Victim Number 35
By Mitch Berg
Minneapolis’ 35th murder victim of this year so far was a guy not a lot different than me. 40something, kids, worked in the software racket, liked biking. Mark Loesch even lived in my old neighborhood, just a few blocks from where I lived way back when.
He was apparently beaten to death while out on a bike ride late last Friday night.
A local blogger and friend of Loesch’s remembers the victim:
I met him 12 years ago at an insurance company; I was a contractor, he was an employee. A manager casually mentioned to me that “this guy Mark really likes music, like you. You should go say hi”. So I dropped by, and we hit it off immediately: the awesome production skills of Trevor Horn was our first conversation.
We were work pals for a while, but worked on very different projects, and then he went off to something new. A few months later, he called me up with a fascinating new opportunity: He was part of a team moving a Prescription Benefits company from Detroit to the Twin Cities, and they needed to build a team FAST: Did I want to help?
So I joined him, and we worked very closely, at which point he invited me over for a party… so Pamela and I showed up. One week early! But he invited us in, and we had a great time for hours… maybe more fun than the “real party”… at least I remember our pre-party more. We carpooled for a year, and grew very close. He notoriously mixed me the “killer” eighth martini at my 30th birthday bash. I of course blamed it on him making it with Gin… not the obvious issue of it being the EIGHTH.
With all the carnage in Minneapolis, it’s important to remember that there’s a story behind every death. Not all of them are as sympathic, on the surface, as Mr. Loesch’s, but behind even the most hardened banger or the most far-gone junkie there’s a father, a little sister or someone who loses a huge chunk of themselves.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
35th! Wow! in a year! WowWoWWoW! I mean, how many did St. Paul have last year… oh, 17 (airc)? Wow. By this time last year, there had been 49 homicides in Minneapolis…just so you know. Annualized, this is about what, 48? Wow! And last year, there were 60.. god, Crime is WILD!!!! I recognize all you do is think of ways to misrepresent things as badly as possible against any Democrat, or DemocratIC administration (note the adjective)..but come on, can you be honest with your comments, or is it that you truly are this deluded about fact. You don’t actually live in Minneapolis, so it’s not as if you’re seeing this on your streetcorner, you are, just like me, reading, hearing, watching about it. When you do, maybe getting context before you spew things like “carnage” would be advisable.. but hey, what fun is that I guess, right?
But here are the actual FACTS about the ‘carnage’
Murders by year:
1982 – 38
1983 – 18
1984 – 32
1985 – 32
1986 – 48
1987 – 47
1988 – 49
1989 – 47
1990 – 56
1991 – 63
1992 – 62
1993 – 58
1993 – 62
1994 – 97
1995 – 83
1996 – 58
1997 – 58
1999 – 47
2000 – 50
2001 – 43
2002 – 46
2003 – 47
2004 – 54
2005 – 49
2006 – 60
Given historic trends by month, the remainder of the year would see about 8 more, or putting us at 43, maybe 44 if another occurs in what remains of the month.
Please (a word you never use when you condescend to me and others), please, look at the data Mitch, here’s what it says. If I recall, you said you came to Minneapolis around what 1984 or 1985? Meaning that the ‘salad days’ of low murder numbers ended virtually as you arrived. They shot way up due to crack, and then again, due to the spread of national gangs.. oh, and the rate FELL in the later years of Clinton, gosh, so while you give Reagan credit for the growth in the 1990’s, do you now give him the blame for the rise in crime, gosh, I thought not.
Here’s what ELSE it says, oh carnage boy, it says that murder, for the past 25 years, has been essentially stable, other than a spike in the mid 1990’s, but I guess that stable level, is carnage to you, despite the fact that, on a per capita basis, murder in Minneapolis, is only somewhat higher (40% about) than St. Paul but hardly on par with and DWARFED by Detroit, or New Orleans, or Washington DC, places with REAL crime issues. Is crime worse now, sure, but thank your Governor for cutting local aid, more to the point, take some personal responsibility for the ‘government on the cheap’ that puts fewer cops on the street. All that said, the fact is, murder (at least) isn’t substantially higher today, than when you moved here (or shortly thereafter), so your carnage comment is, like so much, pure spin, and ugly ludicrous, unhelpful spin at that.
