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After watching Suzanna Gratia Hupp's testimony some time ago, ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1u0Byq5Qis ) I was certain I would NEVER leave my home without a sidearm again. I guess complacency sneaks up on us sometimes. Then just recently the shooting in Colorado, where as I understand, there were NO armed guards, nor were firearms allowed on the premise. Just another wake up call for all of us. One more reason to be armed and ready. (Screw the "rules"!)
This brings us to roughly one month ago, when I decided I had enough of the stress and was ready for a little time away. I planned a camping trip, just me and my 9 year old daughter. She's at that age where she want's to spend most of her time with Mommy, which is tough for this old man. (Divorced with joint custody.) I was excited. The plan was to leave Thursday evening and return Sunday at a decent time. Camping, tons of live music of every genre, swimming in the creek behind our camping spot, food, games, just an all-out fun, relaxing, stress-free weekend. Finally!
One small issue. Parking and camping are separated. I understood, they didn't want the extra liability that drinking and vehicles could cause. So that's where our nightmare REALLY began. It didn't make sense to keep my sidearm locked in the rig....wouldn't do much good if I needed it. ("Hang on attacker, please allow me to go to my rig, grab my pistol, and I shall return in 5 to 10 minutes to stop your attack.") I knew I couldn't carry ALL the time while there.....kind of tough with the high heat and knowing I'll be spending half the time in the creek with my water-dog child. Hate the thought of leaving it in the tent unattended, what with so many kids and families in attendance, never know that one bad apple might ransack our living quarters and make off with a loaded .40 S&W. Too far to take it to the truck each time we hit the water....what the heck. It's going to be a fun-filled weekend of camping, live music, kids everywhere....maybe just this once I'll leave it at home. What are the chances anyway, really?
Stupid.
Friday morning we awoke to a beautiful day. My daughter, being the Tomboy that she is, wanted to play catch with the football as soon as she got up. Groovy! OK, let's have some breakfast. (She get's crabby if she doesn't eat!) Sure is hot already.....let's take a walk in the creek and cool off. Very shallow, not even up to my knees. We had fun as she was looking for rocks for her collection, Jasper, Quarts, hey...Daddy found a fist sized chunk of petrified wood! Cool!
We come back to camp to get dry clothes just as the first band hits the stage. Do some walking, meeting great people, vendors, owner of the property....we literally felt like family there. Wow it's hot, let's go for a swim!
That's how our day went....LOTS of swimming, conversing with others, playing football, lasso golf, Frisbee.....it was a perfect day! This is what I was hoping for and more, as this is the day that marked 9 years since my Mom and Step Dad were killed due to a motorcycle accident. Today I was having fun with my daughter, and not being sad and remembering the horrific detail from 9 years ago.
The night ended with hundreds of glow sticks being thrown towards the stage. My daughter, along with MANY other kids, rushed the stage to gather as many as they could. 3 women in bikinis then played with fire to music (Firedancers).....show's over folks. 11:00 p.m., time to hit the sack and do it all over again tomorrow!
Next thing I know, at roughly 2:30 a.m., I awake to the sound of DOZENS of drunk-tards, 15 to 20 feet away from our tent, yelling and screaming. "KELLY! KELLY! KELLY!" That went on for a couple minutes straight. They were yelling and screaming all kinds of obscenities, and just flat out being annoying drunks, disrupting the whole campsite. I was getting pi$$ed, and I placed my daughters covers over her ear to help muffle the noise, as she started to stir. Then I hear something I didn't want to hear....."DROP THE KNIFE!!! DROP THE KNIFE!! DROP THE FU*&ING KNIFE!!!!!" Over and over again. "What the helllllll?" I thought.
Then it happened.
Just as I started to sit up, they came crashing down on our tent. Someone grazed my back, one of my tent poles sprang out of it's once secured metal ring.....I grabbed my daughter and YANKED her towards the middle of the tent. I grabbed my flashlight and reached for my pistol. Ya...right. I was stupid and left it at home. The first thing I found for a weapon was a log my kid brought from the creek. It looked like a miniature Captain Caveman club, and it was HEAVY. Well, it's all I have.
