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blues
festival
Campus
police strive for low profile
By Brian Brannon
Summer Forty-Niner
If security and
police seem almost non-existent at the 23rd Annual Long Beach
Blues Festival this year, then everything is going according
to plan.
Captain Stan Skipworth of the Cal State Long Beach University
Police said his organization is working harder than ever behind
the scenes to insure that blues lovers can direct their full
attention to the food, music and festivities.
The most visible presence will be private security personnel
stationed at the entrance and at the VIP area to check tickets
and inspect items people wish to bring into the festival,
he said.
KKJZ Special Events Coordinator Gary Chiachi said that in
all the time he has worked with the blues festival he has
not seen any major security problems occur.
There are a few minor things, however, that Skipworth tells
spectators to keep in mind.
An important thing to remember is to drink responsibly, because
overindulgence of alcohol can ruin a good day at the festival.
Another is to drink plenty of water to avoid getting dehydrated.
The use of illegal drugs, of course, is not tolerated at the
blues festival, Skipworth said.
“From time to time, there will be some drug activity that
will warrant an additional involvement on our part,” Skipworth
said. “That seems to have subsided substantially, which I’m
very happy to see.”
Spectators who bring young children to the festival should
instruct them to stay with the group and appoint a place to
meet if they get lost. Such common sense approaches go a long
way toward preventing the anxiety caused by losing track of
a youngster at such a big event, Skipworth said.
“It’s a scary time for everybody, and I’m sure that the events
of the last several weeks would cause everybody even greater
concern, even in the most innocent of situations when they
can’t find their child right away,” Skipworth said.
“It’s a real nice event,” Chiachi said. “It’s not an event
for people who are going to come and cause problems because
there is no need for that. People are here to have a good
time.”
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