Posted by sLiPpErRy BaLLoNss on June 30, 2007 at 02:41:27:
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. A Burbank mother has expressed her outrage after Toyota Park concert sponsors handed her disabled 12-year-old daughter a goodie bag including condoms and a sex-toy catalogue Sunday.
Pam Richard, 39, says she spent $167 to take her daughters Heather, 12, Crystal, 14, and Hala, 18, to the B96 Summerbash at the Bridgeview stadium.
The trip to see stars including Akon, Rihanna and Hilary Duff perform was intended to be a family celebration of Crystal's eighth-grade graduation.
But the outing was soured during a pre-show performance inside the stadium grounds, Richard said.
"The dancers were handing out CDs, so I went to the front to get one for Heather," she said.
"Heather has a disability similar to Tourette's syndrome, which makes her nervous in crowds and clench her fists when she's excited, so she couldn't ask herself.
"But when I told the dancer she was disabled, he wouldn't give me one.
"I asked again and he handed Heather a pink bag -- when I saw what was inside, I was shocked."
Inside the bag, which was put together by Lisle-based nightclub promotions company Mixmaster Throwdown, were two condoms, a catalogue for the adult store Lover's Lane, an explicit CD titled "Vigina," "Bearly Legal" sun-tan lotion sachets printed with marijuana leaves and a book of gag "sex coupons" entitling the bearer to direct sex videos and other sexual favors.
"I am disgusted they would promote sex and drugs to a 12-year-old," Richard said.
"About 90 percent of the people at the concert were teens and pre-teens -- this was completely inappropriate."
Eric Gorde, of the Lover's Lane marketing department admitted it had been "a mistake" to supply giveaways for the concert.
"I was shocked when I heard about this," he said. "Lover's Lane does have a contract with Mixmaster Throwdown but it is for promotions in nightclubs and other exclusively adult settings. This is a company that takes its reputation very seriously -- we are a romantic store for adult couples. Our material should never have made it into the hands of minors."
Mixmaster Throwdown's director, Dan Morrell, attributed the adult bags being passed out as a mix-up. Morrell said his staff mistakenly grabbed the bags containing the condoms, which were identical to bags meant for the B96 concert that included T-shirts and dance-music CDs.
The bags with the adult items are meant for nightclubs, which represent the bulk of the firm's clients, Morrell said, apologizing to B96 and Richard and her daughter.
"Ultimately I'm responsible. As a single father, it makes me sick to think that those bags can get into the hands of a 12-year-old," he said.
B96's general manager Peter Bowen said only that he was "looking into" the matter.
But Richard, who said she previously only attended one concert, a Bob Seger gig 14 years ago, vowed, "I'm never going back!"
Describing a Sodom and Gomorrah scene of underage drinking, heavy petting and drug smoking, she said, "I had to ask several times for a group of drunk teenagers behind us to be removed, and they just came back 10 minutes later."
Toyota Park spokeswoman Christi Reynolds said the stadium "absolutely does not condone" teenage drinking and that, apart from Richard, nobody else had complained about management of the event.
Mixmaster Throwdown failed to submit the giveaway bags to stadium managers for approval, she said.