Post by bsimon615 on Nov 22, 2021 14:55:22 GMT -6
Some attendees of the Deep South Star Gaze have a long attendance history but many do not. Over the years there has always been a certain amount of confusion and questions about how we operate. I am going to attempt to clarify just how we make decisions and to do that I first have to get into a little bit of Deep South Star Gaze history.
Our first Deep South Star Gaze (then called the Deep South Regional Star Gaze) was held at Percy Quin State Park near McComb, MS in early November, 1983. The catalyst for the DSRSG as it was then called was my attendance at my first Texas Star Party in late spring of 1983. Shortly after returning from that event I learned that there was a new astronomy club in Baton Rouge and there was also a club in Jackson, MS. Suffering from an acute case of "astronomy fever" I thought that a star party would be a great way to bring our club (Pontchartrain) together with these other two clubs under the stars. I discussed this idea with my good friend and fellow PAS member Remy Bosio and he, thankfully, also felt that it was a good idea worth exploring further. We had to do two things basically - contact the other two clubs and secure a venue that would be appropriate for a star party.
Step 1, or is it Step 2, I really do not remember for sure what we did first, but I think it was securing the venue. Keep in mind that there was no internet to use as a resource back in 1983, so the initial step was to use a map to see in what area we could search to find a viable star party location. Remy and I wanted to find a dark site with some ammenities that was roughly equally distant from the New Orleans area, Baton Rouge and Jackson, MS. One site checked out early on was Camp Whispering Pines, a girl scout camp a bit to the east of a line that ran between Amite City, LA and Independence, LA. While we did not rule this site out, we continued our search in the hope that we could find something better.
Our next stop on the Search Trail was Percy Quin State Park near McComb, MS. The staff here was friendly and a ranger showed us around to what he thought might be some good areas to set up telescopes. On this tour of the park he suggested that we might want to consider the Group Camp which had large cabins that they called "huts" as well as a dining hall, an open air pavilion and most importantly, two football fields that could be used for telescope set up. In addition the Group Camp was somewhat secluded from the rest of the park. Upon first viewing it we felt it was perfect and luckily we were able to schedule into it for the 5th of November, 1983. (The first DSRSG was a one day and night affair)
Step 2 was drumming up support and attendees. Remy and I found out when the next Baton Rouge Astronomical Society meeting would be and attended that (at the public library on Goodwood near Women's Hospital). We discussed cost and logistics and we were enthusiastically received. This was in early September. With the Jackson club all contact was by mail and later by telephone, again with a positive response. We were well on the way to our first Deep South.
Once again, the first one was just one night, and luckily the weather cooperated. It was not looking good that Saturday morning, but it did clear up, we were on our way. We had an attendance of 53 that first year and 79 the second year when we expanded to 2 nights. The weather was good then too. In our 3rd year when we were experiencing some Halley's Comet Fever and our attendance exploded to close to 200. Part of that was due to an article promoting the star gaze in the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Many of those attendees were just casually attending and did not know that registration was required. That in part led to some rules in successive years and some clear cut direction for the DSSG.
From early on there has always been some confusion about the separation between the Deep South Star Gaze and the Pontchartrain Astronomy Society. The Deep South Star Gaze is not a function of the PAS, and while I was PAS President when the idea was conceived, it is simply an event that many PAS members happen to attend. In fact at one point I was "invited" to attend a meeting in which some PAS members in conjunction with some officers wanted to delve deeper into DSSG operations and in fact control it more. Some felt that the DSSG was in fact an official function of the PAS and they did not understand why the officers did not control it more. I look back with a grin about that meeting when I recall the looks on some of the faces when they were informed that the DSSG was an independent operation totally separate from the PAS and it had never relied upon PAS funds to get started. The objective was to keep club politics out of it. Club politics, be it from the PAS, Baton Rouge, Jackson, the Mississippi gulf coast and Mobile has been kept out of it and I believe that has been one of the reasons for our success.
