If you live your life in accordance to the rules set forth by a lawful society, and that constitutes the community you live in, then you must believe that law applies to every person living in that city. You’d be wrong.
Recently the Chief of Police in this city, Chief Lashbrook, addressed the City Council; his speech placed emphasis on citizen cooperation. He “asked for help from the average citizen” living here, in effect he asked each of us to report anything suspicious to the police. He went on to say this cooperation was “critical” to succeeding in fighting crime in our city.
I can easily see his point; there aren’t enough police to cover every square inch of this town 24/7. I concur. Not everyone feels the same however. We live in a city where there are special zones of immunity where this sort of cooperation is strongly frowned upon. In fact some people get pretty damn mad. In the military these zones are referred to as DMZ. In civilian areas I have no idea of just what they are called; perhaps hypocrisy zones where hypocrisy exists and is allowed to function. Privilege is something that is generally earned by passing tests or preforming deeds that set you apart and consequently earn you privilege. In our community there are area’s where this privilege exists but not for any of the above mentioned reasons. It exists because certain people want to protect it even though illegal activity is taking place there. That place is the NIACC campus.
I am not against the young recruit that comes here to play ball; quite the contrary. This is a young man who does not stem from wealth, not even close. The NCAA does not allow athletes to work and stay eligible to play, this then presents a quandary, where does his money come from? On the one hand the NCAA says he cannot work, his family cannot send him money and the school is only providing a bed and three meals a day….not nearly enough in the life of a young boy. Maybe the coaching staff needs to address more then shooting free throws, turning a blind makes vou an accomplice, no different than if you were the driver in a bank robbery, in the laws eye you are equally guilty as if you entered the bank.
Next question; how far up does the guilt go? Is the salesman who sold the car a year ago that was used in the bank robbery share guilt? Hardly, but if the administration knows or even suspects there are drugs being dealt at that school, and by refusing to acknowledge it…they too belong before the bench.
We are certainly not short on hypocrites in this city, just toss a basketball or football in the air and they’ll be the first to reach for it. These are people who are adults now but never gave up their dream of playing professional sports; well get over it. Professional sports are riddled with every known drug, look at the on going government inquisitions about Roger Clemens lying under oath about hormone growth enhancement drugs, then you have the home run hero Barry Bonds along with hundreds more…..these people are a bad joke. Is this what you want your child to aspire to?
Just how important is it to win a game at the Junior College level? Is it important enough to pollute a city? It must be important enough to attack the truth, to deny what is true and proven to be factual; is it really so important that you are OK with looking the other way while young people are hustled for drugs? Someone recently said to me; “This sort of thing goes on in every college.” They’re right, it does….but you and I live here…..where the D-Boys have moved off campus and are open for business and business is good, and when your daughter stops stealing things from the house to pawn, it doesn’t mean she kicked the habit, it just means she found other ways to pay……
Peter Children
