A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016
COMMUNITY
Scalper strikes out swinging for the cheap seats
A
pair of $20 bills
were pulsating in
my pocket as a
young man demanded his
money back.
The 20-something guy
was a ticket scalper out-
side Turner Field in At-
lanta — and I had just
played him.
My frustration with
scalpers had been brew-
ing within. A longtime
baseball fan, I was look-
ing forward to attending
the 1998 All-Star Game
in Denver. However,
due to the antics of tick-
et scalpers, my husband
and I couldn’t get de- state law made it illegal to
cent-priced tickets. Evi- sell tickets for more than
face value. They of-
dently, that disap-
ten held signs that
pointment gave me
said, “Need tick-
the resolve to put
ets.”
one over on the un-
Part of the perk
suspecting Atlanta
of purchasing re-
scalper a few years
served tickets on
later.
the official Atlanta
Scalpers obtain
Braves website was
tickets — or even Tammy
Malgesini
receiving a couple
make
counterfeit INSIDE MY
of cheap seat tickets
ones — with the SHOES
for any game. They
purpose of making
a profit by selling them had no cash value print-
for ridiculous prices. At ed on them, but I later
the time, they tried not to figured they were worth
draw attention to them- maybe $5 each.
I told the dude I had
selves because Georgia
tickets, good for any
game.
He
obviously
didn’t listen, glanced at
them and offered me $20
each. We never stopped
walking — the conversa-
tion and transaction was
on the fly as John and I
continued toward the sta-
dium.
I shoved the $40 into
my pocket and the guy
turned back the other way.
Then half a block later I
could faintly hear, “Hey
lady.” I kept walking —
there were lots of ladies
on the sidewalk. Then
louder, “Hey lady, I don’t
want these tickets.”
Soon, the guy caught
up to us and said he want-
ed his money back. He
said the tickets weren’t for
that day’s game. I remind-
ed him I said upfront they
were good for any game
and he made the deal.
He quietly protest-
ed and continued to fol-
low us. Little did this
guy know, I wasn’t eas-
ily intimidated. Back in
the day, I wouldn’t give
up my Pepsi and Pizza
Rolls to a knife-wielding
dude outside a 7-Eleven
in north Portland — but
that’s a story for another
column.
Holding my hand, John
quickened our pace and we
soon disappeared into the
crowd at the stadium —
leaving the guy in our dust.
I had just scammed a
scalper — and I didn’t
feel bad about it.
———
Tammy Malgesini is
the community editor. Her
column, Inside my Shoes,
includes general musings
about life. Contact her
at tmalgesini@eastore-
gonian.com or 541-564-
4539.
)estiYal highlights worlG culture anG ¿ne arts
Pendleton, as well as pre-
sentations on the Oregon
Blue Mountain Commu- Humanities
Conserva-
nity College’s 18th annual tion Project and the recent
Arts and Culture Festival standoff in Malheur County
highlights world culture over federal land rights.
DQGWKH¿QHDUWV
International
“there”
Free and open to com- features include a presenta-
munity members, the event tion by Selena Hutchins, a
began Monday and runs Bosnian refugee who will
through Thursday in Pend- share her experiences, and
leton and Hermiston. This Dr. Sascha McKeon, who
year’s theme focuses on will discuss the Zika virus.
The festival also in-
“Here and There,” an un-
derstanding of culture from cludes banned books read-
ERWK WKH 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW ings, poetry and music col-
laborations and a reader’s
and around the world.
“Here” events focus on theater presentation on an
the culture of the Confeder- original screenplay about
ated Tribes of the Umatilla spying and conspiracy the-
Indian Reservation through ories.
During the festival,
a free salmon dinner and
powwow Wednesday in the Betty Feves Memori-
By JENNIFER COLTON
al Gallery is extending its
Wednesday hours from 10
a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The cur-
rent exhibit is “Shadows of
the West.”
For more information,
visit www.bluecc.edu/Aan-
dC.
Schedule of
Events:
HERMISTON
•All presentations in
Room 134, Eastern Oregon
Higher Education Center,
unless otherwise noted.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20
10 a.m. - Dr. Fred Brown, An-
imals & Urban Landscapes
11a.m. - Karen Nicksich,
children’s author “The Time
of My Life” on grieving
for lost pets. Also present,
Maddie the Therapy Dog
12 p.m. - Food & Entertainment
1 p.m. - Wendy Willis, “A
World without Secrets: Pri-
vacy and Expectations in the
United States”
2 p.m. - Smoke & Mir-
rors Literary Group, banned
books readings
THURSDAY, APRIL 21
9 a.m. - Devin McK-
eon, Code: The Secret
Language of Machines
10 a.m. - Lisa Naas
Cook, “To Busy to Rest:
Boundaries and Balance
in a Nonstop World”
10 a.m. - Russ Burtner, pres-
ents on Visual Analytics
11 a.m. - Dr. Sascha
McKeon,
Zika
Virus
12 p.m. - Food & Mu-
sic with Dr. Marga-
ret Mayer & Friends
1
p.m.
-
Selena
Hutchins, Big Fish vid-
eo producer from Seattle
2 p.m. - Patrick Weatherly,
poetry & music collabora-
tion
PENDLETON
•All presentations in the
Bob Clapp Theatre unless
otherwise noted:
WEDNESDAY, APRIL
20
9 a.m. - Selena Hutchins,
a
Bosnian
refugee
10 a.m. - Dr. Sascha
McKeon,
Zika
Virus
11 a.m. - Wendy Willis,
“A World without Se-
crets: Privacy and Ex-
pectations in the United
States” 12 p.m. - Lisa
Naas Cook, “To Busy to
Rest: Boundaries and Bal-
ance in a Nonstop World”
1 p.m. - Anna King,
NPR journalist on Mal-
heur-The
Standoff
4-6 p.m. - Free salmon din-
ner at the Student Union.
6-8 p.m. Powwow at the
McCrae Activity Center
(MAC).
THURSDAY, APRIL 21
7 p.m. - A College Com-
munity Theatre reader’s
theatre presentation of
original screenplay by
Joshua King, “No One
Knows Nothing”
W o n i f b y l a n d . T w o i f b y s e a .
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