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TERRY’S TIDBITS – The Scream, Hurricane Deaths, Weapons, New Hampshire, Handicaps, Dress Codes, Graffiti

By Terry Gray

August 30, 2004

JUST HOLLER

Scream was stolen and nobody heard a thing.  The good news is that the Louisville Speed Art Museum Director says that the painting may resurface.  That’s a relief. 

CHARLIE

 I received an email last week from a veteran in Florida who is apparently working clean-up in Charlie’s aftermath.  He is disturbed that the media is citing 25 dead from the storm when he and 6 others have personally seen 400 “filled” body bags.  “These are confirmed bodies in the trucks, restaurant refers, or refer vans, and they are NOT "missing persons" or animals.”

     I emailed the veteran and asked if the 375 dead not reported by media were possibly illegal aliens that “didn’t count” or something else that could account for the discrepancy.  He told me that he couldn’t even confirm the official 25 but they had just processed another 100 body bags.

     I don’t know what to believe at this point and I wish I could get to the bottom of it.  If it is true why are the government and media covering up the deaths of all of these people?  What could be the motivation for doing this?

WHERE ARE THE WEAPONS?

A lady on the news is upset.  Her son came home from the fair with weapons.  Oh my.

     Let’s punch in a little logic in the liberal equation and see what happens.  You obviously feel very strongly against weapons so I’m sure that you are always looking to protect your children from these horrible things.  With that in mind did you specifically tell your son not to buy weapons at the fair?  Why not?

     The list of weapons available to purchase according to our wonderful media includes brass knuckles, pocket knives, and toy guns. 

     Let’s look at this a little closer.  Brass knuckles are weapons and they can hurt or kill.  But one has to be close enough to a person to actually hit that person.  I’m sure you are raising a passive liberal son that would never fight and if challenged to a fight he would run to the nearest adult.  Why would you feel that brass knuckles may be a problem?  As I stated before, one has to actually fight to make use of brass knuckles. 

     When I was growing up, all self-respecting kids had pocket knives.  Yes times have changed but the attitudes of people like you have made those changes, and not for the better.  A pocket knife is no more a weapon than a screwdriver but social engineering has deemed that violence even in self defense is a bad thing.  Get your kid a pocket knife, a whittling stick and some band-aids.  Set him on the front porch away from the television and tell him to carve the Bill of Rights.  He’ll find it much easier to accomplish this with a stick and a pocket knife than our founders with a pen and paper.  Maybe then he’ll appreciate the great gift of freedom that was handed to us.

     Toy guns are just that; they are not weapons.  Now if my daughter brought home a toy gun I would be highly upset too.  Toy guns are bad.  They teach our kids nothing about gun safety and in fact make real guns more dangerous when inexperienced kids finally get the real thing.  They are all bark and no bite and kids learn no respect for what a real gun will do.  Get your kid a gun and some ear protectors (he won’t need band-aids) and take him to the firing range.  Provide some education on firearms and firearm safety and show him that guns are not “bad things.”  Then be proud when he grows up understanding that possession of a gun is an important right and one of the few things standing between his freedom and governments run amok.

New Hampshire

 I told you in a previous edition about the proposed migration to New Hampshire by freedom lovers.  Now it looks as though a whole Vermont town wants to pack up and head New Hampshire way.  New Hampshire is all for it but the boys in charge of Vermont don’t like it at all.

     It seems that Vermont got greedy.  The Vermont town of Killington is just 25 miles from the New Hampshire and maintains a resort status.  Because of being a resort area, their property taxes are considered by the residents to be way out of proportion.  But the big beef is about sending $10 million to the state annually and only getting back $1 million.

     New Hampshire’s next legislative session will vote on the move and likely approve it.  It looks like we have a modern day Boston Tea Party afloat.

Emergency

  Most every piece of important paperwork we fill out asks us to list someone to contact in the event of emergency.  I think emergencies should be prioritized.  Missing a deadline isn’t the same as dropping dead.  Dropping dead probably isn’t an emergency either but some people do become upset by it.

