The "Riot" at Bloomsburg (Columbia, Howard: 2013, tenant, university)

[2nd trick op]

Thpse of us who grew up near Bloomsburg know that the two communities within-- University and permanent residents -- don't always see things eye-to-eye. For a number or reasons related to its relaively-small size and largely-agricultural economy, Columbia County has engendered a reputation for provincialism and a mild suspicion toward the several thousand BU students. a lot of them from the Southeastern Pennsylvania exurbs, and contioned toward life in a somewhat faster and wealthiier lane.

I went to Penn State, in a community even more dependent upon a university, and at a time when town-student tensions were also strong. We did our share of late-night carousing and kept the bars and breweries busy, but it was at a time when the "New Puritanism" would have been recognized as largely unenforceable and, probably becuse we let off steam less in vew of the general public, simply not worth the effort. It was a time when the word "party" had not yet been turned into a verb by the point-and-grunt mentality.

But for whatever reason, the rites of spring have grown into an intensified exercise in tackiness in recent years, and a few of the more-strident locals have responded by investing six figures of public funds into something the paranoid Lieutenant Howard Hunter of the TV series Hill Street Blues would likely salivate over. And the fruits of the exercise were harvested this weekend.

BloomUtoday.com - Bloomsburg News and Entertainment

Bloomsburg Block Party 2013 - Riot Vehicle Tear Gas - YouTube

The point I seek tio make here is that the University itself is only marginally-related to what transpired. The Town of Bloomsburg seeks to boost tourism and entertainment-related business by hosting a steady stream of events over the course of the year; some of them. like outdoor-recreation shows (which are a partial venue for firearms dealers, BTW) and "monster truck" events, can hardly be identified with academic interests, and there is a certain contingent of young, unattached, overwhelmingly-male rowdies who invariably graviiate to such goings-on.

Tomorrow morning, it will be business as usual, and over the next few days, we'll learn who among those whose actions led to a date with the courts were actuallly part of the University community. But the polarization will continue, to the detriment of cooler thinking on both sides, and the attempts at the legislation and enfocement of standards rooted in common sense, but escalated by the follies known as Political Correctess and the state (and University) as Nanny-at-Large will continue.

The Show Must Go On!

[WiseManOnceSaid]

Originally Posted by 2nd trick op

Thpse of us who grew up near Bloomsburg know that the two communities within-- University and permanent residents -- don't always see things eye-to-eye. For a number or reasons related to its relaively-small size and largely-agricultural economy, Columbia County has engendered a reputation for provincialism and a mild suspicion toward the several thousand BU students. a lot of them from the Southeastern Pennsylvania exurbs, and contioned toward life in a somewhat faster and wealthiier lane.

I went to Penn State, in a community even more dependent upon a university, and at a time when town-student tensions were also strong. We did our share of late-night carousing and kept the bars and breweries busy, but it was at a time when the "New Puritanism" would have been recognized as largely unenforceable and, probably becuse we let off steam less in vew of the general public, simply not worth the effort. It was a time when the word "party" had not yet been turned into a verb by the point-and-grunt mentality.

But for whatever reason, the rites of spring have grown into an intensified exercise in tackiness in recent years, and a few of the more-strident locals have responded by investing six figures of public funds into something the paranoid Lieutenant Howard Hunter of the TV series Hill Street Blues would likely salivate over. And the fruits of the exercise were harvested this weekend.

BloomUtoday.com - Bloomsburg News and Entertainment


Bloomsburg Block Party 2013 - Riot Vehicle Tear Gas - YouTube

The point I seek tio make here is that the University itself is only marginally-related to what transpired. The Town of Bloomsburg seeks to boost tourism and entertainment-related business by hosting a steady stream of events over the course of the year; some of them. like outdoor-recreation shows (which are a partial venue for firearms dealers, BTW) and "monster truck" events, can hardly be identified with academic interests, and there is a certain contingent of young, unattached, overwhelmingly-male rowdies who invariably graviiate to such goings-on.

Tomorrow morning, it will be business as usual, and over the next few days, we'll learn who among those whose actions led to a date with the courts were actuallly part of the University community. But the polarization will continue, to the detriment of cooler thinking on both sides, and the attempts at the legislation and enfocement of standards rooted in common sense, but escalated by the follies known as Political Correctess and the state (and University) as Nanny-at-Large will continue.

The Show Must Go On!

From reading, it seems that things are beginning to sway towards the "extreme", the harder authority pushes the youth, the harder they will push back.