Austin Whaley an
18-year-old Kentuckian has been banned from saying the word “BINGO” for six
months.
The former security guard at the Covington Bingo Hall wascharged with second-degree disorderly conduct after he falsely shouted out
Bingo. Not only did he incur the wrath of the police and loose his job…he
pissed off a building full of elderly women who turned on him.
In his defense, he said the bingo hall was a public place
and he could yell out anything he wanted.
People take their Bingo very seriously, as I Learned in
1987, while calling a game of Mariner’s Radio Bingo from the studios of CFGN in
Port Aux Basque. A ball had dropped on the floor, I placed it on the rack
without calling it. I learned a lesson
in focus that afternoon when the Jackpot went. I thought half the people
populations was going to take me out.
As a young fella, my neighbor Edith was a Bingo addict. She never
missed a game, always wore the same lucky hat and was deadly serious about her
game. One evening she asked if I wanted to tag along. She instructed me to pay
attention, stay focused and not to shout Bingo unless I was absolutely sure I
had one.
In those days Bingo was played in the old school auditorium.
You could hear a pin drop as the balls bounced around, blown by the air in the
bingo machine. The cards were heavy with shutters – no dabbers in those days. Edith
allowed me three cards. That was enough for me to manage, she had twelve!
I won that night, a postage stamp! The elderly ladies
grumbled and groaned about it. It seemed everyone begrudged everyone else’s
winnings.
I never went back, the pressure was too much. The fear of
making a mistake made me way too anxious.
Austin might have made it out alive had he pulled that stunt in our old school auditorium
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