Blistering Op-ed: "Missouri's morons left those of the other 49 states in the dust"

[Mike 03]

Riverfront Times (Missouri)
Ray Hartmann

No Escaping Lake of the Ozarks Party Covid

St. Louis was heavily involved in the nation’s top news story Sunday, and even if you missed it because our town was not directly mentioned, take pride that Missouri is finally getting noticed.

A slew of packed pool parties at the Lake of the Ozarks were the featured attraction at the websites of CNN, CBS News, the Washington Post, TMZ, the Boston Globe and so on. Missouri went viral as a citadel of selfishness.

It seems that boisterous partygoers were not content with mere euphoria over the official reopening of Missouri. No, they produced a cheap remake of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, filmed at multiple sites of the rollicking resort destination just as the United States approached the tragic landmark of 100,000 coronavirus deaths.

Tourists flooded bars and restaurants at the lake, with multiple videos showing unmistakably that social distancing was non-existent. One might have gleaned from the images that the wearing of masks had been banned.

People were on top of each other so blatantly that Missouri’s morons left those of the other 49 states in the dust. It took a display of both the brains and circumstance of sardines to catch this much attention in a country filled with defiant mouth-breathers joyfully celebrating their God-given right to spread disease. Especially on Sunday.

Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/hartmann-no-escape-from-lake-of-the-ozarks-party-covid/Content?oid=33599753

Mr. Hartmann is pissed but he's got a way with words and a great sense of humor.

[CrispyQ]

1. July 4th is going to be much more somber, I suspect.

[denbot]

4. This..

[MyOwnPeace]

11. Well, for those that believe in "facts"

we'll have data regarding whether the virus has expanded or continued its "wished-for" lowering in numbers. With 5+ weeks before July 4, the growth or slowing of COVID-19 will be available for public knowledge (I know, "public knowledge" is becoming an oxymoron!).

And it is a double-edged sword: If the numbers go down there will be MANY claiming we've been had - "they" were right. And if the numbers go up, well, we're back to where we were in the early days of the pandemic.

Good news either way, huh?

[tblue37]

2. K&R. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. I see dead people.

[LakeArenal]

16. You funny. 😁

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I cannot comprehend ignorance on this level.. It's hard to fathom so many people

acting so stupidly. We'll see the effects of this behavior in the next few weeks.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

44. Mass Psychosis. The madness of crowds, and here we are.

Same as it’s ever been,
Same as it’s ever been.

[lastlib]

49. Well, look on the bright side---

it was just biological warfare; at least they weren't playing with subatomic particles......

[dixiegrrrrl]

59. Yet. n/t

[certainot]

55. it's the limbaugh state. he told them cancer from smoking was a hoax, and COVID is just flu

they're so stupid they put a bust of him in the state house

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. I think that was Party Cove. People have been trying

To kill themselves with booze and drugs for years.

[Srkdqltr]

8. They need to do a better job of it. There are still people trying.

[leftyladyfrommo]

10. That place is infamous.

Boats. People. Drugs. Booze.

My idea of hell.

[Midnight Writer]

12. Yes. I know folk who go there every summer weekend to PARTY! About 300 miles away.

[Rebl2]

38. It's called

Party Cove at lake of the Ozarks. Sadly it may be renamed party Covid 19 after this weekend.
By the way someone else in previous post or national media seemed to think it was around St. Louis. They need to look at a map of MO. Not close by St. Louis at all.
Like you said my idea of hell-same here. I don’t even like to go to movie theaters, much less that kind of mess in the Ozarks.

[leftyladyfrommo]

40. I think its about a 3 hour drive from Kansas City

Lots of people here go to "the lake" on Friday night and come back on Sunday. A lot of people have cabins there and boats for fishing and cruising around.

That's not my kind of scene.

[Rebl2]

42. Yep

I’m from KC area. Never been to the Ozarks.

[leftyladyfrommo]

48. The Ozarks are really beautiful and it's worth the

drive down to see the scenery. I am just not interested in the whole lake thing. It's really hilly with dense trees and it's beautiful. I think there is a lot more traffic now than when I was there last time probably 30 years ago.

Silver Dollar City is a giant tourist trap. Shepherd of the Hills used to be really pretty but I think it's been completely commercialized too.

[xmas74]

50. I did it when I was young

Most eventually outgrow that scene.