So how do we operate? In a nutshell - common sense and being able to listen to opinions and advice from attendees and discussing these opinions, suggestions and advice among a trusted group of long time attendees as well as some newer attendees who appear to be very much interested in preserving the Deep South Star Gaze.
Please note that some people who were very much involved in helping with the operation of the Deep South Star Gaze in the first 20 to 30 years of it's operation are now gone. Remy Bosio and Wally Pursell have now passed away. Others like Gabe Dickens and Rod Mollise have not been able to attend in recent years, but others and filled the breach and a lot of what goes on at the Deep South Star Gaze or the Spring Scrimmage, be it lay out of the field, programs or just general suggestions and advice are impacted by their input and/or hand's on help. Len Philpot, in fact, is responsible for setting up this forum for communication and that alone is very, very important to the Deep South Star Gaze.
So what about Rules?
When you bring a lot of people together in a relatively tight space, you have to have rules. Otherwise you would have accidents and arguments. Imagine if from the early part of the 20th Century when roads for automobiles were first built if the thinking was - "Let everyone use their own good judgement and operate their "motor cars" in a safe manner but according to their own skills, equipment and judgement." How would that have worked out?
Now events like club star parties and outreach events do rely heavily on everyone practicing good common sense, and most people do, at least most of the time, but a star party at a dark rural location where many come to enjoy the beauty of a truly dark sky, we need to have rules. Using a line I have used many times before - "The Needs of the Many outweigh the Needs of the Few, or the One" - thank you Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.
So we have rules, everyone here can read them all for themselves in an earlier post. Those rules do get tweaked from time to time as situations change. Most people obey them rather well, and sometimes when the rules (the Observing Field Rules) are broken, it is by accident. Some rules started out "unwritten", we had hoped that certain common sense rules would work, even if not spelled out, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. When common sense rules for a star party are broken, typically we try to rationalize with the attendee, explaining to him (or her) why it is not in good form to engage in a certain behavior, and sometimes that is enough, end of problem. Sometimes it is not enough. Some 6, 7 or 8 years ago we had an attendee who thought it was hilarious to shout out crude jokes at night - the same one over and over again, or to imitate someone else's laugh, once again over and over again. A lot of this behavior was alcohol fueled, which in and of itself at our last venue was forbidden anyway, they did not want alcohol consumption on site. I had to talk to him and let him know that this would not be tolerated in the future. He has decided not to come back.
Recently another one of our attendees has become bolder in his love of firearms, particularly carrying a sidearm during the star gaze. Don't know why, do not know what he is concerned about. Firearms carry had not been prevented via our rules, we had felt it was really a common sense thing not to carry a firearm. If you must have a pistol or revolver near by, keep it in your vehicle either under the seat or in the glove box and no need to talk about it. However one was carried last spring and without apology. I spoke to the offender and told him that if we must we would prohibit it with a rule change and communicate it further via the posting of signs in full accordance with Mississippi state law and with permission of the White Horse Christian Retreat Camp property owner. It was my impression then that he understood this and that his gun would be kept out of sight in his vehicle. Unfortunately that did not happen a few weeks ago, and it led to a confrontation that was witnessed. He said it was his constitutional right to carry to which I replied that we had discussed this before. I did fail to change the rules but that did not change the earlier promise that he made. He finally returned it to his vehicle and I let all who were around know that we would have the rules changed and we would post the appropriate signs prior to the next event (the 2022 Spring Scrimmage). I found out that two days later he was once again carrying his gun on the observing field. That is unacceptable. The rules have now been changed and the next time anyone sees a liability waiver or a copy of the Observing Field Rules you will see that change. There will be no excuses acceptable and no second chances. Bring a gun and show that gun and you will have attended your last Deep South Star Gaze or Spring Scrimmage.
Believe me, I detest playing policeman, but I have to look out for what is the right way to run a star gaze and what the large majority of our attendees are comfortable with and not bow to what one or two attendees feel is acceptable behavior. Any time something like this happens it is discussed with those that have helped with the star gaze, those that exhibit common sense. That is the way we have done things for the past 40 years and it works.
