Hey guys.  Sorry about no letter last week for those of you who noticed there wasn’t one.  I had actually been away for a week and Josh handled putting the issue together, which he did a great job with as usual.  I had been up in Vermont again visiting friends and enjoying the serenity.  Driving along the one paved road they have up there, noticing that the entire state looks very much the same as a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream container.  And everyone is so friendly.  Even the cows will meander up to you as if to start a conversation in hopes that you have an extra apple in your pocket to throw their way. It is so relaxing.  But aside from all the pleasure I get from these little trips, I don’t really like being away from home for long.  Last Sunday when I returned it was right back into the grind.  As a matter of fact I didn’t even get all the way home.  I had to make a stop to get pictures of opening day for our softball league.  They are in this issue and I hope you enjoy them.

Most of all I was glad to get back to the weekend nightlife.  On Saturday while the club traffic was a little below average with school getting ready to finish up and all, the night was not without some excitement. I was walking out to my car when I heard two shots ring out.  Then I saw a street full of people running away from the sounds as four more shots broke the night. Police responded and soon had the situation in hand.  But I couldn’t stop but to think about how only a few days prior, the only gunshots I would have heard would be of hunters off in the distance.  Hunters that follow every safety precaution they can take to ensure no one gets hurt.  Hunters that under no possible circumstance would bring a gun with them while out for the evening.  Why then do we have these idiots thinking they must carry a gun to be cool?  Why do we need to have double pat-downs and metal detectors scanning people as they enter our clubs?  Why do we have to become accustom to the sounds of gunfire in a city setting where all we want to do is enjoy the evening?

It’s because we don’t take true responsibility for our own social circles.  We all know of someone who either carries a gun or claims to have one or has seen someone with one.  And we tolerate it. Why?  Because it’s not cool to rat out one of the crew?  No one wants to be found out to be the one who told.  And we have some, not all, but some club owners who will and are putting profit before the general safety of the nightclub community. Catering to the very groups who have repeatedly brought knife and gunplay to our streets after attending events in their facilities.  People who had to get shut down by the state before they would stop because they were not mature enough or morally competent to have held the licenses they had to run those clubs.  People who hide behind every veiled bullshit excuse they can muster to justify not doing the right thing. “WAAAAA, I’m being picked on and targeted! WAAAAA” It makes you wish one of those stray bullets they feel are less important than their profits would find one of their foreheads and prove poetic justice does exist. 

Here’s a little lesson about bullets for the profit motivated/less than intellectually inclined; Bullets do not know the difference between where an argument started and where it ends. Bullets do not know the difference between where your security ends and the municipal police responsibility begins. Bullets do not know the difference between drunk and sober.  Bullets do not know the difference between being purchased for responsible sport shooting, or being a status symbol for some uneducated street thug. Bullets do not know the difference between a street thug and an innocent bystander.  BULLETS DO NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE INTENDED TARGET AND SOMEONE YOU LOVE, LIKE A CHILD FROM YOUR FAMILY!

The answer, or part of it, is like Bill Cosby said.  Take responsibility for ourselves.  Don’t tolerate mixing guns with nightlife or any other inappropriate place. Let your feelings be known.  Make it un-cool and unacceptable to use a gun for social image. Call it in before the bullet fired from six blocks away and you never hear, hits you or someone you love. This is a big problem folks. One that daunts single police departments. One that will not be solved by “Operation Nightlifes” that while doing something good, do not go deep into the true issue at hand.

As unrealistic as it is, Metroline is calling out our new Governor to do something about the big picture here.  To put politically acceptable procedure aside and send a message.  Put together a task force of every federal, state, and local authority. Use mutual aid police representation from every department in our state and around us to show the underbelly of the hip-hop crowd that their attitude towards guns and violence is not going to be tolerated any longer.  Start stopping every car, checking every ID, at any club catering to that violent segment.  Tickets, arrests, deportations, everything in the book.  Not to stop the hip-hop music style but until the problem children get the point that guns and violence will no longer be put up with.  You will not put the safety of our society or children at risk so you can feel tough carrying a gun. Either that Mr. Governor, or grow a pair and publicly tell us it’s more important to not rock the political boat than protect innocent lives. I would ask if someone has to die first, but that has already happened.

Tags: 2010, 38-10, LATE MAY