Truth in Advertising
This behemoth was about 30 feet long and aptly named.
This behemoth was about 30 feet long and aptly named.
An annual tradition that goes along with the Miss West Duluth Pageant is my attempts to stir up controversy about it.
My initial objection came in 1987, when the first Miss West Duluth was a young lady from Morgan Park. It seemed to me that if the title was going to be “Miss West Duluth,” the contestants should all be from West Duluth.
I was told back then the criteria was that girls must live within the attendance boundary for Denfeld High School to be eligible. Although I thought “Miss Western Duluth” might be a more appropriate name, I was satisfied with this Denfeld rule, so I shut up about it for a few years.
Then, in 1996, a graduate of Hermantown High School was a contestant. I assumed she lived in the Denfeld area but chose to attend Hermantown, which would get around the rules enough to allow her to compete. In subsequent years I’ve noticed Proctor High School students in the list of contestants.
Give a contest an inch and it takes a mile. One of this year’s contestants is a senior at East High School, according to the Spirit Valleys Days insert in the Budgeteer News. (UPDATE: She lives in Morgan Park, according to comments to this post.)
Now, I don’t mean to fan the east/west flames here, so I’m just going to suggest we call this thing the Miss North America Pageant already and get it over with.
In what is perhaps a new low for the Duluth News Tribune, the DNT’s website just posted its first-ever “DNTV Special Report” in which Executive Editor Rob Karwath basically reads the paper’s earlier story about last night’s murder in Duluth’s Central Hillside, apparently as an excuse to show what did not run in either the newspaper or on the website’s text version of the story: a photograph of the crime scene with large pools of the victim’s blood.
In the video, Karwath narrates as the photo appears not just once, but over and over again, interspersed with other photos from the crime scene. Apparently, it is unethical to print the victim’s name at this sensitive time for his friends and family. But it is perfectly OK to showcase photos of the blood that came out of his fatally damaged head.
In addition to the DNTV piece, which at least does not allow comments, there is the text story, which unfortunately has comments open. At the time of this posting, there are 43 comments, which vacillate between racist, asinine comments about the type of person who lives in Duluth’s Central Hillside, and commentary about the shocking disrespect which is allowed to run rampant in our hometown’s newspaper of record.
I ask this, openly of everyone involved with the DNT and the news media in general: Is this how you would have handled this story if the victim were one of your own loved ones? Do you actually think that any of this is ethical?
I’d also like to know what the PDD community thinks of this specific issue. People bitch about the DNT on this site frequently, and even sometimes unfairly. But on this specific topic, I’d like to know what people think.
Personally, I think it’s disgusting. I would link to the video for you, but that would only give them exactly what they are transparently after.
Boyz II Dadz is hosting another FREE FAMILY LAW clinic, next week because …
Unfortunately, this ….
sometimes turns to this …
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/124411/
Sunday’s Bayfront concert cancelled due to low ticket sales. Did they ever promote it? I e-mailed Secret Service on Monday asking some questions about it, since it was not listed in the Transistor and got no response. Another Secret Service flop just like Lucinda Williams last November.
Umm, yeah…
Windows Vista decided to reboot my system without my consent mid-game (Yes I’m a late night gamer geek). So let’s look at this for a second. What if I were running a 2 hour crunching program, or working on an important spreadsheet? No terrible offense, MS, but your promises are half-assed.
BTW, do you have those TPS reports done?
I suspect there may be a resurgence of the “thumbs down” feature after this post, but I’m in a bind, and any car and/or relationship advice would be greatly appreciated!!!
I need to decide what to do with my currently inoperative car. Should I fix it and hope for a few more good years before driving it to it’s death? Or should I float it out on Lake Superior and set it alight, putting it out of it’s misery with a Viking funeral?*
* This is more of a metaphor really… I wouldn’t actually shove my car into Lake Superior, as it would be horribly toxic for our water source.
Just want to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding the “mystery barrels”. The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa out of Bayfield, WI have secured over $1 million from the Department of Defense to remove about 70 of the barrels for testing. PDF here of the 2008 MN DOH “Health Consultation” regarding the barrels. Link here to Nukewatch’s compendium on barrel research including a full collection of local news releases on the subject.
