Special Announcement!!!

The LionStar Blog is moving!!!

Click here (http://www.thelionstarblog.com/ls/register.cfm) if you’d like to register for an email notification of when the NEW LionStar Blog site is launched.

The new site will allow source documents, audio files, pics, and video files to be posted. In addition to the same great stuff we’ve been bringing you, we are beginning a weekly PODCAST that will be available on the new site! You can listen to it on the site or download it and listen to it at your leisure. Feel free to rip it off and share it with your friends!!!

Until then, we will still continue to post new blog entries here. The old content will continue to be available here once the new site is launched, but will also be available on the new site.

If you don’t want the email notification, keep an eye-out for a formal announcement on this site once the new one is launched.

Sorry for the delay, we initially announced the coming change a while back, but this virus thing was a real set back. Thanks for reading and all of your support!

Dia De Los Ninos

Sunday was a beautiful day and I went to the Carolina Center to check out the Dia De Los Ninos celebration put on by Entrevision.

As you can see from the pics, it was a great turnout for the event. There was a lot to do and see. There where quite a few vendors selling their wares and food.

They also had quite a few booths set up for social service, health care, and non-government agencies. Great information and great freebies!

Beautiful weather, great turnout. Fun times.

My only gripe is that I paid five bucks for an order of gorditas that were quite possibly the worst I’ve ever tasted. I think the lettuce was bad, yet another reason I don’t normally eat lettuce!

Discrimination at Graham’s Central Station

Graham’s is one of my favorite spots to hang out. Several clubs under one roof (one that plays some great 90’s music occasionally was well), karaoke (no, I do NOT sing, but it sure is great to watch the train wrecks!) and a drink special that can’t be beat.

But Saturday night may have been my last night there. I went to go relax and have a good time. I left early, before midnight and was on my way out to the parking lot when a transvestite asked if she could borrow my phone. She need to call for a ride because she and her partner were kicked out of the club.

She was kicked out of Grahams because of who she is. She wasn’t allowed to use the women’s restroom and there may have been some safety issues if she used the men’s room.

Look, it’s not my lifestyle but prejudice and discrimination are wrong no matter what the situation is. She has a right to be who she is, even if what she is may be against the social norms.

Graham’s is pretty dead on Saturday nights, so there aren’t a lot of people around. I’ve been noticing more homosexuals at Grahams on Saturday nights and they don’t bother anyone. Saturday is an older crowd and mostly couples, so it is usually more tolerant. People have a sitter and just want to go out and have a good time.

I saw the even as it happened. I was standing at the bar near the restrooms. I saw security, who does a great job keeping the peace there, escorting a young lady out of the ladies room, out the door, and into the parking lot. This is the usual tactic when there is a fight or something, overwhelmingly force of security and quickly whisk the offenders out of the building.

So I noticed the scene because it was dead and I was suprised to see so many around a small lady. I immediately wondered what she had done and came to the conclusion that she must’ve been using drugs or something. It’s the only plausible reason I could come up with for so much security to take a woman out of a restroom.

As it turns out, it was the transvestite.

I understand the fact that Grahams has a right to refuse service to anyone. I understand that if they feel like they don’t want a particular type of person in their establishment, that is their right.

But discrimination is just wrong. Where was she supposed to use the restroom? She PAID to get in, so Graham’s had no problem accepting her money, but they have a problem accepting who she is. Sending her, dressed as a woman, into the men’s room would’ve been a potential safety issue. God only knows what would’ve happened if a person who looked very much like a woman, was sent into a crowded men’s room full of drunk vato’s. Especially if they thought it was a woman and found out it was a man.

So I’m going to see what management does about this situation and that will determine whether I go back to that place or not. This kind of stuff cannot be tolerated by those of us who consider ourselves tolerant people.

So there you have it, Graham’s Central Station, where America plays at night. As long as it’s okay with them.

Fix the Toilets at Ascarate Park Today!

It almost sounds like a punchline to a joke. I can imagine Jay Leno using it in his monologue if he ever did a live show from El Paso.

Jay Leno: Boy the restrooms at Ascarate Park are really bad!

Audience: How bad are they?

Jay Leno: They are so bad that the county is bringing in port-a-potties as an improvement!!!

Okay, maybe it would’ve been a bad joke. But the point is that you just can’t make this stuff up. The restrooms are so bad that port-a-potties are seen as the cleaner alternative!

The restrooms didn’t get in the shape they are over night! This is something that has been allowed to happen for a long time. Ascarate is one of the great treasures of El Paso and the conditions of the restrooms there is a disgrace to us all. We should never have let it get that way and we should act faster to fix the problem.

No running water, toilets don’t function, and no doors on the stalls. So the band aid solution is to put in port-o-potties. If you saw the news footage of the ones being put in, you’ll notice they weren’t even new port-o-potties. They were older ones, probably well-tagged by now. I’ll look into it further, but there are nicer models available that are ADA compliant that could be used at the park.

A long-term solution needs to be developed and implemented immediately. Remember that it’s getting hotter by the day and use of a port-o-pottie and it’s contents baking in the hot west Texas sun will quickly make the port-o-potties a waste of money because they will not get the use the county paid for.

Lets make this right.

Fishing at Ascarate

One of the true diamonds in the rough of El Paso is Ascarate Park. The Ascarate Fishing Club sponsored an event this weekend to encourage people to go fishing and enjoy a day outdoors at the park. I’m not affiliated with the club, so I don’t know all the sponsors (who deserve a HUGE plug for all they did), but I know Price’s stepped in to provide drinks.

 

There was a huge turnout for the event (as you can see in these pictures) that started at 8:00am on Saturday. I decided to take my son out and do some fishing. I’m a city kid, so I’ve only been fishing two times in my life, so it was a blast.

 

There were contests for the kids and everything was 100% free, which was cool with me because I don’t own a fishing pole. There was even a pool-type area for the real little ones to fish. As you can see, we were a shoe-in for catching the smallest fish.

 

My favorite part of the event was that there were so many dads and tatas involved. I think many of the society’s problems could be solved with the presence of a strong male figure in the family and it’s nice to see an event were so many turned out and spent quality time with their kids and grandkids.

 

 

The event organizers could’ve made their own Visa commercial that day.

 

Fishing Pole…free.

Hot Dogs & Corn Bait…free.

Spending Quality Time…priceless.