If anyone has anything that they would like to contribute to this, by all means, please feel free to post.
Regards,
Barry Simon, Director
Deep South Star Gaze
Our first Deep South Star Gaze (then called the Deep South Regional Star Gaze) was held at Percy Quin State Park near McComb, MS in early November, 1983. The catalyst for the DSRSG as it was then called was my attendance at my first Texas Star Party in late spring of 1983. Shortly after returning from that event I learned that there was a new astronomy club in Baton Rouge and there was also a club in Jackson, MS. Suffering from an acute case of "astronomy fever" I thought that a star party would be a great way to bring our club (Pontchartrain) together with these other two clubs under the stars. I discussed this idea with my good friend and fellow PAS member Remy Bosio and he, thankfully, also felt that it was a good idea worth exploring further. We had to do two things basically - contact the other two clubs and secure a venue that would be appropriate for a star party.
Step 1, or is it Step 2, I really do not remember for sure what we did first, but I think it was securing the venue. Keep in mind that there was no internet to use as a resource back in 1983, so the initial step was to use a map to see in what area we could search to find a viable star party location. Remy and I wanted to find a dark site with some ammenities that was roughly equally distant from the New Orleans area, Baton Rouge and Jackson, MS. One site checked out early on was Camp Whispering Pines, a girl scout camp a bit to the east of a line that ran between Amite City, LA and Independence, LA. While we did not rule this site out, we continued our search in the hope that we could find something better.
Our next stop on the Search Trail was Percy Quin State Park near McComb, MS. The staff here was friendly and a ranger showed us around to what he thought might be some good areas to set up telescopes. On this tour of the park he suggested that we might want to consider the Group Camp which had large cabins that they called "huts" as well as a dining hall, an open air pavilion and most importantly, two football fields that could be used for telescope set up. In addition the Group Camp was somewhat secluded from the rest of the park. Upon first viewing it we felt it was perfect and luckily we were able to schedule into it for the 5th of November, 1983. (The first DSRSG was a one day and night affair)
Step 2 was drumming up support and attendees. Remy and I found out when the next Baton Rouge Astronomical Society meeting would be and attended that (at the public library on Goodwood near Women's Hospital). We discussed cost and logistics and we were enthusiastically received. This was in early September. With the Jackson club all contact was by mail and later by telephone, again with a positive response. We were well on the way to our first Deep South.
Once again, the first one was just one night, and luckily the weather cooperated. It was not looking good that Saturday morning, but it did clear up, we were on our way. We had an attendance of 53 that first year and 79 the second year when we expanded to 2 nights. The weather was good then too. In our 3rd year when we were experiencing some Halley's Comet Fever and our attendance exploded to close to 200. Part of that was due to an article promoting the star gaze in the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Many of those attendees were just casually attending and did not know that registration was required. That in part led to some rules in successive years and some clear cut direction for the DSSG.
From early on there has always been some confusion about the separation between the Deep South Star Gaze and the Pontchartrain Astronomy Society. The Deep South Star Gaze is not a function of the PAS, and while I was PAS President when the idea was conceived, it is simply an event that many PAS members happen to attend. In fact at one point I was "invited" to attend a meeting in which some PAS members in conjunction with some officers wanted to delve deeper into DSSG operations and in fact control it more. Some felt that the DSSG was in fact an official function of the PAS and they did not understand why the officers did not control it more. I look back with a grin about that meeting when I recall the looks on some of the faces when they were informed that the DSSG was an independent operation totally separate from the PAS and it had never relied upon PAS funds to get started. The objective was to keep club politics out of it. Club politics, be it from the PAS, Baton Rouge, Jackson, the Mississippi gulf coast and Mobile has been kept out of it and I believe that has been one of the reasons for our success.
So how do we operate? In a nutshell - common sense and being able to listen to opinions and advice from attendees and discussing these opinions, suggestions and advice among a trusted group of long time attendees as well as some newer attendees who appear to be very much interested in preserving the Deep South Star Gaze.