[IADEMO2004]

7. Let's be fair. Morons from far and wide travel to the Ozarks to display their asshats.

[Rebl2]

39. Article

in The Kansas City Star said they saw license plates from KS, MO, IA, NY, NE, ARK, CO.

[luv2fly]

41. Woohoo!

Wisconsin's idiots of a couple weeks ago are out of the news cycle for awhile!

[peggysue2]

9. Never forget--this ignorant, selfish behavior is being encouraged

By Donald Trump, the Squatter-in-Chief. There are multiple vids of Trumphumpers deliberately coughing in the faces of store owners, restaurant owners and complete strangers/customers who happen to be wearing masks. Because:

FREEDOM!

This is the behavior and attitude of ten-year olds. Juvenile and mindless actions by those who are presumably adult.

Never forget, never forgive.

[MyOwnPeace]

13. YES!!!!!

This is, above all, a FAILURE in leadership - and because of ONE idiot and 63,000,000 other idiots, WE MUST ALL pay for it!

[Blue Owl]

14. The Grim Reaper is pleased

n/t

[Runningdawg]

15. The "show me" state. In this case showing off their stupidity.

I wouldn't care except at least 25% of them were from OK and will come back HERE to spread it.

[LakeArenal]

17. What do you call a group of trumpetts out in public?

A Murder of trump?

A Sack of trump?

A Clusterfuck of trump?

[eleny]

19. A Dump of Trump

..... .....

[Pluvious]

37. The collective noun for them would be... "A Coven of Covidiots" n/t

[relayerbob]

43. A covfefe of covidiots

[Hermit-The-Prog]

51. That fits.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

58. A steaming , festered, rancid pile of Trump

[eleny]

18. Because that's how they memorialize the sacrifices our war dead

[kairos12]

20. Countdown to medical disaster in 10-12 days.

[czarjak]

21. The "If I can't have it, nobody can" mentality. Deep State, indeed.

[Harker]

22. No moron shortage here in

Western PA. They'll no doubt be spurred on to even greater idiocy.

"Green" counties will be free of any restraints or restrictions, they believe.

[Olafjoy]

23. Don't see this kind of thing happening in Italy.

Among everything else, it is so goddamn embarrassing to live in America right now 🤬🤬🤬 We have The most cases in the world and then photos Of the Ozarks and the beaches and boardwalks are blasted out to the rest of the world. Sigh. Me n hubs and the kids at home. Alone. Little bbq. Flags in the yard everywhere in honor of those at Normandy, and Gettysburg, and Bastogne, and the POW camps, and freezing at Valley Forge and everywhere else. Heroes. We owe them everything.

[OMGWTF]

27. x 1,000

[BlancheSplanchnik]

46. Good post. Made me stop and reflect, thank you.

🕯

[Texin]

57. You don't see this kind of behavior ANYWHERE in Europe. Ever.

It just doesn't happen. People from crowded cities in the north of Italy will make a trip to the Med on national holidays, but they are families and people just don't act like a bunch of juvenile delinquents.

[Beartracks]

24. And then all those people will travel back to their home towns and states.

There could be thousands of COVID clusters popping up all over the region by mid-June.

The sad part is that, as long as the respective healthcare facilities in those locations don't get overwhelmed, too many Americans will continue to see this sort of recklesssuperspreader event as, well, not reckless, even as thousands get sick and hundreds more die.

============

[catbyte]

25. It appears as if most of us have our own idiot cross to bear. Look at Michigan & the cowards

storming the Capitol with AR-15s, swastikas and Confederate battle flags flying. Sometimes I think we're too stupid to survive. But then, I see the polls where 80%+ of Michiganders are following Governor Whitmer's advice. The trick is how to avoid the moronic, selfish 20%.

But Missouri did get one helluva black eye this weekend, though.

[LudwigPastorius]

26. If there is one thing that will save us from the future of "Idiocracy" or "The Marching Morons",...

it is the capacity for stupid people to kill themselves faster than they can reproduce.

(Unfortunately, they're going to take a lot of us with them.)

[Moostache]

28. New Rules - Missouri Edition

New Rule - First question if you attempt to enter an ER in a metropolitan area of Missouri, including St. Louis, Columbia, Kansas City, "were you in Lake of the Ozarks between May 18th and May 25th?" If the answer is "yes", your diagnosis for ANY emergency services is "return home and seek treatment in 21 days, if you are still alive".

Let these fuckers do what they want, but then shun them like lepers and if they survive 3 weeks of rugged individualism, then we may consider treating them, although they don't need anyone telling them what to do after all...

