Random Commentary for 30 July 2010

Today in history

COMMENTS I’VE POSTED

1. Posting a comment to Elisheva Levin’s Facebook Wall —
   

   Corrections to your blog entry:

   1. Deputy Goff doesn’t exactly look like a young guy to me — see youtube.com/watch?v=6lVn3S_i9us — Deputy Goff is the one with the shiny-bald head and the white moustache, probably in his early forties.

   2. Deputy Goff further exacerbated the situation when he asked the crowd if they wanted the protestors to leave or stay — if he wasn’t a law-enforcement officer, he probably would have been arrested for “creating a public disturbance,” that sort of thing.
   3. The cops are saying that no one is allowed to make a video recording of them talking to the protestors. I’d like to see the Chapter and Section of the New Mexico Statutes Annotated that explicitly allows cops to give people orders to this effect. There are way too many cases of cops going after anyone recording them to NOT insist on this sort of documentation.

2. Posting a comment to Elisheva Levin’s Facebook Wall —
   

   The incident in question took place at the Journal Pavilion, not the Hard Rock Casino. The Pavilion is a few miles north of the Hard Rock Casino (formerly the Isleta Casino and Resort). I worked at the Casino for 4 years and 8 months, and have been to three Ozzfests at the Pavilion. Maybe the concert was sponsored partially or wholly by the Casino — I dunno, but the facility isn’t actually owned by the Casino. At any rate, the Casino has been holding concerts, boxing matches, etc., in its bingo hall since it opened in March, 2001 (when I started there).

   The fact that Sheriff’s Deputies were there in force (as they were at the Ozzfests I’ve attended) leads me to believe that their running security for the Journal Pavilion is an official function of the BCSO. You don’t see that often with events held on property that’s entirely privately-owned, as “chief’s overtime” comes out to something like 30-40 FRN per hour, per officer. It’s WAY cheaper to hire a private outfit for the task, and there are plenty of those in town.

   The facility is apparently on State trust land, leased to Bernalillo County, then sub-leased to Live Nation, the outfit that runs the Journal Pavilion. I’m guessing that as such, Live Nation can play it either way, like the Hard Rock Casino does — it can be public property when they want it so (immunity from certain types of liability?), or private property when they want (discretion to kick people out at the drop of a hat, like this case).

   But your main point — when nobody’s right, everyone involved loses — spot on! I’m not defending either side in this: Deputy Goff was out of line, as were the protestors. If I had been there, I probably would have personally sided against the protestors, as I’m a fan of that type of music. Still, I’m not certain that I would have called the Deputies to complain about them unless I had been personally attacked on a physical basis. I don’t need BCSO to fight my ideological battles for me, despite Deputy Goff’s enthusiasm for doing so.

   Isn’t it lovely the sort of messes that these “public-private partnerships” create?

LISTENING / READING / WATCHING

1. Metal Sucks [MS] — Albuquerque Police Kick Right-Wing Religious Nutjobs Out of the Rockstar Mayhem Festival by “Vince Neilstein”

NOTES

1. Reposted —
   1. Personal blogs and micro-blogs — Xanga

bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack