Bravo, John. 

I got here late, but what I wanted to say is that anyone who could accuse John of writing something for money either doesn't know John or hasn't read much of what he's written. 

(And then I thought, well, I'm not so naive as to think it's impossible, but there are some of us who stay pretty damn poor in the name of writing only stuff we believe in. Funny how people who have more money than us sometimes come to the conclusion that it's too good to be true and accuse us of being underhanded somehow. As someone who's been accused of such things, I got a bit indignant once removed at the "are you a shill?" demand. But okay, better to be asked directly than doing it behind someone's back.) 

There are several issues. It is confusing. But one can detest Jim C's behavior and those of some of his customers, but respect the spirit and letter of the law. My mother recently was on a grand jury, and she told me how she learned a lot about the slowly painstaking nature of big cases. And that's all well and good. They're building a case. And the powers that be can't supposedly show their cards. 

But the point is, Don, some of us don't want to live in a world where government makes more criminals and more crimes every day ... in order to make money. Some of us don't want to live in a world where preemptive strategy takes the place of methodical and fair behavior on the part of our police force. Jim C is stubborn and he's made a mistake in the name of greed. I agree with that. But the stubbornness is at least in part because what's happened is apparently not fair play. A lot of us who don't even know the guy agree with that on principle. You shouldn't be able to take someone's money and belongings without charging them with a crime. Holding things for this long without charges is wrong. It's that simple.
 
Marijuana, which pretty much everyone agrees is on a par less than alcohol when it comes to being a Community Problem, will get you tossed in jail and, if you have a certain amount, a severe reduction in worldly possessions. Some of us think that there is a whole lotta irony in that fact, and that it would be interesting to live in a world where actual poison was banned while natural things you can grow in your garden aren't. And we see through the money-grubbing nature of forfeiture laws -- making drug busting profitable for police is invariably going to cause abuses. I don't care how many forms they have to fill out -- it's still a set-up for bad behavior and for everyone to turn a blind eye when police fudge things.
 
Now we have this unscientifically evaluated set of legal substances causing havoc downtown. But where is the havoc? Well, there have been a fair number of concerns about the behavior of the people who gather in front of LPOE. Some have been harassed -- some have just recoiled from the sight of poor people in anticipation of potentially being talked to. There is some anecdotal evidence about people who happen to cause problems while using these legal substances. (Remember that emergency room doctors and police only come into contact with a sub-set of actual users.) 

So while many of us sympathize with the plight of businesses that are suffering because their customers are afraid to walk that block, some of us see the alternative -- streets that have banished the poor, homeless and unseemly -- as too high a price to pay. If someone is doing something illegal or harassing on the street, then a foot patrol officer should do something about it. Otherwise, what they're wearing and how long they stand around talking on a public sidewalk should be a non-issue. If I wanted to live in the suburbs, where no one was on the sidewalk, I'd live there. People simply existing is not a legal matter, and not really a nuisance.
 
There is an argument for being upset at Carlson's business, but notice how some people invariably connect his business with other "problems" like the former Wabasha and the Strand, which did nothing wrong but be adult in nature and on our main street. Pearl clutching and gentrification ideals make some of us bristle. 

I am a vocal fan of what Old Downtown used to be. I am nostalgic because it had many merits, despite the fact that it made some people uncomfortable. I spent a lot of time there, and I enjoyed myself immensely. I am also a fan of some of what has transpired in Old Downtown. I like Tycoons. I like the Zietgeist. Carmody too. I am looking forward to (though not holding my breath for) a lovely renovated NorShor. But I can still see the undercover gentrifying push that Carlson is inadvertently feeding. The fact that he brought the battle upon himself doesn't change the niggling feeling I get: it seems to me that even if synthetics had never come into being, the monied interests would have come for Last Place somewhere down the line anyway. It is the last piece in the real estate pie. One final thing to sweep away. Suddenly its name becomes oh so apropos.

If they didn't have a case ready to go, why did they rush and get so far ahead of themselves to impound so much stuff? Did they catch wind that Jim C. was going to start moving cash elsewhere? Why didn't they wait until they had all their ducks in a row, and would be supported by the public in their efforts to make a clear arrest with forfeiture along with it?
 
People would know that it was clearly illegal, if we would start seeing warehouses where the stuff is being produced being raided, and delivery vehicles impounded. Instead, this very public focus on this one clearly unlikeable guy on main street... It makes people suspicious of motive. Just like they are when the DEA arrests the small-time dealer, but doesn't appear to go after the big-time producers because it takes more energy and effort. (Oh, and hey, coincidentally forfeiture isn't so easy to get.)
 
If you (collective, governmental "you") didn't want to see people defending the guy, you shouldn't have made him an underdog to begin with.

Yup. The more I think about it, the more certain I am that the raid for forfeiture/material goods that were taken over a year ago was strictly done for the material gain of the local police department. They did it when they thought they'd get the biggest haul, and are counting on the disdain we all bear for the owner to get what they want, damn correct procedure or the constitution. (You know, the idea that something has to become illegal first -- August 1st of this year — and then we get to raid the place.) When the Feds win their case — and they will — all the murkiness of how the locals got what they got will go by the wayside and nobody will give a shit. Hell, nobody cares now, because contempt is so high. Yay! More fancy police cars! Please more tear gas to burn Occupy out of the Kozy!
 
And I'm buzzing with interest as to why we haven't heard of big raids on the chemists and producers. Oh yeah, because it's "complicated." When someone is hated, all that complication turns into Go Go Elliot Ness! Burn it with fire!