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Rooters Boo-Boo: Portrays Tombstone As Gunslinger Town
...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 2005-04-06 |
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