Thursday, December 27, 2007

Illiterate Arizona

Valley residents are not a literate group, according to a new study measuring the literacy of America's largest cities. Among the 69 cities evaluated, Phoenix ranks 56th and Mesa ranks 61st. Even Tucson, with its artsy reputation barely manages to crack the top half of the standings, coming in at 33rd.

As a voracious reader and professional writer living in the Phoenix metropolitan area, I am not sure I agree with this assessment. Then again, I'm not sure I totally disagree with it because, while most of the people I know are quite literate, they are not all widely literate. Some of them are generalists. Others are experts. So I guess it comes down to how you define literate.

Dr. Jack Miller, President of Central Connecticut State University, and author of the annual ranking of "America's Most Literate Cities" evaluated 69 cities having populations exceeding 250,000, using 6 six literacy indicators:
  • newspaper circulation
  • number of bookstores
  • library resources
  • periodical publishing resources
  • educational attainment and
  • Internet resources.
On that basis he may have a point. I can only think of a couple of independent bookstores in the Valley: Changing Hands in Tempe and the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale. There may be others, but if so they keep a very low profile, or specialize in genres I don't follow. I can't even think of a kids-only bookstore in town.

As to newspapers, the Arizona Republic, which is owned by media mega-corp Gannett, is the big dog for the entire state. It is also, according to their website, "one of the fastest-growing major metropolitan newspapers in the country, ranking among the top 20 newspapers in daily circulation." I am not a subscriber, although I do occasionally pick up a Sunday paper and regularly surf the azcentral.com web site., but that apparently is part of the Internet resources ranking rather than the newspaper ranking. I did subscribe, a few years ago, to the East Valley Tribune but I have let the subscription lapse. Both seem to get a significant portion of their content from the AP and it seems like a waste of paper to subscribe to either when I can get the content online. I'd say something about the shortcomings of their local coverage, however, being a local journalist but not a subscriber means I have to shoulder some of the responsibility for those myself.

I regularly use the Valley's libraries. In fact, the Tempe Public Library on Rural/Scottsdale Rd. and Southern, is among the greatest libraries I have been in. It's no Library of Congress but it beats many others, including those in other college towns. The Southwest Regional Library is also amazing, but more for the environment than the stacks.

The Phoenix New Times is the periodical I read most frequently, but again, I don't subscribe. I don't think anyone has actually ever offered me a subscription to the New Times. It's available free at several locations, so I don't even think about subscribing, although I have thought about contributing. I will purchase some of the local magazines if the featured topic is one I am interested in.

Phoenix shares the 39th ranking in terms of Internet resources with Detroit. That's a bit of a surprise. I would have thought we would be higher. Still, the study only looked at library internet connections and most everyone I know accesses the Internet from home or work. Not even I surf the 'net at the library although I have been known to access the library's card catalog and electronic resources from home. I've even encouraged others to make use of the resources available online through the library to others.

Since I don't have kids and am not a product of the Arizona educational system, I don't have any comment about it. I will say that I am very tired of cashiers who can't make change without a calculator and clerks who can't spell even with the aid of spellcheck.

Unfortunately, I, and my friends, appear to be the exception, rather than the rule. The 2007 America's Most Literate Cities survey supports the conclusions of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that Americans at all levels are reading less and less well. Disturbingly, this downward reading trend is occurring when Americans are spending more time in school and accomplishing higher levels of education. In other words, whatever Americans are learning in school, it is not literate behavior. At least, not literate behavior as measured by America's Most Literate Cities.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Who Makes These Decisions?

People make stupid decisions when they travel. Mostly because they are not familiar with the cultural, social and even criminal details of the places that they only visit for a few days. That excuse doesn't hold up when a city, community, state or nation makes a bad decision when trying to attract visitors.

For instance, the Super Bowl is coming to Glendale in February. Hosting a Super Bowl in Glendale is not a stupid decision in itself. The University of Phoenix stadium is relatively new and still state of the art even if it does look like one of the notorious "Phoenix Lights" UFOs landed in the middle of nowhere. The stupidity is that we're trying to pull it off this season. Immediately following a Super Bowl in Miami which everyone - from sportscasters to athletes to fans - LOVES.

What's wrong with this season? Well...
  • Downtown and significant chunks of Tempe and Mesa are torn up with light rail construction that isn't scheduled to be complete until LATE 2008.
  • Hotel construction in Glendale is way below demand and unlikely to meet needs.
  • Traffic around the Valley is already bad and becomes horrendous during big events.
  • We're in the middle of a drought.
To add insult to injury, the teams are staying at Kierland and Wild Horse Pass, meaning they will spend an hour each way in transit, though much of it will be on a freeway. Out-of-town media will be staying downtown which poses another unique set of transportation issues, including the light rail construction and confusing freeway access. At this rate the Phoenix metropolitan area is going to get slammed with negative impressions and press making it very difficult to attract future big events.

Unfortunately, the Super Bowl is not the only example of bad decisions. Fortunately, Mesa, which is considering building a water park near a sewage treatment plant, can still back out of the arrangement or relocate the project. Waveyard is a proposed water park including multiple surfing, whitewater and swimming pools, 2 hotels and office/residential space looks great on paper. Claims that it will use only as much water as an 18-hole golf course seem a bit optimistic. Even assuming that is true, a desert is an odd place to put a water park, especially since the Valley is facing an imminent water shortage just from growth. Then there is that sewage plant....

Such decisions really make you wonder about how officials make decisions around here. They obviously have the best intentions but that isn't enough. They need to think about what they are doing, not just the good they hope to do, but also the potential problems and risks. Constantly looking at the world through rose colored glasses is going to leave the Valley and those who love it with some massive black eyes.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Dog Rap

With a name like Lunchbox, you just know my dog is big and bad...if by big you mean "well-fed" and by bad you mean "minds when he has to". Obviously, I love my dog. I don't understand how anyone can hurt, or neglect, a dog, so I am glad to see that Sheriff Joe is investigating rapper DMX for suspected animal cruelty over his treatment of 15 dogs (12 living and three deceased) seized during an August 24 police raid.

The pictures I have seen in the local media seem to depict very thin dogs. I realize that at healthy weights dogs should have a "waist" and that you should be able to feel their ribs, but the ribs of these dogs visibly stood out in photographs and video. I can see why someone might report DMX to Animal Care & Control, especially if they were aware that, according to the Arizona Republic, he pled guilty in 1999 to animal neglect charges in New Jersey.

In fact, DMX's most recent troubles are almost identical to those he faced in 1999, right down to the number and type of dog (13 pit bulls). Authorities also found weapons and drug paraphernalia in both instances. Back then, the impetus for the search was the shooting (in the foot) of Ray Copeland. I don't know whether a complaint, another investigation or the potential publicity from riding Michal Vick's coattails inspired Sheriff Joe's raid in August 2007, nor do I care. What I do care about is that this guy is not allowed to own any more dogs. Unfortunately, while animal cruelty is a felony in Arizona, conviction or a guilty plea do not preclude the individual from owning dogs in the future. It is an interesting side note that New Jersey's animal cruelty law was strengthened in 2001 and even the 1999 punishment was worse than what DMX currently faces in Arizona.

I also care that people visiting or relocating to Arizona don't get the impression that dogs are not valued and cared for here. They are.

Of course, dog owners are expected to take care of their animals and obey certain state, county, and municipal laws. In Maricopa County, which includes the Phoenix metropolitan area, that means keeping all dogs on leashes (except in designated off-leash sections of dog parks) or confined to controlled areas (such as backyards, runs or indoors) at all times. One of my pet peeves is that some people in my neighborhood just don't seem to understand that "at all times" means all the time. Lunchbox and I frequently encounter dogs off-leash when on walks, which is a potential problem since Lunchbox doesn't really like other dogs and is big enough that he will end anything another dog starts. I try to keep watch for them so we can turn off or around before they notice us, but the need for constant vigilance is annoying, especially since we go out of our way to walk at odd times when the likelihood of meeting other dogs is slim already.

Dogs are allowed to be off leash in designated sections of dog parks throughout the Valley. The bark parks in Phoenix include PETsMart Dog Park at Washington Park, RJ Dog Park at Pecos Park, Echo Mountain Off Leash Arena, Rose Mofford Sports Complex and Steele Indian School Park. Many of the surrounding suburbs also have dog parks such as Fountain Hills Desert Vista Off Leash Dog Park, Chandler's Shawnee Bark Park, Mesa's Quail Run Park, Gilbert's Cosmo Dog Park (currently closed for renovation), Peoria's Sunnyslope Park and Goodyear's Dog Park among others. Rules vary at each park, so please, read and follow all the rules at each bark park you visit. Dogs are also welcome at several restaurants, coffee shops, RV parks, hotels and resorts. Contact individual destinations for more information regarding dog-friendliness.

Obviously, the case of DMX is not typical and should not be a primary factor in thinking about dogs in Phoenix. It is unfortunate that this one person, who has no reason or right to own a dog ever again, in my opinion, is now linked with how Phoenix feels about and treats dogs.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

That Horizon's Getting Closer!

I'm so excited! Allegiant Air recently announced service to two new destinations from Williams Gateway Airport (WGA). Service between WGA and 11 other destinations will be announced by September 16. I hope Denver, Pittsburgh, Washington and Omaha make the list. Imagine not having to go to Sky Harbor again...dare I dream?

The two new destinations are Rockford, Ill. and Rapid City, S.D. Each is served by two flights a week. All the details can be found on the HBC Phoenix Blog.

Speaking of new, it looks like HBC has added a blogger for Scottsdale and another for Tempe. Both seem younger, which is great, because I am not into the club scene. On the other hand, I define Phoenix loosely as the whole Phoenix metro, so hopefully overlaps in coverage won't upset them too much. I'm guessing we have very different perspectives on things!

Friday, August 3, 2007

Under the North Pole

I always wanted the top bunk as a kid. Today, it seems the bottom bunk is in much higher demand, especially when the "bunk" is the seabed beneath the North Pole. The U.S. and Canada both have claimed it. Yesterday, a Russian submarine planted a flag on the sea floor marking it's claim to the region.

The Russians staked their claim a year and a day before the U.S. celebrates the 50th anniversary of the voyage of the Nautilus. On August 2, 1958, the Nautilus, a nuclear powered submarine, became the first vessel to cross the North Pole underwater. She signaled her arrival beneath the North Pole by broadcasting "Nautilus 90 North." Ninety-six hours later, she surfaced northeast of Greenland. In fact, she made three excursions beneath the polar icecap, covering 1,383 miles over 5.5 days.

The Nautilus is often called the first true submarine because it could remain submerged for extended periods of time (weeks, moths). Today, all the combatant submarines in the U.S. Navy are nuclear.

To plant their flag, the Russians relied on Mir I and Mir II. These mini-submersibles are familiar for their trips to the Titanic and other famous wreck sites as well as the important role they continue to play in deep sea research. Powered by batteries, they carry a crew of only three. They also have manipulator arms and extensive video capabilities, allowing the crew not only to plant the flag but also to bring back video proof that they reached the sea floor beneath the North Pole, something other expeditions in traditional submarines were unable to do.

It's unlikely that I, or for that matter, most travelers, will ever visit the Arctic sea floor. Depending upon which nation or nations ultimately are able to access the natural resources, such as oil, gas and mineral deposits, believed to be there, we might use some of the resources in our travels or daily lives. The closest we are likely to get to the sea floor, however, is touring the Nautilus which is part of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum located on the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut.
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Thursday, August 2, 2007

A [Name] by Any Other [Name] is Not the Same

Being a girl with a boy's name, I can honestly say sticking with a name is worth it. Sure, there were times when I wanted a more ordinary name. That was before I realized having an unusual name increases the likelihood that I will be remembered and recalled, two very important things for a writer. I would think they are important things for an airport. too.

Right now there is a debate raging about whether Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, AZ should be renamed Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. I don't think it should. Here's why:

There is nothing memorable about Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Yes, it clearly identifies where the airport is and two of the markets it serves but that's it. If all airports were named after the markets they serve we wouldn't have JFK/Kennedy or LaGuardia airports in New York, O'Hare airport in Chicago, Logan airport in Boston, Epply airport in Omaha, Love Field in Dallas or even Sky Harbor in Phoenix. Obviously, having a non-locational name has not hurt these airports. In fact, they are among some of the most widely recognized airports in the country if not the world. If the goal of the proposed name change is to make the airport more recognizable and therefore more appealing to travelers, it seems like Williams Gateway Airport is as likely to achieve that as Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport is.

Phoenix is a popular destination, so there is some logic to including Phoenix in the name of the airport. Travelers, however, choose destinations for what they think they will find there. Unfortunately, there is no romance, emotion or even a strong image associated with Phoenix-Mesa. At best it sounds like some flat , rocky hill rising from a barren landscape the periodically destroys itself with fire only to be rebuilt. Not my idea of a fun place to vacation more than once.

