HNC Housing Director Jeff Skrenes Is A DRUG RAID MAGNET!!!

Photo by John Hoff

For some mysterious reason, Jeff Skrenes keeps ending up in the middle of police drug raids despite being a clean-living dude and, incidentally, the son of a Lutheran church bishop...

I already blogged about how Jeff rented a nice little upstairs apartment, and within a month police officers descended upon the detached garage, forcing Jeff's "flight from Upper Drug-O-Topia." (Click here) Well, it happened again, this time in SOUTH Minneapolis.

Drug raids somehow find Jeff. Here's the story from a November 4 email, which happened while Jeff was out door-knocking to rally voters for the DFL. (Though, for the record, Jeff was happy to tell ANYBODY their precinct location, even if they said, flat-out, "I'm voting for McCain.")

Here's how Jeff described the incident:

"John, I prefer 'Divining Rod' (versus "drug raid magnet") since it meshes well with my theological leanings as well as having been called an "out of work porn star."

(Note to readers: it was the evil "anti-Johnny" Jim Watkins, true blue friend of the T.J. Waconia mortgage fraudsters, who said Jeff looked like an "out of work porn star," or perhaps it was "porn star has-been," or something like that. BAD anti-Johnny. BAD BAD BAD. Of course, we already knew that from his choice of friends)

Jeff's story continues...

So I was out door knocking for Jeff Hayden--running for state rep in a part of South Minneapolis--and Congressman Keith Eillison (on November 3). I was doing so because I am treasurer for Minnesota ACORN's political action committee. ACORN is pretty radioactive right now, and in the (StarTribune's) voter guide, these two guys were the only ACORN-endorsed candidates to proudly list that endorsement. I don't hold anything against those who did not, but I wanted to thank those two for standing with us. Also (this information is classified)

But I found that out only after making the decision to go there, Scout's honor.

It was a normal GOTV shift until my partner and I were on the north end of the 3500-3600 block of 3rd St. S. I was having an opportunity to use my Spanish for the first time in a while, talking to a nice Latino family about voting the next day. My partner was across the street. Suddenly, we heard shouting, something that sounded like "Get the fuck out of my house!!!"

Then a small bang (no light, though, so probably not a flash bang grenade, and not loud enough for a gunshot, so probably kicking in a door) and more shouting. Police lights went off in front of the house and very quickly a half-dozen cops were running around the sides of the place. At least two had bullet-proof vets on, and there were two drug sniffing dogs that were just about going crazy.

I admit that the initial bang and yell had me nervous about what was going down, but as soon as the police lights went on, I thought, "Ho hum, another drug bust." And I was actually rather happy to have a front row seat to the show. The Latino family was asking all sorts of questions, and I answered as best I could. But before too long, I realized my partner was across the street and probably not as comfortable as I was with what was happening.

So I went to get her, and the nice Latino family asked if we wanted to come inside and wait until this was over.

"Oh, no, I want to watch," I said, in Spanish. My partner spoke a little Spanish as well as Danish, although she didn't come across any non-English speaking Danes in South Minneapolis.

The police hauled at least three people out, a tall potbellied white guy, an an African-American man and woman. I thought we had five people being marched into one of their unmarked SUVs, but one or two could've been plainclothes cops.

It wasn't until my partner pointed this out to me that I got even a little nervous: If I had been maybe 60 seconds farther along in my doorknocking, I would have been right in the middle of that drug bust. Once she calmed down, she actually wanted to go and finish the block, even if it meant walking right past the goings-on."

(Johnny says: Arg, Jeff, you didn't get me her PHONE NUMBER? Sounds like a girl I'd love to meet!)

"I was glad to see that neither of us were too shaken to finish our assigned area, but I said we ought to go around the block instad."

Jeff concluded the email by saying he intended to do more door-knocking on Election Day in the same area, but he doubted he'd have as much excitement.

However, I am waiting for yet another email from Jeff about intimidation tactics and other irregularities he observed at a precinct. The photo above shows Jeff in front of 3119 4th St. N., which is slated for demolition in the near future. I just picked the photo at random but, come to think of it, there have been MANY drug raids at that location, too.

I tell you...Jeff is a raid magnet. When Jeff Skrenes is around, BETTER HIDE YOUR DOPE!!!!