Wednesday, July 19th is National Ride to Work Day. It’s a day for motorcyclists to commute to work and show not only their numbers, but that bikers aren’t all gang members and hooligans. I’ll be riding to work, and I hope to see a lot more of the Minneapolis/St. Paul biker community out there as well.

While listening to MPR this morning, I heard about how Minneapolis Fire Chief Bonnie Bleskachek is being sued by three female firefighters for harassment and sexual discrimination.

The story at first glance seems to be pretty straightforward: “The three women all allege that Bleskachek unfairly denied them opportunities to advance within the department. And they claim the chief based her decisions on her personal feelings toward the women, not on their job performance. Bleskachek’s lawyer says those claims are false.”

Okay, but then it gets complicated when we start to hear the details of the web of relationships which were involved. It reads like a soap opera. You have to respect the reporter for trying to keep it all sorted out for their readers.

Here’s what the author says to try to distill the situation down to its essentials:

The complaints filed by Jennifer Cornell and Kathleen Mullen present a web of interpersonal relationships. Cornell is Bonnie Bleskachek’s former partner, and co-parent of the chief’s two children. The two underwent a volatile breakup and a child custody skirmish.

Kathleen Mullen says she’s a former longtime friend of Bleskachek, who once dated the chief’s current girlfriend, Mary Maresca — who is also a firefighter. Mullen claims she ended her friendship with Bleskachek after she told the chief she couldn’t support her relationship with Maresca.

The third plaintiff, Kristina Lemon, didn’t have a relationship with Bleskachek. However, she claims that she was the target of Bleskachek’s romantic advances. Lemon says she resisted, and later became the target of retaliation by Bleskachek.

Right now, I’m only seeing this covered on MPR. The Strib and PiPress don’t have anything on it. I wonder if Blimp 9 News will pick it up for it’s “OMG LESBIANS!” angle?

I also wonder if all of this could have been avoided if those involved had avoided dating coworkers. I myself have been tempted to fish off the company pier, but I didn’t want to deal with the ensuing complications.

While I sure gardens and lawns are loving it, and it’s reducing the threat of brushfires somewhere in the northern suburbs, I am none too happy with having my weekend rained out. For example, the Motoprimo open house event was this weekend in Minneapolis. The downpour canceled the demo rides, but there was still free food and Sebastian Joe’s ice cream. However, it was cold, windy and pouring buckets. Even free ice cream can’t fix that.

Looking at the forecast, it looks like my workdays will be spent gazing longingly at sunny days outside, and more cold/rain this weekend. Just. perfect.

Team executives say the rubber boats, each three inches by five inches, they’ll be giving away on May 27 to the first 2,500 fans at Midway Stadium is to honor the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the television show, “The Love Boat.”

But they have another vessel in mind, too, a “Love Boat” that has nothing at all to do with Capt. Stubing, Gopher and Cruise Director Julie.

Here’s a hint: The boat’s colors are purple and yellow.

Yes, it’s meant to be a replica of one of the ships rented by members of the local NFL team back on Oct. 6. For that little cruise, four Minnesota Vikings were charged with indecent conduct and lewdness related to alleged sexual activities that took place on the charters.

Meanwhile, Ham Solo (pictured above), the team mascot, will be making his swan song appearance tonight.

I found a place where any biker can feel at home buying a bicycle, and that’s Nokomis Cycle. I talked with the owner last fall about his selection, and he explained he also does custom bikes. Talk about music to my ears! This guy loves motorcycles, and so he build bicycles that look like choppers, low-rider cruisers and customs. He even had bikes with a springer front end. Totally old-school. He also carries some cool brands of stock bikes like Nirve and Electra.

So, if you’re looking for a funky bike, that’s the place this biker would recommend.

Big Flaming Ball

What is that? Could it be that there really is such a thing as “the sun” that we hear so much about?

I hope you all got a chance to get outside today; it’s starting to feel a little like springtime. Hopefully I haven’t doomed us to 6″ of snow tomorrow by saying this.

Today WCCO.com has an article about Middlestadt’s plea of guilty to charge of careless driving (the failure to yield charge was dimissed). The sentence was a fine of $563 and a stayed sentence to 30-days in the workhouse. Oh, and the trooper can’t get any tickets until 2007.

This is a phenomena you encounter when you start riding motorcycles. The moment you get on your bike, you become sub-human. It’s okay for someone to mow you down in a careless act, claim they “didn’t see” the motorcyclist they plowed into, and the perpetrators walk away virtually scott-free. When you put on your helmet you not only are imbued with the power of invisibility on the roads, but you become persona non grata in the courts. What makes this situation sting so much for me is that a State Trooper failed to follow traffic laws – the very ones he’s supposed to uphold – and killed someone. For that, he gets a paid vacation and a pittance of a fine.

Outrageous.

Morning Snowplow Commute

Yet another dump of snow on us last night. One March snow emergency was quite enough, thanks! Also: the drive in was particularly interesting. Everyone forgot how to drive since Monday.

Oh, and Erica: Minneapolis parking restrictions begin at 9 PM tonight.

The program was designed to take photos of people running red lights. The photo, along with a citation, would be mailed to the address of the person to whom the car is registered. In theory this would cut down on red-light runners and thus accidents.

At the time, people seemed concerned only with what would happen if you loaned your car to another driver and they ran a light but you got the ticket. Apprently lots of people have contested their tickets due to this shift of the burden of proof. It looks like the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota won a major decision yesterday when a Hennepin County judge halted the program, saying it is unconstitutional, citing that ticket recipients received less due process than the state statute and courts offer because of the presumption that the owner of the car was the driver.

According to the Strib article on the topic, the Photo Cop program has generated about $1 million in the first six months (the tickets are $142 each!), and more than 26,000 people have received tickets under the program. Refunds to all those people may require further legal action.