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MINNEAPOLIS Minnesota : Man killed hours after vigil
The latest in an alarming spate of killings in Minneapolis, Minnesota Phillips neighborhood happened just hours after people held a peace vigil nearby.

A man was shot and killed early Sunday across from Peavey Park, at Franklin and Park avenues, about 12 blocks from East Phillips Park, where about two dozen people held a vigil Saturday evening. It's the fourth killing in the neighborhood in 10 days.

Minnesota police haven't identified the latest victim or a suspect. After responding to a "shots fired" call at 4:15 a.m. Sunday, Minnesota police found the body of an adult man lying in the street on Park Avenue. The man was shot while in his car, witnesses told Minnesota police, then staggered out of his car and slumped into the street.

The three previous slayings occurred in a cluster on the eastern fringes of the neighborhood, which lies between Interstate 94 and Lake Street and between Interstate 35W and Minnesota 55 (Hiawatha Avenue).

On Aug. 8, taxi driver Mohamed Ahmed Saleh was shot in the head and crashed his cab into a basketball court in East Phillips Park. Last Monday, 34-year-old Willie Wise was shot dead on the 2900 block of 17th Avenue South. A day later, 49-year-old Terrance "Eric" Stonechild was beaten to death near the intersection of East 25th Street and 18th Avenue South. An Oklahoma man and a New Brighton teen have been charged in connection with Stonechild's death.

Sunday's killing marked the 33rd homicide in Minneapolis, Minnesota this year. The city had recorded 25 by mid-August a year ago.

Minneapolis, Minnesota city council member Dean Zimmerman, whose ward includes the Phillips neighborhood, says the blame for what is happening in Phillips goes beyond this latest perpetrator.

He cites the loss of more than 100 Minnesota police officers stemming from cuts to the city budget, spurred by funding cuts from the state. Zimmerman also draws links to rising joblessness and homelessness.

"We've got desperate people, and desperate people do desperate things," he said by phone Sunday afternoon, after spending much of the day watering and planting trees in East Phillips Park. "Couple that with our absurd drug laws, where every person with a joint is a criminal, and that drives people to commit other crimes."

A woman who lives in an apartment near East Phillips Park said Sunday she worries about her 82-year-old mother, who lives just down the hall from her. After recent gunshots outside her window, the elderly woman crawled out of her apartment in a fit of terror, said her daughter, who wouldn't give her name.

"It's terrible," she said. "We really don't know what to do about it."

While the Phillips neighborhood is "a little scarier late at night now than it used to be," Zimmerman says residents don't deserve much of the stigma associated with the violence.

Many victims and people behind the crimes there, including those responsible for the beating death, don't live in the neighborhood, Zimmerman says. He also cited a recent neighborhood drug bust that resulted in the arrest of nine people — none of whom live in Phillips.

"I don't know why (it happens), other than maybe word gets out this is a place to buy drugs, and the people buying are coming in from Wayzata and Maple Grove," Zimmerman says. "These are parasites on the neighborhood. They sure wouldn't be allowed to do this in Linden Hills."

Healing the community goes beyond corking the recent string of violence, says Gordon Thayer, director of the American Indian Community Development Corp., which works to improve the lives of the neighborhood's homeless and alcoholics.

Thayer says economic development and community activism have cut violent crime in the neighborhood over the past five years, but he says businesses need to reinvest in the people living there.

"You can't build a community with just bricks and mortar," he says. "You have to change lives. And the whole community has to be engaged in making a safer community."

Minnesota Treatment Facts

During 2000, of the 40,150 individuals entering substance abuse treatment in Minnesota, 4,194 were for cocaine .
During 2000, of the 40,150 individuals entering substance abuse treatment in Minnesota, 8,050 were for marijuana .
During 2000, of the 40,150 individuals entering substance abuse treatment in Minnesota, 985 were for heroin .
During 2000, of the 40,150 individuals entering substance abuse treatment in Minnesota, 1,698 were for meth .

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If you or someone you care for has a substance abuse problem and needs treatment, it is important to know that no single treatment approach is appropriate for all individuals. Finding the right substance abuse treatment program involves careful consideration of such things as the setting, length of care, philosophical approach and your or your loved one's needs.

Effective treatment must attend to the multiple needs of the individual, not just the drug use.
Remaining in substance abuse treatment for an adequate period of time is critical for treatment effectiveness and positive change.
Each person is different and the amount of time in treatment will depend on his or her problems and needs. Research shows that for most individuals, the beginning of improvement begins at about 3 months into treatment. After this time, there is usually further progress toward recovery.
Counseling (individual and/or group) and other behavioral therapies are critical components of effective treatment.
In treatment, individuals look at issues of motivation, build skills to resist drug use, replace drug-using activities with constructive and rewarding behaviors, and improve problem-solving skills. Behavioral therapy also facilitates interpersonal relationships and the individual's ability to function in the home and community.
Detoxification is only the first stage of substance abuse treatment and by itself does little to change long-term drug use.
Detoxification safely manages the acute physical symptoms of withdrawal associated with stopping substance use. While detoxification alone is rarely sufficient to help addicts achieve long-term abstinence, for some individuals it is a strongly indicated precursor to effective drug addiction treatment.
Strong motivation can facilitate the treatment process. Support from family and friends can increase significantly both treatment entry and retention rates and the success of drug treatment interventions.
It is important to match treatment settings, interventions, and services to each individual's particular problems and needs. This is critical to his or her ultimate success in returning to healthy functioning in the family, school, work and society.

Patients who stay in substance abuse treatment longer than 3 months usually have better outcomes than those who stay less time. Patients who go through medically assisted withdrawal to minimize discomfort but do not receive any further treatment, perform about the same in terms of their substance use as those who were never treated. Over the last 25 years, studies have shown that treatment works to reduce drug intake and crimes committed by drug-dependent people. Researchers also have found that drug abusers who have been through treatment are more likely to have jobs.

The ultimate goal of all substance abuse treatment is to enable the individual to achieve lasting abstinence. The immediate goals are to reduce drug use, improve the patient's ability to function, and minimize the medical and social complications of drug abuse. Nearly all addicted individuals believe in the beginning that they can stop using drugs on their own, and most try to stop without treatment. However, most of these attempts result in failure to achieve long-term abstinence. Research has shown that long-term substance abuse results in significant changes in brain function that persist long after the individual stops using drugs. These drug-induced changes in brain function may have many behavioral consequences including the compulsion to use drugs despite adverse consequences, the defining characteristic of addiction.

Understanding that addiction has such an important biological component may help explain an individual's difficulty in achieving and maintaining abstinence without treatment. Psychological stress from work or family problems, social cues (such as meeting individuals from one's drug-using past), or the environment (such as encountering streets, objects, or even smells associated with substance abuse) can interact with biological factors to hinder attainment of sustained abstinence and make relapse more likely. Research studies indicate that even the most severely addicted individuals can participate actively in treatment and that active participation is essential to good outcomes.

Minnesota Facts

Minnesota Inventions: Masking and Scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products, and Green Giant vegetables

Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined.

Candy maker Frank C. Mars of Minnesota introduced the Milky Way candy bar in 1923. Mars marketed the Snickers bar in 1930 and introduced the 5 cent Three Musketeers bar in 1937. The original 3 Musketeers bar contained 3 bars in one wrapper. Each with different flavor nougat.

Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people, more than any other state.