Word: parkes
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Richard Jewell had run to the limelight, and now he was frying in it. After a bomb exploded in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park, killing one woman, injuring 111 and blowing a hole in the middle of the Olympic festivities, Jewell, a park security guard, had spoken with the press about his fortunate discovery of a bag containing the three-pipe device. He hadn't said he was a hero, but others were happy to, and for a while he achieved almost gold-medalist status as an instant inspiration...
Others in Atlanta were accused of substandard performance. The police took 10 minutes to alert officers on the scene after they had received the 911 call from a male voice with no discernible accent announcing, "There is a bomb in Centennial Park. You have 30 minutes." No one wanted to take responsibility for giving guard credentials to Jewell, who has worked for the law and, by some accounts, outside it. The FBI was steamed that Jewell's name had been leaked, perhaps by local officials. That may have stymied the bureau's interview strategy designed to trip up bomb suspects...
...Rappers, park legally! When a policeman went to the New Jersey home of Notorious B.I.G., 1995's Billboard rap artist of the year, to tell him to move a car, the cop smelled marijuana. A raid was mounted, and police say they found, along with the weed, an illegal semiautomatic weapon and guns with defaced serial numbers. B.I.G., who has a prior conviction on drug and gun charges, isn't allowed to own guns...
...would be nice to go on a vacation where I didn't have to worry about being ripped limb from limb by some big ursine slob. But there it is, at any trailhead worth carting your trail mix up to--the National Park Service sign saying CAUTION, YOU ARE ENTERING BEAR COUNTRY. Abandon greasy foods and perfumes, all ye who enter here! Or: Bye-bye, rule of law; hello, natural selection...
While I mourn for those that lost their lives on TWA's Flight 800 and for the victims of the Olympic Park bombing, I am still grateful for the fact that I can pay $1.50 to get on the New York City subway with no questions asked. Sometimes, all we can do is pray that the freedom on which this country prides itself will not be taken advantage of by those with evil intentions...