[SWBTATTReg]

61. As being one from MO and seeing these idiots, I agree w/ you totally. I used to live in the Ozarks

and I guarantee you that the pool goers / cove party goers aren't from MO for the most part. Most MO residents go elsewhere, to avoid the crowds (I do). Most Ozark residents avoid the area like the plague (it is now) since it's so congested.

There is plenty of water elsewhere to go fishing, etc.

My worries are for the locals, who have to clean after these idiots.

I still don't understand the hotel operator who allowed this to happen. What in the world were they thinking? Money over lives obviously. Pathetic.

[3Hotdogs]

29. --- thinks he's a "know-it-all."

Could'a easily fit 150 more people in that pool. 200 more on the patio.

[Captain Zero]

33. Well it's Branson, so if 150 POC kids jumped in

The Social Distancing woul start right away.

[3Hotdogs]

34. --- and if ya see any of them, P.O.C. or Caucasian,

standing still in the water, looking up,

you know what they are doing.

[barbtries]

30. great writing!

i shared on FB and twitter.
Amongst the covidiots, there lies one fabulous writer.

[Fla Dem]

31. Let'em have it both barrels. Govenor's an idiot.....

Governor Parson presided at his granddaughter’s live commencement ceremony, for a senior class of 42, at Sparta High School. Photos would indicate there was partial social distancing, masks optional. The governor didn’t appear to be wearing one. It was the sort of large gathering prohibited by almost all of Parson’s fellow governors.

[safeinOhio]

32. Come on guys, they were just honoring those Falling Heroes

that gave their lives to protect their right to party.

[Fritz Walter]

35. Florida to Missouri: hold my Bud Light and watch this!

OK, on the beaches, they may be a bit more spread-out, but the idiot tourists are here in force. In the bars, restaurants, grocery stores, souvenir shops and well, pretty much everywhere.
Me? I’m avoiding that whole area. Partly due to my generally avoiding the “bloody tourists” who descend on us like a swarm locusts. (They descend in huge numbers, strip the area of vegetation — and other edibles/drinkables — and then piss-off back to wherever-the-fuck they came from).
But also because I’m at such high risk that I must forego getting sand between my toes for the time being. A sacrifice that seems reasonable.
If I could safely venture out into the virus-incubator areas, I’d wear one of my favorite t-shirts which reads:
“WELCOME TO FLORIDA. Now go home!”

Perhaps the sane ones in the Ozarks could adapt that idea. It would give the Chamber of Commercialism apoplexy, and that might not be such a bad thing.

[relayerbob]

45. CA also.

Pacific Beach, Huntington Beach, many others

[LiberalArkie]

36. From the comments on the article

Somewhere in Missouri...
...That isn't St. Louis
But never you mind that.
People,
Somewhere,
Are having fun.
Thank God for Ray Hartmann,
And Restaurants Full Time.
They're on the case.
With the latest fun-detecting sonar,
And the blessing of the CDC,
(They do it for free),
Such fun shall be found,
And poo-pooed immediately.
How lucky are we,
To have these paragons watching over us.
Karens with keyboards, virtually phoning it in,
To the manager.
We should be grateful they do it.
Scions of safety that they are.
Always standing exactly 6 feet from one another...
And wearing their mask correctly...
Or gloves.
They wash their hands 20 times a day,
For us, the un-wash-ed.
And stay inside,
At all times.
Never venturing out,
They shoulder solitude in studio apartments,
For those of us with less claustrophobic tastes.
Truly they are perfect.
Truly they follow the WHOs guidelines at all times,
Lest one transgression,
As we've been told,
Infect countless millions of others,
Killing grandma and our pets in the process.
Thank you Ray.
Thank you Restaurants Full Time.
Thank you RFT staff.
You role models...
You Karens-of-the-keyboard...
You heroes.

[relayerbob]

47. Well-written article

too bad it's not fiction.

The next few weeks are not going to be pretty. This shit was going on all over, not just there.

[eShirl]

52. like the 14th century Black Plague orgies

[highplainsdem]

53. K&R

[Dukkha]

54. St Louis is a living metaphor of Jaws

Where Mayor Vaughn walks the beach encouraging people to go into the water, then someone is eaten for the economy.

[Texin]

56. Boy, that Op-Ed is a thing of beauty.

[hay rick]

60. Floriduh has another upstart challenger.

I expect our state to reclaim the idiotic-behavior belt no later than the coming weekend.