Updated at 5:15 p.m. to included comments from Calvin Moss, the Woodstock police chief.
Original: This embarrassing item just appeared on The Caucus, a New York Times blog:
In Woodstock, Ga., about 30 miles north of Atlanta, the president of a homeowners’ association sent an e-mail on Sunday informing residents that the entrance gates would be closed 24 hours a day beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, out of concern over possible civil unrest after the election.
“I feel it is better to take a position of caution to enhance controlled access to the community until we see what (if any) negative repercussions may occur because of the results of the election,” wrote Bill Stanley, the president of the homeowners’ association at the Cottages of Woodstock, a residential community for people 55 and over.
Here you thought zombies weren’t real. On the other hand, it does send an interesting message to the grandkids: “You’re on your own.”
The NYT quotes Stanley as saying that he was ordering enhanced controlled access to the community on the recommendation of the Woodstock police department.
Added: But we just fielded a call from Calvin Moss, the Woodstock police chief, who said that he has had a conversation with Stanley this afternoon — and Stanley denied getting any such information from the Woodstock police force.
“We have no reason to believe that the election and its aftermath will be anything but peaceful,” Moss said. “Certainly we would give no one that kind of information.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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349 comments Add your comment
Johnnywad
November 5th, 2012
4:55 pm
What’s the worst they could do?Slash your golf cart tires…..
peteyboy
November 5th, 2012
4:56 pm
RGB is so right on with his comment
Bernie Matt
November 5th, 2012
4:57 pm
@peteyboy that’s what I was saying too. RGB knows his stuff.
Bernie Matt
November 5th, 2012
4:58 pm
Alright peace out everyone. You know who the real me is.
Mark T
November 5th, 2012
4:59 pm
Maybe you should check twitter Jim gullible, hundreds upon hundreds of blacks tweeted if Romney wins they were going to riot among other things…I guess we should just assume there joking right?
Kris
November 5th, 2012
4:59 pm
Break out your finest tin foil hats…..the aliens from from the planet Kolob are mounting an attack .They will be easy to spot look for the secret underwear and the secret polygamy pledge.
The gates in Woodstock are locked to keep out the political arsonists.
Re-elect President OBAMA!
LooseScrew
November 5th, 2012
5:01 pm
Because the very first thing any decent crowd of rioters is going to do, would be to vandalize a 55+ community 40 minutes north of Atlanta………
truthbtold
November 5th, 2012
5:01 pm
The Civil Unrest will come later if Romney is elected. You think we have been in a recession – This candidate will surely sink the country into a depression. This is a candidate with no plan of action for anything at all. He just wants to be elected, and those that are supporting him just want to see what happens. What happens is party politics runs the country. The Republicans will not support any legislation proposed by a Democratic administration, and The Democrats will not support any legislation proposed by a Republican administration. And with Romney, half of the Republicans won’t even support him. This country is just that divided. People will not even support what’s in the best interest of the country. They just want to win!
Dawg
November 5th, 2012
5:01 pm
Kris I just have a regular tin foil hat. It isn’t very fine. Is that ok?
Aquagirl
November 5th, 2012
5:02 pm
They are still free to come and go as they please.
Unless they vote for Obama, in which case they will be scourged at the gates and their heads displayed on pikes.
Bet that’ll keep the riff-raff away.
Tomahawk Holmes
November 5th, 2012
5:03 pm
Romney will “fix this on Day One”!
Easy
November 5th, 2012
5:04 pm
Almost a record, it only took six blogs for the CLOSED gates to become LOCKED gates! You folks should have paid more attention in grade school and just maybe you would learned to read.
» Woodstock Community Closes Gates To Protect From Civil Unrest, Teens On Lawn Marvin Arrington Jr.
November 5th, 2012
5:07 pm
[...] Jim Galloway has quit pointing fingers at me long enough to make sure we know about this little gem from the New York Times. A gated community near Atlanta has decided to step up security this week. The reason is not burglaries, but another issue entirely: the presidential election. [...]
Dale
November 5th, 2012
5:11 pm
Seriously? Wondering what kind of people live there? This is one sub division I won’t be looking to move to.
Kris
November 5th, 2012
5:15 pm
@ Easy…..he story mentions “closed and Locked”….Jim which is correct?
