OT (sorta) I'm officially an outlaw in Deadwood

AnnaDMartinez · Post by **AnnaDMartinez** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 11:00 am

Well, small town politics finally got to me. One of the control geeking casino owners, who is always afraid of anything slipping away from her and on the board of the Chamber of Commerce, finally succeeded in making whistle playing on the streets of Deadwood the act of an outlaw! She has a musical theater she build on the second floor, and makes her performers roam the streets to drag folk in during the summers! (Funny, they dont get busted for soliciting for selling tickets on the street.) The City and the Chamber of Commerce has decreed that all street performers must have special licences (issued to the clique and none left over for lowly Anna whistler.) DUH! I intend to be the most spectacular pain in the ass this woman has ever run up against! I have permission from several other casino owners to play outside their joints, and one even said they'd feed me! Grrr! Guerilla tactics, obnoxious but not illegal behavior! I do expect to get arrested at least once this summer. Last time we directed an e-mail campaign, it backfired. So, any ideas and more suggestions as to how to be a legal but royal pain in the ass would be greatly appreciated! I'm tired of people telling me I have to behave and can't call 'em names like "fascist", because these are the people we have to work with! Bah, the better we behave, the worse things get!

I am officially on the warpath!

What really gets to me, is the sound ordinance, but all the casinos defy it by blasting Country Western around the clock! What damage can one little whistle do? The cacophany of all these casinos blasting all these bawling calf singers sucks! Grrr!

This is so typical of Deadwood, the people who came here to get rich off gold in 1876 are still here, and they ain't the creme de la creme, more like the scum de la scum!
_________________
Let it shine! Anna "Dances with Weasels" Martinez

[ This Message was edited by: Anna Martinez on 2002-02-11 12:04 ]

Ron Rowe · Post by **Ron Rowe** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 11:24 am

Sounds like the Rocky Mountain Boys (and to be politically correct, girls) need to make a road trip. Deadwood in the summer anyone?

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 11:31 am

Anna, I don't quite follow your story. Who is this woman, why is she in a position to outlaw whistle-playing? Is it a municipal ordinance, and if so, what does it say about noise/street music? Does it apply to public areas only? And who hands out licenses, and to whom?

As for calling people fascists and proclaiming yourself to be on the warpath, I think there is still good sense in the old adage: suaviter in mode, fortiter in re. "Gentle in manner, firm in the matter."

Good luck.

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 12:22 pm

NAH! I'm all for invading and whistling from dawn to dusk, picketting, and getting Anna a T-shirt that proudly proclaims "OUTLAW ANNA - ROGUE WHISTLER"

aderyn_du · Post by **aderyn_du** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 12:34 pm

On 2002-02-11 13:22, tyghress wrote:
NAH! I'm all for invading and whistling from dawn to dusk, picketting, and getting Anna a T-shirt that proudly proclaims "OUTLAW ANNA - ROGUE WHISTLER"

Here, here!! And we'll get her one of the new NWA hats to go with it...

Here's to Whistle Freedom,
Andrea ~*~
(who's wondering how long it takes to drive to Deadwood from Atlanta....)

Otter · Post by **Otter** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 1:29 pm

Anna,
this calls for desperate measures.
I am with Ron and Tyg. We need to act. This woman can't monopolize the right to street performing and if you need a group to have a voice then we will go to Deadwood for a whistle convention or some sort of historical reenactment retracing celtic roots from way back.
There's got to be a story in here somewhere.

S~

AnnaDMartinez · Post by **AnnaDMartinez** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 1:51 pm

On 2002-02-11 12:31, Bloomfield wrote:
Anna, I don't quite follow your story. Who is this woman, why is she in a position to outlaw whistle-playing? Is it a municipal ordinance, and if so, what does it say about noise/street music? Does it apply to public areas only? And who hands out licenses, and to whom?

As for calling people fascists and proclaiming yourself to be on the warpath, I think there is still good sense in the old adage: suaviter in mode, fortiter in re. "Gentle in manner, firm in the matter."

Good luck.

Bloomfield, Deadwood still is the Wild West-Gold Camp town it was in 1876. For many people this is incomprehensible!

This woman is part of an obscenely wealthy family who owns about 1/4 of the town. (pop. 1,500) She is on the Chamber Board of Directors, and has two family members on the City Council! Many of us, not in the casino business feel that casino interests are over represented. Although the anti-whistling directive is from the Chamber and is NOT law, some casino owners feel free to use the police force as they wish to try to shut down comeptition! Apparently, my refusal to bow to their "we only let certain people" mentality has made me competition somehow. I was talking to a banjo player last night, and she was telling me how a casino hired her, offered her a split on the money they made on the inside of the casino...she made all of three bucks a day, for a few days. So much for right to work laws. Deadwood is one of the most corrupt places I've ever been, bar none, dirty Chicago politics does not hold a candle to Deadwood. Sheesh, the country commissioners have secret illegal meetings in basements all the time, the judges are in the pockets of the major businesses here, too. Of course this is illegal, they can't bust me for dressing funny or being pudgy, they can't bust the re-enactors for carrying non-concealed fake guns...and they can't bust me for sitting on a bench playing a whistle in front of a business from which I have permission. I cannot accept tips, that is soliciting, and theorectically I cannot be out on a sidewalk soliciting business, although it happens all the time, as long as people are not on city property. The Chamber is the one handing out the special permits, but only to this woman and her troupe of players!

I have refused to knuckle under, and usually have a snippy reply for when I get the "We only let certain people" do whatever! As a freelance writer and news photographer, you can see why this kind of mentality would threaten my income. I usually just say something like "Oh, yeah? I got work to do. Goodbye." and go about doing my job. The Chamber, is handing out permits, but only to "certain" people. This is clearly meant to keep undesirables out! They are working hard to keep Wild Bill Hickok and Calmity Jane (who put Deadwood on the map in the first place) re-enactors off the streets and to close down the other theater, which is one of two places in Deadwood that is suitable for family entertainment. It's not a profitable theater, and is off the main street, and is also an 85 year old tradition here.

All of this is pretty typical, most street performers last one year, I've been here for five now! Being a personable person doesn't help!

I would agree with you about gentle/firm under normal circumstances. These are not normal circumstances, and I have accepted my role as a pain in the ass, rebellious, nasty and otherwise non-conformist! I can accomplish much more with my Yippie politics of the absurd and challenging these control geeks directly than I can by any other process. Anyhow, last time I was busted, the judge dissmised the case, he knew it was harrassment, but at least these cases always get to court!

The town noise ordinance says 10 PM, the casinos ingore it. It is considered a rite of passage for anybody new to Deadwood and setitng up a new business to go to jail. one guy, from New York, took a nasty, expensive dope paraphenalia bust for selling corn cob pipes in his tobacco shop. He was acquitted. Another friend, from New Jersy, and and Casino/bar owner took a Pontifer's bust for date rape, and was acquited by 12 good men...and the coffee shop owner...and Anna, the photographer...money and power buy the law. It took the feds to shut down the last of the bordellos in 1985. It'll take the feds to free employees around here from being totally exploited, all casinos are in violation of Federal Labor Law.

The law around here is for the convenience of the rich and powerful, Oh, we still kiss tourist butt, but we milk those gamblers like cows. I am not rich nor powerful, but I am the best pain in the ass this town has ever seen! It behooves me to be modern Deadwood's answer to Calamity Jane!

It's a common saying around here that is you came here in 1876, you struck gold, you were OK, but if you came in 1877 and staked a claim and stuck gold, they'd shoot you in the back and take it from you. They still do that! I kid you not! This is definitely a them vs. us situation!
_________________
Let it shine! Calamity Anna Martinez

[ This Message was edited by: Anna Martinez on 2002-02-11 14:56 ]

AnnaDMartinez · Post by **AnnaDMartinez** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 2:03 pm

On 2002-02-11 14:29, Otter wrote:
Anna,
this calls for desperate measures.
I am with Ron and Tyg. We need to act. This woman can't monopolize the right to street performing and if you need a group to have a voice then we will go to Deadwood for a whistle convention or some sort of historical reenactment retracing celtic roots from way back.
There's got to be a story in here somewhere.

S~

There is, Lead had a pipe band in 1936, I am one of the decendants of the earliest Scots settlers...there are many old Irish railroad worker families here, and a Highland festival in Surgis (fair game for the kilt police). There was ethnic diversity here, not it's all homogenized. Even Hispanic last names like mine are pronouced anglisized. I am "Martin EZ!" Now all the ethnic diversity is Native American, and don't ge tme started there!

Tom_Gaul · Post by **Tom_Gaul** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 2:07 pm

Hi Anna,

I thought you might find some comfort in knowing you are not the only "criminal" to have a run in with the authorities. I saw the following article in the Boston Globe yesterday.

West Bath, Maine - Twelve-year-old Kelly Davis hardly fits the profile of a criminal. The seventh-grader with a braces-filled smile is an honors student and plays sax in a wind ensemble. In her spare time, she has raised $12,000 to buy bulletproof vests for 18 of the state's 60 police dogs, winning her praise from legislators, law enforcement officers, and even the governor. But that was before any of them noticed she was breaking the law.

It turns out that Maine is the only New England State where it is illegal to solicit public contributions for law enforcement agencies or their officers. She found this out when she received a home visit from the state's Attorney General!

Sometimes you just can't seem to win! Anyway, like you, she is fighting back, or at least working to have the law changed. I think Bloomfield may be right, though. A less confrontational approach might make you a winner rather than a victim. Try to win some allies. Sometimes a group effort can effect changes where an individual might fail. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck.

Tom

AnnaDMartinez · Post by **AnnaDMartinez** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 2:23 pm

Tom, I agree, I would much rather catch flies with honey than with vinegar, and I don't feel like a vicitm at all. This is my choice, I've been a nice small town grrrl, and being a larger-than-life character gets me more attention, and teaches more object lessons. I honestly don't give a hoot if I am liked or not. I am the one thing around here people cannot control, nor do they know what to expect next. If anyone is feeling victimized, it's the people I scare the bejesus out of with my ornery ways! At least I do not drink or carry a loaded gun, just a fully loaded concealed whistle or five!

_________________
Let it shine! Anna Calamity Martinez

[ This Message was edited by: Anna Martinez on 2002-02-11 15:29 ]

WhistlingGypsy · Post by **WhistlingGypsy** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 2:48 pm

I think there is a story for Stone Phillips (Dateline) here!

Go Anna Go!

Cheers

Gerry

AnnaDMartinez · Post by **AnnaDMartinez** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 3:06 pm

On 2002-02-11 15:48, WhistlingGypsy wrote:
I think there is a story for Stone Phillips (Dateline) here!

Go Anna Go!

Cheers
Gerry

The last time the national news media hit Deadwood, it was a story re: more illegal drug use per capita than anywhere else in the US! LOL! Didn't faze 'em!

RosieJ · Post by **RosieJ** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 3:41 pm

Geez, and here I thought Louisiana was the main place of good 'ol boy politics; sounds like our beloved EWE (Edwin Edwards) doesn't hold a candle to Deadwood politicians!

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 3:48 pm

If no one cares when music is blasted, how about blasting a recording of your whistle playing? You could "finger-sync" and then technically you *aren't* playing in public...

AnnaDMartinez · Post by **AnnaDMartinez** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 5:05 pm

On 2002-02-11 16:41, RosieJ wrote:
Geez, and here I thought Louisiana was the main place of good 'ol boy politics; sounds like our beloved EWE (Edwin Edwards) doesn't hold a candle to Deadwood politicians!

Nope, here it's good old girl politics! I tend not to be a doormat, I function differently and don't manipulate or pull passive aggressive crap and tell people things are OK when they're not, but I don't get ulcers, either! These women missed out on the last 50 years somehow! Shudder!