Final Tour of Virginia Tech 199705 by Clint – 53 of 94, originally uploaded by ClintJCL.
I was looking through some of my old photos, and this one brought a quick rant to mind.
The “…And Justice For All” is quite ironic, as I think Blacksburg is the town with the least justice for all.
I don’t even know where I should start.
My friend D having girls lie that he pulled a knife on them, and then having a judge rule that he is guilty for a crime he didn’t commit?
Or my friend C who was attacked by 2 others, his heart literally stopped, with multiple reconstructive surgeries done on multiple people — and the perpetrators got ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASSES as a punishment. Read on for more.
A much greater punishment was given to my friend W: 100 hours community service. For stealing a jar of salsa from dietrick.
Or the community service done by my friends for going to Pandapolas pond — despite the fact that when *I* went, the police said I could go.
Or the city’s systematic shutting down of the morgue, because it took money away from the local businesses who controlled the political arena?
Or maybe the fact that you can’t vote until you’ve lived there 9 months — a convenient way to ensure students get no say.
Totally inconsistent. Totally unjust. Totally stacked against the people who are actually attending school and putting money into the local economy.
That’s Virginia Tech.
The alumni association really thinks they’re going to get a penny from me? EVER?
I think not.
Claire's blog 
May 22, 2006 at 6:36 PM
Are you sure about that nine month thing? I think you are eligible to vote where ever you consider your permanent residence to be (aka what you have on your driver’s license).
P.S. With the Pandapas thing– to be fair, I do want to point out that there was a indeed sign that did read “Day Use Only”.
Nonetheless, I think there are good grounds to be infuriated with the Pandapas court proceedings. Our group was seperated out into two different court dates. The first group– absolutely everything got dropped. Then about a week later the second group with the exact same infraction from the exact same date and time, standing in the exact same courtroom, were punished.
So much for a consistent judicial system.
May 22, 2006 at 6:42 PM
That’s my point. Random enforcement is unfair, and the police SAID we could go in when I asked. It’s completely and utterly random, like rolling dice. That’s not justice.
And.. I was pretty sure about the 9 month thing, but hey, it was word of mouth. Does anyone REALLY know?? The residence thing sounds like a possibility.
May 22, 2006 at 6:48 PM
What’s this morgue thing?
June 16, 2006 at 3:47 PM
It used to be a morgue. It was basically a huge building that people lived in. A Branch Dividian Church (like Waco), a tattoo parliar, and a buncha people lived there. Some of whom we both knew/know. They threw some parties… big parties. 600-person parties. That’s how I originally got involved with Theta Zeta ( http://www.acm.vt.edu/~clint/oz/oz.htm ) …
Well, the bars didn’t like that they were losing business, so they had the town shut us down. It was very Flashdance.
Then they shut down the bar we had our Tuesday nites at too (Hawaii Kai).
By the time I left Blacksburg, any place I dare called home was ruined for me. Fuck BBurg and Fuck Va Tech and Fuck their shitty alumni association if they think they’re ever going to get a penny out of me!
June 16, 2006 at 7:35 PM
The morgue was awesome. I used to live there. 600 people parties?? What are you talking about, we had just under 1000 show for the rave we threw there.
To be fair though, I don’t think Hawaii Kai was actually shut down by the town. If I remember correctly that had more of something to do with structural damage and their fridge falling through the floor. I’m sure the rats and roaches didn’t hurt though.
June 16, 2006 at 8:29 PM
I was always told it was health code violations.
June 17, 2006 at 4:17 PM
I’m surprised they didn’t get health code violations, but i think this was a building code vioalation. A valid one at that. If I’m not mistaken, the building was condemned for awhile. By the time it was uncomdemned, the owners had opened a new place up north main. In that shopping center right accross from harris teeter. It wasn’t a location we could throw parties though. As much as I hate the Blacksburg town council, the hawaii kai thing really can’t be blamed on the town.
