A Nod To The Gods

Sorry, but this is what you get for the war on poverty and the breakdown of the American family. Good luck Tampa

TAMPA — The Florida State Fair, reeling from a rampage involving hundreds of youths on opening night, announced late Tuesday it is taking steps to curb such outbreaks by requiring that any minor presenting a free entry ticket after 7 p.m. be accompanied by an adult.

The rampage had left law enforcement and community leaders wondering what went wrong and how to make it right.

Sheriff’s deputies, numbering almost 200, said they were overwhelmed by the throng of youth running amok — Deputies ended up closing down the midway early because of the chaos.

Apparently, wilding on the first Friday night of the state fair is an underground tradition.

So what did you expect when you let a bunch of feral kids onto the grounds after you know this is what they do?

Most of the chaos was blamed on black youths, law enforcement officials and others said.

Once again parent/parents who don’t give a rats ass about what their kids are doing, and just turns them loose on the community. That community needs to look in the mirror and find out what the root cause of the problem is.

“A lot of those kids came from our community, unfortunately,” said the Rev. Moses Brown, a local pastor and spokesman for Pastors on Patrol, an outreach organization that helps black families in the Tampa region. “I find it heartbreaking that they are out in public doing this. They are representing their families and their community and to see that type of recalcitrant behavior … where did we go wrong?

Oh, sorry. Community leaders can’t figure out the problem, even though it’s obvious.

“Have we missed out in our churches? Have we missed out in our families, the classroom?” he said. “We have to find the rudimentary cause of this.

Start voting for people who know how to resolve the issues. People who believe in family values, hard work, and getting off  welfare will go a long way towards reigning in these kids. But you have got a generation before it will take effect, the damage has been done to your current crop.

The problem of rampaging youth on the first Friday of the fair dates back to the 1990s or earlier and some years are worse than others, deputies said. Last year, 56 people were ejected and two were arrested the first Friday night of the fair; in 2012 there were 48 ejections and eight arrests; and in 2011, 93 ejections and nine arrests.

So it’s been happening for quite some time?

Carolyn Collins, president of the Hillsborough County branch of the NAACP, said she was unaware there was a problem at the fair and has never heard of it even though she’s been involved with the organization for years.

“We did not know about it,” she said.

“It needs to be addressed,” she said. “This … is a problem of youth. We have got to figure out how to resolve it. There are no easy answers.” She suggested sitting down with young people to get their perspectives, their ideas. “Everybody,” she said, “plays a role in this.”

The NAACP = Clueless. Doesn’t surprise me, glad I live thousands of miles away.