The Scoop: Dunking booths pose great threat
Judging by recent events, our society appears in grave danger.
No, I’m not talking about drunk airline pilots who some people now want to carry firearms in the cockpit.
I’m not talking about the state of Major League Baseball after this week’s All-Star game was allowed to end in a 7-7 tie. The way things are in disarray in the Major Leagues, it won’t be long before they begin copying Warren County T-ball and just forget about keeping score. The games will be played for enjoyment purposes only.
And I’m not talking about the proud American who beat up a bear (see story on page 10-A of today’s edition) because the bear was attacking a helpless deer. Word on the street is the man had been watching a bit too much pro wrestling and tried to get the bear in a headlock. Now he faces federal charges for destruction of wildlife and could serve six months in jail.
All those stories do bring cause for concern. But there are few things more worrisome than the current dangers which swirl around dunking booths.
Yes, I’m talking about those innocent-looking dunking booths which always seem to appear any time there’s a street fair or school festival. They may appear harmless enough, filled with water and equipped with a protective cage, but in reality dunking booths are closer to an instrument of torture. Dunking booths could have been used during the war to make prisoners talk.
I say all this after circuit court judge candidate Richard McGregor was practically crippled by a dunking booth during Fourth of July festivities in downtown McMinnville. Richard was perched atop a dunking machine, loving life and probably thinking about the joys of being an American, when a child darted over and triggered the dunking mechanism.
An unsuspecting McGregor was thrust into the water and hurled against the side of the machine. The impact was enough to break two toes and pretty much put an end to his fun on the Fourth.
While the turn of events is indeed unfortunate for Mr. McGregor, the Standard uncovered interesting information when researching the story. We found just about everybody seems to get inflicted with injuries in those dunking machines.
Local dentist Dennis Jeter says his back and neck still hurt from his participation in dunking booth activities about two weeks ago, while our beloved police captain, Bryan Denton, says he suffered a hairline fracture in his foot, also from a dunking booth accident.
The way things are going, I’m wondering if we wouldn’t be better off to forget about the water and do away with the protective cage. Kids could pay their $2, walk up to the booth, and just throw baseballs at the person’s head. That would probably be less damaging. The way folks are getting hurt, it wouldn’t be much more harmful to replace the water with boiling lava.
Any way you slice it, we can no longer turn our backs on this machine of terror. As an intelligent and caring society, it’s our duty to rid this country of the dangers of dunking machines.
We may think of terrorism and drugs as two of the greatest threats to Americans. But I ask you, how much longer are we going to ignore this problem which faces each and every one of us? Dunking booths may appear harmless enough, but underneath their colorful plastic exterior, lies pain and suffering.
The next time you prepare to toss a few baseballs at a dunking booth target for “fun,” remember your few fleeting moments of pleasure may lead to an agonizing injury for someone else. You know the facts. The choice you make is yours and yours alone.
James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].