News Cut: December 31, 2007 Archive

Concealed carry redux

Posted at 5:02 AM on December 31, 2007 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)

Last June 7 in Coon Rapids, one of two things happened: An innocent man using the intent of the state's concealed carry handgun law defended his family by shooting the threat or a man fired his gun, for which he had a permit, in the heat of -- and because of -- road rage.

And there you have both sides of the old Minnesota concealed carry debate, only now it's going to be fought in an Anoka County court after both participants in the incident were indicted last week.

Not in dispute is that Robbinsdale undercover cop Landon Beard, 27, was shot by trained security specialist Martin Treptow, 35. During traffic on Woodcrest Drive, Beard cut onto the the shoulder to pass traffic, including Treptow's SUV. Treptow got upset and followed Beard for several blocks before shooting Beard.

Who showed a gun first is a harder determination to make. By one account, Beard was hanging out the window of his vehicle threatening to kill Treptow. Treptow shot him in order to protect his wife and two young children, who were in the vehicle with him.

By another account, Treptow's yelling prompted Beard to call 911, and when he looked up, Treptow had pulled his gun and was aiming at him.

Beyond the felony charges against both men, at stake is the ability of one side in the ongoing gun debate in Minnesota to say, "I told you so." Either the concealed carry law helped a man protect his family, proving its usefulness as its supporters intended. Or the concealed carry law made a road rage incident worse, confirming the fears of the law's opponents.

It also is one of the hottest topics in the blogs, who may be following the case more intently than the mainstream news folks.

"This charge implies that Treptow is some kind of gangbanger who was settling a drug dispute," wrote blogger Douglas Hester on his blog, The Northern Muckracker. "Once Treptow neutralized the apparently deadly threat to his family, he removed them from the perceived danger by driving a few blocks to a gas station, while his wife immediately called 911 to report the incident while they were on the move, and well before they arrived. When they reached the station, they parked and waited quietly for the police to arrive."

"Road rage incidents almost always require two idiots to reach the point this one did. Unfortunately, both idiots had guns," said Charlie Quimby on his blog, Across the Great Divide. Did the shooter have other options? I believe so, but I wasn't there. Should the cop have behaved differently? There's no question in my mind that he should have."

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When the story is you

Posted at 12:17 PM on December 31, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Rarely is the list of top news stories of the year very enlightening, usually serving only to remind us that as we get older, our ability to retain information fades; as if that's a bulletin.

If we were to ask people what their top "story" was for the year -- one that they actually lived -- it's unlikely a bridge collapse, or the Iowa caucuses, or the subprime mortgage crisis would qualify. They're big stories, of course. But were they really the biggest part of our lives? Maybe it was a vacation with the family, or the death of a close friend, or that time you spilled your whole tray of lunch at Cafe Latte (I'm always afraid of that and saw a guy do it last Thursday).

What was your personal "top story" of the year?

Here are some variations on the theme:

A couple of Mankato Free Press photographers discuss their favorite photographs of the year. Flash is required to view.

Likewise, MPR reporters have selected their most memorable stories of the year. These generally offer a good behind-the-scenes story.

Top censored news story of the year: Future of Internet debate ignored by media

Top awkward moment: The introduction of the president of Iran at Columbia

Top car commercial: Toyota (As selected by askmen.com)

Top Google search term: iPhone. Top Yahoo search term: Britney Spears

Top baby names in the UK: Jack and Grace

Top travel story: Passport hassles.

Top meal. - Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. At least for this restaurateur.

Top moment (TV): Did Tony Soprano die or not?

Top moment (Mountain climbing): This person's. I don't understand a word of it.

Top moment (baseball). Indians rally for comeback.OK, so it's also my personal highlight of the year in any category.

Your turn. Tell me your personal highlight of the year. It's got to be more interesting than the Iowa caucuses.

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Is Wal-mart back?

Posted at 3:40 PM on December 31, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

One of the pillars of the economy may have a hangover headache already.

