Pubdate: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2004 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Author: Gordon Sinclair Jr. Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1672/a06.html?352 READERS SOUND OFF ON THE LAW WELCOME to the chat room...The readers were writing this week, all because of two columns that brought reactions with the same underlying theme. Anger about breaking rules. Or, more accurately, breaking laws. One column was about an off-leash dog that broke through the pond ice in the Assiniboine Forest and was rescued by another dog owner who could have drowned himself. Letter after letter on that one indignantly reminded one and all that the Assiniboine Forest is NOT an off-leash park. Read the signs. The other column concerned smoking -- most of it pot - -- that went on largely unchallenged at the Tragically Hip concert in the new MTS Centre. Oh yes, and there was also something going on of a more immediate danger than second-hand smoke. Lots of beer-swilling-and-spilling drunkenness. What follows are some of your thoughts on rock concerts in the age of no smoking in public places. And, oh yes, the age of proprietors being held responsible for over-serving. * * * Dear Mr. Sinclair, Here I was thinking I was just getting old (I'm only 26) and how it was, of course, a rock concert and I should expect this to happen. However, why shouldn't I be able to enjoy the concert as much as the next person? I was in section 207. Some younger people smoking pot -- quite obviously, I might add -- were approximately four rows below to the left. An MTS Centre staff member was approximately five rows below to the right. Either the staffer's sense of sight and smell no longer existed, or it was a sheer sense of ignorance that he chose to disregard the situation. In addition, witnessing the two girls holding up the bathroom stall while they chose to light up was quite an experience while going about my business. Considering the fact you can no longer smoke cigarettes, cigars, pipes etc., in any building in Winnipeg, I'm quite amazed at how easily, and apparently legal, it is to smoke marijuana in The Phone Booth. We've built a beautiful building that will hopefully provide more entertainment options to the city of Winnipeg. Why are we wasting the facility in allowing it to become one huge "bong" show? Kelly Davies * * * I am a 37-year-old non-smoking woman, and my husband is a 44-year-old non-smoking man and, like every Tragically Hip concert that comes to Winnipeg, we attended on the 23rd. We actually went there to enjoy their performance, not be smoked out by the sight and smell of pot. I witnessed a man smoking pot and the security guard raced up the stairs, only to have it blown in his face. He talked to the "pot-smoking man" and confiscated nothing, turned around and walked away. Five minutes later, a couple of rows below, another person lit up. We left our seats, which, by the way, were very good, and walked around to find new ones. In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed the Tragically Hip. The smoke I could have left behind. Jackie Friesen * * * I, too, was quite bothered by the drunkenness and unruliness at the Hip concert. I paid good money for a good seat to a good concert, only to have the evening wrecked by the people around me. Three women sitting right behind me behaved like they were at the Palomino Club, smoking, drinking, and yakking so loudly I had trouble hearing the music. Strange, since we were sitting in section 319, less than 45 degrees from the speakers. At least the two guys on my left were quiet. But they drank eight beers between them. If I'd wanted to go to the Osborne Street Zoo, I'd have gone there, where this sort of behaviour is accepted and expected. But I paid forty-five bucks to hear a concert. Thanks, I feel better now. Keith Sutton * * * The reason why the smoking issue wasn't enforced is because we do not live in a police state. A rock concert is not a tea party and frankly, yes, you should have expected this. The last thing the arena needs is an all-out crackdown on a very socially accepted substance in the middle of a rock concert. Some things should be kept sacred. If it weren't for the pot smokers it would have been a sparse crowd indeed... I happened to leave with a great feeling about the new arena and a sense of relief that the MTS Centre security had some common sense. Next time, stay home in a comfy chair with some tea and a good book. That way, everyone's happy. T. P. * * * I, too, attended the Hip concert along with my 14-year-old son. We were seated in section 305, second row. Our biggest concern was a woman in front of us who was rapidly consuming the large drafts. Then, well into the Hip's set, she had the urge to stand and dance. I was calculating that if she had had one more draft, she would have toppled over the railing since she was in the first row of the upper decks. I asked my son as we were leaving, "So, how did you like the show?" He commented that he thought the woman in front of us was going to fall over the railing. Leslie Dubois * * * You actually come across as being obsessed with illegal smoking. Try to understand it was all a protest. And what better venue than the spacious MTS Centre? There are a lot of things you don't know. There are about 75,000 people in Winnipeg looking for a job, which will allow them to get married, have children and buy a house, not unlike yourself. These jobs, however, do not exist. And so there is a certain amount of anger out there. Anger which your type seems oblivious to. (Signed) I Am Nobody * * * Ah, yes, it all comes back to anger. And breaking the rules. I just want all you angry pot smokers -- um, isn't that an oxymoron? - -- to know that I'm really a rebel at heart. I've had a speeding ticket -- or two -- and if we can speak confidentially here, I have been known to let Tate off leash in the Assiniboine Forest. But it won't let it happen again. The speeding, I mean. The chat room is now closed. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek