Bike week numbers surprise.....
 

Another interesting article from today's Union Leader on Bike Week turnout...

http://www.theunionleader.com/articl...?article=39222

Article a bit misleading
 

Bike Week numbers, rowdiness surprise police

The headline caught my attention - thinking there was some sort of trouble. Not really - the fire chief said they had 42 calls on the first weekend rather than the normal 8, but the article wen ton to describe the weekend as a carnival atmosphere. The union leader does not normally take the low road of sensationalism, but after reading the article, I think the headline is a bit misleading. The worst the article could come up with to support the headline is "There was a fight, a few minor accidents, some traffic arrests, and some protective custody arrests for drunkenness — all typical, MacLennan said"

Next weekend, the cops will be out in force. That in itself can cause problems. The biker crowd is not one to respect authority, especially if the cops overstep their legal authority.

could be the weather
 

If I remember right, the last few years it's been damp during a lot of Bike week. I'm sure a lot of semi-local people took advantage of the great weather last weekend. The distant travelers have to make a commitment rain or shine, but the daytrippers will watch the forecast.

Lakegeezer, as a past participant, it mostly seemed the police tried to a avoid problems, often looking the other way for minor issues. Minor issues are of course in the eye of the beholder.

Misleading news headlines
 

Which sells more newspapers? The actual headline, "Bike Week numbers, rowdiness surprise police" or something like, "Bike Week typical even with bigger crowd".

I didn't see anything in the article about "surprise rowdiness". What did I miss?

Seems to me that the headline is a negative slant on Bike Week. Maybe the Union Leader has something against the event. Their news SORUCES called the week typical and normal. Even if they thought the turn out was larger than expected it did not earn that kind of headline.

Freedom of the PRESS means they are free to put any kind of SPIN they want on a story :(