Target apparently got pushed around in holiday sales by long-time rival Wal-Mart, whose lunch the Minneapolis-based retailer has been eating for several years.

"There's no doubt that Wal-Mart is back," Craig Johnson, president of retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners, said to CNN.

Johnson, who has tracked the rivalry between the two discounters since the late 1990s, said Target has consistently drubbed Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) on same-store sales growth in November and December - a period that can account for nearly half of a retailer's sales and profits - by enticing shoppers with glitzier ads, better-quality products and more name-brands.

A look at the stock performance shows two companies heading in opposite directions at the moment. Wal-Mart is in blue. Target in red.

Even worse, according to the New York Post, one of Target's largest shareholders is still restless.

There are even worries that, while Wal-Mart's famously dowdy fashions are on the mend, Target staples like Isaac Mizrahi are growing stale after too many years on the racks.

That's a problem for investors including activist shareholder Bill Ackman, whose hedge fund Pershing Square revealed this week that it now owns nearly 10 percent of Target.

While Ackman is rumored to be pushing Target to sell its credit-card receivables, the credit crunch appears to have put the idea on hold.

Target closed the day at $50 a share, well off of its $70.75 high in July, but not far from where it was a year ago ($54.72). Wal-Mart closed at $48.53, not far from its high in 2007 of $51.44, and ahead of where it was a year ago ($46.23).

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The trashman

Posted at 4:06 PM on December 31, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Ari Derfel of Berkeley, California may be one of the people glad to see the year end. He's been keeping his trash -- all of it -- all year. He blogs about it here. His house -- where he's keeping all of his trash -- looks more organized than mine -- where I'm not.

According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the trash helped him learn how much stuff he throws away. It also helped learn a lot of new things to do -- outdoors -- in order to escape the trash.

If you're thinking of trying this idea, here's his simple guide to saving your trash.

1. As the rules suggest, I keep everything I generate first hand in my personal life. I don’t keep all of the trash I generate at work for work specific purposes. It would be far too vast. But, trash that I create for personal use at work does have to be kept. For example, if I go out for lunch and get a burrito during work, I have to keep the aluminum foil that wraps the burrito. If I get a bag of chips, I have to keep the bag. If I get a drink, I have to keep the bottle or can. However, if our company orders boxes of food from our organic wholesale distributor, I don’t take the empty boxes after the chefs empty them.
2. If I go out of town, I have to bring everything back with me. I went to Hawaii for 2 weeks during February of 07. I brought home roughly 15 lbs of trash with me in my suitcase.
3. If I go out to eat and there is a white piece of paper covering the table instead of a linen, I take that piece of paper home with me. If I order French fries and they are served on top of a piece of paper I take that piece of paper home with me.
4. I keep dental floss. I keep condoms.
5. I don’t keep toilet paper, but I keep the toilet paper rolls so I know how much I’ve used in a year.
6. If I go backpacking for a week and take a ridiculous amount of packaged food with me, it all comes home with me at the end.
7. Virtually every time there is a judgment call to be made, moments in question where I have to decide if I keep it or leave it behind, I keep it. Seriously. I have been diligent, disciplined, committed, and determined to stick to the spirit of this challenge. It’s been an amazing meditation.

Tess Vigland of Marketplace tried this a few months ago, only the difference was she had to haul it all around with her. That worked for about two weeks.

Now, here's the thing. Clearly there's a statement being made about our ability to generate trash. But here's the EPA assessment of trash generation in 2006. (Source here)

We each generate on average about 4.6 pounds of trash/garbage a day. But look at the map closely. That number hasn't really changed in almost 20 years. So even as we become more of a throwaway society, with electronics and all sorts of other junk, we're not really throwing away more; we just have more people.

And look at our rate of recycling.

Our rate of recycling in Minnesota is higher than the national average (about 47%).

But it appears the amount of trash the average person tosses is higher, too. Reduce.org says the average Minnesotan generates 2,000 pounds of trash a year -- 5 1/2 pounds per person; well above the national average.

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