Fishing for satisfaction

With luck, we may get some rain tonight and tomorrow. We could use it. Much of our area is back under moderate drought. I’m debating if a wet day tomorrow means Mother Nature is giving us a father’s day present of some much needed rain or if she’s spoiling father’s day barbecues with rain. Is the cup half full or half empty?

Streamflow along much of the Minnesota side of the St. Croix river is below the 7 day average for this time of year. I’m going to see if I can manage a half day or so of field check on the Wisconsin side one day next week. Smoky air kept me inside more than I’d planned for the week just ending. Then again, next week is forecast to be at or near 90℉, a little warm for pleasant field work even if it is near, but not in, a cold water stream. I seem to recall predicting last winter that Mother Nature would compensate for excessive winter conditions by providing excessive conditions this summer. Looks like she’s making an honest man of me, so far.

cool looking trout water

Photo by J. Harrington

We’re coming up on one of my favorite times for fishing for trout, when the tricos (Tricorythodes sp.) begin to hatch. It will be interesting to see (literally) if I can still tie on a size 18 or 20 fly to the end of a very fine tippet. Maybe I’ll just tuck a rod and some hip boots in the back of the Jeep if I get out to field check conditions. Many years ago, when I was a boy scout, I learned to “be prepared.”

Trout

By Kathryn Starbuck

I do my best 

to keep pointlessness 

at bay. But here, 

wet above my 

knees, I let it fly. 

Here, hot and cold, 

fingers thick with 

thinking, I try to 

tie the fly and look 

for the net, loosening 

the philosophical   

knot of why I came 

here today, not yet 

knowing whether 

I’ll free or fry 

the rainbows 

and browns once 

they’re mine.

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Will the MPD / DOJ Consent Decree be POSTed?

I haven't read the 92(?) page US Department of Justice report nor much of the coverage of this morning’s announcement of its findings: Justice Department finds pattern of discriminatory policing in Minneapolis. I’m also skeptical about the amount of time estimated to be necessary to negotiate a consent decree (Justice delayed is justice denied?). On the other hand, it could be interesting to see if anyone demands an early approval that builds on recent changes in Minnesota’s police licensing standards.

The POST Board adopted new rules effective May 30, 2023 for law enforcement officers related to background investigations, psychological screening, minimum selection standards and new standards of conduct. 

The new standards of conduct have provisions that appear to be particularly relevant, including:

Prohibited Conduct related to law enforcement authority: Use of Force:

• Engage in unreasonable or excessive use of force; unauthorized use of force, or unauthorized use of deadly force;

• Fail to intercede when observing another officer using force beyond that which is objectively reasonable (Minn. Stat. 626.8475);

• Fail to report any use of force violations by another employee or officer in writing within 24 hours to the chief law enforcement officer (Minn. Stat. 626.8475);

I am not a lawyer nor a police officer nor a politician, etc., but it seems to me it would simplify reforms and enhance accountability if an initial Consent Decree incorporated all the new standards as court enforceable provisions. Does that make sense to you?

Perspective

By Amy King

When I see the two cops laughing 

after one of them gets shot

because this is TV and one says

while putting pressure on the wound,

Haha, you're going to be fine,

and the other says, I know, haha!, 

as the ambulance arrives—

I know the men are white.

I think of a clip from the hours 

of amateur footage I've seen

when another man at an intersection

gets shot, falls, and bleeds from a hole

the viewer knows exists only by the way 

the dark red pools by the standing cop's feet,

gun now holstered, who

yells the audience back to the sidewalk.

I know which one is dying 

while black and which one stands by white. 

I think this morning about the student 

in my class who wrote a free write line 

on the video I played

that showed a man pouring water

on his own chest, "...the homoerotic 

scene against a white sky" with no other men 

present. Who gets to see and who follows

what script? I ask my students. 

Whose lines are these and by what hand

are they written?

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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.