End of Guam Paintball (maybe)

[gc82000]

This past weekend there was an incident that really hurt the close PB community on Guam. The Governor's mother's house was shot up on Sunday and it seems that she called the Police and wants the Field closed.

Now this is the only public field on Guam open to anyone that wants to play, it is basically a Renegade field with no main vendor, shelter or any one person of authority. But it is an organized field, a designated trash area, nettting to keep spectators safe, 2-3 chronoing stations and the two shops usually bring their Air bunkers every Sunday to play. There are rarely any fights at least none that I have seen and the players are friendly and supportive to any new ppl that might come and have questions. Plus the players are very good at policing ourselves when it comes to FPS limits, overshooting/bonus-balling, and dont even need refs when it is normal rec games. Cheaters are swiftly dealt with and teased for the enitre day or told to leave as quickly as they can.

And the Gov's mother is usually an extremely nice lady allowing us to park on her yard or at least up to her wall. And sometimes she recognizes me (she and my Grandfather were really good friends) and talks to me when she sees me park there. Her house though is across the street and has a good 200 yards distance from the edge of the field to her wall and another 20 to her house. So it is thought that the culprit(s) were either on the road which is only about 40 yds from her house and did it there.

rant = yes, opininions wanted = yes, invitation to openly flame the thread maker = no

[Lohman446]

This past weekend there was an incident that really hurt the close PB community on Guam. The Governor's mother's house was shot up on Sunday and it seems that she called the Police and wants the Field closed.

Now this is the only public field on Guam open to anyone that wants to play, it is basically a Renegade field with no main vendor, shelter or any one person of authority. But it is an organized field, a designated trash area, nettting to keep spectators safe, 2-3 chronoing stations and the two shops usually bring their Air bunkers every Sunday to play. There are rarely any fights at least none that I have seen and the players are friendly and supportive to any new ppl that might come and have questions. Plus the players are very good at policing ourselves when it comes to FPS limits, overshooting/bonus-balling, and dont even need refs when it is normal rec games. Cheaters are swiftly dealt with and teased for the enitre day or told to leave as quickly as they can.

And the Gov's mother is usually an extremely nice lady allowing us to park on her yard or at least up to her wall. And sometimes she recognizes me (she and my Grandfather were really good friends) and talks to me when she sees me park there. Her house though is across the street and has a good 200 yards distance from the edge of the field to her wall and another 20 to her house. So it is thought that the culprit(s) were either on the road which is only about 40 yds from her house and did it there.

rant = yes, opininions wanted = yes, invitation to openly flame the thread maker = no

Unfortunately it was not your fault.. however someone needs to lead an "apology" effort. Be it cleaning of the house, repainting, sending a nice letter expressing your concern.. something

[shartley]

Unfortunately it was not your fault.. however someone needs to lead an "apology" effort. Be it cleaning of the house, repainting, sending a nice letter expressing your concern.. something
I think this would be a very good start. Remember, not all complaints about paintball (no matter how high they come from) leads to the end of paintball. I would suggest also that folks address this issue calmly and rationally. That often times is the best “face” for paintball to have.

Keep in mind that folks have been “egging” houses since the dawn of time and essentially this is what they did. But we don’t ban restaurants that serve eggs every time it happens.

Also the “field” didn’t cause the damage, people did. This should also be pointed out. So closing a field would not solve the problem. Holding those who did it accountable for it does.

But I agree, if all the local paintball players got together and repainted her house as well as showed her that “paintball” and “paintball players” were not the cause of the damage, I think things would probably calm down. Keep in mind that she acted out of anger, and rightly so. She is just directing it at the wrong people.

I don’t know the whole situation though, only what was posted… so my comments are only formed from that. I hope it helps.

[Spacemanvic]

Just like the others posted, you should get the other players together and make a conciliatory gesture to her. Bring flowers, offer to clean up the mess or paint the house etc. You should all do it as a group, let her know that all of you are gentlemen/ladies and know about respect. Anything that will let her know it wasnt your group that did this.

I think you can turn this into a opportunity to bring credit to our sport and your group in particular. Keep us posted!!



This past weekend there was an incident that really hurt the close PB community on Guam. The Governor's mother's house was shot up on Sunday and it seems that she called the Police and wants the Field closed.

Now this is the only public field on Guam open to anyone that wants to play, it is basically a Renegade field with no main vendor, shelter or any one person of authority. But it is an organized field, a designated trash area, nettting to keep spectators safe, 2-3 chronoing stations and the two shops usually bring their Air bunkers every Sunday to play. There are rarely any fights at least none that I have seen and the players are friendly and supportive to any new ppl that might come and have questions. Plus the players are very good at policing ourselves when it comes to FPS limits, overshooting/bonus-balling, and dont even need refs when it is normal rec games. Cheaters are swiftly dealt with and teased for the enitre day or told to leave as quickly as they can.

And the Gov's mother is usually an extremely nice lady allowing us to park on her yard or at least up to her wall. And sometimes she recognizes me (she and my Grandfather were really good friends) and talks to me when she sees me park there. Her house though is across the street and has a good 200 yards distance from the edge of the field to her wall and another 20 to her house. So it is thought that the culprit(s) were either on the road which is only about 40 yds from her house and did it there.

rant = yes, opininions wanted = yes, invitation to openly flame the thread maker = no

[Halliday]

I think cleaning up the mess is a good idea. I don't know if you have any field fees, but I'd have all the players "dontate" some money for the supplies to clean up her house.

