Another set of curfew circumstances, from another shooting of someone at a traffic stop, and more and more the impact of such incidents in the metro are spilling with their broad tentacles across the border not just between the two big twin cities, but also between the two states.
The city of Champlin in northern Hennepin County has extended its curfew through the entire weekend, so you know where those potential weekend warriors are likely to go. Head East. Not the Warehouse District.
One would expect that in areas of the metro opposite the city where the shooting took place, there would be a transfer of the main party scene. Just ask my friend Amanda, who used to bartend at Wild Bill’s in Woodbury. That would be especially true early-week at that bar and others like it eastward into Wisconsin, with removal in spots of the often-held option of the Minnesota Wild games at the XCel Energy Center and its spat of nearby sports bar, with people then moving eastward if the contest is ended in regulation with a low-goal score.
<<News break: We’re keeping score at the venues in the village and their reaction. OK, only one North Hudson venue, being used in almost real time to tell the tale of two states. See the Uncatagorized department>>
But part of the effect of such rules and curfew constraints is having freedom to move about restricted, even in cities without the official limitations, especially as press releases cite that members of the public should note a heightened police presence near areas where rioting might occur. There is just a general chilling effect that spills over into other jurisdictions concerning how police deal with travel to routine activities such as going to your favorite club, so that heightened police presence is likely not limited to Brooklyn Park and Center — although this reality is not advertised much by officials in various cities, towns and villages. As was famously rapped, No Sleep Till Brooklyn.
These things to a lesser but also noticeable degree in a place like Hudson, both then and especially now. Lets examine this:
If you are driving in the downtown late at night and are pulled over for, say, having a headlight out, the first question invariably will be, “where are you coming from tonight?” Apparently its a sin, if not a crime, to drive through through that stretch of town around midnight. Once my wife who works as a minister had some fun, accurately, to that question and dropped this bomb, “I was at church.”
“Have you had anything to drink tonight?”
“Communion wine.”
He said to make sure and signal when going through the intersection that held not another car in sight.
Whether it is legitimate for an officer to ask such a leading question is a gray area. (It should be noted that coming to and from religious events is almost always considered an exemption from the no driving rule in curfews).
Once in mid-winter I was driving home after an ice storm and the windows had that troublesome sheen, although I could still see my way down a barren Second Street. The cop said he could not let me go further until the ice was completely removed, but no ticket or warning. He did not ask me if I’d had anything to drink. I had consumed two whiskey sours on ice during the course of the evening. These days there is simply no way the situation would be resolved that easily. I was having trouble with the scraping and walked back to the squad car to explain why I was lingering. Again, in the Twin Cities these days that could be a fatal question.
One of the exemptions is for “credentialed” members of the media. A freelancer like me might be sent home, if not arrested. Is a blog like HudsonWiNightlife an actual publication? Again, gray area. It might depend on if the cop knows you.
When I was downsized from the Hudson Star-Observer as a staffer, the editor and I agreed that I could still submit photos, usually of a fire or auto accident, that would get me a Benjamin or a bit more if used. Once I was downtown and saw that the stoplights were not functioning — a matter that for a while seemed to be happening far too often — and I took a photo of an officer directing traffic right in the middle of the midnight intersection. He yelled over to me to ask what I was doing at the moment I held the camera to my eye. After I responded, he told me to wrap it up and be on my way. I think I can safely say that if I were to do the same thing in Minneapolis in 2021, I might be shot.
Most people I talked to now, although not all, in and around Hudson noticed more cops out and about midweek in places that would normally not be as high a priority. To wit: A badged orange-and-yellow-Stryper who was apparently checking out a parked car on the main drag and a squad car from out of state travelling, also on the main drag, between Hudson and North Hudson. A key: The early rioting spilled over into Minneapolis, so there is a certain need to spread greater enforcement to a broader area.
Thus, there are vague, catch-all buzzwords such as “unlawful assembly” charges, and we are not talking about moshing at a Danzig concert. You get the point.
So hopefully, all this can be put behind us and all we have left to deal with involving interstate travel (regionally) to see your favorite band are those pesky and jurisdiction-hopping and thus varying mask requirements.