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| Rooters Boo-Boo: Portrays Tombstone As Gunslinger Town |
| 2005-04-06 |
| ...However, a few miles up the road in Tombstone, where the Minutemen volunteers come to register for the patrols at a local newspaper, gunslingers have been a part of tradition since Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday gunned down the Clantons and McLaurys in a legendary gunfight at the OK Corral. The sight of volunteers from across the United States treading the sidewalks with pistols riding on their hip, raises no eyebrows in the one-time silver mining town. "We have 500 people a day with guns on their hips, so for us it's nothing unusual," Tombstone Mayor Andrew Dejournett told Reuters. "The Minuteman fall within that long American tradition that includes freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, and I don't have a problem with that," he added. Standing tall in a Stetson hat in the main street outside the OK Corral site, Arcangelo Coco says he applauds the group of volunteers who have come into the area with their brand of frontier justice. "I support the Minutemen, and if I see them I'll shake their hand," Coco said, adding that they are not "gunslingers" but are just "out to defend themselves." Others in the town, which hosts re-enactments of the famous gun fight each day at two o'clock sharp on the site of the long vanished corral, feel at ease with the Minuteman goal of sealing the U.S. border to illegal migrants from Mexico. "I think they'll help, as there are so many people coming over who shouldn't be here," said retiree Vinnie Boxx, as he munched on popcorn in a gift shop selling cowboy souvenirs. "Something needs to be done about the border as it's wide open." Speaking on behalf of Arizona tourism, I would like to welcome all of the European 'real men', cowboys & indians fans, who will now be heading to Tombstone to experience the "real thing" until the end of April. Horses are permitted. And remember, if someone offers you a whiskey, say "Yes". |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #6 DO: When Tombstone was big in the 1880s, it was because of a bunch of unscrupulous people who were willing to do anything for a buck. Some things don't change. I actually like the place. Sure, it's a tourist trap, but it's an honest tourist trap. Taos and Sedona are pretentious and pretend to be "deeper," but you still end up paying just like a tourist trap. Bisbee and Prescott are kind of in-between. I occasionally toy with the idea of buying in Bisbee to retire there. |
| Posted by: jackal 2005-04-06 11:05:36 PM |
| #5 You mean there's really a town called "Tombstone," and it isn't like that one in the movie with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer? ;) |
| Posted by: Asedwich 2005-04-06 9:27:42 PM |
| #4 Whats the big deal? Open carry is legal in Arizona, BFD. Rooters doesn't know this I guess. I wish it was in the San Joaquin valley. People would be a hell of a lot more polite I am certain. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-04-06 7:13:54 PM |
| #3 Tombstone only matters if you know what the various buildings and places are around town, and what their histories are. Otherwise, it just looks like an almost ghost town. As far as tourist trap, much of what they sell is 'high-end' tourist stuff, not the rinky-dink made in Japan stuff. As far as Europeans and the old West go, they got hooked on the old penny novels just like easteners did. The entire Americas are mysterious to them, from H.L. Mencken's alligator-on-a-leash "pickininny hunt" down in Florida, to the (prohibition-era) gangster cities of Chicago and New York, to the wild west and its cowboys and indians. They wouldn't want to live here, but they LOVE to visit. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-04-06 6:54:41 PM |
#2 Speaking on behalf of Arizona tourism, I would like to welcome all of the European ’real men’, cowboys & indians fans,.. What is it with Europeans and the West? When I was tooling around Monument Valley some years ago, I saw a number of tourist buses stopped at various locations and the casual banter among the crowds seemed to indicate the presence of quite a few Germans among the passengers. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-06 6:18:25 PM |
| #1 I was in Tombstone a couple of months ago, it's one of the biggest tourist traps I've been to. We've got our share here in AZ: Tombstone, Sedona, Jerome, Arcosanti, and the Biosphere... |
| Posted by: DO 2005-04-06 5:57:13 PM |