Take note: We need a time-out for fair

STEVE SMITH

A note to the boys on the Costa Mesa City Council who were caught by

the teacher passing a note in class -- fess up. The only way you’re

going to get out of this is to come clean. What you did was not so

bad, but you’ve made it huge by claiming the equivalent of saying:

“What note?”

This was a nothing event until you tried to insult the

intelligence of some smart people. Apparently, you forgot the

strategy you should have learned in junior high when you are caught

passing a note. Next time, tear it up and eat it.

In Newport Beach, the establishment of a medical marijuana

dispensary is still a possibility. By the way, did you know that

conservative U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher would probably support the

City Council’s yes vote?

That’s because Rohrabacher is a co-sponsor of the aptly named

Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, which may be voted on in Congress

today or tomorrow.

The amendment would make the Justice Department think twice about

raiding medical marijuana dispensaries in states where the weed has

been approved as medicine by denying funding for the raids, arrests

and prosecutions.

In other words, the feds would not get paid to roust a few people

who smoke pot to relieve, among other things, chemotherapy pain. No

money, no raids.

The irony in all this is that Rohrabacher, labeled on a good day

as conservative, is supported in his amendment by the American Civil

Liberties Union.

But before you look outside to see if pigs are flying, understand

that they both want the same thing but for different reasons. The

ACLU sees this as a personal-choice, victimless-crime situation.

Rohrabacher is taking the states’ rights approach, believing that

the federal government already has too much power, and that

particularly in states where voters have approved dispensaries, they

should be allowed to exist.

I’m fine with the support from both sides. And if you don’t think

the feds are exercising more than their share of power these days,

please review the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on eminent domain.

If I were a business owner on the bluffs in the Westside of Costa

Mesa right now, I’d be more than a little nervous.

All of this is important and in due time, I am sure that it will

all get worked out. But right now, we need a time-out. We need to

pause to take a breath and have some fun. Just fun, that’s all. No

shop talk.

There is no better way for residents of Costa Mesa or Newport

Beach to do this than to visit the Orange County Fair, which opens in

two days.

Tomorrow there is a fair preview at the Fairgrounds, one that will

feature food and entertainment, but for the real thing, get ready for

Friday.

Get ready for pig races, barbecued corn, funnel cakes, midway

games and scary rides.

And let’s be honest. Most of what scares us on those rides is not

whether we’re going to fall out while we’re upside down but whether

we’re going to get flung across the parking lot because the ride

wasn’t assembled correctly.

If you think about it, you have to marvel at the safety records of

those contraptions. After all, they are assembled, moved and

reassembled several times a year. It’s not like the rides at

Disneyland or Knott’s Berry Farm, which are in one place, making them

a lot easier to maintain. Or so it would seem.

But in the past few years, the folks at the Magic Kingdom have had

a few accidents on their rides. Maybe all that hands-on assembling

and carting by the Fair people makes it easier to spot trouble before

it begins.

Maybe not.

If you go to the fairgrounds box office today or tomorrow, you can

still get admission and ride coupons at a substantial savings. If you

plan on going to the Fair, and you don’t hit the box office first,

you are throwing away money.

So here’s to the time-out we all need. Go and stuff yourself. Take

a look at the winners of the biggest avocado contest or the blue

ribbon on the pumpkin the size of Half Dome.

Throw away a few bucks on the midway and don’t grouse about it --

it’s all for fun.

I’m going right away. And if it’s not as good as I think it will

be, I’ll slip you a note.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to dailypilot@latmes.com.