It turns out that the BREC park rangers have been getting hyper-aggressive and even resorting to calling the police (as I witnessed yesterday). I found out from some of the locals that tickets had been issued the day before… and some law enforcement types are staking out in other areas (to ticket you if you park far away).

Luckily, the officer was an OK guy. The ever heroic BREC rangers, however, were on a mission. Armed with cameras, two of them took photos of all of us (including minors… can they do that?) with none of us willingly posing (and some questioning if they were even allowed to do that), as well as our license plates. Mind you, most of us were indeed skating… but when the first ranger showed up and told one of us to leave, that’s what we did. We packed our boards in our vehicles and discussions were going on as to where we might go next. BREC rangers actually prevented one of the fellas from leaving so that he’d have to confront the police (the guy never even made it into the park).

Anyway, that’s what happened. I called BREC and was directed to their human resources department, because I wanted to know if BREC actually issues the cameras. The lady I spoke with said yes, so I can personally confirm that BREC is taking photos of people, vehicles, and plates… including the faces and vehicle identification of people who aren’t even suspected of wrong-doing (the parking lot by the park is completely legal to park and stand in).

The park is very sick, but unfortunately, BREC is still BREC. I really hope they don’t find any ways to screw this up.

As I write this, I’m packing up for a trip to Washington, D.C. on some work related matters (and hopefully a little street skating as well). When I get back, I’ll be changing up the site a bit, and you’re going to be hearing from Kerry himself as he’s going to be a regular blogger on the site as well as myself… we’re going to pick up steam, raise some hell, report the news, and do our damndest to do more than just get you into the shop (we want you in the shop… hell what are you doing now?), we also want to make sure that we not be inactive.

We want to spread a philosophy of skateboarding, and make sure that all of you locals and out of town cats know that unlike mail order, unlike mall stores, and unlike online shops (with few exceptions), Small Time Skates continues to be skater owned and operated. Hell, I just do web stuff and I skate too. If you skate, you’re part of the Hammond scene. We want to make sure that if you get a board, you stay on board. The more you help your local shop, the more you do to help the skate scene stay strong, and in that strength you’ll find out where you want to go with skating.

Stay small.

Read the piece and watch the video by clicking here.

The story is especially good because the reporter listened to the local skaters in her area, and went further by exploring Hammond’s impact socially and financially, going so far as to contacting Mayor Foster, Hammond’s Parks and Rec administrator Joey Keener, and others from Hammond, Houma, and areas nearby.

PLUS KERRY! hehe

The law mentioned in the article is linked to in this old piece (signed into law by Governor Mike Foster in 2001):
clicky: Act 1199, 2001 House Regular Session

Best of luck to our friends in Houma, and cheers for the excellent, articulate reporting. Bonus points because no surf terminology was used!

“holla holla what what!!! I got a new shipment of Vox Reliefs in, new shoes for $40.00 and 45.00. Green and gold Troopers are $40. Eman’s shoe is $45″

He also included a tantalizing (in a skate sort of way) pic:

New Sunday Hours!!!
As of this moment, the new hours for Sunday are the new hours on Sunday are 12-5! For real, isn’t it nice being able to get gear on a Sunday? Personally, that’s the very day I tend to break stuff.

Peace!

Thanks for all you do, homie! We hope you have a bajillion more!