If you care, stand up and say, “Hey, I DON”T MIND PAYING FOR ENOUGH COPS” rather than complaining every time someone says, “look we can’t pay for all of this on what we have.” The Governor spent 2M on an audit of the state’s inspection process of the bridge collapse, and just awarded a contract for construction that was 56M MORE than the other bids.. where’s your outrage?
Spin, hyperbole, and spin, followed by spin. Amounting to nothing, meaning less.
Btw- for whatever record this means – I am in no way saying I don’t care, or otherwise fail to have concern for those who have been killed or otherwise. Considering how cavalier the right so routinely is about Iraqi civilian casualties, I find some of the suppposed concern to be alligator tears, but hey, that’s just me, I’m the cynic.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Pv,
Given your capacity for utterly missing the point, I’m glad I never sat next to you at a rifle range.
I find some of the suppposed concern to be alligator tears
You are not equipped to judge that.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Like I said before:
“peevish World, party time, excellent, ‘WowWoWWoW’!”
September 21st, 2007 at 4:15 pm
“carnage boy”?
OK, that’s pretty good….for the peev.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:32 pm
What the [$%^&] does the current President of the USA have to do with crime rates in a particular city anyway? As if the city has no Mayor.
Reagan vs. Clinton? “Amounting to nothing, meaning less” indeed!
September 21st, 2007 at 5:27 pm
“that’s just me, I’m the asshole.”
There you go. Fixed that for you.
September 21st, 2007 at 5:54 pm
And while Peebs is typing his scathing critique of the crisis that isn’t, the MPD is anouncing #36. A perfectly acceptable casualty rate. Given the trend RT’s city should hit the ten-year average of 47 without any trouble.
Bravo!
September 21st, 2007 at 6:58 pm
MITCH, you’re back. Hopefully you tucked that ‘mitch’ guy away for awhile, I’ve missed you. Garage is open tonight if you’re in the neighborhood. Oh wait, you are *laughing*!!
Peev, that was the real McCoy, the one I remember anyway!
Flash
September 21st, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Peevish wrote:
35t! Voo! in a yeer! VooVuVVuV! I meun, hoo muny deed St. Um de hur de hur de hur. Pool hefe-a lest yeer… ooh, 17 (eurc)? Voo. By thees teeme-a lest yeer, zeere-a hed beee 49 humeecides in Meenneepulis…joost su yuoo knoo. Unnooeleezed, thees is ebuoot vhet, 48? Voo! Und lest yeer, zeere-a vere-a 60.. gud, Creeme-a is VILD!!!! I recugneeze-a ell yuoo du is theenk ooff veys tu meesrepresent theengs es bedly es pusseeble-a egeeenst uny Demucret, oor DemucretIC edmeenistreshun (nute-a zee edjecteefe-a)..boot cume-a oon, cun yuoo be-a hunest veet yuoor cumments, oor is it thet yuoo trooly ere-a thees delooded ebuoot fect. Um de hur de hur de hur. Yuoo dun’t ectooelly leefe-a in Meenneepulis, su it’s nut es iff yuoo’re-a seeeeng thees oon yuoor streetcurner, yuoo ere-a, joost leeke-a me-a, reedeeng, heereeng, vetcheeng ebuoot it. Um de hur de hur de hur. Vhee yuoo du, meybe-a getteeng cuntext beffure-a yuoo spoo theengs leeke-a “cernege-a” vuoold be-a edfeeseble-a.. boot hey, vhet foon is thet I gooess, reeght?
Boot here-a ere-a zee ectooel FECTS ebuoot zee ‘cernege-a’
Ho, fella! Slow down! Don’t get so excited! It’s just a blog post.
Have some smoked herring & a shot of Svedka. Relax.
September 21st, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Remarkably, I-a hundairerstooed thet.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:33 am
Peevish, I’ve not bothered to respond to this point, just because…well, why?
And the other responses are all pretty well on point.
But I have to add that your post was a reach, even by your standards. And I really don’t understand exactly what motivated it.