     But I have a real question about the emergency contact information.  Why do they want the address of the person to contact?  If something is important enough to be listed as an emergency it is too important to need an address.

     “Mrs. Jones, your husband has sustained a serious injury at work and requires your immediate attention at City Hospital.  Sincerely, His Boss.”  I hope they overnight it at least.

Handicapping

  I’m all for helping the handicapped as long as no one is forced to help the handicapped.  One of our television stations is doing a piece about handicapped access to businesses.  A lady in a wheelchair is mad because some places have no access for those less fortunate than the rest of us. They showed her driving around in her wheelchair bringing this debacle to everyone’s attention.

     Miss, business owners didn’t make you handicapped and they should not have to bear your burden if they desire not to.  If they choose to lose your business then that is their prerogative.  Society does not owe you because you can’t walk.

     If you should happen to force everyone to build ramps so you can enter will you promise that you will spend enough money at each location to pay for the ramps?

     I foresee another problem with your demands.  In the fashion of most liberals, once you get access to the shops you’ll demand the aisles be broadened to accommodate your wheels.  Then you’ll demand that the bathrooms must be altered.  Clothing can’t hang on the top racks because you can’t reach them.  If you can’t see over the counter when you are checking out you’ll demand a lower counter.

     The operative theme of this piece is “demand”.  You don’t own those businesses that don’t have handicapped access and no one owes you anything because of your handicap.  Your demands are out of line.           

Flagless in Nelson County. 

The Nelson County Board of Education is enforcing its dress code, much to the chagrin of most freedom loving, law abiding citizens.  No extra pockets and no logos among other things.  Included in the ban list is the American Flag on one’s clothing.

     If a kid has a logo or pocket small enough to cover, the school will give them a pin to put over it.  A pin with something like: “Have a Nice Day.”  Covering the American Flag?  Not with my kid.  You know those brass knuckles I talked about earlier….?

     Don’t you people know that you own the school and the Board of Education?  Hey, the kids being affected by this un-American bunch of Nazis are your kids.  What are they teaching them inside the schools?  Why do you put up with this nonsense?

     The number for the Nelson County Board of Education is (502) 349-7000.  Let’s give them a holler; what do you say?

          On a good note, the Nelson County Board of Education is relaxing their anti-American Flag stance this year.  But they better not see any American Flags next year buddy.

Ordinance Graffiti

 Merriam-Webster:  “unauthorized writing or drawing on a public surface.”  Then stop writing these stupid ordinances.

     Dan Johnson and Glen Stuckel want to ban the sale of spray paint and etching tools to folks under 18.  Johnson says 80% of the graffiti in Louisville is by kids who just want to have their art seen by others.  In that case we are talking about freedom of speech and given that, what you want to do is censor.  Johnson is also tired of seeing “expressways looking like weird art all the time.”  He obviously likes the flat concrete and speeding mass of powered metal.  I don’t think Johnson would know art from pudding.

     The other 20% of Louisville’s graffiti is done by gangs.  I would like to see the survey that supports those data.  But more importantly, putting a patch on an engine leaking oil doesn’t stop the leak.  This is a very stupid proposal and I would consider it a joke if it came from anyone but Johnson.  Graffiti is an outlet for violence, it doesn’t beget violence.  It is merely a symptom.

     Along with the paint ban Johnson wants to ban the sale of etching tools to minors.  Would someone please define etching tools for me?  Do these have to be “official etching” tools or are etching tools just any old tool that has been used for etching?

     Will the parents of would be graffitists be responsible for locking up the spray paint in the garage?  How about mandatory spray locks on every can that recognize fingerprints and only operate when the rightful owner engages them?

     Johnson also equates his proposed ban to making the sale of cigarettes to minors illegal.  Somehow he believes that kids under 18 don’t smoke anymore because there is a law.

     If this ordinance should pass, just are going to get much more joy out of writing graffiti.  So will gangs.  I will lay odds that should the ordinance pass, the frequency of graffiti will rise.

     And who is Glen Stuckel?

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