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Showing posts from October 1, 2004

How to avoid a riot?

[I did this bit on location as an exercise in the art of news reporting] How do you avoid a riot? Hire "Huey Lewis & The News" as your entertainment headliner! Now, I know that might sound odd, maybe a little funny, but I think that was one of the strategies use in the California State Fair's "Cool It Down" campaign this year. Let me explain... I had been hearing for weeks, over and over again, on local TV and radio about potential for trouble at the California State Fair this year on "the last Saturday." The warning stems from previous year's troubles on those last Saturdays. The Sacramento Bee reported, "Four years ago a near-riot broke out on the last Saturday of the fair. Last year, fights broke out on that last Saturday again. One person was stabbed, cars and homes in the Cal-Expo area were vandalized and police made numerous arrests." The "Cool It Down" campaign was born, albeit in sympathetic desperation. Traditionall