The IATA (International Air Transport Association) code, which is the 3 or 4 letter code pilots and savvy travelers use to identify the airport will not change just because the name of the airport does. IATA is a global association and IATA codes are used to identify airports around the world, not just in the U.S. so changing an airport's IATA is far more complex and difficult than changing the airport's name. The code for the airport in Mesa is IWA, easy to remember if the name of the airport is Williams Gateway Airport. Not so easy to remember if the name is Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The logical codes for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, such as PMG (Brazil), PGA (Page, AZ), and PMA (Tanzania), are already assigned, making it unlikely the IATA code would change along with the name.

Name changes don't always stick. Even if they eventually do stick, it takes a long time for that to happen. For instance, it is not uncommon to hear Florida's Kennedy Space Center referred to as Cape Canaveral, even in the national media. (Cape Canaveral, by the way is still the name of the town located to the south of the Kennedy Space Center, but between 1958 and 1969, it was also the name of the NASA facility.) Closer to home, many people still call Piestewa Peak Squaw Peak and Piestewa Parkway, Squaw Peak Parkway, despite the fact that both were renamed to honor Arizonan Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to die in combat on foreign soil after she gave her life in 2003 while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Arguably, this name change was an improvement because it replaced a sexist and denigrating name with one that honors and exalts the contribution of the very groups (women and Native Americans) the original belittled. It will still take a generation to catch on. And what happens when somebody comes along in say 50 or 100 years and says "that name doesn't really tell people where the Peak or Parkway is, we should rename it Slightly East of Center Parkway"?

Okay, so Charles Linton Williams is not widely known among today's Arizonans or even today's Phoenicians. The legacy of Williams Air Force Base, which graduated more pilots and instructors than any other Air Force Facility before it closed in 1993, deserves to be remembered and honored and is still widely known. Renaming Williams Gateway Airport Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport accomplishes neither of these things. In fact, all the name honors is the transitory nature and attitudes expressed by so many modern Arizonans who have called the state home for less than a decade. It is a disservice, not just to the long-term residents of the area, but also to the traveling public. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport adds nothing to the airport beyond making the airport easier to locate on a map, and let's face it, with MapQuest and Google maps it is easier to type in Williams Gateway, AZ than Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, AZ and the results are the same. If that is the only reason to change the airport's name, it is a poor one. Arizona is a young state with a young population. Let's treasure and preserve what history we have.
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Saturday, July 28, 2007

More About Airport & Airline Attacks

In my last post, I noted that terrorist attacks against airports and airlines were rare in the U.S. Rare is an imprecise term, and on e of the problems I have with modern journalism is the overuse of general and imprecise terms surrounding important issues.

To be more precises: of the 554 terrorist incidents occurring in the U.S. since January 1, 1968, only 50 have been against airports and airlines, according to the data in the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) Knowledge Base. The 50 incidents include nine hijacking but not the attacks on 9/11. The events of September 11, 2001, which are listed as three separate attacks, are classified as an unconventional in the Knowledge Base because aircraft were used as weapons and the targets were business and government facilities. There have been eight terrorist incidents, including 9/11, in which unconventional tactics or weapons were used. They include the ricin attacks against news and government personnel in 2003 and 2004, the staking of trees by the Earth Liberation Front in 2001 and the lacing of two seedless grapes with cyanide in 1989.

The Knowledge Base does not track whether any of the individuals involved in the 50 actions against airports or airlines were or pretended to be airport or airline employees to gain access to their targets. It does indicate that airline and airport employees have been injured and killed in some of the incidents which resulted in injuries or fatalities. Injuries and/or fatalities were reported in only about 10 percent of the incidents.

It should also be noted that the only terrorist incidents recorded in the Phoenix metropolitan area was the arson and firebombing of a luxury home near Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve in 2001 by ecoterrorist Mark Warren Sands. Similar arsons occurred in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson that same year.

The Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism is a non-profit organization formed after the 1995 bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. It is dedicated to preventing terrorism on U.S. soil or mitigating its effects. The MIPT Knowledge Base is a resource for the research and analysis of terrorist incidents, court cases, groups and leaders around the globe that includes data from the RAND Corporation, the Terrorist Indictment database and Detica's research on terrorist organizations.
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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Security Gaps at Sky Harbor

Having pointed out the gaps in security at one civil aviation airport in the Valley, I would be remiss if I didn't address the security issues raised recently at Sky Harbor. On Monday, July 23, 2007, Paul Armes, the federal security director at Sky Harbor International Airport was placed on leave after the local ABC affiliate, Channel 15, KNXV, aired a video tape of airport employees carrying bags, backpacks, boxes and other items entering the "sterile" zone or airside part of the terminals without passing through any security check beyond showing their employee badges. The employees were entering the normally secure area between midnight and 4:30 a.m. Because no commercial flights arrive or depart during this 4.5 hour period, no Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel were on duty and no X-ray machines or metal detectors were operating. Security was being handled by contract security guards.

