Library Security
A public library is not secure almost by definition. It is open to the public, meaning that anyone at all can expect to enter and remain more or less as long as he or she likes. It can have rules, and it can call the police to remove people who blatantly defy those rules, but it generally won't have police on the premises nor have gates or metal detectors -- certainly not out in the countryside where Sylva, NC happens to be.
“We had an incident last week, the police were called, somebody found what they thought was a gun in the restroom at the library,” Smith said. “When the deputies got there, and examined it, it was an airsoft gun. It wasn’t operable, but still that brings the question, could it have been a real gun?... What’s the danger if it had been a real gun?” Smith said. “I don’t know what kind of signage we have; I’m not saying signage would stop it.”
I happen to know the answers to each of those questions. We all know what the dangers of real guns are, but few would leave one hidden in a public restroom for long because they are valuable. The library has signs that clearly state that no firearms nor any other weapons are permitted. Those signs can't stop anything.
“The other issue is the cleaning crew, they clean some while the library’s open, but they clean past the time where the library’s open and they’ve had some instances where people have come out that had been hiding in the library after the library closed,” Smith said. “That presents a danger to the cleaning crew, and I think that opens up the county for lawsuits, especially if they’re our employees.”
Commissioner Jenny Hooper said “it’s suspected that a lot of that is homeless because they are doing hair dye in the sinks. I don’t think it’s easter eggs.”
The homeless are a problem for all public spaces for which we generally lack good answers. Public libraries usually accept part of the burden of providing for the homeless, e.g., providing them with free public restrooms they can use. Relatively pleasant much of the year, the mountain regions of this state have lots of homeless in the cities -- Asheville was overwhelmed with them until the police there relatively recently decided to crack down, and the hurricane washed away the larger camps (and many of the homeless).
Sylva, a mountain town with a nearby university that adds a strong progressive political element, has been struggling with what to do about the homeless for a while. There have been talks about adopting no-begging rules, but those have faced stiff opposition. I don't think they have any real answers to these problems.
A Clockwork Orange
It seems like I have read this story.
Absolute chaos struck a quiet residential street in Elm Park last night as a gang of youths believed to be armed with knives entered a primary school and began to attack other youths....Youths were seen running from the premises in fear as the gang arrived.
One local resident saw the youths leave the school and run down the streets of Maylands Avenue. He told the Havering Daily: “It was total chaos. We saw between 40-50 youths, running through the streets. We think they had knives as they were seen dropping weapons in people’s drive ways and running away. They were attacking the police and there were so many of them that the police had to just disperse them.
”Youths,” you say? No other distinguishing characteristics, neither for the attackers nor the victims? Codpieces and bowler hats, maybe?
Youth gangs with knives wouldn’t be a problem if a certain number of responsible adults had firearms. Disarming the citizens leaves them vulnerable.
Old Crow Medicine Show
These boys put on a great concert tonight. It was supposed to have been at the 50th anniversary Mountain Heritage Festival on September 29th of last year. That turned out to be two days after Hurricane Helene.
They came tonight instead, and played a great set. It included BobWills music, country music, and old Appalachian music. This included Cindy, a song they date to 1924 from here in Jackson County, North Carolina. I'm not sure about that attribution (and neither is Wikipedia); I didn't catch the name of the woman they claimed to have first recorded it, as a kind of proto-Dolly Parton. But here it is from 1959, with John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan and Ricky Nelson.
They also did Cocaine Habit, which I didn't think they would since it was on a college campus -- Western Carolina University. It's a song I like because it features in Hells Angels Forever, the great 1983 documentary about the motorcycle club, performed by Elephant's Memory.
They finished their main set with Wagon Wheel, written by one of their number; it's a very popular song locally as it mentions several local landmarks. The geography of it is dubious, though. A rider will recognize some problems with the lay of the land in the song.
But let's not dwell on that. It was a great show by a personable band who was very interested in the culture. They moved cheerfully from bluegrass to honky-tonk, adding in piano or swapping to accordion when necessary. At one point they had three fiddles going. They played Texas two-step music with equal ease. A grand evening, much appreciated.
Venison Adovada
Adovada is an ancient way of preserving meat with chilies. I found some that I’d made a while ago and then frozen after we’d eaten on it for a few days. It was made with pork, but I decided to cook venison in it instead. This was a fantastic decision: the spicy broth is an excellent companion to big game. I cooked it in the pressure cooker, ensuring great tenderness.
It’s a simple recipe. About two-three fistfuls of New Mexican red chilies, garlic (as much as you like), oregano and two diced onions. Add black pepper or hotter chilies as well if you want, or alternatively just increase the concentration of New Mexico peppers to make it stronger. Boil together and purée. If you’re not using a pressure cooker, that’s fine; pour the chili sauce over two or three pounds of the meat and let it marinate overnight in the fridge. Then chop up any additional vegetables you want— potatoes are traditional, yellow squash works well — and braise in the chili sauce (plus additional water/stock/beer if needed to cover the meat -- I used chicken stock this time) for two hours. After that, salt to taste.
It's good eaten as a stew if you break up the meat, or pulled out for tacos or burritos.
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