"You're making us nervous."

[OldRightHander]

I've been hanging out in Vegas since Thursday night, waiting for Monday when I'll probably get a load out, and today I decided to go over to Hoover Dam. After quite a bit of walking and picture taking, I was ready to go and get some lunch. I noticed on the map that there was a park with a picnic area in Boulder City, so I stopped at a grocery there and got some meat and charcoal. I went over to the park and found a picnic table with a grill and set about cooking my food for the upcoming week. After cooking and sitting there to eat my lunch, it was getting quite warm out and I elected to go back to my van and sit in the AC for a while. I was pretty relaxed, looking out at the mountains and listening to XM, basically just chilling out, and I decided that I would just stay there for the rest of the day instead of going back to the truck stop right away.

That's when things got interesting. This park was quite busy today. There is one of those splash areas where kids can run around with water being sprayed on them from various fountains and it seemed like everyone but me was there with kids. I noticed one particular woman walk by my van at least three or four times and finally she walked over by my window. I put my window down and she looked at me and said, "You're making us nervous." I asked how and she said, "We're protective of our kids, and you've been sitting here for a while. It's making people nervous." I told her that I'm stuck here until Monday and I'm getting tired of sitting in truck stops and she just kept coming back and saying that I was making people nervous.

Help me out here folks. Is a man sitting in a commercial vehicle in a public park somehow a threat to children? Do predators sit in vans in the middle of the day in parks trying to figure out how to get at the kids, while all the parents are present? Would it have been any different if I had been in a car? The way I see it, I have every right to be in a public park, even if I want to sit in my vehicle and listen to the radio, and I have every right not to be disturbed by overly suspicious morons.

[oneupper]

I've seen enough TV to understand why the lady was nervous (It's always a guy in a commercial van).

However, once she saw your face...well you had no choice but to kill her.

[Unassisted]

Welcome to the wonderful world of "security moms." We were so much better off when cable news channels didn't provide breathless 24x7 coverage of every child abduction in the US.

I don't know how it is in Nevada, but if you were here in Texas, the mom might be packing a sidearm in her purse, so you probably shouldn't ignore her.

[MWM]

Nothing personal, ORH, but I would have probably been a little leary myself. It's just the world we live in.

[GoReds33]

I understand what she's saying. As oneupper pointed out, it's always a dude in a van. I would be a bit suspicous of somebody by themselves in a park with a bunch of kids.

[Raisor]

If the people I knew were in their commercial vans hanging out near a bunch of kids, yeah, I'd be nervous too.

[Cyclone792]

"Don't go there,"
I heard her say.
"You can't stomach what you're gonna see."
It's down there by the waters edge,
Wasted and bloated and waiting for someone else.

Funny how,
These things come about.
When you're tied to the teeth and mouth,
The sound of fury,
A shot of pain.
There was no real reason,
No gain.

I can't go down to the water's edge,
I didn't do it,
I saw who did.
Don't go down to the waters edge,
They did it once and they can do it again.

It ain't no secret to me,
How she got there down by the stream.
Cause I'd seen her a minute before,
The van pulled up and opened the door. (oh my love)

I can't say a single word,
About what I saw of her.
Cause her killers,
They got their friends,
In familiar places,
I tell you man!

I can't go down to the water's edge,
I didn't do it,
I saw who did.
Don't go down to the waters edge,
They did it once and they can do it again.

This ain't no ... game.
And I'm feeling so ashamed,
Cause I didn't do anything.
No I didn't do anything,
-to stop,
-to stop,
-to stop,
-to stop,
This from,
HAPPENING.
I did not do,
ANYTHING!

Don't go down to the waters edge you said to me,
I didn't do it but,
I saw who did you see.
Don't go down to the waters edge,
They did it once and they can do it again.

I swear,
I swear,
I swear,
I swear,
I didn't do a thing,
I should have done something

[redsmetz]

I think you have every right and, these days, folks are often wary of folks just hanging around. It's a sad testament to our world and I'm not sure how to work around it.

Some years ago, when my kids were still young, my wife and I went down to some ballfields near our house and played some whiffle ball with our kids. The whole time we were playing on the field, a guy in a car just sat there and stared ahead. We noticed it, but continued what we were doing and then headed home when we'd finished up.

The next morning we saw in the paper that a guy had been murdered in the park the day we were there. Police were asking for any info from the public, so I called and asked to talk to the detective handling the case. I told him what we'd seen, couldn't really describe the guy since he was parked in the shade, but did describe the car. When I told him the time we were there, he commented that the car fit the description of the victim's car, but it put him in the park earlier than they suspected. I never did hear what became of the case, but it was interesting to give some info in a case like that.

I know that's unrelated to your situation. It's something that you'll probably run into from time to time.

[guttle11]

You should have just told her you didn't have any gummi bears.

I can see why she would be a bit apprehensive, but to actually come up to you is out of line and not very smart. It's a public park for one, so you have every right to use it's space legally. Second, if I think someone is possibly up to no good, the last thing I'm going to do is approach them.

[Falls City Beer]

I would have said, "Well, call a police officer, maam."

Push the issue. You have every right on earth to do what you were doing.

[JayBruce4HOF]

I'd have told her not to worry, none of her kids has the "look" I'm searching for.

[RedsManRick]

You have every right to be there. They can't make you leave.

They have every to be nervous about it. You can't stop them from being protective of their kids.

The end.

[Falls City Beer]

You have every right to be there. They can't make you leave.

They have every to be nervous about it. You can't stop them from being protective of their kids.

The end.

But I'm not sure how keen I'd be at someone approaching my car and telling me to go away.

I think the solution is to say, "Call the police." Call this woman's bluff. She knows damn well she can't do anything to you (and if she were truly honest with herself, she's probably not all that afraid of you--public space, many other kids and parents around), but she wants her cake and she wants to eat it too. She wants you to "go away."

Too bad. She can't have it her way. We have rights in this country. I know that hurts people's feelings and everything, but the Constitution does exist.

[Ltlabner]

But I'm not sure how keen I'd be at someone approaching my car and telling me to go away.

No kidding.

I can understand her being protective of her children, but is she going to approach every person on the planet she thinks looks "fishy" and ask them to stop what they are doing to make her life a little easier? Funny how they have to bugger-off because she's bent out of shape.

A person with common sense who's "6th sense" was bothering them would have simply said, "hey kids lets go over there" and moved away from the area/person that was giving them the heeby-jeebies and put some distance between them.

If she was really *that* worried she should have called the police without even approaching the van. Serriously, if she though ORH was a wild-eyed killer she should have just called in the SWAT team. Who died and left her saftey-monitor?

I'm with FCB on this. I can understand being protective but this woman is a bit overboard.

[Johnny Footstool]

"If I'm making you nervous by sitting in a public place, then you should probably go home."