Drizzt
Member
She's paying debt to society in offices of a group that works on gun issues
Doug Grow, Star Tribune
Published May 4, 2003
Is Erica Bouza serving hard time?
"We've got her nose to the grindstone," said Rebecca Thoman, executive director of a nonprofit, Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, where Bouza is doing community service for her arrest during an antiwar protest at the St. Paul office of Sen. Norm Coleman. "We don't let up for a minute."
This has been a big week for controversial crime-and-punishment stories. A former Minneapolis City Council member, Joe Biernat, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for public corruption. A former Minnesota Appeals Court judge, Roland Amundson, has been accepted to the state's boot camp program. This decision by state prison officials could trim two years from Amundson's five-year sentence for stealing more than $300,000 from a mentally disabled woman's trust fund.
But sometimes crime and punishment mesh perfectly, which takes us back to Erica Bouza, 71, a repeat offender.
On April 2, former Minneapolis Police Chief Tony Bouza, 75, dropped off his spouse, Erica, at Coleman's University Avenue office. Along with a couple of other protesters, the lifelong peace activist was seeking to get arrested as an expression of anger over the war in Iraq.
At 5 p.m., St. Paul police obliged Bouza and the others, hauled them from Coleman's office and tagged them for trespassing.
Erica Bouza, who has been arrested before, was so impressed by the civil behavior of the St. Paul police, she wrote St. Paul Police Chief William Finney a letter praising the work of his officers.
Did she ever write letters of praise to Chief Bouza when she was arrested by his officers?
"No," she said. "They never treated us very nicely."
Bouza, who was chief in Minneapolis from 1980 through 1988, was not surprised that his spouse found St. Paul police more affable than the officers he had been charged to lead.
"I love cops," he said. "I think they are heroic and beautiful. But the culture of the two departments [Minneapolis and St. Paul] always was different. In my years, I think I had some success in changing the behavior, but I don't know that I ever changed the attitudes."
Anyway, a few days after the arrest, Erica Bouza went to Ramsey County District Court, where she was given a choice: Jail time or community service. She opted for 24 hours of community service and a $40 fine.
Given a chance to pick where she would serve, Bouza selected Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, a nonprofit that works on issues involving gun violence.
Not surprisingly, Citizens for a Safer Minnesota did not support passage of last week's conceal-and-carry legislation.
"We have a sign that says we won't allow weapons in our office, but we're not putting the sign up until May 28, which is the conceal-and-carry opener," said Thoman.
It hasn't been too difficult for Thoman to inspire her court-ordered volunteer. Both Tony and Erica Bouza already serve on the organization's advisory board. Both Bouzas long have held the suddenly quaint belief that having more people on the streets with guns will not make our society safer.
Digression: In 1991, Tony Bouza took the job of directing the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence in Washington, D.C. That job, however, lasted only a few days. The people doing the hiring apparently didn't understand that the Bouzas are opinionated.
Bouza arrived in Washington for his new job at the same time Los Angeles police were beating a man named Rodney King. Because the beating was recorded on videotape, it became the subject of national conversation.
Bryant Gumbel, who was host of the "Today Show," asked Bouza to join him on the show to discuss the beating. In a matter of minutes on network television, Bouza managed to say: 1) Every black man in American could relate to what happened to Rodney King; 2) Gen. Colin Powell "may think he's black but he's doing the bidding of the white power structure"; and 3) President George Bush (the First) "should pull back the curtains in his bedroom window at the White House so he could begin to see the extent of the homeless problem in America."
It was compelling television. But the people who had hired Bouza to run the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence decided they were looking for someone a little less outspoken.
"Fired me immediately," Bouza said.
So, he returned to Minneapolis to live happily ever after with Erica. At least when she's not serving hard time.
Doug Grow is at [email protected].
Kinda the opposite of the "NRA Hires A Partisan" story...
Doug Grow, Star Tribune
Published May 4, 2003
Is Erica Bouza serving hard time?
"We've got her nose to the grindstone," said Rebecca Thoman, executive director of a nonprofit, Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, where Bouza is doing community service for her arrest during an antiwar protest at the St. Paul office of Sen. Norm Coleman. "We don't let up for a minute."
This has been a big week for controversial crime-and-punishment stories. A former Minneapolis City Council member, Joe Biernat, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for public corruption. A former Minnesota Appeals Court judge, Roland Amundson, has been accepted to the state's boot camp program. This decision by state prison officials could trim two years from Amundson's five-year sentence for stealing more than $300,000 from a mentally disabled woman's trust fund.
But sometimes crime and punishment mesh perfectly, which takes us back to Erica Bouza, 71, a repeat offender.
On April 2, former Minneapolis Police Chief Tony Bouza, 75, dropped off his spouse, Erica, at Coleman's University Avenue office. Along with a couple of other protesters, the lifelong peace activist was seeking to get arrested as an expression of anger over the war in Iraq.
At 5 p.m., St. Paul police obliged Bouza and the others, hauled them from Coleman's office and tagged them for trespassing.
Erica Bouza, who has been arrested before, was so impressed by the civil behavior of the St. Paul police, she wrote St. Paul Police Chief William Finney a letter praising the work of his officers.
Did she ever write letters of praise to Chief Bouza when she was arrested by his officers?
"No," she said. "They never treated us very nicely."
Bouza, who was chief in Minneapolis from 1980 through 1988, was not surprised that his spouse found St. Paul police more affable than the officers he had been charged to lead.
"I love cops," he said. "I think they are heroic and beautiful. But the culture of the two departments [Minneapolis and St. Paul] always was different. In my years, I think I had some success in changing the behavior, but I don't know that I ever changed the attitudes."
Anyway, a few days after the arrest, Erica Bouza went to Ramsey County District Court, where she was given a choice: Jail time or community service. She opted for 24 hours of community service and a $40 fine.
Given a chance to pick where she would serve, Bouza selected Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, a nonprofit that works on issues involving gun violence.
Not surprisingly, Citizens for a Safer Minnesota did not support passage of last week's conceal-and-carry legislation.
"We have a sign that says we won't allow weapons in our office, but we're not putting the sign up until May 28, which is the conceal-and-carry opener," said Thoman.
It hasn't been too difficult for Thoman to inspire her court-ordered volunteer. Both Tony and Erica Bouza already serve on the organization's advisory board. Both Bouzas long have held the suddenly quaint belief that having more people on the streets with guns will not make our society safer.
Digression: In 1991, Tony Bouza took the job of directing the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence in Washington, D.C. That job, however, lasted only a few days. The people doing the hiring apparently didn't understand that the Bouzas are opinionated.
Bouza arrived in Washington for his new job at the same time Los Angeles police were beating a man named Rodney King. Because the beating was recorded on videotape, it became the subject of national conversation.
Bryant Gumbel, who was host of the "Today Show," asked Bouza to join him on the show to discuss the beating. In a matter of minutes on network television, Bouza managed to say: 1) Every black man in American could relate to what happened to Rodney King; 2) Gen. Colin Powell "may think he's black but he's doing the bidding of the white power structure"; and 3) President George Bush (the First) "should pull back the curtains in his bedroom window at the White House so he could begin to see the extent of the homeless problem in America."
It was compelling television. But the people who had hired Bouza to run the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence decided they were looking for someone a little less outspoken.
"Fired me immediately," Bouza said.
So, he returned to Minneapolis to live happily ever after with Erica. At least when she's not serving hard time.
Doug Grow is at [email protected].
Kinda the opposite of the "NRA Hires A Partisan" story...