The yelling continued, but it was obvious they were all running away from our camp. Thank God! I got out, looked around, checked my shorts and lit a cigarette. "What the hell just happened?" I thought. I calmed my kid, although she wasn't sure why I yanked her off the air mattress in the first place. Let's go back to bed....
The next morning, the owner came by our camp. (As he did the previous morning, just to make sure we were having fun and didn't need anything.) He told me a large group of scum snuck in after security left, just to cause trouble. The fight was over some glow in the dark or light-up novelty glasses. This piece of crap STABBED someone ON MY TENT over it! One of the people that subdued him was cut on the leg. One of the volunteers I had been conversing with over the last couple of days was the one that cleaned this dudes clock. One punch and it looked like the guy got hit in the face with a baseball bat.
I got complacent. I thought..."It'll be ok just this once." I don't think I need to tell you how I still feel, knowing that all I could protect my 9 year old with was a flashlight and a piece of wood. Never again, kiddos. Never again.
Although IF I had my sidearm with me, I wouldn't have used it. But it happened so fast, and it could have very easily gone very wrong for us. What if the knife came through the tent and struck one of us as they fell on us? What if they didn't run off, and I had to get my kid out of there, in the dark, and we were blocked in and subsequently threatened with that knife? What if??????
It was a very frightening wake up call. Just like Suzanna Gratia Hupp, just like Columbine, just like Colorado......you never know when it will happen. And that's just the thing. This world is so messed up right now, it's no more "What if"....it's "When?"
I'll be prepared next time.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/lo...cle_dd6b99fd-fc2e-5b2b-866c-dc5bafbc5380.html
ETA: I just want to say, that EVERYONE involved in organizing this event are awesome people! VERY nice, very friendly. They ALL did an awesome job all weekend to make this a safe and fun event for everyone. It's unfortunate that some may use this for bad publicity, but this will not thwart me from going again next year. Just like all the other bad stuff, sometimes you just can't keep it away....and also this group of losers had NOTHING to do with the festival. They snuck in, without paying...to cause trouble. Kudos to the owner of the property, his wife, and ALL who were a part of organizing this event
This brings us to roughly one month ago, when I decided I had enough of the stress and was ready for a little time away. I planned a camping trip, just me and my 9 year old daughter. She's at that age where she want's to spend most of her time with Mommy, which is tough for this old man. (Divorced with joint custody.) I was excited. The plan was to leave Thursday evening and return Sunday at a decent time. Camping, tons of live music of every genre, swimming in the creek behind our camping spot, food, games, just an all-out fun, relaxing, stress-free weekend. Finally!
One small issue. Parking and camping are separated. I understood, they didn't want the extra liability that drinking and vehicles could cause. So that's where our nightmare REALLY began. It didn't make sense to keep my sidearm locked in the rig....wouldn't do much good if I needed it. ("Hang on attacker, please allow me to go to my rig, grab my pistol, and I shall return in 5 to 10 minutes to stop your attack.") I knew I couldn't carry ALL the time while there.....kind of tough with the high heat and knowing I'll be spending half the time in the creek with my water-dog child. Hate the thought of leaving it in the tent unattended, what with so many kids and families in attendance, never know that one bad apple might ransack our living quarters and make off with a loaded .40 S&W. Too far to take it to the truck each time we hit the water....what the heck. It's going to be a fun-filled weekend of camping, live music, kids everywhere....maybe just this once I'll leave it at home. What are the chances anyway, really?
Stupid.
Friday morning we awoke to a beautiful day. My daughter, being the Tomboy that she is, wanted to play catch with the football as soon as she got up. Groovy! OK, let's have some breakfast. (She get's crabby if she doesn't eat!) Sure is hot already.....let's take a walk in the creek and cool off. Very shallow, not even up to my knees. We had fun as she was looking for rocks for her collection, Jasper, Quarts, hey...Daddy found a fist sized chunk of petrified wood! Cool!