Please share this info with friends and neighbors.
Why is it that only the West Duluth Super1 bakery has the recipe for Peanut Butter Kisses? I recently moved to the East side and neither the Kenwood or Superior St. Super1’s have these delicious calorie grenades. I had to make the drive last night to satisfy the cravings of my significant other…
To the organizers of Homegrown,
On the surface of it, having a “Highway 61 night” theme to Wednesday’s homegrown festivities seemed like a good idea. But it would have been a much better idea had there been adequate transportation up that namesake road to the Lakeview Castle, the main venue of the later evening, as was advertised. Frustratingly, there was not.
The night started well enough at the Twins Bar, with a stellar (as always) performance by the Rez. The “first” bus left on its journey to the Castle at 9 PM as scheduled. I wasn’t on it, but I imagine it was fairly sparsely ridden, as the bar was still pretty empty and the first act was still playing at that point.
Though none of the Homegrown volunteers working the Twins seemed to know anything specific about the bus times, the Homegrown Guide gave the impression that the bus would go up, turn around and come back, making multiple trips throughout the evening. But it turns out we were falsely led.
I talked to several people, who all were under the impression that the next bus would come be at 10. Between 9 and 10, the Twins went from sparse to quite full. Several people arrived specifically to catch the 10 PM bus up the shore, maybe to have a drink first. At least a couple dozen people were waiting for the bus around 10, but it didn’t show up and didn’t show up. Finally, we received word from a volunteer that the bus was parked at the Castle and wouldn’t be leaving there until 11 for another run.
What should have been a completely fun night became tainted with frustration. Had the bus done its job as advertised, we all could have gotten up there in time to see Old Knifey (a travesty to be missed) and stayed long enough to make the 25-minute trip worthwhile. But as it stood, you had a couple dozen people out waiting in the rain instead of at least being informed of the situation in a timely manner so they could go back inside, relax and enjoy the music at Twins. It also became a potentially dangerous situation when people who had already had a few drinks got fed up with waiting and decided to drive themselves up the shore instead of taking the bus. And once those unlucky enough to stick it out for the bus got on and got up the shore, they only had an hour or so of musical talent to enjoy at the Castle.
9 PM is a fine time to start running a bus if it’s your FIRST bus. But it’s too early to be the ONLY reasonable bus. Advertising a back-and-forth shuttle and then not having one just isn’t cool. Better to have no bus than half a bus and leave people stuck.
My Sisters Place - Slaw Dog
It appears I need to pay $2.95 if I want to read more about the Grand Marais Slaw Dog. WHY?
I understand the rough time print publications are going through these days but $2.95 for one article on Slaw Dogs. Dang – the Slaw Dog probably does not even cost that much.
$2.95 per article
Several years ago I took my kids to the playground at Wheeler Field. We went into the clubhouse for a bit, and I read the signs that explain the history of the place and the Wheeler family. We went back outside, and I got into a time-traveling kind of mood, imagining moving away from the places I know for this vast wilderness, running a pioneer’s household without the help of other women, giving birth to babies here. This mind trip was made easier by looking at the huge, wooded hill behind us. “This is what it would have looked like to her, too,” I imagined.
But that’s not the case anymore. I was there on Tuesday, and saw this house being built. It’s too late for me to take a “before” picture, but I looked it up on google maps. I can’t see where the road to the house would be, but I guess it’s connected to Skyline.
I don’t usually feel like development is bad. My house is on developed land, right? Who am I to tell someone else they can’t have a house, too? But being witness to the first sticking-out-like-a-thumb house on this hill makes me sad. I suppose by the time my kids are grown, the hill will be full of houses.
probable unemployed actors attempting to act afraid of the gays
see a snippets of the horrendous auditions for the “storm of gays” video.
Can we all please STOP referring to this place as “Carmody’s”? The name of the bar is Carmody. Singular. Or, alternatively, Carmody Irish Pub.
It does not belong to a person named Carmody. Look at the sign. There is no apostrophe. There is no “S.”
Carmody. Plain and simple.
Anything else sounds, well, kind of stupid.
