know what you'll do out of fear,’ Wilkinson said in a brief phone interview Thursday. ‘You get so frightened and something happens like that so, everything happens so quick ... you just don't know what you'll do when, out of fear you do things that you wish you hadn't ever done.'" No gun control advocate could say it any better.
And maybe for longer than a couple of months this time?The AP reports:“A Minnesota man with 27 drunken driving convictions is back behind bars just 40 days after leaving prison. Danny Bettcher of New York Mills is being held at the Wadena County Jail for allegedly violating the terms of his release.”
It may be “small ball” to some, but this stuff is creepy. Brendan Sasso in The Hill reports: “The Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor of Sen. Al Franken's (D-Minn.) Location Privacy Protection Act on Thursday. The bill would require companies to get a customer's consent before collecting or sharing mobile location data. It would also ban mobile applications that secretly monitor the user's location — a feature that Franken said allows for stalking and enables domestic violence. Franken noted that many apps already ask for users' permission before tracking them, but he said his bill is necessary to ensure that the practice is mandatory.”