"Reef Safe" Vendors

[motortrendz]

Again I dont have a problem with the wristbands, but some people may decline it, and a safe zone would be protected by who? Should be proffesional off duty law enforcement or security. Not a vendor who is trying to work. The rest of what had been said I really feel is infringement on someone's basic rights. If you have done your time and have done things right and are legally allowed to be somewhere and not considered ar risk(you said yourself they were a level 2) by banning or eliminating them from the venue is a legal issue.

 

[TheHarold]

Again I dont have a problem with the wristbands, but some people may decline it, and a safe zone would be protected by who? Should be proffesional off duty law enforcement or security. Not a vendor who is trying to work. The rest of what had been said I really feel is infringement on someone's basic rights. If you have dont your time and have done things right and are legally allowed to be somewhere and not considered ar risk(you said yourself they were a level 2) by banning or eliminating them from the venue is a legal issue.

100000000% agree with you.

 

[bluprntguy]

How am I punishing anyone? How am I judging anyone?

By trying to set up an additional system clearly intended to identify, ostracize, and boycott the vendor.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Evening all,

Read thru most. My thoughts,

Anything can happen to anyone at any time. Just because something hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it will not. Every offender started somewhere.

I like the arm band, but what if a family refuses it. Are they not allowed in? If they are allowed in then you have some with armband and some without. Whose knows which kids had armbands or if they did and it was ripped off.

Parents are first line of defense. Children need to be able to handle themselves at any age. At 6 I taught my daughter anyone strange approaches you, turn and run to a populated area and scream. She’s 10 now. I have taught era basic martial art and self defense. I think too much, she loves the foot stomp and knee blows a bit to much when practicing with dad.

Any organized function should have an area for kids to go if lost or parents to go to have the kid called. Like a fair where if a kid is lost they announce they come to the stage to their parents,

Safety is everyone responsibility. Your not going to control everyone in every situation. You can control your reaction. Does that mean everything will always be safe, no. But better to be ready when something happens than to try to prevent it. It’s like putting water on a fire that did not start yet. But if you have an escape plan you can survive once the fire starts

Hope alls well.

 

[tripdad]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted in these pages and now I see why. Constant conflict over things that should be a simple act of kindness. I am currently under the assumption that some of you if not most have never been on the receiving end of this type of abuse and it shows greatly in your comments. And since this may be my last opportunity to speak before I am expelled I’ll say this. You can conjecture yourselves to death thinking about how these situations could impact the bottom line. The fact of the matter at hand is, to some of you, it’s absurdity to even speak of any opportunity that might create a hurdle for anyone attempting to make a buck. It actually says quite a lot about who and what we are as a group. And before any of you go clutching your pearls and gasping with offense, I’d suggest you ask a victim how they feel about the idea.

I can not imagine the pain a victim suffers and I will not pretend to. That said I have witnessed the damage done by people without all the facts destroying someone's life through innuendo and public shaming without any context or thorough investigation. I have seen them commit suicide because they see no way out. That life is destroyed just as completely despite the good intentions to protect. I think people who hurt people are beyond forgiveness ,however unless we treat other with fairness, if they truly deserve it, then who have we become? We are our brothers keeper after all. We are only as good a person as how we treat those around us, even when it's very hard. I am truly sorry for any victim of a crime. I don't think anyone objects to your efforts to secure the children's safety. I think they just ask it to be done without harming others unintentionally.

 

[CubsFan]

If you plan to push forward with this, I would change the hashtag and signage to relay the purpose. Reef safe vendor has nothing to do with child safety. In fact it’s common lingo on the reef scene and would likely be advertised at most vendors tables. This could be confusing.

 

[Paul Sands]

I’m sorry Helen suffered sexual abuse, but destroying a vendor’s liveliehood because he did something in the past (and already paid the price) is called REVENGE.

 

[helen ann]

I’m sorry Helen suffered sexual abuse, but destroying a vendor’s liveliehood because he did something in the past (and already paid the price) is called REVENGE.

Please explain how I am trying to get revenge? If that is what I wanted I could have included his name or business.

