KY Derby LF not welcome

[gleaf]

Heard "no large cameras" on the news last evening.. The adjusted rules are..

What to Know
Read This Before You Head to the Track!

As you plan your trip to Churchill Downs for Kentucky Derby weekend, be sure to review the list of items that are permitted and those that cannot be brought into the racing facility.

Small cameras – none equipped with detachable lenses or lenses of 6” or more **

Banned Items on Kentucky Derby and Oaks Days

Cameras with detachable lenses, or equipped with a lens that is 6” or longer
Tripods

** Patrons could be required to turn on electronic items

[Steve Goldstein]

Seems like they don't want the pros to have any competition. I can understand no tripods, but not the rest. I wonder if they'd let in a monopod...

[IanG]

Strangely excessive rules, but similar to many concerts etc.

Ian

[p martinez]

After the Boston Marathon I would imagine the big concern is regarding public safety rather than competition with the "pros." One could probably hide a lot of bad stuff in a tripod leg or what appears to be a big lens.

[chacabuco]

Yeah the press release states that the changes are due to tighter security,

"These are not wholesale changes, but these would not have happened without the events that happened" at the Boston Marathon, Churchill Downs spokesman John Asher said Thursday"

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/track...kentucky-derby

[evan clarke]

The place is privately owned, unfortunately they can do what they want..

[MIke Sherck]

Heck, everyone knows that only terrorists have detachable lenses or lenses longer than 6"... They make terrifying weapons!

Mike

[Steve Goldstein]

After the Boston Marathon I would imagine the big concern is regarding public safety rather than competition with the "pros." One could probably hide a lot of bad stuff in a tripod leg or what appears to be a big lens.

One could probably hide a lot of bad stuff in the clothes one wears, if one, or a group, were so inclined.

There was a lot of security at the Boston Marathon, but unfortunately absolute security at any public event is pretty much impossible unless the public is barred. Churchill Downs could put in scanners like at an airport, which would then enable them to lift the camera restrictions, but I doubt they'd do that, and they probably don't have the time before this year's Derby even if they wanted to.

This is one of the sad things about all these terrorist events. Every time one succeeds, or even gets detected and prevented, freedom erodes for everybody. We all suffer, which is exactly what the terrorists want. So in a sense they win every time, which I find very depressing, and I don't see any easy way out of the cycle.

But I'm probably veering off into the political, so will stop here because I really don't want to get myself banned.

[Brian C. Miller]

So what? Beyonce has banned professional photographers from her concerts.

This is security theater. It doesn't actually make anyone safer. It's all about looking like they're doing "something." And nobody needs to actually physically hurt someone to cause massive losses. There was a (WSJ) Twitter hoax that caused a loss of $200 billion in two minutes.

[BarryS]

They should also ban horses and mint juleps. Imagine sending a horse loaded with mint juleps into the crowd--that could do a lot of damage.