Damn, and the commenting is turned off on that article!  Could have had a blast with that one.

Correction, comments are enabled.  Should be an interesting day at the DNT site.

Ha Ha, 
My dog could relate to this one. We purchase oversized balls that we nickname "Big Ball." She is obsessed with playing "Big Ball". She begs and cries to play. We try to hide the ball up high, but on numerous occasions she has figured out a way to get at the ball down. When we do play, we only play for about 5 minutes because it is exhausting for both of us. We kick the ball keeping it moving because if we stop, the ball we stop and she will pop it. The whole goal of the game according to her is to pop the ball. 

When she does pop it she stand over it with a very satisfied look. 

When I am driving the car she just about goes nuts if she sees children playing with a ball.

My first thought when I saw this big honking headline in this morning's paper was, "NOW the DNT has sunk to a new low." But give 'em credit, I read the article.

hide your balls, people!  we've got a slasher on the loose!  thank goodness the DNT sensationalized this story, now I can lock my children up tight and continue living in fear!

I'm extremely curious about this fetish. What is it that is so titillating about these balls? Why not medicine balls or bowling balls? Is the thrill experienced when the trapped air inside is let loose after slicing? Is it the texture of the plastic? What happened in this guy's past that caused this oddity? Is there a large segment of the population with similar fetishes?

And I also wonder why I don't have any "interesting" eccentricities.

This is just further evidence that Duluth needs a new daily paper of record.  They should leave this nonsense to the consistently absurd television 'news.' 

It's been a pretty crappy paper for a long time, but since Forum took over the decline has accelerated. 

It's time to start a new daily paper.  How hard could it be? There's no real competition, there's a wide selection of good and currently unemployed reporters, and obviously people here care enough about knowing what's going on in their community to filter through DNT's sludge on a daily basis.

So the newspaper industry is in trouble, no kidding.  But the demand for real community news has only increased.  Perhaps if there was a paper owned by the community that didn't assault the reader's intellect, a viable business model could be forged.

I shook my head when I saw that screaming headline -- now I'll have to read it, so when Letterman makes jokes about it, I'll know what he is talking about. God almighty, they should re-name the paper the Duluth Enquirer or something, or the Duluth Star, or something. What a tabloid.

The ball slasher hit West Duluth Clinic's therapy room a few weeks ago and SMDC security sent out a house-wide description of him- including a photo of him driving off on his getaway bicycle!
I shit you not.

Who reads a print newspaper?

"We already got a numerous local alternative publications- Zenith City Weekly, Transistor, Reader, Hillsider, BusinessNorth. If you want to improve local journalism, contribute to them..."

Let's break this down. 

- Zenith City Weekly is an (honorable-but-doomed) 4 to 6-pager that I see, occasionally, here and there.

- The reader is utterly worthless as far as local content (except, of course, for Barb's City Council reports). I have no idea why that paper still exists...

- Transistor is not journalism. It's a bar-listing sheet with some comics and  columns thrown in.

- Hillsider is awesome, but exists to serve a small segment of the city.

- Business North has a very narrow focus, and probably not going to investigate A and L Properties.

So, Duluth, in fact, has a major lack of competition for the DNT. Which is one reason they can be so godawful bad without it mattering much.

This news item just went Fark ( http://www.fark.com )

What do you mean, you don't run into bloggers at the courthouse?

Ramos is awesome. Especially his Transistor columns...

Hyper-localized t-shirt idea?: "Ramos Rules"

Newspapers, as we know them today, have always existed to make money for the owner.  How can one throw out the for-profit motive and still have the same thing?

Again, the original mission of journalism was to make money and inform.  How does it work to change that?

Maybe we should start a dialogue with Naomi about how to expand the reach of the Hillsider News, so that it is published more often and covers more of the city beyond the Hillside.

"Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted" Well said Tim.

As an NPR junky, I'm loath to criticize the most responsible news source available.  But much of their funding comes from the government, some from corporations, and some from foundations controlled by those who control the corporations.  It certainly represents the appearance of a conflict of interest. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about NPR is the degree of actual independence they've been able to maintain.  It certainly took a tremendous amount of resolve among the rank-and-file and whistle-blowing on their own station to ward off Bush Administration attempts to water down content (and criticism).

I refuse to believe that journalism somehow relies on the profit motive.  Certainly business relies on journalism's profit motive to cow the journalist away from doing their job.

For David Simon's explanation of the "No Blogger's at the courthouse" comment
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/7/david_simon_creator_of_acclaimed_hbo
or for his related testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee.

Somehow local news can be intelligent, informative, and independent.  Somehow.

HAH!

I already can't wait for next year's pageant.

Dude looks exactly like Dr. Venture from The Venture Brothers.

For all we know he manages his $500/day exercise ball habit just fine *most* of the time. Only slips up when he's short and needs a fix.

Ha! Good eye Tom, I never would have noticed myself in there. (Though I was worried when someone said I appeared in the ball-slasher documentary.)

Loved the ball-slashing ballet scene!

Hello everyone. Thanks for watching!

So, I hate to tell you guys, but Bjerkness was relocated to Aitkin Prison due to overcrowding, and they pushed back his trial date, again!  I sent him a couple letters but haven't heard back, so a re-cut of the doc with an interview is seeming less likely.  

I talked to him for almost two hours at the St. Louis County Jail though, and he would be great on camera.  He told me all about how he developed a thing for ball slashing and what his "first time" was like.  He also let me in on some specialized techniques for slashing: "The air went out too fast? That's why you have to use push-pins!"