Wednesday, February 20, 2008

This Year's Super Bowl Could Have Been A Lot Worse For All Of Us

Sure, some(ok, a lot) of us have anjoyed poking fun at the Patriots and their fans after they were unable to complete the perfect season, failing to win the biggest game of the season. However, something much more serious was in the works, and thankfully it wasn't carried out.

Apparently, Kurt Havelock was pissed off because the city of Tempe, AZ denied him a liquor license for a Halloween themed bar he was building. Instead of fighting it through proper channels, he thought that shooting up the Super Bowl would be a better idea.

A man accused of planning to shoot people at the Super Bowl was indicted on six counts of sending threatening communications, according to court documents filed Tuesday in federal court.

Kurt William Havelock, 35, turned himself in to authorities Feb. 3 after driving within sight of University of Phoenix Stadium during the Super Bowl with a rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition. He said he changed his mind.

Havelock told authorities he was upset that the city of Tempe denied him a liquor license application for a Halloween-themed bar.

Holy sheeat! Luckily he changed his mind, but just reading the story made me a bit nauseous. I'm not familiar with the intricacies of Super Bowl security, but I bet that he would have gotten a few shots off before anyone could react. It is a good illustration of how easy it could be for someone to target a major sporting event in order to inflict a large amount of pain and suffering. I'm not talking about a group doing it, but rather one or two individuals bent on doing something horrible. It's not enough to keep me from attending sporting events, but it will hopefully be a reminder for me to be more aware of my surroundings. Also, it makes me grateful for the amount of behind the scenes security that does take place.

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