All tricks, no treats

Spring is in the air, and the pollen is making people giddy. A rash of break-ins and broken windows is occurring, and it makes one stop and pause. “What the hell are we so giddy about?” A couple of fools hit the Blue Room and made a getaway. Can anyone sink any lower than this? What’s next, stealing bread from the Jesus Center? Or how about lifting some stuff from the Boys and Girls Club? I have noticed that outside the Chico Museum there is a stockade. You might see where I’m going with this. …

There are so many cool things going on in Chico lately, and it’s really up to you to insure that this positive trend continues (where’s my soapbox). Free music in the park on Friday and Saturday nights starts this weekend. The A.S. is holding a mammoth show in the Rose Garden this weekend. The clubs are booking more live music, and it seems that Chico is getting ready to dance and have a good time. So I urge you to take responsibility for yourself, stay within your limits, and if you see someone being really dumb let someone know. This is known as social responsibility and factors in greatly in the way things are unfolding in town.

Take for instance the case of Halloween. I worked with the Synthesis on a Halloween show in the park years ago. The park was controlled by our security, and the police wandered the downtown area, as folks both local and visiting participated in the pageantry. There were problems, but no more than happens anytime a large number of people gather. It seems to me, and the history of Pioneer Days backs me up on this, that when a gauntlet is thrown down in the way of enforcement, people tend to rebel greater.

Perhaps we are too late to untie the knot of Halloween—as we have already been nationally labeled as a town that is trying to “outlaw” Halloween. Personally, the cops want to rent the Senator for the day to use as HQ. And the more I talk to friends that say they want to be as far away from downtown as possible, it all doesn’t bode well.