FREE SECOND DIP LEADS TO VIOLENCE AT ICE CREAM PARLORBy Naven Jones, Freelance Investigative Journalist."You know the line for ice cream ends back here!" a female patron exclaimed, believing she had been cut in line. "Hey!" replied another woman, "We've been here a long time." That is how it started. By the time it was over, it was sundae bloody sundae. The convenience store that runs the ice cream parlor asked not to reveal its name. "This was a freak occurrence", said the clerk who ran the register. "Nothing like this has happened before, and it shouldn't again. I don't want people to think this isn't a safe place to bring your kids." "They are offering a second dip of ice cream for no more money", said an eyewitness too embarrassed to give his name, "so everyone for miles around was showing up. They had two girls scooping out the ice cream and making malts, and a man running the cash register. That was nowhere near enough to handle the crowd, especially when it's also a gas station and a little grocery store. I was sitting down and enjoying two scoops of chocolate chip on a cake cone. I was lucky enough to beat the crowd, but they were there in no time. I overhead some guy say in a fake Russian accent, "Zees remind me of the old country when we would wait in line for zee bread." It couldn't have been a minute later that those two women started in on each other. I went back to my ice cream, barely noticing that the second lady changed her mind about getting ice cream and only made sure her kids got some. She had to walk past the [expletive deleted] who started it to get to the cash register, and she pulled a knife out of her purse!" After the ensuing fracas was brought to a close, one patron left in an ambulance, and two others in the back of police cruisers. HOME |