The security gap everyone is talking about is rather obvious: unscreened packages were being brought into a secure area, an area with access to not only planes but also the tarmac and airport ground vehicles and facilities including fuel tanks and tankers. Being obvious, the gap is relatively easy to close and, in fact, the TSA has already done so by taking over security and operating screening of all individuals, employees and passengers, entering the airside portion of the airport 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"TSA and our partners at Sky Harbor were rapidly able to close a potential loophole in aviation security," David Beecroft, Western Area Director for the TSA said in a written statement to the media. "Ensuring airport and aviation security at all hours of the day is paramount and we were able to fortify any deviations from that undertaking literally the same day we became aware of the issue."

This statement is misleading in implying that providing 24/7 security at all airports is a goal of the TSA. It is not. There is no national requirement that the TSA provide such round the clock services. More subtly, the statement implies that the TSA has policies and procedures in place for the screening of airport employees both during and after hours.

In fact, the TSA only announced plans to improve employee screening in April 2007. The first 90 days, which, based on the date the effort was revealed to the media would have ended less than a week before Armes suspension, were to be spent forming a working group with the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), the Airports Council International - North America (ACI-NA) and the National Air Transportation Association (NATA). The goal of the working group was to develop the standards for employee screening and a timeline for implementing them. A phased rollout of the plan developed by the working group was to follow.

No announcement has been made to indicate that the working group has completed their standards or developed a plan. Even if they have, it is unlikely that a plan that was 90 days in the making could be rolled out in all 452 commercial airports in the country in less than a week.

Until the media revealed the gaps in Phoenix, there doesn't seem to have been a great deal of urgency to improve employee screening, although the April announcement indicates it was at least on the radar screen for the TSA and other airport groups. This lack of urgency is apparent in the testimony of Greg Principato, President of ACI - NA, before the U.S. house Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection in which he emphasized that "airports have an effective regime in place to screen individuals with access to secured areas including extensive FBI background checks, checks against the federal terrorist watch lists and security threat assessments; access control systems and initial and recurrent security training for employees." Perhaps this is why TSA executives are so confident that the security gaps discovered in Phoenix had not endangered passengers or the public.

It should be noted that while explosives were the weapon most widely used against airports and airlines between 1970 and 2004 (the most recent year for which statistics are available), airport employees were not the ones delivering the explosives to the target. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 serve as reminders that attacks on American aviation can result in significant loss of life. Fortunately, attacks on airports and aviation in the United States have been rare.

Also worth noting is the Department of Homeland Security believes Al Qaida continues to have an interest in aviation as a potential target. As a nation, America relies almost exclusively on airlines as a means of commercial passenger traffic, so any possible threat, and any security gaps, must be taken seriously, not just by those like the TSA who are employed to keep aviation safe but also by the flying public. We owe it to ourselves.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Arizona's Security Issues Go Beyond the Border

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On the 4th of July I went out to take some photos of local events. I ended up walking out on the tarmac of the Chandler Regional Airport and taking photos of aircraft, the control tower and surrounding areas. No one said a word or asked me what I was doing. A few people actually waved at me.

I accessed the tarmac through an unlocked gate near the terminal building. The terminal building itself was closed and locked in observance of the holiday and no one seemed to be around. There was one other vehicle in the parking lot and the flag had been raised but the newspaper was still sitting on the sidewalk.

Once through the gate, I was able to walk right up to the planes. The photos show how close I got. It was a fairly busy morning, with several planes taking off and landing during the short time I was there. Even so, there were plenty of opportunities for mischief.

Having spent a good portion of my life wandering around civil aviation airports, I can come up with plenty of excuses for why I went unquestioned and seemingly unnoticed:
  • It was a holiday, which always means visitors flying in and locals flying out to visit family or friends.
  • People were off work and the weather was good making it a great opportunity to add some more flight time.
  • People who visit civil aviation airports are generally private pilots themselves or relatives/friends/passengers of private pilots and so, be extension "belong" there.
  • Making it tougher to get to their planes would mean some unhappy pilots.
  • No one except pilots, their family or their friends would be taking photos of these smaller airports.
  • Few civil aviation airports are located in the center of densely populated areas and therefore are not an attractive target.



