Me And A Horny Dolphin

Towing Utopia got its first piece of "above ground" publicity today in the City Pages, with a blurb appearing right below a bigger blurb about a horny dolphin, as follows:
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Off the hook

John Hoff's vendetta against the towing industry began on a snowy evening in February of last year. At 23:27 TNT (Towing Nazi Time, as Hoff puts it), his beloved 1990 Dodge Grand Caravan, known as "T-Bone Dream," was towed from Walnut Street Southeast. (Please note: Though the phrase "Towing Nazi" was in the column of March, 2007, I have since avoided using that phrase because I don't want to minimize or make light of things the Nazis did, and I have vowed to never use the phrase again)

The University of Minnesota grad student recounted this particular encounter in a column in The Minnesota Daily shortly afterward. "Squirrels do not gather nuts with such rabid speed as these tow trucks gather their victims," he wrote.

But his gnawing anger hasn't dissipated in the ensuing year. So last week Hoff started a blog, TowingUtopia, dedicated to chronicling the miseries of the impound lot.

"I've checked and as far as I can tell there's nobody on the internet that's just bitching about towing," says Hoff. "Getting towed can be worse than spending a night in jail." —Paul Demko
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This is small, but it is a start. It shows me this blog is on the right track. In fact, I've already turned up a horror story or two right here in the Twin Cities, and it won't be difficult to get more. Send the horror stories!

In between cramming for midterms, I spent a lot of time on YouTube in the debate about the puppy-tossing Marine. (Bad, bad, bad) Comparing the time I spent there to another YouTube controvery that sucked me in, the Utah Taser incident, I figured this out:

VIDEO, BABY!!!! It's all about video. What would really set off the kind of national debate needed about non-consent towing issues would be video documenting what citizens suffer, especially the frustrating process of simply trying to LOCATE and RETRIEVE one's automobile. So if there's video out there...I want it, and I certainly have a YouTube account, so I'm quite capable of posting it where it will be seriously scrutinized and commented upon.

THANKS PAUL DEMKO YOU ROCK!

Me and the dolphin are very happy together, thanks.