I hope you had your fun — it sure looked like you did. You pelted the police, destroyed property, nearly — if not actually by now — killed a man and you embarrassed both my hometown and my university. What sickens me most is that I know you will not take responsibility and will feel no guilt. Those who participated in the violence will say, “C’mon, everyone was doing it,” and those who cheered it on — the THOUSANDS of you — will say, “Hey, WE didn’t do it.” You are to blame. Not “them.” I’m talking about “you.”

But whatever, I’m sure you’ll hear a lot of this. Here’s what you won’t hear about. By getting Veishea canceled, rightfully I might add, you didn’t just ruin the parties, you didn’t just ruin the shows, you didn’t just ruin the fun. The parades, the pies, the demonstrations, the hours of work that went into rehearsing “Into the Woods”; someone will tell you about that, and I in no way mean to undermine those efforts. But you ruined a whole lot more than that: you wrecked a good portion of the Ames economy.

I work for Jimmy John’s — not the Welch one, but one by the same owner. In preparation for what might have made $100,000 in sales for the Welch location alone, all five of the stores were put to work slicing cheese and meats, baking bread, preparing vegetables and everything else that goes into the busiest week of the year. I am not happy to see that work go to waste, but the money lost seems even worse. I don’t have the exact amount handy, but I can only assume that the company I work for lost well into the thousands from ordering food that will now go to waste and missed out on tens of thousands in revenue because the money spent on prepped food cannot be returned and it will soon spoil.

This undoubtedly is true for each and every campus vendor. Every restaurant ordered goods they can no longer use. Every bar scheduled shifts that they will now have to reschedule. Rick Lem of Toons, along with other advertising companies I will neglect to mention, printed papers that will now go to waste. Every bartender, delivery driver and server missed out on hundreds of dollars in tips, and every business owner missed out on thousands, because on Tuesday, Veishea was all about YOU.

This letter does not begin to do justice for what you ruined by your sociopathic, disgusting behavior, and I surely left out group after group that is also being screwed over. But hey, maybe this short rant will provide a few hard workers with some much needed justice.