Hello all. Good afternoon. My blog entry is about my experience attending my first community service meeting at Dublin City Hall last night with regard to the incident at Stubbs Park last Saturday afternoon. What I am about to say is my opinion only. I found out about this meeting on moments notice. By going to the meeting, it helped me understand what the City of Dublin and what the community plans to do to insure patron safety at future events such as the St Patrick's Day Festival. It helped ease the confusion that I had along with countless others who felt the decision to close the park early was the right thing to do. Attending the meeting gave me a inside look as to how the community and the decision makers think and work. Before the meeting started, there was a prayer and pledge of allegiance. To me it was a breath of fresh air.
Living just a couple of blocks from Stubbs Park, this incident, no doubt brought safety concerns to my mind again. About a year ago, I moved from a city of nearly 4 million people to a town of 17 thousand. For those who lived in Dublin their entire lives, it is easy to become insulated, complacent and comfortable, thinking, it cannot happen here, but at the same time, we are in the 21st century, you have to be realistic and adjust to the times we are living in.
Living in the Atlanta metro area for 14 years, had taught me a lot about safety, most of which is common sense. No matter where you go, you can never entirely let your guard down. Wherever there is a sizable population of people, there is potential for crime. My impression, at the meeting, what happened at Stubbs Park, woke up those in authority to the gravity of the situation, in that it needs to be addressed and resolved in a proactive manner so that an incident like this does not happen again nor become something that could spiral out of control at other events.
With the large number of patrons attending the festival, only 3 police officers were inside the fencing and 2 were outside, with one patrol car driving around for crowd control and traffic. There was a sheriff trailer within short distance of where the incident took place. Those officers were off duty conducting some sort of training. Nevertheless, having more police presence at future events, will send a strong signal to those who want to start trouble, that acts of stupidity will not be tolerated and that they will be dealt with in a swift and expedient manner. Relocating the event is not an option. By doing so, it sends the wrong signal and is unfair to the community.
What happened even took the police by surprise. I was in the park when the incident happened. I saw a man be led away in handcuffs. We sat down under a tree to enjoy our meal then the next thing I saw was a kid jump across the creek, which made me to believe something was up but I did not pay too much attention to it until the police told everyone to leave the park immediately.
Being a new resident of Dublin has not changed my overall impression of the town itself, it just reminds me to be alert, remain vigilant, pay attention when it comes to safety, while at the same time, enjoy what Dublin has to offer. Moving from Atlanta to Dublin has definitely deceased my overall stress and enhanced my health. I am becoming more comfortable as I get to know people and become involved in the community.
The bottom line is that I feel keeping the event where it belongs is where it should stay. I don't feel any less safe because of what happened. Times we live in are different now and this incident is a wake up call to adjust because Dublin cannot afford it economically. So for all of those visitors who came but had to witness or experience this unfortunate incident and have any lingering doubts about Dublin's ability to handle large scale events in the future, don't let that stop you from visiting this beautiful little town. Please continue to come to Dublin and support our community. Just my 2 cents.
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