Believe me I get he did his time and may be a model citizen and for that I am happy but I can guarantee you this to those he abused the time he served will never be enough. They will forever carry that with them.

 

[TheHarold]

Believe me I get he did his time and may be a model citizen and for that I am happy but I can guarantee you this to those he abused the time he served will never be enough. They will forever carry that with them.

Once again, you are showing your cards. That you want someone to arbitrarily be judged and suffer more than the justice system has already deemed fit.

And once again, I remind you that you are NOT the magistrate who decides whether someone is guilty or innocent, rehabilitated or not. That is NONE of your business.

 

[Paul Sands]

I can guarantee you this to those he abused the time he served will never be enough.

So you decided to try to continue to punish them and get your revenge.

 

[mrpizzaface]

Are the

Ok. These comments are helpful to me in thinking about this discussion because I was really having a hard time understanding why so many people seemed so opposed to a simple plan to make our events safer for kids. Do you guys think you may have reacted differently or the discussion would've gone a different direction if the plan had been proposed without the explanation about the vendor who was on Meagan's List? I think the OP was just saying that this discovery was just what got her thinking about a potential need to create a kid safe environment. I'm personally just evaluating the plan on its merits as something feasible and reasonable to do to make reef shows safer.

Are current reef related events unsafe for kids? Are we looking to solve a problem that doesn’t exist?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Are the

Are current reef related events unsafe for kids? Are we looking to solve a problem that doesn’t exist?

I don't think so. The question of child safety is an important one, and I don't think we want to wait until we've had even one child victim before putting a plan in place to provide measures for child safety. Many reef events have no plan (that I am aware of), so I think having a plan to be proactive for child safety is a great idea. I pastor a church, and we have a plan in place already. We're a new church and still small, so there's not a lot of likelihood that we would have any problems without noticing, but we felt child safety was important enough to plan for it from the start. I think taking steps to help prevent incidents is wise, and I think it also communicates to parents that we care about their children. At least in my mind, this is important.

 

[CindyKz]

I am not a fan of the wristband idea. If some one really wants your child what's to prevent them from drugging the kid and carrying them out? Maybe even using a ruse to get hold of their own matching wristbands and sailing out the door with your drugged ( but apparently sleeping) child on thier shoulder.

I believe the whole thing promotes a false sense of security.

The best thing parents can do is remember that no place is guaranteed safe and act accordingly.

 

[mrpizzaface]

I don't think so. The question of child safety is an important one, and I don't think we want to wait until we've had even one child victim before putting a plan in place to provide measures for child safety. Many reef events have no plan (that I am aware of), so I think having a plan to be proactive for child safety is a great idea. I pastor a church, and we have a plan in place already. We're a new church and still small, so there's not a lot of likelihood that we would have any problems without noticing, but we felt child safety was important enough to plan for it from the start. I think taking steps to help prevent incidents is wise, and I think it also communicates to parents that we care about their children. At least in my mind, this is important.

In spirit I think we could all agree that keeping kids safe is a good idea, but creating additional rules to correct a problem that doesn’t exist, ends up promoting a false sense of security ( a point of view that one could argue is less safe).

 

[CheckeredPants]

I won’t name the vendor, but at RAP NYC earlier this year I had to choose between walking away or facing murder charges. I had my two sons with me. While looking around a vendors booth I turned around and witnessed this vendor massaging my six year old’s shoulders and looking at him like a piece of meat. I could see my son was disturbed and I quickly grabbed him away from the vendor. He quickly turned around and moved on to other patrons at his booth. I said “what the heck dude” and he ignored me as he helped other people. It took a lot out of me to not get violent and my older son grabbed me and pulled me away only knowing dad was mad about something, but he didn’t know why.

There is no gray area for me here. After reading this petition and after going through what I went through I feel it is the responsibility of the event coordinators to run sex offender checks on all vendors and their staff that will be working these events. It is disgusting that this is even a thing, but after knowing the journalist that exposed sex offenders hosting Magic the Gathering tournaments and having my younger son groped at RAP, I hope something gets done to prevent this kind of thing from continuing.