The Right 1
November 5th, 2012
5:15 pm
Obama supporters have been sending out Tweets threatning to “take to the streets” if Barry is beaten. I guess this HOA took them at their word.
alcam
November 5th, 2012
5:22 pm
if the men in the ‘hood come to woodstock to protest and the gates are closed, what they supposed to do?
What next!
November 5th, 2012
5:32 pm
Jim
I know who Stanley and Thomas are because you identified them. Who is Bentley? Unless I’m getting old (heaven forbid because apparently your readers hate old people… I’m only 77) I didn’t find him identified in your post.
Edward
November 5th, 2012
5:32 pm
So, when there is violence in the African American Community, committed by African Americans, after Romney wins the election, what will you limp wristed apologists have to say?
Blame Bush?
binq
November 5th, 2012
5:36 pm
I am amused by the posts about the derogatory comments pertaining to rednecks and southerners . Most of the people posting are most likely from the north to begin with and chose to move here for a job and a better life. I am the only native I am aware of and i am supposed to turn the light off when i leave. By the way, Delta flys nonstop to most of your former hometowns.
SemperFI
November 5th, 2012
5:38 pm
ITs amazing to see the comments. I defend your freedoms with my life as well as many other hispanics, black, italian, asians , and many other marines. We dont see color. Only light green and dark green marines. While some of your sad attempts at saracasm border racist and pig headed its still amusing to see we as Americans cant have an intelligent conversation of ideas without the racial under tones…high end blue jeans and tennis shoes? For all you idiots behind the keyboards black or white we cant get along as americans how do we defend the war on terror where they only care to harm americans. Whether you are pro mitt or pro bama do it intelligently minus the insults.
southern hope
November 5th, 2012
5:38 pm
“Good call” at 4:15 pm — for the heck of it, I took your suggestion and typed in “riot” at Twitter to see threats by Obama supporters that they’re going to riot if he loses. Guess what I found? Conservatives saying that they think liberals are going to riot if Obama loses….please please realize that many of you just aren’t living in reality world….
Mac
November 5th, 2012
5:39 pm
Voter intimidation & hateful ignorance – way to give the rest of Georgia a bad rep! .
jgalloway
November 5th, 2012
5:41 pm
Dear What next!
Thanks for the catch. I’m old enough so that my typos are entire words these days.
Pete
November 5th, 2012
5:44 pm
I am more fearful of unrest from the right should Romney lose, not from the left should Obama lose.
Athens Girl
November 5th, 2012
5:48 pm
Gee and people wonder why we’re trying to move out of Woodstock.
Intown
November 5th, 2012
5:50 pm
right, because the first thing someone would do if their candidate doesn’t win is drive up to freakin’ Woodstock, Ga to ransack a senior community. Me thinks those gates are pointless to begin with.
DwayneL
November 5th, 2012
5:53 pm
Can’t blame them….obama supporters tend to be violent thugs!
AMEN RA
November 5th, 2012
6:12 pm
THIS IS NOTHING NEW IN THIS RED NECK STATE, THAT WHY YOU ALL ARE SO FAR BEHIDE IN EVERY THING .BUNCH OF FOOL .HOTEP
islandsole
November 5th, 2012
6:23 pm
I don’t think that people realize that when the gates to a subdivision in Georgia are closed, it doesn’r mean they are locked. It simply means that anyone entering the subdivision will need to use their access card/code or have a resident let them in.
Bill Stanley
November 5th, 2012
6:24 pm
He said “enhance controlled access” not lock the gates. It’s a gated community that generally leaves the gates open with no access control – for 24 hours they will now actually just use what their HOA fees have paid for.
Why why why?
November 5th, 2012
6:34 pm
Tom
November 5th, 2012
3:40 pm
My advice….swat rioters with your pineapple flag
HILARIOUS! Post of the day!
planet kolob
November 5th, 2012
6:35 pm
This is the funniest sriff I’ve read in a long time. And i mean the comments from both sides.
Why why why?
November 5th, 2012
6:41 pm
BS
November 5th, 2012
4:22 pm
FOX is the only news outlet anymore that I can get the truth.
You should see Chris’s 4:20 post. I think that was directed to you.
