[KathieK]

We found that rules were being enforced unequally in NJ.

Noisemakers: We left ours at home as we had decided to follow the rules. Imagine our disappointment when several other teams had noisemakers with them on Thursday? On Friday we asked if we could use our party noisemakers (it's our birthday year) and were told that small noisemakers were allowed but that loud ones would not be (Air horns, etc.). There were water bottle drums and air horns being used. By Saturday we had made some empty water bottles into noisemakers and used them.

Food: Prices were awfully high ($4.50 for a pretzel? C'mon!). The venue was VERY hot and dry and most of our team was in need of water. Thursday food was not being allowed. We had two cars with our team and took team members to McDonald's down the street. We made other arrangements for lunches on Friday and Saturday.

FIRST is in a bind because we all understand that they have to abide by the rules of the venue and the prices of the vendors. However, teams are having sponsors cut back on funding at the same time that travel costs are rising. We are holding fundraisers year-round but how many fundraisers can a town support (there are car washes, candy sales, etc. etc. every time you turn around)?

We have a large team and have not moved to the concept of a "travel team" because we want everyone to have the experience of a FIRST competition. But we also went around to our students and made sure they were eating by Saturday because we worried they didn't have enough money with them to be able to buy lunch and dinner!