Editor,
Eric Howerton wrote a delightfully satirical column about the various golf hazards Frisbee golfers face when playing at Roosevelt Park.
Mr. Howerton explains that, instead of sand traps and other obstacles found at the average golf course, the Frisbee golf course at Roosevelt is plagued with homeless people, drug dealers who sell crack to elementary school children and rabid, leash-less dogs.
I feel truly awful for Mr. Howerton, who is forced to play his oh-so-important game in the presence of such undesirables as people without homes. The nerve of these hooligans who believe that a public park is for their enjoyment also. What's worse, as Mr. Howerton so acutely observes, the police are failing to arrest the deviants despite that they are committing the most heinous crimes of sleeping, eating and congregating with friends. As for those drug dealers, I am outraged that the police are not out executing these hustlers right now. After all, there are completely unsubstantiated allegations from some random Frisbee golfer, what other evidence is needed?
At very least, the druggies and pot heads of Roosevelt should be thrown in prisons with the millions of other poor people. That's where poor and marginalized people belong in a capitalist economy! When will these delinquents learn that selling drugs is a crime, unless it's Prozac, Ritalin, Tylenol, nicotine, or some other poisonous substance that makes huge profits for giant corporations?
Wait a minute, come to think of it, I may be one of those "hazards" with whom Mr. Howerton is so disgusted. I work with an organization called Albuquerque Food Not Bombs that prepares and shares free meals every Sunday at noon in Roosevelt Park with anyone who is hungry or without food. It is our crazy belief that public spaces should be open to the free enjoyment of all, not just a self-selected group of Frisbee-throwing elites.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Now it seems to me that there need not be a conflict, but if the Frisbee-throwers will not tolerate us, we will not tolerate them. The free society I imagine has little room for bourgeois assholes who want the police-state to protect their pretentious games. If, on the other hand, you wish to come together as a community to meet a community need, there is plenty of room for you. I hope we don't have to change our name to Food Not Frisbees.
Robert McGoey
UNM student
