Problems with the community fire

[Sir Moostifer]

Yes, but the ones who do can have you arrested and can successfully sue the Faire itself.

on what grounds? you won't officially work for the faire.

[Macintyre]

but like i said, the local fuzz needs to do something first.  they can't do anything without the consent of the owners of the camp grounds because they are hired in to do security.  if anyone has the number to the owners, i'll call them up and make the complaint so as to hopefully avoid these type of problems in the future.  the storeis some people hear about what goes in the camp grounds.....i mean really now.

[Blue66669]

I personally avoid the drum circle all together. I'm happier drinking and telling funny stories about DS getting lost somewhere than I would be trying to avoid getting groped at a fire pit.

Wait a minute, that happens at MY fire too...

Huh, I guess it's just a familiarity thing!

[Spanish_Peacock]

Checking for tickets needs to happen!
More police officers too.

I think a petition for that would have the signatures of every camp out there.
That's a lot of fed-up folks.
We could start the petition right here.

We set up the "Briga-burbs" way back semi-near Greenflame and still had a bit of idiocy to deal with.
Friday night we were visiting some cool young neighbors from Austin and having a nice little Irish jam.
Suddenly, a big ranting, frothing at the mouth belligerent drunk came charging out of the dark and began challenging everyone (womenfolk included) to a fight. After threatening to kick the worlds weed puller for a couple of minutes, his campmate dragged him away.
We had constable Charlie over there in a few minutes and he explained to the surly drunk that you get one warning and then you go to jail.
The drunk guy came by the young Austin camp and apologized over and over the next morning, he seemed semi-OK, looks like he just sailed away to blackout island for a bit.

About 15 minutes later on Friday night, screaming and fighting started up a little ways on the other side of our camp.(yay)
It was a group of a half dozen 20 year olds (one was pregnant) having a punch up that went on and off for hours.
They kept it among themselves but it was annoying to listen to.
Enough people finally told them to shut the hell up or the cops would come sort them out and they toned it down.
This charming group wore their caps sideways and pants halfway down their weed puller and of course did not go into the fair.
When they left Sunday they had deliberately broken almost every bottle they brought and left them strewn around their camp along with all their trash and a still burning fire.
The field of glass was one of the most f*cked up things I have seen out there.

We put the fire out, raked and shoveled up the broken glass, bagged the trash and left a caution note for the groundskeepers so they would not slice themselves up.

Later Sunday somebody dumped their fire pit onto to the pile of trash next to the port o cans, creating a smouldering pile of melting plastic and burning garbage, nice.
We put that out too.

But OTHER than that, we had a kick weed puller weekend:-)

[rengypsy]

we went out saturday evening...and the drum/fire circle was chaos and wholly unpleasant.  the drums weren't consistent.  there were inebriated thugs screaming at everyone.  they were not allowing dancing to take place.  all stopped when the fire twirlers attempted to perform.  drunks galore.  the spirit of the drums/fire/dancing gives way to mass-alcoholic mentality.  faith in the beautiful spirit of the circle is dashed against the realities of what most are bringing to the experience.

[LadyElizabeth]

I agree with the petition idea whole heartedly!!  I wonder if anyone on these forums is good with legal wording?  I imagine that the incidents we mentioned from this weekend ALONE have potential lawsuit written all over them unless they get curbed.  Maybe coming at it from that perspective would be helpful to management and make them more likely to clean it up for their own benefit!!  I stopped by the drum circle for no more than 10 minutes both evenings and was wholly disappointed by the caliber of people there and the drugs and drunkenness!!

Just for a tad bit of humor here, my neighbors were a bit more colorful!!  Saturday night as soon as the sun started to go down we heard smacking sorts of noises.  So we peeked around the corner and saw a lady tied to a tree in her under pants getting whipped by a large man.  Later in the night, there was another lady fully naked with red welts all over her back getting flogged.  And by 2am or so, they had multiple people holding 1 person down and lashing them with fire poys nice and flaming!!  They thankfully were not loud, but they were certainly interesting!!  They also did not go into fair at all, but they were older folks and never made any trouble.

