And thank you, as well, Mr. Gresham. Your comment was a much-needed smack to the back of my head.

NO, I can’t….You first should have stated if you were there or not and since I raised this issue, you’d probably say you were for the sake of argument….

I don’t mean to single you out, of course. I’m just staring to get bent out of shape about everyone thinking that just because they don’t like something, it should be banned for everyone else. I don’t like peas; they should be banned. Kids’ bicycles are dangerous and kids get killed and permanently injured on them every year; they should be banned. I have horrible visions of a plane slamming into the tarmac at Roanoke Regional; ban the airport! The logic is the same: a heavier than air craft is barreling toward the runway at 200 mph with children and innocent people on board. It’s a disaster waiting to happen, is it not? Therefore, it must be banned.

You certainly have taken what many would consider constructive criticism to enhance and improve a situation to extreme heights….as if comparing apples to bowling balls….I also have visions of an airplane crashing into Valley View Mall and should be ban airplanes landing over the Mall, NO, of course not….Everyone that we know of exist to prevent such an accident from happening….Maybe if it were you and your children sitting along the curb at a parade and a 500lb. motor turned toward you and your children with engines roaring at maximum RPM’s you might give pause to how enjoyable the experience was. And I agree with everything you said about parades and advertising and all the events and examples are good ones….Maybe a porta pottie truck for some does conjure fragrances of memories of Christmas past….I guess I was just not thinking.

“Enough with the free advertisements. This has no place in a Christmas parade.” – either get real or give us a break! You’re insulting our intelligence. Advertising has been part of parades since parades began. My mother has a picture of her riding in a convertible in a 1953 Christmas parade with an “R.J.’s Pharmacy” banner hanging over the passenger door. I’ve seen nativity floats with “sponsored by:” prominently displayed front and back. When have you ever seen a parade without advertisement? I’ll let you in on a little secret: without local businesses paying for the majority of parades, there would be no parades. Well, there would be parades – they would just consist mostly of the local school’s marching band, a farmer dragging a homemade nativity scene on a hay wagon behind a ’58 Case tractor and Santa pitching candy from the back of rusted-out ’79 Ford F-100. Three minutes, it’s over… clear the streets, peasants!

And finally, there’s an inescapable air of arrogance involved when one thinks that their ideas alone will make an experience that much better or “for the reasons I’ve stated will really make it a top notch event to attend.” Who informed you of this? I’m just wondering what non-ego-driven part of this idea made you think that you have the answers for everyone? If your ideas are adopted and attendance drops dramatically, will you be here saying how wrong you were?

I’m sure there were many a “red neck” that had their testosterone levels raised with this penis raising sound of engines roaring, and if you want to consider it arrogance, because I at least I have a small level of concern that unlike most people, ignore things and would never take the time to make any thoughts or suggestion, then I gladly accept being classified as arrogant.

Again, if it seems that I’m picking on you, I apologize. I’m aggravated at all this “ban” crap going around and your post just rubbed me the wrong way. When did freedom and liberty become ban and control everything we don’t like or anything about which we have bad feelings?

My dear Sir, your extremes are simply off the chart, I’m sorry if you were having a bad day…..This is about as far as one can get in relations to banning and freedom and liberty…..I hope you apply this same annoyance at the extremes we are witnesses with the excessive guns, but one can assume you are probably a member of the NRA. if this little issue upsets you so much.

That, I can agree with, Mr. Gresham.

I’d also like to apologize to Mr. Howard. I misconstrued his message to mean he was calling for the banning of bikes from the parade. I was completely mistaken. Perhaps I should’ve finished my coffee before firing up the laptop this morning. Again, I offer my sincere apologies.

That’s an ugly comment… and better said in a mirror JM.

The noise is deafening. You literally cannot hear the person next to you – even if they are shouting. It’s painful. It’s unpleasant. If you get to the gist of Duane’s lament, you can condense it all into the following: Please turn the volume down below the pain threshold.

You’ve got my vote Duane.