THE DAILY BLADE: Muslim Women Claim They Were (Not) Taken For A Ride At Amusement Park
A melee broke out at Rye Playland amongst Muslims who became outraged after they were told that for safety reasons, the hijab-wearing women in their party would not be allowed on some rides at the Westchester County amusement park, including the Catch-a-Wave ride, the Crazy Mouse roller coaster and the Dragon Coaster.
Park officials said they had “painstakingly” reviewed the safety rules with the Muslim American Society of New York when the group was arranging the outing of 3,000 Muslims from the tri-state area. The safety rules, which are posted on the facility’s Website, were adopted after three fatal accidents occurred between 2004 and 2007 at the facility
Cashiers were in the process of providing refunds of the $20 all-day access fee to those who were turned away from some of the rides when the fighting started, The Journal News (White Plains, NY) reports:
[A] park cashier told a Journal News reporter that a woman wearing a hijab either pushed or hit a ride operator who forbade her from going on the ride. She said a police officer tried to restrain the woman and the woman’s husband took offense, at which point a multiple-person fight broke out.
The park was never closed to attendees but for a time new visitors were not being allowed in.
After county police asked for back-up, it took law enforcement from nine agencies to break up the fight, which involved 30 to 40 people, and to restore order:
Two rangers were injured … and two visitors were charged with felony assault, police said. Another 13 people were arrested, most charged with disorderly conduct. …
One of the rangers suffered an injured knee and the other an injured shoulder, said Deputy Parks Commissioner Peter Tartaglia.
When a 17-year-old girl wearing a pink and gray head scarf was told she had to remove her head scarf before joining her 8-year-old sister on a ride, she accused the operator of bigotry: “It’s not my headgear, it’s my religion.” No, it’s your headgear and the safety hazard it poses in some situations forcing a choice between custom – the Koran does not instruct women instructed to wear a hijab, and doing so is a personal preference (usually the personal preference of her father or husband) – and safety. That choice is: Observe everyone else having fun while wearing your hijab, or participate in the fun after you’ve taken it off.
"Green technologies" sometimes cancel each other out; undermine economic development; cause “cultural damage”; and promote survival of one specie by killing off another (fourth item). Just like those ugly compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which contain toxic mercury and must be disposed of carefully (sixth item), it turns out that “newfangled batteries” powering electric vehicles will pose an expensive disposal problem when up to 500K partially depleted battery packs per year enter the waste stream beginning in the 2020s, The New York Times reports: Lithium is plentiful compared with the nickel and cobalt found in hybrid and all-electric car batteries developed earlier, even if the main sources of the metal, in countries like Chile and Bolivia, are far from auto production centers. “You can count on a constant and growing thirst for metals including lithium,” said P.Aswin Kumar, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan. “But lithium still costs about five times more to recycle than to mine, so environmental laws will drive recycling for now.” … Complicating the question of disposal, a large amount of energy remains stored even in partially discharged batteries. These could deliver harmful shocks and pose a serious fire hazard if mishandled. The Department of Energy gave $9.5 million in public funding to Toxco, a privately owned battery recycling company to build a specialized plant in OH to handle electric vehicle batteries from cars of various makes and models. Let’s hope Toxco doesn’t go bankrupt or take the money and move the “green jobs” offshore like some other companies that Obama has lavished love and taxpayer money on. Asked And Answered Zogby: Voters Might be Tuning Obama Out - US News And World Report, August 19, 2011
When Environmental Values Collide: Part V
- The New York Times, August 18, 2011
I like the fact the Muslim group is going to investigate rather than jump to any conclusions. I also like that the park explained the rules even before they took the group's money. I can see where they would have a headgear rule to prevent things flying onto the track. I had my glasses ripped off my face on a ride once. I wonder if something like a swim cap would satisfy both parties. The woman's hair is concealed yet the cap itself is on tight and does not restrict vision. Here in Alaska we have Old Believers who usually wear scarves. Jewish men wear skullcaps. There are more religions than Islam impacted. And it may be that the women will just have to forgo those rides in the name of their faith. Safety first.
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