One murder is carnage, and senseless, and wrong. This one in particular was worse than most; beaten to death while riding his bike? For crying out loud.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:51 am
I think we need to cut and run from Minneapolis…errr rather, redeploy to Madison. I got the point Mitch, this was a foul murder, blowing it off because the stats show that Minneapolis has had many heavier murder years is cloddish at best
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:55 pm
I vote to redeploy to Winona. The bluffs will provide strategic advantage, and the Mississippi will be a good supply line.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
At least you don’t criticize the victim for being unarmed. That’s an improvement.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Sorry, my comments should have been 40% general higher violent crime rate.
And Mitch, you boo-hooed about ‘carnage’ when there is NO SUCH thing, the reach was yours, and you were shown to be an idiot for making it – and I’d throw in your typical ‘even by your pathetic’ standard crap, but it wasn’t that far off your norm, you overblow everything for your politial agenda, the murder rate is essentially the same today as 1985, nuff said.
Perhaps you can follow that point, but, perhaps not.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:15 pm
I bet right up until his eyes closed for the last time he was glad he hadn’t brought a gun with him. Bet his wife & kids are glad too.
You are a stupid fuck, angry clown.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Yeah Terry, but he’s got one Hell of a sense of humor and that’s what really matters. That and controlling your life. ‘Cause he’s smarter than you are. Haven’t you been paying attention?
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:46 am
Kermit-
Ac is frustrated juris doctor. Wants to tell everyone else how to live their life. Thinks a lberal arts degree + law school makes him smarter than all us folk who work for a living. Fuck him.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:03 am
And Mitch, you boo-hooed about ‘carnage’ when there is NO SUCH thing
Tell it to Loesch’s wife and kids.
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:34 am
Walk across the street.
How many murders in Minneapolis this year? Last? Last ten years?
How many murders in Edina?
Why, exactly, do folks with money deserve to live in communities where there are not gangs of thugs are beating bicyclists to death?
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Deserve? That’s an interesting choice of words. Why do people “deserve” to live in shitholes like North Minneapolis or Phillips Neighborhood? Kid Rock has a song with this line: “You get what you put in, and people get what they deserve.” He is obviously not a Democrat.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:31 pm
The problem is the same as that of Alaskan and other wilderness towns that start to have problems with bears and wolves. Either they are encroaching on the animals; territory or the animals are expanding their territory, bad things happen. What is happening in Minneapolis is that the animals are expanding their territory. More cops might be nice.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Jdege: they do. So do poor folks. The rich folks just get it more often.
Just to keep the record straight and irritate angryclown — the first can be difficult; the second is easy — if, by now, folks who qualify for carry permits don’t have them and carry routinely, they don’t deserve what they’re more likely to get . . . but they are more likely to get it. (When was the last time you heard about a law-abiding civilian carrying a gun beaten to death by thugs? It’s obviously not impossible for that to happen, but it is also obviously possible that producing the gun, perhaps without not even having to shoot the closest thug, might persuade the bunch to go find some other victim.)
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Some murders tug at some folks’ heartstrings more than others. Ayesha Edwards, for example — any parent can immediately identify with the horror of a kid being shot by some gangbanger while sitting and doing her homework.
Pestelence VD El-Shabazz? Not so much. It’s not exactly surprising that a gangbanger might get shot, even if — as we always seem to hear about the recently shot ones — he was just about to “turn his life around.”
September 24th, 2007 at 6:51 am
Terry (dude or chick?) said: “You are a stupid fuck, angry clown. ”
joelr said: “Pestelence VD El-Shabazz”
Not to tell you your business, Mitch, but you sure hang out with some real creeps. Angryclown will laugh a little harder next time one of you wingnuts whines about his “uncivil” posts.
Nice touch by the way, joelr. Fifty years ago (or maybe yesterday, come to think of it) you might have come up with a similarly witty “Moishe Moneygrubber Kikeowitz.” Or how about “Paddy McDrunkenbrawl?”
September 24th, 2007 at 6:59 am
Kermit said: “Yeah Terry, but he’s got one Hell of a sense of humor and that’s what really matters. That and controlling your life. ‘Cause he’s smarter than you are. Haven’t you been paying attention?”