We come back to camp to get dry clothes just as the first band hits the stage. Do some walking, meeting great people, vendors, owner of the property....we literally felt like family there. Wow it's hot, let's go for a swim!
That's how our day went....LOTS of swimming, conversing with others, playing football, lasso golf, Frisbee.....it was a perfect day! This is what I was hoping for and more, as this is the day that marked 9 years since my Mom and Step Dad were killed due to a motorcycle accident. Today I was having fun with my daughter, and not being sad and remembering the horrific detail from 9 years ago.
The night ended with hundreds of glow sticks being thrown towards the stage. My daughter, along with MANY other kids, rushed the stage to gather as many as they could. 3 women in bikinis then played with fire to music (Firedancers).....show's over folks. 11:00 p.m., time to hit the sack and do it all over again tomorrow!
Next thing I know, at roughly 2:30 a.m., I awake to the sound of DOZENS of drunk-tards, 15 to 20 feet away from our tent, yelling and screaming. "KELLY! KELLY! KELLY!" That went on for a couple minutes straight. They were yelling and screaming all kinds of obscenities, and just flat out being annoying drunks, disrupting the whole campsite. I was getting pi$$ed, and I placed my daughters covers over her ear to help muffle the noise, as she started to stir. Then I hear something I didn't want to hear....."DROP THE KNIFE!!! DROP THE KNIFE!! DROP THE FU*&ING KNIFE!!!!!" Over and over again. "What the helllllll?" I thought.
Then it happened.
Just as I started to sit up, they came crashing down on our tent. Someone grazed my back, one of my tent poles sprang out of it's once secured metal ring.....I grabbed my daughter and YANKED her towards the middle of the tent. I grabbed my flashlight and reached for my pistol. Ya...right. I was stupid and left it at home. The first thing I found for a weapon was a log my kid brought from the creek. It looked like a miniature Captain Caveman club, and it was HEAVY. Well, it's all I have.
The yelling continued, but it was obvious they were all running away from our camp. Thank God! I got out, looked around, checked my shorts and lit a cigarette. "What the hell just happened?" I thought. I calmed my kid, although she wasn't sure why I yanked her off the air mattress in the first place. Let's go back to bed....
The next morning, the owner came by our camp. (As he did the previous morning, just to make sure we were having fun and didn't need anything.) He told me a large group of scum snuck in after security left, just to cause trouble. The fight was over some glow in the dark or light-up novelty glasses. This piece of crap STABBED someone ON MY TENT over it! One of the people that subdued him was cut on the leg. One of the volunteers I had been conversing with over the last couple of days was the one that cleaned this dudes clock. One punch and it looked like the guy got hit in the face with a baseball bat.
I got complacent. I thought..."It'll be ok just this once." I don't think I need to tell you how I still feel, knowing that all I could protect my 9 year old with was a flashlight and a piece of wood. Never again, kiddos. Never again.
Although IF I had my sidearm with me, I wouldn't have used it. But it happened so fast, and it could have very easily gone very wrong for us. What if the knife came through the tent and struck one of us as they fell on us? What if they didn't run off, and I had to get my kid out of there, in the dark, and we were blocked in and subsequently threatened with that knife? What if??????
It was a very frightening wake up call. Just like Suzanna Gratia Hupp, just like Columbine, just like Colorado......you never know when it will happen. And that's just the thing. This world is so messed up right now, it's no more "What if"....it's "When?"
I'll be prepared next time.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/lo...cle_dd6b99fd-fc2e-5b2b-866c-dc5bafbc5380.html
ETA: I just want to say, that EVERYONE involved in organizing this event are awesome people! VERY nice, very friendly. They ALL did an awesome job all weekend to make this a safe and fun event for everyone. It's unfortunate that some may use this for bad publicity, but this will not thwart me from going again next year. Just like all the other bad stuff, sometimes you just can't keep it away....and also this group of losers had NOTHING to do with the festival. They snuck in, without paying...to cause trouble. Kudos to the owner of the property, his wife, and ALL who were a part of organizing this event
