Florida State (un)Fair: Student Day Has To Go

First things first. “Student Day” at the Florida State Fair–or Pamplona with punks instead of bulls on the first Friday–has to go. The wonder is that a fun, family-friendly, county-culture celebration has allowed itself–even for a few hours–to be annually associated with chaos and thuggery.

It’s Florida State unfair to everyone else involved–from concessionaires to vendors to the thousands of law-abiding, ticket-buying visitors. It also includes the woman in a wheelchair who had her purse stolen the other day by a rampaging, unsupervised minor.

This should be a no-brainer for the Florida State Fair Authority and the Hillsborough County Schools to work out. Ironically, it’s bordered on the brainless that it’s gone on this long. Even MaryEllen Elia and April Griffin ought to be able to agree on this one.

To recap: On Feb. 7 Hillsborough County deputies were overwhelmed by aptly-labeled “wilding” teens. Officially, 99 marauders were ejected and 12 were arrested. Unofficially, countless others couldn’t be corralled by woefully outnumbered security. Last year there were 56 ejections. The year before 48. In 2011 it was 93. There’s been, shall we say, a pattern.

The number of ejectibles, of course, is much higher. But you can’t turn “family-friendly” fairgrounds into a GOP-convention lockdown. You also can’t seriously deplete security elsewhere by bringing in ever more deputies from the street.

The reality is this: Security has known the annual “stampede” was inevitable. And “stampede” is a euphemism for assaulting and stealing. It just annually hopes it’s more or less manageable. That’s beyond disconcerting: Hoping for the best is not a plan. This year it was closer to hopeless. It wasn’t even close to manageable. In fact, the sheriff’s office is still asking the public to come forward with information and/or videos of all the crimes otherwise unaddressed.

Moreover, one of the ejectees, a 14-year-old, was later killed crossing Interstate 4 that night. Deputies couldn’t monitor him and others because they were answering urgent calls for backup inside. Absent an event that annually courts anarchy, the teenager would still be alive.

There should be no first Friday all-call next year for this chaotic, societal disgrace. Provisions can always be made to accommodate and reward students who showcase livestock instead of thug-pack personas.

That means no more free student admission on the first Friday of the Fair. And no more (State Fair) free time for Western Hillsborough County schools–nor its counterpart, an Eastern Hillsborough County schools’ holiday for next month’s Strawberry Festival.

And, candidly, does anyone truly believe students–coming off of winter break, semester break and MLK day within the last month–need time off for a fair or festival freebie? Anyone think this might be symptomatic of, say, flawed accountability?  Hillsborough County schools should not be Florida State Unfair enablers. That’s the role of unconscionably clueless parents.

And there’s also this: The annual “wilding” rampage, according to the sheriff’s office, is comprised predominantly of black youths. As a result, the authorities have targeted community partners, including the NAACP, to warn against riotous behavior and its possible consequences.

Interestingly enough, Carolyn Collins, president of the Hillsborough County NAACP, told the Tribune that she wasn’t familiar with “wilding” but would reach out to the sheriff’s office to cooperate.

Perhaps her role could be to help get the word out that there will be no more “Student Day” first Fridays at the fair–and why that is.