Chris Hollenbeck

From the Bangor Daily News, Saturday/Sunday July 27-28, 2002, A1

Bay State senior center clamps down on unruly bingo players

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STOUGHTON, Mass. –
Senior citizens unhappy with new rules on weekly bingo games are getting out of control, the town’s council-on-aging director says.

A police officer was stationed at the town’s senior center for last Tuesday’s game after director Christine Quinn told Stoughton selectmen that the situation is “potentially unsafe.”

Quinn said she’s been poked and pushed twice by seniors who are angry with the new regulations that prohibit seat saving, moving furniture and aggressive behavior.

Before the new regulations, seniors would claim tables at 8:30 a.m. for the 1 p.m. game, and many would rush the dining room at 11:30 a.m. while others were eating, Quinn said.

“The crowd was so unruly, I couldn’t even control them,” Quinn told the Patriot-Ledger of Quincy. “I was trying to control a group of 90 irate elders.”

New rules announced this month restricted entry before 12:30 p.m. and the number of players would be limited to 75. Seniors also must show identification to keep nonresidents from taking up seats.

Players were angry.

“Bingo is a very social thing,” Florence Stearns told the newspaper. “People come early. They like to sit in the same seats. They like to sit with the same people.”

Quinn wrote to the Board of Selectmen, calling the scene “potentially unsafe” and saying the crowd has become “increasingly unmanageable and intimidating.” She said she was poked and pushed at two games this month in protest of the rules, but did not see which players did it.

Quinn requested the police officer for last week’s game. There were no incidents.