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To Steve Greenhut, the author of this article, a crime wave consists of lots of muggings, rapes, thefts and murders.
To the Sacramento Bee, smoking in the wrong place is part of a crime wave. Talking on your phone while driving, or not wearing a seat belt is a crime wave.
"But there’s no reason to be alarmed unless one is a Bee editor and happens to look closely at the level of alarmist reporting. The series doesn’t document a crime wave so much as it details how the Nanny State criminalizes even the most modest rule-breaking. We dont see a rash of violence or assault, but the increased willingness of law enforcement to treat smoking, drinking, rafting without life preservers, noise-making and trespassing as crimes, rather than as the normal rule-breaking that has been found at parks since time immemorial.
The clues that this series is nonsense come early. The big front-page photograph shows a park ranger pulling over a raft crowded with youngsters, none wearing life jackets at Folsom Lake. The youngsters look like teen-agers or young adults, not vulnerable little kids, and they are hanging onto a large flotation device. The other photo shows a top-ranking law enforcement officer at Huntington and Bolsa Chica state beaches confiscating and dumping a small bottle of liquor taken from a middle-aged man."
Why is the Bee creating a crime wave in the parks? "[UPDATE: A Bee editorial calls for a fee increase today to pay for more park rangers.]"
Why does the Bee want to artificially create a problem? To take more money from families. Are you still buying the Bee?
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To the Sacramento Bee, smoking in the wrong place is part of a crime wave. Talking on your phone while driving, or not wearing a seat belt is a crime wave.
"But there’s no reason to be alarmed unless one is a Bee editor and happens to look closely at the level of alarmist reporting. The series doesn’t document a crime wave so much as it details how the Nanny State criminalizes even the most modest rule-breaking. We dont see a rash of violence or assault, but the increased willingness of law enforcement to treat smoking, drinking, rafting without life preservers, noise-making and trespassing as crimes, rather than as the normal rule-breaking that has been found at parks since time immemorial.
The clues that this series is nonsense come early. The big front-page photograph shows a park ranger pulling over a raft crowded with youngsters, none wearing life jackets at Folsom Lake. The youngsters look like teen-agers or young adults, not vulnerable little kids, and they are hanging onto a large flotation device. The other photo shows a top-ranking law enforcement officer at Huntington and Bolsa Chica state beaches confiscating and dumping a small bottle of liquor taken from a middle-aged man."
Why is the Bee creating a crime wave in the parks? "[UPDATE: A Bee editorial calls for a fee increase today to pay for more park rangers.]"
Why does the Bee want to artificially create a problem? To take more money from families. Are you still buying the Bee?
More...