Thanks for the compliment, Kerm. But Angryclown isn’t interested in running your lives. Angryclown is all about freedom, baby. Maybe one day you wingnuts will realize that freedom means more than the ability to settle your arguments with firearms.
September 24th, 2007 at 7:05 am
Terry slandered: “Thinks a lberal arts degree + law school makes him smarter than all us folk who work for a living. Fuck him.”
Well, that’s not the only thing that makes me smarter than you, Terry. There’s also native intelligence and the exposure to a better class of people than you’re likely to meet ice fishing on Lake Skunkamunkie or whatever. But you’re very much on the right track!
September 24th, 2007 at 10:40 am
“Maybe one day you wingnuts will realize that freedom means more than the ability to settle your arguments with firearms.”
Excellent point. In this particular case, whatever the argument was settled with beating this poor man to death. But at least he didn’t have a gun! And that’s a sacrifice your willing to make.
September 24th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Nice touch by the way, joelr. Fifty years ago (or maybe yesterday, come to think of it) you might have come up with a similarly witty “Moishe Moneygrubber Kikeowitz.” Or how about “Paddy McDrunkenbrawl?”
Actually, ‘clown, “Pestelence VD El-Shabazz” is the legal name of someone who was murdered not that far from Joel’s place…
— Taciturn Lutefiskson
September 24th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Nice touch by the way, joelr. Fifty years ago (or maybe yesterday, come to think of it) you might have come up with a similarly witty “Moishe Moneygrubber Kikeowitz.” Or how about “Paddy McDrunkenbrawl?”
And how’s that reference to “cousin-fsckers from flyoverland” impacting your beatification prospects?
September 24th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Well Christ on a cracker, would ya look at that? Apologies, Jor-el. Apparently you said something correct for a change.
If you look at the list it’s clear you have a serial killer targeting people with weird names.
September 24th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Mitch quoted: “cousin-fsckers from flyoverland”
Angryclown is unable to find that quote in his vast oeuvre, Mitch. Care to provide a link?
September 24th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Care to provide a link?
Natch! Well, mostly.
You’ve always spoken so highly of that sliver of the nation between the Hudson and the Sierra Madre, otherwise… 😉
September 24th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Well geez, I was talking about the country music audience. I don’t see how you can argue with that!
September 24th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
After meeting Emmylou Harris (while working at a CW station in 1991), I’ve called a permanent truce with the C/W audience.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:32 am
I’d accept your apology, clown, if you knew how to issue one. That said, you’ve shown again why you’ve made one of your rare wise decisions in posting as a sock puppet.
But, yeah, I didn’t name Pestelence “Pestelence.” And, from some communication I receive from folks around his family, it seems that he had a mother, a girlfriend, several ex-girlfriends, and a fairly large number of children who loved the guy. Which would have been a real good reason to not get involved in all of the gangbanging stuff in the first place; it’s not a healthy occupation.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Actually, ‘clown, “Pestelence VD El-Shabazz” is the legal name of someone who was murdered not that far from Joel’s place…
Yup. (Either that, or he accidentally shot himself more than a dozen times while sleeping.) ac isn’t the first to step on his male genitalia that way. (Kind of a high-stepper, our ac; but enough of short subjects — onward . . . )
Years ago, on Usenet, I referred to a guy as a “nazi,” and some dweeb who might have been ac’s metaphorical twin started in with the usual: how dare you accuse somebody who is to the right of you leftwing pinks a nazi, etc.
I was happy to point out that I referred to Milton “Mortie” Kleim, Jr. as a nazi because he was, well, a nazi: you know, the Hitler-heiling sort? (To be fair to Kleim, he claimed to have left the neo-nazi movement in 1996. I dunno; just because a nazi says it, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a lie.)
As to Pestelence VD El Shabazz, I was in error: his name was actually “Pestelence VD El-Shabazz”; I inadvertenty left out the hyphen, and apologize for the terror.
September 27th, 2007 at 5:37 am
Jor-El, reliving the last time he was right. Savor the feeling, Jor-El. Angryclown has a feeling it’ll need to last you for awhile!