The Sacramento Bee says that grave robbers and tattooed parolees are terrorizing California's state parks, and there aren't enough park rangers to stem the tide of crime.
I'm getting pretty fed up with the government-media complex and its penchant for publishing crap and calling it "news". Check this out: "
Rising crime dims luster of California state parks."
Holiday visitors seeking a quiet day off beside the water at Folsom State Recreation Area on July 5 instead had front-row seats to a pursuit, as park rangers chased an assault suspect on foot through throngs of picnickers.
It was like a scene from a big-city television crime drama. But this was a state park.
Crime is on the rise in California's state parks, up nearly threefold in the last decade, according to Department of Parks and Recreation data analyzed by The Sacramento Bee.
A few years ago I would have laughed it off. In the age of JournoList (see also here) stories like this make me wonder about the newspaper's political motivations. And, true to form, the Bee leaves out many facts which would undermine its central theme. Let's take a look at some of the "crimes" that are "more common ... in the eight off-road vehicle recreation parks."
I live close to Prairie City, a big OHV park near Sacramento, so I looked at the the Bee's Park Crime and Maintenance Database to see what is actually listed. There are over 800 events listed for this park, and I looked at them all. Most of the Incident Types are listed as "Crime". What kind of crimes? Violations of the California Vehicle Code. Here are a few repeat offenses:
Do any of these violations sound like "crime" to you? Sure, some dudes on their motorcycles got cited and there was even one drunk driver. But reading the first few paragraphs of the Bee article, one might think that crazed motorcycle gangs of tattooed parolees are murdering motocross moms every weekend.
The truth is that the worst "crimes" I found were "Possible Pipe Bomb" (not a crime at all unless an actual pipe bomb was found, and the database doesn't contain that information), "DUI", "Public Urination", "Dog Off Leash", and "Fence Knocked Down". There was even a "crime" listed as "No Violation."
A few of the events labeled "Incident" were pretty funny:
- Dog bit a person, lady hit dog
- Medical - Rock to the head
- MX Down (no kidding, at a motocross track?)
Does the Bee list these items? No. Rather, they say, park rangers must contend with "car surfing" and "grave robbing" and "illicit sex".
The article is probably just the result of a breathless reporter reporting breathlessly on the urgency of government intervention. Or it may be just another in a long string of articles designed to create fear in the minds of Americans. Whatever it is, it's bogus. Maybe I'll ask the folks who wrote it:
This story was reported by McClatchy Newspapers' five California papers: Matt Weiser and Marjie Lundstrom at The Sacsramento Bee; Rosalio Ahumada at the Modesto Bee; Tara Albert at the Fresno Bee; Jamie Oppenheim at the Merced Sun-Star; and Kathe Tanner and David Sneed at the San Luis Obispo Tribune. It was written by Weiser and Lundstrom. Contact The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264 or mweiser@sacbee.com; or Marjie Lundstrom, (916) 321-1055 or mlundstrom@sacbee.com.
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