KIRKWOOD REMINDS US THERE'S A TENSION BETWEEN SECURITY AND PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY
As someone who is often a public target, I cringe at the images from Kirkwood, Missouri.
The highest values of participatory democracy are the abilities to view the workings of gov't and to petition the seat of government for whatever a citizen thinks is the best direction. That stuff doesn't have the same flavor through bulletproof glass or with armed uniforms at meetings.
There are always going to be disturbed folks. We must have strategies for them that do not substantially impair democracy. It's a universal problem. Unfortunately, the strategies we adopt can't be discussed publicly, another necessarily anti-transparency result.
Here in the Basin, we know how real this is. We remember the same scenario in Mt. Pleasant. From that that tragedy, came some good. Some excellent leaders emerged from the ashes. This stuff is no joke.
posted by UMRBlog @ 06:19
14 comments
14 Comments:
Somehow you found a way to make this tragedy about you.
Maybe you should read beyond the opening sentence, if you have the interest span to go that long.
TYFCB, sort of.
I almost bet the cops were harrassing the Cookie Guy . I guess in the end he got his point accross
I know you can't comment on this, but let's just hope the city of Quincy doesn't use Kirkwood to scare people into a whole new round of City Hall security upgrades.
It's been done before.
Tookie,
You went beyond your two cups this morning. You really don't want to say that. The only thing Kirkwood has to offer is tranquility. Why would a cop want to provoke a loose cannon into a breach of the peace and make work for himself.
You're smarter than that.
TYFCB
No I actually I think something HAD to drive Cookie to pull the gun and go Postal .
Sometimes it can be the crazy factor , but the way I am reading the reports this man felt harrassed and truely was at the end of his rope .
Look at the facts :
Something happened this man felt strong about and he went to the Government OPEN meeting .
Fact II : He went over the line at open Government meeting . Instead of a cool down , Kirkwood Gov't issued tickets and poked the hornets nest
Fact III : The shooter then went to Federal Court . Now something had to be huge to go to Federal Court .........
Fact IV : He felt his rights erroded and prob had some undue heat from KPD
So some how a mole hill became a Mountain , then it became Pork Chop Hill .
So yes the shooter was wrong , but could this have been stopped ?
Damn Skippy !
The Mayor , City Attorney , Top Cop .........all could have handled it better .
The only people to blame for getting a bullet in their ass were the one's who pushed this guy POSTAL .
At any point the City of Kirkwood could have diffused the whole thing . They could have made a Quid Pro Quo ........
Instead they pushed an already valitile man and situation to it's bitter end.
They were the bus drivers driving the bus to Bullet-in-da-ass, Mo .
I feel bad for them but I stand by my view
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080209/ap_on_re_us/missouri_shooting;_ylt=AogHnI6IcIzFUy_O0L7ETDhvzwcF
Once again .......those in Power drove the Bullet in the ass van all the way to bullet in the ass , Mo .
Yost reminds me of folks .....
Could have been diffused !!!!!!!
Power corrupts and this time their use of power got them 5 bullets in the ass .
Argument's over .
>The only people to blame for
>getting a bullet in their ass
>were the one's who pushed this
>guy POSTAL .
Sorry Tookie, but you're wrong.
They are not to blame. I don't care how frustrated Cookie was, he is the ONLY one to blame for trying to "solve" his problems by blowing away five people.
You know, following your logic, YOU could have defused your whole "loud music" thing by simply turning down the music in the car. So therefore you are the only one at fault there. You could have fixed it but you chose not to do so.
I like ya Took, but you're off base on the blame-laying here.
Kirkwood is a Norman Rockwell midwestern suburb. "Queen of the Suburbs" I believe is her nickname in St. Loo.
Kirkwood, a guy holes himself up in a house in L.A. and a school shooting at a Catholic School in Ohio. Rotten way to start Lent.
I so agree with 6:11. Tookie, you can only be held responsible for your ouwn behavior.
Tookie, Cookie was cray, guy tried to sue Kirkwood for 12 mill and then 15 mill, guy was a NUT plain and simple! They offered to erase his fines! There is no way you can justify that guy, check the post-dispatch, and I'm not saying everything in it's true, but there wasn't a lot to suggest the guy wasn't totally bonkers!
If anything, I've gained some respect for public officials and the likes for having to deal with disturbed people.
Yes, hindsight is 20/20 and there's no purpose in trying to second guess those who didn't insulate themselves from someone who appeared to be emotionally deranged. However, we can and should learn something from this homicidal rampage.
The police officers were the first targets because the killer knew they were armed. Once he removed the threat from them, he knew he could begin to satisfy his malevolent thirst for revenge, unimpeded. The town attorney threw a couple of chairs at the madman, warding off some shots directed at him. Suppose that attorney was armed? How many lives might he have saved?
Suppose there had been a police officer in civilian clothes at the meeting? Last year, a former police officer at a Colorado church drew her weapon and killed a rampaging gunman before he could take any more lives.
We can't read anyone's mind, but we can read their behavior. Those 5 innocent people deserved to go home to their families that night. One inconspicuous police officer might have made it possible for at least some of them to do so.
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