A co-worker plying his trade on a Saturday decided to take a break in the place that is one of the breakiest of the break places in downtown Bremerton, the Harborside Fountain Park.
The park, besides its whale spouts and imported trees and rocks, has a sound system that when employed provides an atmospheric backdrop that says, well I’m not sure what it says. It just plays music.
Said co-worker happened to be there on a day when said music was the kind that contains several references to human intimacy in rather non-discreet language, applying a common term that generally refers to intimacy to things that are incapable of being intimate, such as cars, homes and accountants.
If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, think of Ralphie when the lugnuts flew, and not because someone shot them.
Said co-worker told me of said incident, when diaper-clad kids could splash to the sounds of a story about women who are not particularly choosy and tend to display improper manners. It caused me to make three trips to the fountain park. When I went, though, all I heard was music inoffensive, unless you count Billy Squire. (I do, but not for the same reasons.) The broadcast was from the Sirius satellite network, which doesn’t have to concern itself with Federal Communications Commission standards. If Janet Jackson had experienced that malfunction on the Sirius radio, if that were possible, she wouldn’t have been fined.
I talked to Wyn Birkenthal, Bremerton’s parks and recreation director, about the Saturday experience of my co-worker and he was appropriately aghast. It’s not something he wanted repeated. Staff has been instructed to only employ channels that “provide music without profane lyrics or questionable DJ commentary.
You’re children are safe from potty mouth entertainers, at least in Bremerton‘s parks.
You’re welcome.
I can’t protect them from bad musicians, though.
With any luck, maybe you’ll hear this guy:
Why don’t they just turn the music off. It is obnoxiously loud and of terrible quality.
It’s hard to relax when barely memorable 80’s hits are being blared at me from all sides.
Sometimes all it takes is an inquiry to bring something to the right person’s attention who will quickly do the right thing. Thanks, Steve!
I particularly like the “Christmas Story” reference. Somebody get out the Lifebuoy.
I had my own questionable language and children issue yesterday evening. Only it was the children using the questionable language. There are a real group of 11 to 13 year old punks that hang out on the Naval Avenue playground and drop bad words like they are going out of season. They make little kids cry, they insult parents and they cause damage to the pre-school play area.
School officials have talked to them, the Boys & Girls Club directors have talked to them. Now they are reduced to the punk equivalent of “hanging out” in the evening after the other legitimate users of the facility have closed for the day.
Last night Nick and I headed over to the school to use the track in the upper field. Nick rides his bike, I walk a mile or so. We try to do this a couple times a week weather allowing. After picking up a bunch of litter in the upper field, I headed for the garbage can located in the covered play area. Well the punks thought they could impress me with their word selection. I stopped and told them to knock it off. I don’t want to hear it and my 9 year old does not want to hear it. Well, in a very predictable way I was told what I could do with myself in ways that would be physically impossible for even Gumby to accomplish. I was told to mind my own business. I was told that that people knew where I lived and I had better watch out.
A little questionable background music that CAN be fixed by speaking out is pretty easy to accomplish and small in comparison to the long term societal behaviors of punks who will be forever broken. That should not stop us from speaking out when we need to, even if it does not appear to matter at all.
That would have been quite an interesting visit, hearing that in the background. Kudos for getting it resolved.
Like Colleen, I had my own questionable language experience this past weekend, albeit from the other side of the fence. Two boys carelessly tossed a football while young children played nearby at Silverdale Waterfront Park. They ran wildly, sometimes stepping into the path of unsuspecting walkers, or onto blankets of families picnicking or sitting. As we picnicked and watched our daughter in the playground, the ball sharply landed in the middle of my back and bounced towards a bench. One of the boys ran down to retrieve it, looked directly into my face, then walked off without a word. I said: “You hit me in the back, look me in the face, yet not one ‘excuse me’ or word of apology?” He looked at me again and smirked, then continued to walk back to his friends.
Annoyed, I turned to my husband and said the next time the football hit me or landed near us, I was going to ‘bleeping’ flatten it. A woman sitting at the bench turned and said she apologised for her son, but they didn’t use ‘that word’ near their children and would appreciate it if I didn’t. I retorted that her time was best spent teaching her son basic common courtesy and accountability, or he’d probably be hearing ‘that word’ quite a bit more in his future. Nearby parents nodded and clapped. She fell silent. Moments later, she called him over to speak with him – not to advise him to apologise – but to suggest he and his friend move closer to the gazebo with their game of catch.
‘Long term societal behaviors of punks’ indeed.
My God we’ve got a lot of conservative Freaks out there. You people need to go live in the mountains, far from normal people. I would rather hear a kid swear than cry. If you have kids there probably screwed up.
You people make me Sick
Glenn … Kids have more options than swear or cry.
The lucky ones have parents who teach them manners and considerate thoughtful actions toward others.
Glen and similar parents, why are you so proud of clear evidence of your neglect? Raising inconsiderate wild animals seem to add to the future crime and prison burden to the ‘Conservative ‘Freaks’?