But seriously folks. 

• From the USD Volante: USD Crisis Communication Plan

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The spiritual leader of the SD GOP Wolf Pack, Fred Phelps.

An excerpt from The Advocate:

Phelps church to protest Minnesota bridge collapse funerals

Fred Phelps, leader of the maliciously antigay Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., is slated to picket funerals for victims of the Interstate 35-West bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis…

Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Fred Phelps and church attorney, said that God has turned his back on America and Minnesota for its tolerance of LGBT people, according to the Twin Cities Daily Planet Web site… .

Most of the reporting on the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis has been somewhat more respectful and less ignorant and exploitive than usual for disasters.

Maybe that’s because it’s in our backyard.   

But despite some excellent reporting by Minnesota Public Radio, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, buzz.mn, and CNN, there’s always the exception.

The award for stupidest I-25W report yet goes to KELOLAND for Thursday evening’s story about the Minnesota State Trooper who bravely stayed in Sioux Falls to coach a softball tournament instead of joining his colleagues in Minneapolis to help save lives, direct traffic, or help find bodies.

• See: MN State Trooper Reacts To Tragedy

An excerpt:

(Lt. Mark) Peterson is the public information officer for the Minnesota State Patrol and says he would probably be at the emergency operations center, helping find answers to the many questions surrounding this tragedy. 

Peterson says, “Would I like to be back there? I would, but because we’ve got things so well put together I’m not irreplaceable. We can do each others job to get it done, and with the amount of cooperation and the quality of the people that are responding it’s going very well.” 

So, it is easier to replace a Minnesota State Trooper officer at an unprecedented emergency were tens of people may be dead, nearly a hundred are injured, and traffic for a metro area of over one million people is hugely disrupted than it is to replace a girls U16 softball coach?

Huh? 

Again, while New York City firefighters and police ran into the burning Twin Towers on 911, knowing that they might not get out alive, Lt. Peterson thought it was the better part of valor to stay in Sioux Falls rather than return home and help?

And KELOLAND thought this story was a good idea, both in terms of the sort of light it puts Lt. Peterson, particularly compared to the civilians and first responders who braved death and injury to save others?

Shameful.  Simply shameful.

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Wednesday’s I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis shows the best—and worst—attributes of Upper Midwestern culture.

That bystanders and even people who were once rescued themselves rushed to the scene to climb the bridge or dive into the river or hold a scared child really doesn’t surprise me.  I think one of the finest attributes of where we live is that people are typically so generous and helpful, they will do much more than give the shirt off their back to another.

News reports show little old ladies, college age slackers, middle class and middle aged guys all eschewing their own personal safety to help others.  I think this goes back to our prairie past, that whenever there was an emergency—people would come running to help a neighbor.

The other attribute, however, is not so noble.  It is our region’s obsession with being too careful and leaders who are unwilling to take chances.

Again, according to press reports, the rescue operation was stopped at midnight just after the calamity because it was just too difficult to see.  Then, rescue/recover divers didn’t go into the river until Thursday mid-morning, then were pulled out because it just wasn’t safe.  Couple this with the fact that it appears no heavy equipment was brought in to start lifting off cars and pieces of bridge and you have, in my opinion, an very unaggressive formal rescue.

Compare this to the bravery police and fire fighters showed during 911.  There was NO WAY they were not going to go into the Twin Towers and try and help people.  Then, when they collapsed, as soon as the dust settled, they were back trying to dig people out.  These first responders knew they were taking a  terrible risk with their lives yet they went in.

Further, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his police and fire commissioners showed immediately after 911 that they would do EVERYTHING humanly possible to support their rescue professionals and their bravery.  Heavy equipment was on the scene immediately.  While there was concern for the rescuers’ safety, helping the victims and recovering the dead for their loved ones was more important than anything.

Giuliani showed fearless leadership in the face of tragedy and adversity.  Compare this to Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Ryback and their overly careful approaches.

If I had a loved one who was trapped on that bridge or even dead and submerged in the river below, I would be furious at the “safety first” approach.  

Look at the response after Oklahoma City after the Murra building was bombed.  Look at the response after the skywalks collapsed at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City.  Rescuers and their leaders said “balls to the walls” and try and save as many lives as possible.  And if you can’t save them, give the family closure by finding their dead loved ones.

It strikes me that Minnesota’s leaders, in typical Upper Midwestern carefulness and caution, gave up too soon and too easily because it was dangerous.

Yeah, natural and man-made disasters are dangerous.  This is a surprise? 

Too bad Bill Janklow wasn’t governor of Minnesota when this happened.  Say what you want about Bill, but Janklow would have been out there himself leading the effort, yelling and screaming and swearing to save people.  That’s not very Upper Midwestern.  But that is exactly the sort of leadership that was needed.  Minneapolis needed a leader to go in there and kick asses.  What it got were bureaucrats instead.

We Upper Midwesterners need to look at what we think is leadership.  We need more Janklows and Giulianis and fewer Pawlentys and Rybaks.  Such weak leadership not only doesn’t save lives but does a disservice to the bravery of regular citizens and first responders who are willing to sacrifice to save others.  Our heritage makes us want to be cautious at an institutional level.  Sometimes, like when there is tragedy, that is not the right response.

I’ve taken down the Shawn Cable feed and put up a blog and news feed of information from Twin Cities bloggers and news organizations and some South Dakota sources on the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

The feed is in the left column after the directory items. 

CNN has actual video of the bridge collapse.

• View: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/08/02/vosli.mn.i35w.bridge.collapse.side.view.cnn?iref=mpvideosview 

Pretty freakin’ incredible.  Apparently the person on the bridge didn’t have permission to be there.

Hat tip to Buzz.mn, the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s community blog pages. The blogs are also an interesting use of citizen journalism.

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The best source I’ve found for coverage of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis is on Minnesota Public Radio.  Their coverage is thorough, thoughtful, comprehensive, and not trying to scare the crap out of people.

Locally in Sioux Falls, they are found at 91.7 on the FM dial. 

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