Gay Campground vandalised.

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   brimancandyposted 14 years ago

   I'm not sure how well this news has been spread through the media, but, a gay campground in my home state was recently invaded by vandals. They spray painted "Fags don't belong" on the fences, and painted natzi signs all over the place.
   
   This is bad news to the community that they hit, because it has always been gay friendly, and, a huge amount of the money that comes into the area comes from the thousands of gay tourists who visit from all over the world.
   
   The reason I bring this up, is because I am a member of the campground, and I think it is horrible that someone did this. I'm pretty sure it was probably a bunch of bored kids, but, it is still upsetting to a lot of people.
   
   There is a question about punishment for those who might be caught. The owners of the campground want hate crime charges against these individuals, which is pretty stiff, but the local police force may not be willing to go that far.
   
   So, what do you think? Should the individuals be charged with a serious crime? or make them do something in the way of community service?. I say make them stand at the entrance to the campground, and make them get stickered by every person that enters. And then charge them a dollar for every sticker.
   
   On just one day Mardi Gras weekend, or 4th of July weekend they would end up owing several hundred thousand dollars. As there are easily 1,000 people in the campground on a single day.
   
   No spankings though! LOL!
   
   Please do not post hate comments. You will only make yourself look like a total ass.

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      Brenda Durhamposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      No need to worry about that! LOL
      Your whole post just illustrated that quite well!
      
      
      
      It may very well be that some teens or others aren't so proud of their community being what you call "gay friendly" and are tired of it being forced down their throats and into their lives!   Doesn't make vandalism right at all, but it's obvious that the homosexual agenda is aggressively shoving its way into places where it doesn't belong.
      
      I say prosecute all parties in the proper manner.

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         Crazdwriterposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Brenda seriously I may talk nice to you but your crap about gays is annoying. The whole "gay agenda" as you stupidly put it isn't shoving its way into places it doesn't belong. they are trying to live and coexist with everyone else just like it should be.
         
         So get off your soap box and sreioulsy don't post to anything that deals with gays. We already know how closed minded you are about gays and relgiion. So do us a favor and STOP posting such posts as these! Seriously!

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            Brenda Durhamposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Opinion noted.
            Ditto back to you.

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         blue dogposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         gee, brenda, instead of vandalizing perhaps they should consider moving.  maybe to your backyard.
         
         it's a safe bet to say they'd be in like company.

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      3. 78

         brimancandyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Brenda. The cities where campground is located have always been gay friendly going back to the 1970's. They embrace they gay community as a huge amount of money is spent by the gay community in the area. If it wasn't for the gay community, a lot of the towns in the area would probably be bankrupt, or turned into abandoned strip malls, as a lot of the businesses and restaurants are also gay owned, as are some of the most popular attractions in the area. Which is why it hasn't lost it's charm, because the locals are keeping it from becoming another economic wasteland, as other areas of the state have.
         
         The gay community is not being shoved down anyone's throat. The only thing you might see is the occasional smiling gay couple walking through the shopping district holding hands, or a gay flag hanging in a shop window, among the hundreds of straight families who support the community just as much as the gay people do. Certainly nobody complains about it. Those that do, are not from here.
         
         They don't call it the San Francisco of the Midwest for nothing!

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         Reality Bytesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         No pun intended , I'm sure

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      woolman60posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I think they should be charged with Vandalism.
      
      The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, signed by Pres. Barack Obama widens federal hate crimes laws to include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability bias.
      
      I do feel however that the following needs to be done.
      1) They need to paint over all the graffiti
      2) Write a letter of apology to each person who works at the camp ground
      3) Post letter of apology in the local news paper
      4) NO Community service, until after attending a victim of hate crime class.

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         Crazdwriterposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I like your ideas woolman! You four steps are perfect for something like this..and that should be ontop of jail time too.

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         Rafiniposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I like your ideas too, but I would put community service at 1/2 before class and 1/2 after class or in other words, do the same thing twice - once before and once after the victim of hate crime class.

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         Rainbow Prideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I agree with all of your ideas, woolman. However, I do not think the apology letter should be published in the newspaper, especially if they are minors.
         
         Not only is that in direct violation of a children's privacy law, it would also give them something to brag about to their friends. "Hey, look, I was the one who did all that awesome graffiti at that gay campground. I even got in the newspaper. Cool, huh?" I can just imagine them high-fiving each other now.

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   Crazdwriterposted 14 years ago

   I hope that they are found and that they do charge them with hate crime. that is just disgusting that anyone can be so heartless and do something like that. Makes me sad and be ashamed to be a part of the human race!

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      brimancandyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for commenting. Whatever they do to the losers who did this, I'm sure Sally (The owner) will make sure the charges are stiff. Nip it at the bud, and make sure it never happens again.
      
      My only worry is, since this was broadcast nationally, it might open up the entire area to a slew of new vandals. But, it will also bring a zillion times more people who might be interested in visiting, or trying to help.

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         Crazdwriterposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I really hope that everything will work out for Sally in a more positive manner than negative. Keep me posted on how it's going!

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   Ohmaposted 14 years ago

   I think Hate crime is pretty stiff and would send the message that it is more wrong to vandalize properties that belong to Gays than properties that belong to straights. I believe that such a stiff sentence could work in reverse by creating even more distinction between the Gay community and the straight community.
   Having said that I certainly agree that the culprits certainly need to be punished for their crime, but crime against fellow human beings not Gay Human beings.

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      EmpressFelicityposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I agree.  That's why I have a bit of a problem with the whole idea of "hate crime", to be honest.

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      CMHypnoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Vandalism and criminal damage are heinous crimes for anyone to suffer, but I don't think that it is 'more wrong' to vandalise the property of a gay person than it is to vandalise the property of a straight person. Vandalism is just plain wrong.
      
      The full force of the law needs to be brought down on the perpertrators and they should be charged with hate crime as well as the vandalism and criminal damage if applicable.
      
      Unfortunately, what will be more difficult to deal with is if the gay community no longer feel safe or welcome staying at the campground, and that will be a financial loss to the owner and a loss to the community as a whole.
      
      I hope that the damage can be repaired and that the campground can get over this mindless attack.

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      brimancandyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      The hate crime law was not designed for straight people. It was orginally designed to protect gays from being repeatedly bashed, and, nothing ever being done about it. The law has since spread to other minorities.
      
      For a long time straight people who beat straight people would get hit with serious charges, but, when a straight person beat a gay person, there was usually little done to the people who did the beatings, and the blame was usually passed off onto the gay person.
      
      Then Matthew Sheppard came along. A teenage boy who was beaten to death simply because a group of assholes decided they wanted to beat up a fag, and he was the unlucky victim in the attack. The hate crime law was signed not long afterwards.
      
      I'm not sure exactly what you have to do to be charged for a hate crime, but I don't thing spray painting a fence is included. But, it does make the locals worry that something like this might lead to hate crime, and, that's why they want the stiffest penalty possible.

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         Brenda Durhamposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Gee...Why not just make laws like in that Tom Cruise movie.....what the heck was it?   where people were sentenced to death because they THOUGHT about committing crimes...

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            brimancandyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            The hate crime is only placed on people who are found guilty. Just like any other crime. But, I'm sure if George Bush could have went with the idea of arresting people for thinking about commiting a crime, everyone he didn't like would be sitting in jail, and they would be overcrowded.

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               Brenda Durhamposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Ah, but the accusations of hate are pushing things to that agenda!
               
               So I say why not convict the people who falsely accuse others of hatred,  of "hate crimes", because it's obvious that their accusations are based upon their own hatred.
               
               And from there......convict the ones who hate the ones who falsely accuse others (everyone has "rights", ya know!)  and then convict the ones who hate the ones who hate the ones who falsely accuse others.....and so on and so on..

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   livelongerposted 14 years ago

   I don't think hate crime laws make a distinction between gay-owned and straight-owned property. It does make a distinction between vandalism meant to intimidate a group of people and that without that sort of message.
   
   If a gay person owned a campground but the vandalism wasn't meant to intimidate a group but rather was just general vandalism, then it wouldn't be a hate crime.

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   AEvansposted 14 years ago

   They should be prosecuted "Vandalism" is not acceptable in any community.

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   sneakorocksolidposted 14 years ago

   Gay people go camping? Thats news to me!

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      woolman60posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Hey "sneakorocksolid", was that an attempt to be funny, or you don't like camping, oh and guess what, we all breath the same air, hows that for news?

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   2. 78

      brimancandyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      gay camping at a campground is different then a regular campground. It is more of a social place, where everyone goes around to the sites getting to know each other. They have special events, shows, entertainers, and all kinds of things going on.
      
      It's not about getting to nature to go fishing, or get away. It's more of a place for like minded people to get together and have fun. In fact, if someone were to just go there to find peace and quiet, they would be in for a surprise.
      
      I have had more fun there, then anywhere else. It's just a great place.

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   Canklefishposted 14 years ago

   Unfortunately, ignorance is often followed by malicious acts, as the ignorant very often have no other avenues of expressing themselves...

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8. 78

   brimancandyposted 14 years ago

   The Campground opened for the season yesterday, and there were around 100 or so people, even though it was only around 45 degrees in the evening.
   
   The owners of the campground have left the fences up so that the members can see them, along with a letter for everyone to read.
   It stirred up some emotion among the campground regulars, but most didn't think much of it. The fence will remain up until the big crowds start arriving after Memorial Day.
   
   There is speculation that the fence was painted by teenage girls.
   because of some fancy lettering, and little swirls in the paint.
   But, being out in the middle of nowhere, it will be hard to ever find who did this.
   
   They plan to have a big bonfire and burn the fence. A new fence has already replaced it.

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9. 78

   brimancandyposted 13 years ago

   I was looking through my old forum posts, and, I decided I should report the outcome of the vandalism at my favorite campground.
   
   My first thoughts that it was probably teenagers turned out to be true. The Vandals were a few teenage girls. One was 14, and I believe the others were 15.
   There was no mention of what the police might have charged these girls with, but, considering that they were minors, I would guess their punishment was light. I heard some jail time, fines, and community service.
   
   The campground now has a security detail. They stop everyone that comes into the park, and watch everyone that comes or goes 24 hours a day. They have also installed cameras at various places to monitor areas where vandals might sneak in. Shortly after the vandals, there were also people sneaking into the campground at night and stealing things. So, they have allowed the local police department to do random sweeps of the campground to deter anything else from developing.
   
   This season was fairly quiet. The amount of thefts have gone way down, and there has been no vandalism. Now if they could just keep the racoons away, everything would be fine. Those little critters will chew right through your tent if they think there is any chance of finding food in it. Doesn't happen much, but when it does, they sure leave a mess behind!

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    ahorsebackposted 13 years ago

    Sadly hate is just hate ! Gay , Straight or slightly bent , it matters not . One hate law applies for all hatred .   And morality aside , no one group of people should have any more protection than all groups ! Hence the laws that are in place now. The problem ,as always, is the enforcement of existing laws! I know one thing , perpetrators of crimes often are pleaed down to nothing....nothing ! all too much.....Make the punishment matter !

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    brimancandyposted 13 years ago

    Here's some related info. I recently learned that there are also two "family" campgrounds within a couple miles of Campit. One of them is quite ornate, with very cute cottages that you can rent, along with tenting and RV sites. I have been going to the area for over 25 years, and never knew these places exisited.
    
    Duh! There are 2 more about 5 miles away in Saugatuck, and Saugatuck state park which also has campsites. Not to mention the huge amount of bed and breakfasts,  hotels and motels in the area. The Saugatuck/Douglas area is a midwest tourist mecca. So, I think this could be why the vandalism made the national news. The area is fairly quiet, which is why so many people love it, and care what happens there.
    
    The girls in question were local. But, everyone knows it could been anyone.

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