Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up
to organizers of the Greenwich Town Party taking immediate action to identify solutions for fans to buy tickets to next year’s music festival. Fans who missed out when tickets sold out in a matter of minutes to last month’s party can register now through Sept. 4 for a chance to buy tickets to the 2019 event. The hope is that the online lottery will eliminate the last-minute rush on the box office. To enter the lottery, any town resident, employee in town or student can go to www.greenwichtownparty.org.
Thumbs up
to Greenwich residents Barbara and Peter Ripp, who have donated $1 million to create a foundation to create opportunities for children in need in the Diocese of Bridgeport. The foundation honors their son, Christopher Ripp, who worked with emotionally disturbed children and the homeless before his death in 2000.
Thumbs up
to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for signing the law that makes so-called bump stocks — devices that increase the fire power of already deadly semiautomatic rifles — illegal in Connecticut. Not that there was any doubt. Malloy has been a steadfast advocate for common-sense gun safety legislation. We hope the governor and his allies in the safety movement move next onto so-called “ghost guns,” which can be assembled at home by ordering parts on line. There’s no place for them in Connecticut.
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to the observance of Gun Violence Awareness Day Saturday with events, such as a rally and march in Newtown attended by hundreds of people wearing orange, a color denoting safety. U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy introduced a resolution with 14 Senate colleagues and 25 representatives to recognize June as Gun Violence Awareness Month and a “time of national reckoning. An average of about 300 men, women, and children are shot, almost one-third fatally, every day in this country. “Let’s make this June be the month that we move past the countless thoughts and prayers and pass commonsense measures to end the scourge of gun violence,” Blumenthal and Murphy said in a joint statement.
Thumbs down
to the continuing shortage of life-saving EpiPens and Adrenaclick available on the market. The devices let a user inject a dose of epinephrine in case of a severe allergic reaction. The drug can be a life-saver to people who suffer severe allergic reactions to, say, certain foods or bee stings. A spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said a variety of causes have resulted in the shortage, and said the agency expects the situation to be a “short-term” one.
Thumbs down
to the handful of boorish Fairfield Prep lacrosse fans who took the opportunity to turn a high school sporting event into an ugly display of anti-Semitism during a Prep-Staples game last week. A Jewish player on the Staples team was the apparent target of offensive chanting tied to his religion. The “fans” behavior was particularly revolting considering the Jesuit commitment to social justice.