Published: August 16, 2007 11:53 am            

Observations on Redneck Games...

No we don't fit in with that white collar crowd

We're a little too rowdy and a little too loud

There's no place that I'd rather be than right here — with my red-necks, white socks and Blue Ribbon beer — Hank Thompson.



The crowd wasn’t supposed to exceed 2,500, according to state statutes, but the crashers kept coming.

By all accounts it was quite a party — to some, a not so quiet party.

Depending on who you want to believe, there were up to 8,000 on hand at last week’s Texas Redneck Games at Pool Ranch near Athens.

Thousands of men, and thousands of women — some of them naked, or partially so — spent the weekend playing and racing ATVs, along with their children.

Law officers had a busy weekend, not that most of the officers minded. They were out there drawing time-and-a-half for their efforts, after all.

The taxpayers, most of whom didn’t attend the event, will foot those extra costs.

At least some residents have a problem with this. Issues of morality and economic prosperity in Henderson County could even be on a collision course.

At least one minister has expressed concern about naked female images being “seared” into the minds of the impressionable young.

To others, nothing was seared into young minds that hadn’t already been previously seared by computers, cable television programs, movies and Super Bowl halftime shows.

Some taxpayers simply don’t like footing the bill for the extra costs such events produce.

So it’s not just the preachers who are complaining. Questions are being asked about proper facilities, such as sufficient water, rest room facilities, and access into and out of the area for emergency personnel and their vehicles.

Law enforcement and emergency medical teams had to fight their way through the crowds to get to at least one injured person who was having convulsions. Passersby apparently weren’t paying him much attention.

Just how good of friends are some of these self-proclaimed rednecks, anyway?

On the other hand, similar events are staged all the time, and usually without a lot of injuries or unrest.

The roads into and out of Gun Barrel City and other Cedar Creek Lake communities, for instance, are blocked regularly on weekends as Dallas travelers flee the Metroplex in search of fun and recreation.

Area merchants love to see them, along with the tourist dollars they bring.

Even so, law enforcement has to be beefed up. Emergency Medical Services have to be available.

Every Fourth of July in this area is similar to what transpired in the Athens area last week.

Yet few around here would suggest that Fourth of July activities be curbed around the lake area.

Maybe such incidents are just the cost of doing massive entertainment.

Authorities made 60 arrests and issued another 32 minor-in-possession citations at the Redneck Games.

Is that a lot for a crowd of 8,000? Opinions differ.

Out of a crowd of 8,000, there were three marijuana discoveries, all of them of the misdemeanor, less than two-ounce, variety. Is that a lot?

Again, opinions differ.

The Department of Public Safety issued over 300 citations. The Sheriff’s Department wrote a similar amount of warnings. But again, an overwhelming number of those on hand failed to get themselves in trouble with the law.

As for the nudity issue, law enforcement officers didn’t make a single arrest.

Public lewdness laws speak to exposed genitalia, but female breasts aren’t genitalia, one officer noted. They’re just breasts.

Make no mistake, somebody’s gonna pay for putting this many people onto the Pool Ranch property.

Who?

Oscar Still is most likely going to pay. County Attorney James Owen will be filing charges on Still under the Texas Mass Gathering Act sooner than later.

Still is the promoter who staged the event, the one who didn’t get a permit from the county at least 45 days ahead of time, as state law requires for such large crowds.

And how much will Mr. Still be out for all this trouble?

According to state law, a thousand bucks.

“He’ll make about $500,000 on the event,” estimated one local official.

The law does say a 90-day jail sentence can be thrown at Still, if officials wanted to get nasty about it.

Even then, when weighed against a half-million bucks for a weekend’s work, is that a big whoop?

All of which begs the question; how soon can this guy get another one of these events ready to go?

Motels and restaurants were filled with customers during the weekend around Athens. And according to officers in this city, these people were well behaved.

Still...

“There were a dadgum lot of public safety issues, as far as getting to injured persons,” said one officer. “I honestly think some guidelines should be set to make sure people who are there are safe, and that there’s plenty of response time for medical personnel.”

Those who defend the Redneck Games say everyone is warned before entering of what they might see at such an event; that parents don’t have to bring the kiddos.

But they do.

And some of those parents who do, don’t want so-called “do-gooders” telling them what their children can and cannot see.

Such rationale may, or may not, hold forth in bringing similar future events to Henderson County.

But should one of these gatherings result in a riot, serious injury, or even death to participants, such rationale could one day fall on deaf ears.

        

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