Not As Think As You Drunk I Am…
You Want To Go Where Nobody
Knows Your Name
A front-page photo last week helped highlight both the serious and sometimes hilarious side of having a popular entertainment area on North Main Street. The photo showed a man on North Main dancing with his arms out and his posterior in close relationship to the hindquarters of a Police horse. The Mounted Patrol Officer sat stoically astride his horse, watching for trouble in the window of a popular nightspot, unaware of the young male’s inability to distinguish appropriate dance partners.
Not that the horse would have danced with him. After all, the horse was on duty.
I try not to pass judgment on the social habits of others, but I can’t help wondering if the man, whose face is clearly shown in the photo, hasn’t sworn by now to lead a better life. Like all those Congressmen and other elected public officials who get charged with drunk driving. Nothing seems to sober them up faster than being on the front page of a newspaper.
There is also a serious side to this story. Recently, a few of the drinking establishments on Main Street have come under increasing scrutiny by elected officials. Over six months ago, as Councilman for this ward, I called for tougher penalties when a brawl inside one business resulted in injuries to two officers.
This resulted in an increased Police presence on the street. A few months later, a fight, outside of a different establishment was caught on camera. Someone turned the footage over to the City to investigate if the Police had used excessive force. As a courtesy to me as Council President and the representative of the ward, I was allowed to review the film with the City Administrator.
What I saw was a couple of men down on the ground, still struggling with officers. One officer was using a nightstick, but with seemingly appropriate short jabbing thrusts. A woman who was pushed back, then came up behind a Police Officer who turned around and hit her. We played that section several times just to make sure what we saw happening. As it turned out, you could see the woman grab the officer’s belt from behind with two hands. Any of us would have reacted the same way. The officer didn’t know who had grabbed him from behind and if they were trying to get his gun.
What I witnessed were trained professionals trying to deal with a bad situation made worse by too much alcohol. Pour alcohol on a fire or a fight and the result is the same.
What’s happening is nothing new and seems to come in cycles. In my early years on the Council I was almost run out of town by some for daring to threaten the liquor license of a bar on North Second Street. It was the old Bell Tower Bar and I was upset that an underage girl was killed on the sidewalk in front of the establishment.
When I first got on the Council, I was told about a rough bar that burned down in the North End. They had lots of problems with their neighbors who all “saw nothing” the night it was burned. A mysterious fire also leveled the Blue Lounge that used to grace the corner of Fifth and Morgan.
The difference with some of the places we have today, is that these were blue-collar establishments, with an older demographic of local residents. There are many good bars in town that fill that role and still manage to keep the peace. But Main Street today caters to a younger crowd with more money and apparently less need than I did in college to be awake for class in the middle of the week. For some reason, Tuesday night after ten is one of the busier nights.
Not every place on Main Street deserves a bad reputation. There are some great places to enjoy yourself and plenty of great food. St. Charles needs an entertainment district for the people who will be coming to conferences at our multi-million dollar Convention Center and filling local hotels. The most boring place in the Universe, I’m told, is Plano, Texas, where conventioneers go to the local grocery store for the bright lights.
Those who complain about some of our current crop of bars say they are concerned with underage drinking, reports of “girls gone wild” flashing themselves for drinks, dancing on bars and increased acts of violence. I don’t condone underage drinking and we should demand better checks of IDs, but I’m not sure I can tell by just looking how prevalent underage drinking is. I’m at an age now that most of the people going in these places look like they’re around twelve.
What bothers me is violence. Patrons need to feel secure and fights need to be defused quickly before they become general brawls.
I have three major things on my “zero tolerance” list.
First, drive the drug dealers out. They are there and the Police need to get a handle on it ASAP.
Second, establishments need to keep an orderly place of business. The Police need to respond when things are getting out of hand, but owners need to make sure they don’t get out of hand in the first place. They need to know when to cut some people off, identify those prone to violence or getting in shouting matches, separate and/or eject them from two different entrances. If one bouncer or doorman can’t handle the crowds, hire a second or a third. I have no tolerance for violence and situations that put the lives of our Police or innocent patrons at risk.
Third, we should have no tolerance for vandalism to public or private property. Some, when their senses are impaired from too much alcohol, think it’s “fun” to break things or throw glass beer bottles. The increased Police presence has reduced these incidents, but we need to apprehend and prosecute those who destroy property.
It isn’t the bar owners’ fault if individuals make wrong choices. Someone caught urinating in public, for instance, can be dealt with as individuals. Those caught committing acts of vandalism, while their thinking is probably impaired by their drinking, they have to be held personally responsible for their actions.
But we can and should hold owners of bars and bar/restaurants accountable if they fail to control violence, knowingly violate liquor laws, fail to cut-off patrons who need cut-off, or are aware of or tolerate drug sales inside their establishments without notifying the police.
We need the cooperation of responsible business owners. Working together we can make sure that North Main Street is a safe environment for visitors, known for good food, good music and a fun night life. Those owners who can’t or won’t cooperate need to find another line of work or another community.
Finally, here is some sound advice for customers of our Main Street’s entertainment venues who choose to drink. Always drink responsibly. If you do drink…don’t drive. Call a cab. It’s cheaper than losing your license. And never…ever dance with a police horse or the police pink elephant might just follow you home.
