Wednesday, August 24, 2011

My last regular LVW Col: Leave Barney Alone!

Here we go, folks. I've got a whole package planned next week, but this is the last regular edition of The Strip Sense, unless the LVW repurposes the column's name for someone else. I kinda hope they don't since Miles came up with it, but it's their call. Either way, this is my final entry. Enjoy. -sf

Leave Barney Alone!
The county's attempt to control those in costumes is a waste of time

By STEVE FRIESS


It is something like 156 degrees outside, and I stand at Flamingo and the Strip begging. “Please,” I plead with Luigi, Barney and Mr. Stormtrooper. “I really need your names for my column. It’s a journalism thing.” And yet, as if they’re Iranian dissidents, Mafia informants or underlings of Sheldon Adelson, they refuse to tell me who they are. The fear is palpable.

“You gonna to get us in trouble,” the big purple dinosaur says with more broken English and less gay giggle than I recall from babysitting my sisters’ kids. “Leave us alone.”

I’d love to, but local politicians have in their sights the poor souls who dress up as fictional characters and take photos with tourists for tips. “We can’t just sit back and allow something like this to happen without addressing it,” said Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly at the August 2 meeting.

Actually, sir, you can.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com

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