From: hathaway@stsci.edu
Subject: No stars, No nights, No foolin' 
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 23:45:55 GMT

On the subject of lights and freedom and perceptions of safety, here are 
some excerpts from a recent (18-NOV-1992) issue of the Washington Post. 

Article by Washington Post Staff Writer William Booth 

"HOMESTEAD, Fla - The longest peacetime curfew in U.S. history finally 
ended here this week, as ruddy-necked roofers, the equivalent of gods 
in roofless South Dade County, sucked cold Buds at the Wild West Saloon, 
and nervous moms and dads tucked sleepy children into bed and checked 
the safeties on their shotguns."  ... 

"... South Dade County, where Hurrican Andrew carved its initials on 
Aug.24, is still a spooky place at night. 
Steve Sundeck, for one, was not taking any chances Monday.  Hired as 
a guard, the Vietnam veteran took a plate of barbecued ribs, a six-pack 
of cold Busch beer and a 9mm semiautomatic and climbed onto the roof 
of Charlie Hoo's grocery in Florida City to hunker down for a sky full 
of shooting stars, falling like so many heavenly flares." 
.. 

"Street lights are working again on the main boulevards, but back in the 
subdivisions, the nights are inky black.  Dogs bark.  The generators 
sputter.  And nobody comes into anybody's yard without first yelling out 
something like, "Hey Bob, this is Bud!" 
..

"... Homestead and Florida City and ... South Dade County remain somewhat 
paranoid, perhaps with good reason.  It is not everywhere in America that 
homeowners are concerned with defending their perimeters and veterans take 
to grocery store rooftops armed with 9mm weapons. 
'I tell you, I liked the curfew', said Angela Flores as she hurried home 
around 10 p.m. on Monday. 'It kept the crazies indoors.' 
'It is a necessary evil,' said Homestead Police Chief Curt Ivy.  'But 
you'd be surprised [by] the number of people who like it.' 
Ivy said older people and homeowners tended to favor it.  Younger people, 
and the army of construction workers here, hated it.  As did bar owners." 
..

" At 10 p.m. ... Eddie Davis was eating chicken wings and drinking a 
rum and coke, happy as could be that he was once again living in the land 
of the free. 
'The curfew bit the one one', Davis said.  'And you can quote me on that.'" 

End-of-excerpt. 

Now my comments:  I think I'll leave aside the irony of 'not taking any 
chances' with a six-pack and a 9mm semiautomatic.  For the life of me, 
I can't understand how alcohol and firearms equate to safety.  But that's 
not astronomy ... unless Mr. Sundeck tried to return fire on a bolide ... 
(or a certain wise-ass astronomer). 

I assume the 'sky full of shooting stars' were the Leonids.  I'm surprised 
the writer noticed.  Few mass-writers seem to look up.  Maybe the lowered 
light pollution allowed him to see a few meteors he would otherwise have 
missed.  But how many astronomers were allowed out during the curfew just 
to star-gaze?  "Excuse me officer, I'm trying to look at a super-nova remnant, 
would you mind putting away your spotlight and pistol?"  THUD!!!, SCRAPE!!!, 
PLOP!!!, SLAM!!! - another subversive commie hippie druggie pervert 
perpetraitor subdued and incarcerated... 

I did get the impression that 'inky black' nights are very scary for 
the Florida residents.  This may have bearing on our crusade against 
light pollution.  Humans seem to have a deep-seated fear of the dark. 
Anyway, this natural disaster may be a unique opportunity to study 
what happens when those cursed street glares are turned off.  Is it 
too much to hope that rates of crime and accidents under 1) the 
pre-hurricane lights, 2) the post-hurricane non-lights, and 3) the 
post-recovery lights (we can hope that non-directional lights will 
be replaced with the modern shielded variety?) can be collected and 
compared with each other and also to people's _perceptions_ of the 
occurance of said crime and accidents?  

I'm aware that the perception is usually far more important than the 
actuality, but it would be nice to confirm my suspicions that the 
dark is not the problem people think it is and the problem is in the 
weird beliefs of the masses (especially the crooks who do their 
dirty work regardless of lighting - how often have you heard of 
someone being surprised at a crime occuring 'in broad daylight' as 
if bad guys follow some kind of rules?).   Don't know what to do about 
irrational fears, but maybe if we can do something about the rational 
ones first ... 

Any comments??? 

Wm. Hathaway - living in a soup of wasted photons ... 


'The curfew bit the one one', Davis said.  'And you can quote me on that.'" 
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