[Fenster]

If the campgrounds don't get under control a lawsuit may come that could bankrupt the entire faire.

[Lord Dragonspyre]

I agree with the petition idea whole heartedly!!  I wonder if anyone on these forums is good with legal wording?

I'll see what I can do. Petitions do not have to be legally worded, per se, but they do have to clearly outline the intent of the petition.

I imagine that the incidents we mentioned from this weekend ALONE have potential lawsuit written all over them unless they get curbed.  Maybe coming at it from that perspective would be helpful to management and make them more likely to clean it up for their own benefit!!  I stopped by the drum circle for no more than 10 minutes both evenings and was wholly disappointed by the caliber of people there and the drugs and drunkenness!!

That's why I never go.

Just for a tad bit of humor here, my neighbors were a bit more colorful!!  Saturday night as soon as the sun started to go down we heard smacking sorts of noises.  So we peeked around the corner and saw a lady tied to a tree in her under pants getting whipped by a large man.  Later in the night, there was another lady fully naked with red welts all over her back getting flogged.  And by 2am or so, they had multiple people holding 1 person down and lashing them with fire poys nice and flaming!!  They thankfully were not loud, but they were certainly interesting!!  They also did not go into fair at all, but they were older folks and never made any trouble.

See, this I have no problem with. From what you describe, they're a group of people doing their own thing and minding their own business. Not a problem at all. If they were out at the fire pit or were making it blatant by doing so in a more public area, then that's where the line is drawn.

[Lord Dragonspyre]

I personally avoid the drum circle all together. I'm happier drinking and telling funny stories about DS getting lost somewhere than I would be trying to avoid getting groped at a fire pit.

Don't make me play the can-can song...

Wait a minute, that happens at MY fire too...

Huh, I guess it's just a familiarity thing!

That's because we lurvs our Empress!

[rengypsy]

as some of you know, i am starting a new faire over east of austin in early spring of 2010.  i want a very wholesome, powerful and soulful campfire/drumming/dancing experience as part of it.  would surely like some ideas and policies to establish from the onset to better ensure the fire circle will not become what it has out at trf presently.  like the concept of the ticket requirement; but that's still not compeltely sufficient.  www.swf-faire.com

my forst exposure to the fire/drum circles decades ago was one of the truly beautiful and enticing experiences into renfaire life.  bound to be able to recreate that magic.

[Lord Dragonspyre]

Yes, but the ones who do can have you arrested and can successfully sue the Faire itself.

on what grounds? you won't officially work for the faire.

True, but the Faire can have you arrested for impersonating a security guard. The laws are pretty stringent about that sort of thing...

[Lord Dragonspyre]

as some of you know, i am starting a new faire over east of austin in early spring of 2010.  i want a very wholesome, powerful and soulful campfire/drumming/dancing experience as part of it.  would surely like some ideas and policies to establish from the onset to better ensure the fire circle will not become what it has out at trf presently.  like the concept of the ticket requirement; but that's still not compeltely sufficient.  www.swf-faire.com

my forst exposure to the fire/drum circles decades ago was one of the truly beautiful and enticing experiences into renfaire life.  bound to be able to recreate that magic.

Ticket requirement
Zero Tolerance policy for drugs, criminal behavior, and idiocy.
Security guards patrolling and blatantly challenging anyone they suspect of being underage

[LadyElizabeth]

Lord Dragonspyre, I agree that my crazy neighbors are not the sort we are trying to keep out.  I simply added my story for amusements sake only!

I think the underage drug use, rude behavior, theft, and dangerous behavior alone is what needs to stop!!! 

A petition of any kind would be great!!  I was just saying that legal terminology might be more convincing since many of the stories from this weekend alone could have very easily become lawsuits!  And the last thing I want is for TRF to stop the camping or to go out of business cause of some horrid kid killing themself or someone else at the fire pit!!

[RenRobin]

I say start filming it and email it to the TRF offices so they can actually see what is going on.

[Macintyre]

that's not a bad idea.