Leonard Peltier

As of publication time, there still had been no announcement regarding the potential parole of Leonard Peltier. This past week’s news that Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (a Charles Manson follower) was paroled could only fuel hopes by many that Peltier would be released from federal prison. If someone who attempted the life of a president can be released, certainly Peltier’s release would seem more probable.

Last week’s exclusive interview with Leonard Peltier created a reaction that is in fact still rippling around the world. To our knowledge, it is the most recent and only current interview with Peltier. In just a few days, HPR’s articles by Pamela Sund were translated into French and Italian and were posted all over the web, reprinted in other media, and forwarded in endless email chains.

After more than 30 years in prison, the argument is no longer one of whether or not he was or was not guilty, or whether the trial was fair or not, or if he is a political prisoner or just a murderer behind bars.

It’s time to talk freedom for a man who served the sentence. He’s done his time. He’s not a menace to society. He’s got lots to offer in broader contexts. From prison, Peltier cannot contribute as much to society as he could from the outside.

Give the man parole. Free him, and in so doing, free all of us just a little bit of the shared, complicit guilt in the Pine Ridge incident and the many pains that preceded it and followed it.

Let him be free and let us all be free of that horrid, God-awful chapter in history.

Downtown Parking Tickets

Some 22 folks got cited for parking on Broadway downtown. It was the first Saturday that tickets were issued.

On each of the two Saturdays prior, about 40 warnings were distributed on cars informing them of the ticket enforcement.

Tickets are $15 if paid immediately. They jump to $20 after that.

One of the primary reasons cited for implementing the new penalties was the unavailability of parking spaces on Broadway on Saturdays—supposedly. There were reports of cars left over from Friday nights. And reports of condo owners and residents not moving their vehicles from in front of key new businesses.

Well, last Saturday, there were a scant few vehicles on Broadway at 9 a.m. We could not have found a business on all of Broadway that had no room for customers to park very close and out front.

Somebody fixed a problem that did not exist.

Now, let’s do the math. $15 times 40 equals $600 if we can anticipate issuing 40 tickets each Saturday. $600 times 52 equals $31,200.

Now, we know some people get more than one ticket, sometimes accruing a handful in fact. And we also know some people do not pay immediately, so they are dishing out $20 per citation.

So, best we can tell, the math justifying this new ordinance pencils out something as much as $40,000 a year.

Now, back to the fact that there is no hangover problem of bar crowd vehicles left on Broadway that is worth worrying about. And back to the fact that there are countless available parking spaces all over Broadway and connecting avenues on Saturdays and on weekends (except for late evening crowds, when the streets actually fill up, ironically when they do not have to worry about 90 minute or short move parking penalties), we can only logically conclude that the folks getting ticketed now on Saturdays are actually people going out of their way to SHOP downtown.

We say again: we are punishing customers for coming downtown between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturdays.

We’d rather see them buy a pizza at Sammy’s Pizza for just over $15. We’d rather see them buy original art at the Upfront Gallery for $15. We’d rather see them buy lunch for two at Toscana, King House, Pita Pitt, Bertrosa’s, Josie’s Corner, or Drunken Noodle.

We’d rather see them spend that $15 on Pride of Dakota originals at Chocolate Frog or on ice cream treats for the entire family at Charlie’s Ice Cream. Or two passes to the Fargo Theatre; we think you get our point.

We’d rather see them spend $15 on practically anything other than parking tickets.

It’s our understanding that the percentage of downtown businesses and residents who’ve signed Lauren Hedman’s petitions will be compelling to City Commissioners to reverse Saturday Broadway parking enforcement.

We hope they listen to the people as well as to a select few vested interest businesses as such policies are developed for the greater good of the downtown community.

Meanwhile, we need new parking ramp(s) now. How long, we ask, before those resolutions are in fact on the drawing board?

HPR’s 15th Birthday

We invite all of you to join HPR in celebrating its 15th Birthday Friday, Sept. 18 and Saturday, Sept. 19 here in downtown Fargo. The music and entertainment lineup is absolutely extraordinary.

Friday night, we start out at the Plains Art Museum with our signature birthday event. This event is something akin to the HPR gala each year and we promise our 15h year will surpass all others. We are also partnering with Jade Presents to co-sponsor the Ani DiFranco show at the Fargo Theater that night. The late-night crowd will go to The Aquarium to cap the night off.

Saturday activities include an all ages show at the Red Raven and a parking lot music event at the Empire Tavern. We hope HPR’s 15th serves as a community event and we particularly invite OUR community to show up in force. Following is the tentative slate of events so you can plan accordingly:

*Friday, Sept. 18, Red Raven :: ALL AGES, 6pm - 9pm, Eden Parker, Amanda Standalone, Fancy That.

Plains Art Museum:: ALL AGES / CASH BAR 21+, 7 pm - 10:30 pm, Cody Conner, The Palest Blue, Sarah Morrau, The Fillers.

Fargo Theatre:: ALL AGES, 7:30 pm, Ani DiFranco. The Aquarium:: 21+, 9:30 pm - 2 am, Ghost Hand Punch, Just ‘N Tyme, Michael Pink, Jeremy Messersmith Band, South Moorhead Scratch Dungeon.

*Saturday, Sept. 19, Empire Tavern Parking Lot:: 21+, 7pm - 10 pm, The Johnson Family Band.

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