i sense my first nasty editorial coming on

so tonight i leave one event to head to another, a "casino night" in fairfield, which had been rescheduled due to snow last friday. fairfield is one of the town's that we don't always get news from, so this was an opportunity to get a story from there. plus, casino = games = winning = good pictures. might not be more than a quick recap of the evening, but it would at least be content and would provide a couple of good photos to go with it. so i thought..

i get there a little after everything was underway, since i was coming from another event, but i set down my stuff and took out my camera. i snapped a few pictures of the black jack games, the craps table, the overall "casino" room and the prize table. at one point a woman came up and joked, "you know you can't take pictures in a casino, right?" i said something to the effect of, "you're not going to smash my camera are you?" she laughed. i laughed. i continued to take pictures.

a couple minutes later, a guy comes up and says, "are you from the newspaper?" i said, "yeah, i'm with the clay county news." he says, "you can't take pictures in here." i think, what is this going to be the joke of the night? ok, i'll play along. i use my line again. "are you going to smash my camera?" he doesn't laugh. or smile. he says, "well, how many pictures did you take?" "i dunno.. a few." [i'm still trying to figure out his sense of humor and how far he plans to take this joke..] "if any of those pictures are in the newspaper, you can expect a lawsuit."

WHAT?!

"you're serious.. i can't take pictures?" dead serious, "no." "why can't i take pictures?" "this is a club. i'm the post manager." it's obvious at this point that he is in fact serious. i aparently cannot take pictures at this event. "i'm just trying to give you some coverage," i tell him politely. "well, you can stand around and watch, get your coverage that way." "ok. that's fine. can i take pictures of anything?" "you can stand outside and take pictures of the cars going by." REALLY?! THE CARS GOING BY?! ARE YOU KIDDING?! "alright, great," i say or something to that effect to where the conversation ends. he walks away.

let me reiterate. this was a fundraiser for the american legion. a night of community fun and generosity. and this guy was an asshole.

at this point i'm thinking, for that, i'm not even going to do anything for this event. won't even mention it. since that was the guy i would normally talk to for information about the event, i say screw it, don't ask anyone any questions about the event and get ready to leave. then i see the "post master" wave me over to his table. was he going to tell me he was kidding? is his sense of humor so terrible that he took the joke that far with a poor payoff? impossible. instead, he points to the wall behind him where there are rows of pictures. he tells me, "you can take a picture of that. i've been working on it for three years. it's pictures of people who were from the community." you're. effing. kidding. now you're suggesting a story idea for me? not how it works. "i'm like, yeah, maybe later when it's not so crowded..." [i'll admit. this would, under other circumstances, have been a story i probably would have looked into.] instead, i took off out the door where i didn't have to walk by him.

it might be time for an editorial. something like this: at every event i have done, everyone has been more than willing to cooperate. everyone has been truely thankful and happy that i have come and given them coverage. and now, at an event that our readers whould enjoy reading about, i'm confronted for taking pictures and threatened with a lawsuit if i do.

maybe i'm overreacting, but i don't think so. i could have done without the attitude. and if there's a legitimate reason as to why taking pictures was worth that reaction, then i apologize. but until such reason is brought to my attention, i'm bitter. and i no longer like fairfield.