 

[mrpizzaface]

I won’t name the vendor, but at RAP NYC earlier this year I had to choose between walking away or facing murder charges. I had my two sons with me. While looking around a vendors booth I turned around and witnessed this vendor massaging my six year old’s shoulders and looking at him like a piece of meat. I could see my son was disturbed and I quickly grabbed him away from the vendor. He quickly turned around and moved on to other patrons at his booth. I said “what the heck dude” and he ignored me as he helped other people. It took a lot out of me to not get violent and my older son grabbed me and pulled me away only knowing dad was mad about something, but he didn’t know why.

There is no gray area for me here. After reading this petition and after going through what I went through I feel it is the responsibility of the event coordinators to run sex offender checks on all vendors and their staff that will be working these events. It is disgusting that this is even a thing, but after knowing the journalist that exposed sex offenders hosting Magic the Gathering tournaments and having my younger son groped at RAP, I hope something gets done to prevent this kind of thing from continuing.

If something happened you should name the offender and go to the authorities. That could help in keeping people safer.

 

[helen ann]

I won’t name the vendor, but at RAP NYC earlier this year I had to choose between walking away or facing murder charges. I had my two sons with me. While looking around a vendors booth I turned around and witnessed this vendor massaging my six year old’s shoulders and looking at him like a piece of meat. I could see my son was disturbed and I quickly grabbed him away from the vendor. He quickly turned around and moved on to other patrons at his booth. I said “what the heck dude” and he ignored me as he helped other people. It took a lot out of me to not get violent and my older son grabbed me and pulled me away only knowing dad was mad about something, but he didn’t know why.

There is no gray area for me here. After reading this petition and after going through what I went through I feel it is the responsibility of the event coordinators to run sex offender checks on all vendors and their staff that will be working these events. It is disgusting that this is even a thing, but after knowing the journalist that exposed sex offenders hosting Magic the Gathering tournaments and having my younger son groped at RAP, I hope something gets done to prevent this kind of thing from continuing.

ALL OF THIS!!!! We are talking a second, that’s all it takes!!!

I keep seeing ‘his’ rights ... what about the rights of the victims?!?

We can’t make it 100% safe but I would rather shoot for 1% safer than do nothing at all.

 

[MTBake]

I won’t name the vendor, but at RAP NYC earlier this year I had to choose between walking away or facing murder charges. I had my two sons with me. While looking around a vendors booth I turned around and witnessed this vendor massaging my six year old’s shoulders and looking at him like a piece of meat. I could see my son was disturbed and I quickly grabbed him away from the vendor. He quickly turned around and moved on to other patrons at his booth. I said “what the f@@k dude” and he ignored me as he helped other people. It took a lot out of me to not get violent and my older son grabbed me and pulled me away only knowing dad was mad about something, but he didn’t know why.

There is no gray area for me here. After reading this petition and after going through what I went through I feel it is the responsibility of the event coordinators to run sex offender checks on all vendors and their staff that will be working these events. It is disgusting that this is even a thing, but after knowing the journalist that exposed sex offenders hosting Magic the Gathering tournaments and having my younger son groped at RAP, I hope something gets done to prevent this kind of thing from continuing.

I'm sure they were reported to the proper authorities and dealt with accordingly. At least that's what I would have done

 

[CheckeredPants]

I’m sorry Helen suffered sexual abuse, but destroying a vendor’s liveliehood because he did something in the past (and already paid the price) is called REVENGE.

It’s not revenge, it’s making sure the predator isn’t given the opportunity to do it again.

If something happened you should name the offender and go to the authorities. That could help in keeping people safer.

You’re right. In the moment my concern was getting my child away from the vendor and avoiding violence. At this point I’m unsure how to even address the incident, but am glad to see their conversation is being had in the community and I hope something is done to avoid this from
happening to others at our beloved hobby’s shows.

 

[Shep]

I keep seeing "Reef Safe" all through this thread, makes me think that it's branding for company of some sort.