I know better than to think that any pilot close enough to see me didn't notice me, if only because of safety issues. Since I didn't approach any aircraft in operation, however, I wasn't in danger or putting them in danger and thus they could focus their attention elsewhere.

That doesn't make me any more comfortable with the fact that I just walked out onto the tarmac and started taking photos. I've never flown into or out of this airport. I was a complete stranger to all of them, even if I did look like I knew what I was doing and had a valid reason for being there.

My stroll occurred at a time when the nation's security threat level was elevated to the Yellow level. It was the same week terrorists crashed an SUV into the Glasgow Airport in the Scotland. A month earlier, four men had been charged with conspiring to blow up jet fuel supply tanks and pipelines at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

The airport and tarmac looked secure. The tarmac, hangers, tower and aircraft were surround be fencing topped with barbed wire. I noticed vehicle gates which were closed and appeared to require the use of a security code or card in order to be opened from the street. The terminal building was locked up tight. There were plenty of people around. Obviously, none of this was enough.

The Arizona Republic reported today that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is nearly tripling homeland security funding in the Phoenix metropolitan area. This is good news, since the $3,920,000 in Urban Area Security Initiative Allocations (UASI) Phoenix received in fiscal year 2006 was among the lowest amounts provided. In fact, only the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Buffalo, New York and Toledo, Ohio areas received less. The $12 million in funding expected to be announced by the DHS today at least puts Phoenix on the same funding level as Texas' Dallas-Ft. Worth area and California's Anaheim/Santa Barbara area, based on the 2006 funding of those areas. A significant portion of those funds are likely to be used to address illegal immigration and the security gap posed by more than 1,000 people illegally crossing Arizona's border every day. Hopefully, some of the funds will also go to closing other security gaps like those at civil aviation airports. It would be nice to have such gaps closed before the nation's attention is focused on the Valley for Super Bowl XLII in February 2008.

I haven't tried walking out on the tarmacs anywhere else in the Valley. I think part of me is afraid, especially after calling attention to this security gap, that I will get stopped. Part of me is afraid I won't. I'll let you know what happens.
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Monday, July 16, 2007

Friday Night Ruckus

The baseball game was over. The concert was in full-swing along the first base line while staff tidied up the rest of the infield. So why did two kids running across the outfeild merit being tackled, punched and apparently arrested?
Yes, it is clearly stated in the Fan Ground Rules in the Chase Field portion of the Diamondbacks' web site that "guests...going on to the field will be ejected and subject to arrest." Of course, those same rules also refer to interfering with balls in play or the game, so their post-game application is debatable.

The rules appeared to be selectively applied at the post-game concert. To be fair, Roger did try to keep it clean, but some foul language managed to sneak in. He was also handed at least two drinks, one apparently a shot of tequila, from audience members, so I won't even hazard a guess as to how many people appeared intoxicated but weren't thrown out. More significantly, several rows of VIP seating were actually set up along the first base line between the stadium seating the the stage meaning the management knew there would be fans on the field.

Why then did two kids running across the outfield merit such abuse?

Sure, the guy might have embarrassed the security guard or cop (I'm not sure which they were) initially chasing them because he easily outdistanced him. There was no way the girl was going to outrun the guy chasing her and she knew it. She kept looking over her shoulder, knowing it was just a matter of time before she was caught. Throwing a tackle that would have brought down a 250-pound professional football player to stop a 110-pound teenager was a bit extreme. After seeing the treatment his girlfriend recieved, it's hardly surprising that the guy tried to elude his chasers even though he clearly had no plans on what to do wen he reached the outfield wall. His choices are moot since he lost his footing and was pounced on by at least three members of the security force. One, possible the one who had been outrun, could clearly be seen punching the kid.






I didn't get any photos of the actual punches but here another shot showing the pile-up continued even as the young woman was being led off in handcuffs.


















It seems a shame to have a great, and free, concert, marred by stupidity. Unfortunately, the Rocer Clyne and the Peacemakers concert after Friday's Diamondbacks-Padres game was. Read more about the positive aspects of the Baseball and the Band on HotelsByCit.net's Phoenix Blog.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Hi! Hello! How Are You?

Hello! I'm just getting started on Blogger but if you want to know more about what I've been up to, especially during July 2007, visit HotelsByCity.net's Phoenix Blog at www.hotelsbycity.net/blog/usa_arizona_phoenix/index.php?author=254

The HBC blog is taking me to many places and events throughout the Valley. My imagination, however, is roaming even farther. Watch this space to find out where my imagination takes me!