for all of you who assumed things that you did not have first hand experiences with let me say:
mardi gras was very tame and civilized this year. There was not a large presence of african americans from new orleans that i could see and there was virtually no disruption of the level of civil order that can be expected at a mardi gras event. There were many familys present and the racial make up this year was about 50% white, 30% hispanic, 15% black,5%other, as it is every year. I noticed that there was a large amount of high school students this year either in groups or with their familys. The crowd wasnt as large as in years past and the people werent nearly as drunk or party oriented as im used to. Honestly, overall it was smaller and more boring than i would have liked. I can say however that many local law enforcement agencies came together to give outstanding protection and detered anything illegal that might have happened otherwise. Chevy22 (andrew) was a notable example.
P.S. Andrew, i decided go home after mardi gras on sat, instead of going to crystal beach, i was tired and didnt feel like sleeping on the zoo again. i had a great time and im going to have to catch up with you again sometime this summer when i go back to the beach. Ive really miss galveston since i came to huntsville.