DB
November 5th, 2012
6:47 pm
I don’t know what’s funnier — some 55+ community barring its doors after an election or the comments on this blog!!! Aquagirl, you may have to buy me a new monitor — this one has Diet Coke all over it from my laughter! And T, your comment on “and you thought zombies weren’t real” really scared up a cackle — I wonder if they happened upon them filming a scene from “The Walking Dead” near Atlanta and misinterpreted it?!
Everyone chill out. It will all be over tomorrow, thank God. Everyone can go back to muttering and yelling at the news, instead of each other.
I was so disappointed today when a co-worker picked up a Staples ad and then put it down, shaking her head. “Oh, I’m not buying anything from Staples — their chairman is a big Romney supporter.” I asked her, sarcastically, if she had information on the voting habits of the chairmen of Office Depot, Office Max and other office supply stores around town, so that she could be sure not to darken their doors if THEY were Romney supporters, too. She laughed — uncomfortably. I wish people could simply respect other people’s right to vote their conscience, instead of casting aspersions on their character and intelligence if they don’t feel the same way you do. Let’s do this: Let’s just ASSUME that people are voting for the candidate of their choice because they truly believe that candidate is the best choice for this country, and let’s not assign evil motives to those who vote differently. I truly believe that most people vote the way they do because, out of love for our country, they take the responsibility for choosing our President seriously.
JL
November 5th, 2012
6:54 pm
Are the riots inside or outside the gates? Will there be popcorn?
cc
November 5th, 2012
7:02 pm
“I truly believe that most people vote the way they do because, out of love for our country,”
Yep, it’s not unusual at all for 97+% of one race of voters to decide that a member of their own race is the best candidate, and vote accordingly “out of love for our country”.
No . . .
Not unusual at all!
Rerun
November 5th, 2012
7:04 pm
Why is it that when the minority in question here does not get their way, the fires start? And why as a society do we accept that?
Serious Robuck
November 5th, 2012
7:10 pm
cc, I hope you have some medication handy for tomorrow night. You’ll need it, I think. By the way, has anyone ever told you you’re a racist?
Woodstock Community Closes Gates To Protect From Civil Unrest, Teens On Lawn
November 5th, 2012
7:11 pm
[...] Jim Galloway has quit pointing fingers at me long enough to make sure we know about this little gem from the New York Times. A gated community near Atlanta has decided to step up security this week. The reason is not burglaries, but another issue entirely: the presidential election. [...]
MITT NEEDED A TELEPROMPTER
November 5th, 2012
7:16 pm
CC SAYS if blacks vote for OBAMA they dont love their country but if we vote for whites then we love our country…lol…that poor racist
cc
November 5th, 2012
7:21 pm
“By the way, has anyone ever told you you’re a racist?”
You can forget the “racist” crap, it doesn’t work on me. Besides, the biggest racist bigots I’ve ever know have been black . . .
But you go ahead and follow the Obama “talking points”. That is exactly what you have been programmed to say.
Idiot . . .
MITT NEEDED A TELEPROMPTER
November 5th, 2012
7:24 pm
cc says blacks who vote for blacks are racist…lol
MITT NEEDED A TELEPROMPTER
November 5th, 2012
7:25 pm
the MORMON MESSIAH will be toast tomorrow as he rifdes back off into the sunset with his weird sons behind him…
Hillbilly D
November 5th, 2012
7:26 pm
Nothing an HOA does would surprise me. Glad I’m not subjected to the rules of one.
Chuck Allison
November 5th, 2012
7:26 pm
It’s just like New Year’s eve. Better to stay home and be safe than sorry. Vote early and get home before dark.
Jeff
November 5th, 2012
7:26 pm
Another backward and embarrassing action putting GA in negative light to the rest of the world. So glad I moved out of Woodstock 16 years ago. Geez!
Jedripit
November 5th, 2012
7:26 pm
Why can’t we ever get it the way we need it, like:
Fearful of Election Day aftermath, a White community in Woodstock will post volunteer armed guards at its gates
MITT NEEDED A TELEPROMPTER
November 5th, 2012
7:27 pm
i’ll be watching the election results from the BLUE FLAME …mmmm chocolate pudding
MITT NEEDED A TELEPROMPTER
November 5th, 2012
7:28 pm
hope WOODSTOCK residents have their robes ironed…nothing worse than wrinkles sheets