Please note that some people who were very much involved in helping with the operation of the Deep South Star Gaze in the first 20 to 30 years of it's operation are now gone. Remy Bosio and Wally Pursell have now passed away. Others like Gabe Dickens and Rod Mollise have not been able to attend in recent years, but others and filled the breach and a lot of what goes on at the Deep South Star Gaze or the Spring Scrimmage, be it lay out of the field, programs or just general suggestions and advice are impacted by their input and/or hand's on help. Len Philpot, in fact, is responsible for setting up this forum for communication and that alone is very, very important to the Deep South Star Gaze.
So what about Rules?
When you bring a lot of people together in a relatively tight space, you have to have rules. Otherwise you would have accidents and arguments. Imagine if from the early part of the 20th Century when roads for automobiles were first built if the thinking was - "Let everyone use their own good judgement and operate their "motor cars" in a safe manner but according to their own skills, equipment and judgement." How would that have worked out?
Now events like club star parties and outreach events do rely heavily on everyone practicing good common sense, and most people do, at least most of the time, but a star party at a dark rural location where many come to enjoy the beauty of a truly dark sky, we need to have rules. Using a line I have used many times before - "The Needs of the Many outweigh the Needs of the Few, or the One" - thank you Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.
So we have rules, everyone here can read them all for themselves in an earlier post. Those rules do get tweaked from time to time as situations change. Most people obey them rather well, and sometimes when the rules (the Observing Field Rules) are broken, it is by accident. Some rules started out "unwritten", we had hoped that certain common sense rules would work, even if not spelled out, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. When common sense rules for a star party are broken, typically we try to rationalize with the attendee, explaining to him (or her) why it is not in good form to engage in a certain behavior, and sometimes that is enough, end of problem. Sometimes it is not enough. Some 6, 7 or 8 years ago we had an attendee who thought it was hilarious to shout out crude jokes at night - the same one over and over again, or to imitate someone else's laugh, once again over and over again. A lot of this behavior was alcohol fueled, which in and of itself at our last venue was forbidden anyway, they did not want alcohol consumption on site. I had to talk to him and let him know that this would not be tolerated in the future. He has decided not to come back.
Recently another one of our attendees has become bolder in his love of firearms, particularly carrying a sidearm during the star gaze. Don't know why, do not know what he is concerned about. Firearms carry had not been prevented via our rules, we had felt it was really a common sense thing not to carry a firearm. If you must have a pistol or revolver near by, keep it in your vehicle either under the seat or in the glove box and no need to talk about it. However one was carried last spring and without apology. I spoke to the offender and told him that if we must we would prohibit it with a rule change and communicate it further via the posting of signs in full accordance with Mississippi state law and with permission of the White Horse Christian Retreat Camp property owner. It was my impression then that he understood this and that his gun would be kept out of sight in his vehicle. Unfortunately that did not happen a few weeks ago, and it led to a confrontation that was witnessed. He said it was his constitutional right to carry to which I replied that we had discussed this before. I did fail to change the rules but that did not change the earlier promise that he made. He finally returned it to his vehicle and I let all who were around know that we would have the rules changed and we would post the appropriate signs prior to the next event (the 2022 Spring Scrimmage). I found out that two days later he was once again carrying his gun on the observing field. That is unacceptable. The rules have now been changed and the next time anyone sees a liability waiver or a copy of the Observing Field Rules you will see that change. There will be no excuses acceptable and no second chances. Bring a gun and show that gun and you will have attended your last Deep South Star Gaze or Spring Scrimmage.
Believe me, I detest playing policeman, but I have to look out for what is the right way to run a star gaze and what the large majority of our attendees are comfortable with and not bow to what one or two attendees feel is acceptable behavior. Any time something like this happens it is discussed with those that have helped with the star gaze, those that exhibit common sense. That is the way we have done things for the past 40 years and it works.
If anyone has anything that they would like to contribute to this, by all means, please feel free to post.
Regards,
Barry Simon, Director
Deep South Star Gaze