[personman]

Hehe try to explain to her that if she shuts down the paintball field, then there will be alot more bored people with paintball guns and accidents are more likely to happen :p

[RingOfScale]

yes ... sound like an excellent idea ... threaten her !!! ... good thing you had the :p at the end of it, cause i thought you were serious when i read it hehehe

[personman]

It's not really a threat, its just making the point that you have to keep us paintballers busy or we're dangerous :ninja:

[Jaan]

Fixing up her house is a great idea, it would show that most players are good people. However, I'm a big fan of revenge. Why don't you post a reward for the vandal(s)? Get players to donate and the local shops too ... don't you think the punks friends wouldn't sell them out for a grand or so? Why should you get punished when there is someone out there who deserves it?

[Evil Bob]

There was a similar case in Utah back in 1988 where someone shot up the govenor's car and he had a typical knee jerk reaction and went on a crusade to ban the sport in the state. A few field owners banded together and got the issue sorted out by sitting down with the gov and having a healthy discussion about what the sport is all about.

The purpetraitor turned out to be a gun store owner who was trying to get paintball outlawed, he had issues with people who "played games with guns", he decided to try and kill the sport in its infancy by shooting up the gov's car with a marker in the hopes that it would appear that those who played paintball were the "irresponcilble criminals" he believe they were. Fortunately, the gov found out what really happened a month or two later when the purp was found bragging about his misdoings and ended up divulging to the wrong people.

Could be a similar situation here, one of the neighbors may not be very happy with you guys playing "games with guns" and wants to shut you down. The best thing you can do is follow the suggestions posted above, come forward with an apology and offer to clean up the mess and repair any damages.

Hope this turns out for the better!

-Evil Bob

[CKY_Alliance]

HMM....thats a great idea your house gets shot up so lets take away the one place they have to play..

was it on purposesince or just someoen shot over the netting?

[JoshK]

HMM....thats a great idea your house gets shot up so lets take away the one place they have to play..

was it on purposesince or just someoen shot over the netting?

According to his post the field is a good distance away from the field, and someone must have been on the road by her house to shoot it.

-Josh

[gc82000]

Okay UPDATE, sorry been busy w/ school and helping set up a tourney.

But here is the skinny. The the GPL pres, and two store owners went to the tha house and the talked to the Gov and his mom. They explained that this was an isolated incident and measures were being taken so as not to allow any further mistakes from happening.

The perps were Girlfriends of some players, who took their guns and shoot at the wall thinking nothng serious would come of it. I cant type the word that I want to, DAMN YOU, CUSS MONITIOR... But they were asked to consider their actions, or have the police involved.

[gc82000]

The field is closed. Police showed up and told every one they were in violation for trespassing on govt property. They said that the vandalism of the local houses and littering of the area was enough to get ppl arrested. And if there was any resistance then ppl would be arrested. so fora as of right now there is no open field for the pb players on Guam and the only time ppl can play is on league days that happen every three weeks. :mad:

There are plans to open up a new comercial field but that wont be open till the later part of July, if not August. :cry: And the ppl responsible for the closer are staying away from all pb activities, cant really blame them. end of rant.

[shartley]

The field is closed. Police showed up and told every one they were in violation for trespassing on govt property. They said that the vandalism of the local houses and littering of the area was enough to get ppl arrested. And if there was any resistance then ppl would be arrested. so fora as of right now there is no open field for the pb players on Guam and the only time ppl can play is on league days that happen every three weeks. :mad:

There are plans to open up a new comercial field but that wont be open till the later part of July, if not August. :cry: And the ppl responsible for the closer are staying away from all pb activities, cant really blame them. end of rant.
So, it seems there was another issue? They didn’t have permission to have the field where it was in the first place?

I hope the commercial field opens soon for you and they do things the right way.

[gc82000]

So, it seems there was another issue? They didn’t have permission to have the field where it was in the first place?


actually we had permission from the Mayor to use it since it was in a pretty far off area. But since the incident the permission and permit were suddenly revoke and made void.

[shartley]

actually we had permission from the Mayor to use it since it was in a pretty far off area. But since the incident the permission and permit were suddenly revoke and made void.
ahhh

[Jaan]

Is it just me, or do most of the people in power seem to have the manners of a spoiled child?

So the mayor get's mad because someone vandalized a home so what does he do? Stamps his feet and lashes out at innocent people sending his goon squad after them with threats. Nice.

I guess I'm lucky he's not president of the United States or he might start a war for no good rea ... uh, never mind :rolleyes:

[warbeak2099]

Yea, there's a huge parallel between the Mayor of Guam punishing innocent people and George Bush punishing criminals (ie. terrorists and dictators).

Oh there I go being sarcastic again. It's a side effect of listening to ignorant people lol.


Back to the topic! I think it would be a very good idea to continue talks with the Governor and his mother. The paintball community should continue to show their regret and apologies about the matter. With this new field opening up, it can only help. Don't leave a bad taste in the guy's mouth. Get him more acquainted with paintball and get him on your side. It can't hurt!

[Jaan]

Yea, there's a huge parallel between the Mayor of Guam punishing innocent people and George Bush punishing criminals (ie. terrorists and dictators).

Oh there I go being sarcastic again. It's a side effect of listening to ignorant people lol.How big is Guam? How big is the US? But you're right ... we've got to punish those who would make weapons of mass destruction :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: I was going to say "produce" weapons of mass destruction but I've yet to see any produced :rolleyes:

Govenors Mom gets her house paintballed and the mayor uses that as an excuse to go after players who didn't do anything to make it look like he's doing something about crime, and Dubbya's Daddy didn't finish the war the first time so the National Guard war hero makes up some excuse to try to finish the war and make it look like he's doing something about chriminals. Nope, I don't see any parallels there :D

I still think most leaders have the manners of a spoiled 8 year old.