June 17, 2006 at 5:05 PM
The building still stands, though, so the violation couldn’t hae been THAT bad. So I still blame the town mostly — for running them out of business with regulation. Sound familiar? (coughTheMorgeecough)
I mean, it was “condemned” enough that someone else could come in, buy low, and make money. Freakin’ money, it’s all about money. It’s a haughty clothes store now, or something. (And Billy Bob/Definitely Different is gone too — i have a fantastic picture of the building with remnants of the old signs that I will post someday.)
You mentioned something about a refridgerator going through the floor. That’s not THAT bad, is it???
The place seemed fine to me, for what it was, a small-town dive. :)
As for the distinction between health code and building code — I guess that’s how rumors get started on teh internets.
June 17, 2006 at 8:42 PM
Guess what! I actually attended a Blacksburg Town Council meeting and it turns out…. the current council members are actually pretty reasonable, nice, intelligent people. Even the ones who voted against the issue I was concerned about— I thought they demonstrated a good amount of thought and consideration in their decision.
And interestingly enough– the people who attended the meeting who were the “bad guys”– the people I was there to fight against– also proved to be reasonable and nice people as well. We had three hours of citizen comments (including– some students who took the initiative to come!) and it left me with a good feeling about the whole process. Most of the people — pro or con — presented their statements well.
For weeks now, I’ve been reading these morons in the Op Ed pieces and I was truly expecting that the meeting would infuriate me more– being able to connect a face with each idiot. But, when I left, I felt a lot better about my “neighbors”. And oddly enough, I felt a good sense of community even though we were on opposite sides.
So– I come home and I tell Sean about how impressed I was and uplifted I was.
Then the next morning– I saw that the Roanoke Times managed to locate an idiot to quote on the matter.
I guess nothing keeps a paper in business better than a handful of idiots and their pearls of wisdom.
June 17, 2006 at 8:49 PM
I’m not sure what happened with Hawaii Kai– but from my experience, the town really doesn’t have to apply any kind of pressure to effect the businesses in that particular building. Just in the last couple of years– it’s been at least:
*A coffee shop
*An Italian restaurant
*And now it is something else (can’t remember)
And actually– it may not even be that building. All small business struggle year from year and I would think the fluctuating market that accompanies the school year would further aggrivate the challenge of staying afloat.
June 18, 2006 at 8:28 AM
Also keep in mind, I am sure George W. Bush would be quite civil at a political meeting, but that doesn’t make him any less of a murderer. :)
June 18, 2006 at 11:28 PM
I’d like to think it’s the other way around. That the people we vilify are just people too– struggling with their decisions and life and trying the best they can.
And I think it is better for us to err that way than the other way around and just assume pure evil. It’s easier to anoint an enemy when you deny their possible humanity.
“They’re savages!” is what our ancestors said as they killed off the Native Americans.
“They’re animals!” is what our ancestors said as they captured and enslaved generations of Africans.
“They’re rats– they’re coming out of the sewers!” was the message of the Nazi Propaganda film, Der ewige Jude.
And most recently, “They hate our freedoms, they want to destroy us!”
In reality, so many horrible events arose not from the other people actually being bad— but because everyone was so paranoid and scared or baffled by things that they didn’t understand, they *assumed* the others to be purely bad. Once you’ve adopted such assumptions, it is easy to do despicable deeds yourself.
So— although I believe my countrymen have fallen into same trap and I disagree with many actions of the day, I’d like to be careful with my assumptions regarding the ring leaders. If I get to a point where I just write them off and close my mind to their possible humanity— I feel I’m one step closer to mimicking their misdeeds.
June 19, 2006 at 7:14 AM
At least in the specific case of George Bush, this just seems like apologism for me. He has caused more people to die than Al Queda ever will. It doesn’t matter what his intentions are; if he were a thoughtless computer, or an all-powerful rock, I would feel the same way.