AZ shares: My child rode a float in the Christmas parade and got the most joy out of WAVING like a princess to people on the sidewalk.  Guess what?  Most of them simply smiled and waved back!

SH: Was that before or after she lifted up her shirt?

SteveInClearwater - 19 January 2008 06:35 PM

AZ shares: My child rode a float in the Christmas parade and got the most joy out of WAVING like a princess to people on the sidewalk.  Guess what?  Most of them simply smiled and waved back!

SH: Was that before or after she lifted up her shirt?

Hey!  Watch it.  Being insensitive and crass is MY pipe.

(Remember to corner the bowl and pass to the left....)

hmmmm...last guy that told me that fed me Thanksgiving dinner in 2006....need to chase him down for the new year

AngieZ - 19 January 2008 10:43 AM

I am amazed at the insensitive comments I read in today’s paper.  I think in all our prevention tactics somewhere along the way some of us have forgotten that a couple lost their child in this tragic accident.  Are there safety concerns here?  Yes.  But, people please stop playing the blame game and making ridiculous comments.  The commissioners in Plant City did not say this ban is forever, just until a safe solution can be found.  With the short time between Christmas and the Strawberry Festival Parade, the best action they can take to ensure safety is this ban.  Mr. Raulerson stated that a safe solution may be reached at a later date.  I think we all need to consider how safe we would like our own child to be at parades when we participate in any way including float design, allowing children to ride, etc.  But saying insulting things like people didn’t supervise their kid or put the candy in a stupid place just adds to the pain of this family.  Please consider that some things should not be said in light of the death of a sweet child.  The commissioners simply do not want to have to notify or comfort another family after a child or adult for that matter is injured or killed.  There are a lot of rules already in place violated each year at the parade that could result in injuries or death.  If you need beads and candy that bad, take $20 to the Dollar store and fill up a bag.  I’d rather take my kids home safe and sound without a bag full of junk.  This is a local parade, we can entertain ourselves looking for folks we know or pointing out local celebs/officials and explaining their jobs to the kids.  My child rode a float in the Christmas parade and got the most joy out of WAVING like a princess to people on the sidewalk.  Guess what?  Most of them simply smiled and waved back!  Personally, I will be at the next parade with my kids and a packed picnic to satisfy their tummies while we look for folks to wave at and enjoy.  We’ll bring our own treats and consider it a privilege to live in a town where our city cares about our safety.

There is never going to be a safe solution. Children are not born with warning labels on them. So in TODAY’S WORLD I guess the doctors are going to have to put them on them when they are born.

Taking the beads and candy can be like taking out the American flag out of the parade on the 4th of July. I didn’t know there was a right way to have a parade. I must have missed that book. Parents need to be more viligilant in taking care of their children. We need to make sure that they are READY to attend or behave at a parade. Just because there is one doesn’t mean that they have to attend.  Gasparilla has a children’s parade without alcohol. How many children will be seen at the Adult version?

We can not make a law for everything that is just pain common sense. Our children are our future and as parents we need to protect our future the best we can.

I feel sorry for their loss but things happen and no legislations is going to change that.

AMEN!
I wonder what all these people who crave boobs and beads did before they started being passed out. If being an exibitionist is your thrill why do not go to work at Mons Venus and you can make enough to buy the entire selection of beads thown during the entire parade.
Trying to convince people that is they only way to get beads is a tad silly.
Every since back in the 80’s when this MEOLOGY program went around in the middle schools morals and sense of responsibility has degraded significantly.

Too many people have no sense of caring about anything other than their own immediate gratification.
Maybe the ones who insist on having the beads and candy have never been to a parade for seeing the parade.

AngieZ - 19 January 2008 10:43 AM

I am amazed at the insensitive comments I read in today’s paper.  I think in all our prevention tactics somewhere along the way some of us have forgotten that a couple lost their child in this tragic accident.  Are there safety concerns here?  Yes.  But, people please stop playing the blame game and making ridiculous comments.  The commissioners in Plant City did not say this ban is forever, just until a safe solution can be found.  With the short time between Christmas and the Strawberry Festival Parade, the best action they can take to ensure safety is this ban.  Mr. Raulerson stated that a safe solution may be reached at a later date.  I think we all need to consider how safe we would like our own child to be at parades when we participate in any way including float design, allowing children to ride, etc.  But saying insulting things like people didn’t supervise their kid or put the candy in a stupid place just adds to the pain of this family.  Please consider that some things should not be said in light of the death of a sweet child.  The commissioners simply do not want to have to notify or comfort another family after a child or adult for that matter is injured or killed.  There are a lot of rules already in place violated each year at the parade that could result in injuries or death.  If you need beads and candy that bad, take $20 to the Dollar store and fill up a bag.  I’d rather take my kids home safe and sound without a bag full of junk.  This is a local parade, we can entertain ourselves looking for folks we know or pointing out local celebs/officials and explaining their jobs to the kids.  My child rode a float in the Christmas parade and got the most joy out of WAVING like a princess to people on the sidewalk.  Guess what?  Most of them simply smiled and waved back!  Personally, I will be at the next parade with my kids and a packed picnic to satisfy their tummies while we look for folks to wave at and enjoy.  We’ll bring our own treats and consider it a privilege to live in a town where our city cares about our safety.

not beads, but tossed candy has been a part of parades since I was a child back in the early 70s and late 60s.  Personally I believe this is an over-reaction.  The problem here had nothing to do with beads or candy.  The child was in violation of the parades’ safety rules (walking next to the trailer) -it was a horrible ACCIDENT, but the key word here is ACCIDENT.  The child should have been riding, not walking next to that vehicle -the surprise is that this hasn’t happened before.  The true blame lies with whomever is charged with safety -they are supposed to enforce their rules, and they have grown progressively lax over the years.  When I worked as a safety coordinator for a large construction company back in the early ‘90s, if an accident happened, they came looking for ME first, to find out WHY it happened, and if I could have done anything different to prevent it.  You had better bet my answer had better be to show that everything was done that could reasonably (and by regulation) be done -of I’d have a lot of questions to answer -including possibly looking for the unemployment office by the next couple of days.  I was a very diligent employee, and while accidents DID happen, everything reasonable had been done to prevent it.  The point is, accidents do happen, sometimes regardless of every precaution.  Sadly, rules were ignored here (complacency, I’m sure, because of the decades of injury-free parades in Plant City) and a little boy paid the ultimate price -and his (uncle, if memory serves) will be haunted by it for quite probably the rest of his life.  I’d give anything to NOT be in his shoes.  Not sure how I could live with it.

Tragedies and the usual noises aside, beads have become such a cliche’. It is sickening to see the MLK Parade, like all others, turned into a beadfest.  Ever go to a beadless parade? They’re perfectly fine.

Sindy

Yeah, I never saw the point in beads.  Parades used to be for kids and used to be clean fun -but now some of them have turned into some sort of ‘in your face’ statement, others try to rallie the crowds, etc.  The only one I bother with anymore is the childrens’ strawberry festival parade.  I just hate to see the knee-jerk reactions people commonly have after a tragedy.  If they just enforce their existing safety rules, they would have no problem (children are NOT supposed to be walking next to vehicles)