Newspaper Page Text
Page 8
Flagpole Magazine
November 20 y 1991
And Yet...
Open meetings and open containers
From an Athens /Clarke Police Department news release:
While officers were controlling a large crowd at Clayton
St. and Lumpkin St on October 13, at 0113 hours, a fight al
legedly involving several black and white males was re
ported to officers as occurring Clayton St and College
Avenue. Officers responded to the incident scene and a
subsequent investigation resulted in the arrest of Gerald
Anthony Thomas. Ricky have[sic] suffered a stab wound to
his chest and arm area
In the early morning of Oct. 13. University student Ricky
Lane was stabbed twice in front of the Grill. Many people
were shocked that such a thing could happen in such a
well-populated, well-lit part of town. Others contend that
it was just a matter of time before the crime problems in
Athens were exposed in a manner such as this.
The past few weeks have been tumultuous ones, with a
lot of angry people raising their voices in protest of a what
they see as bad situation that exists in our community.
On the morning of Oct. 13. the issue was Ricky Lane and
his attacker. But in the weeks since, the situation has
sparked public outcry about the open container ordinance,
street vendors, and police enforcement downtown. A lot
of people are angry, and a lot of people are scared. A lot
of people have felt this way for a long time, but it has taken
something as shocking as a stabbing in the middle of
Downtown to raise the issue.
Families against crime
Several weeks ago. the advertisements started appear
ing in local newspapers. Written in bold face letters was the
statement, "Warning! Downtown Athens Is Not Safe!" with
the following text
We have a carnival atmosphere downtown that is out of
control. The number of violent crimes committed Down
town is intolerable Gang activity is on the increase
Demand that your elected officials make Downtown a safe
place to enjoy 1
Brent Lane, treasurer, "Families Against Crime '
In a telephone interview Sunday. Brent Lane, the father
of Ricky Lane, stated that his purpose in placing the ads
was to raise "public awareness" since the government
seems to do nothing about the problem but form study
committees and have work meetings where nothing gets
accomplished
According to Lane, several Athens/Clarke commission
ers want to, “create a ‘carnival atmosphere’ in downtown
Athens they want to make it like Bourbon Street[in New
Orleans]." This is chiefly to blame for the troubles
downtown, in his mind, though he does admit that there isn’t
an individual tangible root of the problem.
Daylight come and we want to go home
On Nov 12, the Athens/Clarke unified government held
a work meeting to hear the public and address the prob
lems downtown The commission chamber was standing
room only with people spilling out into the hallway. Public
comment was heard for over an hour and a half, and then
the commissioners discussed options well into the night.
The commission was set to discuss several possible solu
tions io the crime problems downtown. Among these were
the possibility of a curfew for persons under 18 years ot
age, the feasibility of a mounted patrol, the personnel
Let your opinion be heard!
Cali Your Commissioners
and let them know how you feel!
Tal Mai-549-1349 Charles Carter * 543-9755
Marilyn Farmer • 548-2385 Unny Bailey • 546-9013
Miriam Moore • 548-0329 Hugh Logan' 543-4873
John Barm • 353-6584 Cardee Kilpatrick • 548-2023
Ken Jordan • 549-5435 Tom Chasteen • 549-2655
THE GOVERNMENT IS YOURS
needs of the police department, and the possibility of a new
open container ordinance.
A horse is a horse...
Athens-Clarke Bureau Chief Joseph Lumpkin pro
posed the possible use of a mounted patrol over four
months ago. A mounted policeman theoretically has a
greater range than a foot patrolman, while having more
flexibility of movement than a patrol car But while the
possibility of mounted police in downtown Athens does
make sense in some areas, the logistics of such a unit might
prove difficult The additional cost of buying, training and
keeping a number of horses for police use downtown was
also of great concern to the members of the commission.
The time involved would also not help to alleviate the
immediate problems downtown. Police spokesmen esti
mated that it would take several months to tram both
officers and horses for downtown duty.
Crowd control & police enforcement
One of the chief concerns of the public has been police
presence downtown. The normal police allotment for the
downtown area was four officers in two cars. Since Oct 19,
an alcohol and drug task force has been added to that
In the end, C.E.O. O’Looney
ordered the staff to draft a new
open container ordinance
exempting football games, the
Twilight Criterion and u other
sponsored events.
force. This unit consists of a lieutenant and four officers,
plus one or more undercover officers. This task force is on
the streets Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights form
6:30 p.m. until 3am But is this enough coverage in an area
that can see as many as 1,500 - 2,000 people on an
average night. Many people don't think so. Many of the
public comments, especially those of downtown merchants,
mentioned the need for more police officers in the area
But it's a problem of money, as everything is when you
are dealing with government There is only so much of the
unified government’s funds allocated to the police depart
ment each year. They can only employ so many officers
This may e the most pressing situation When Police Chief
Ronnie Chandler was asked by the commission what his
greatest need for controlling the situation downtown was.
he replied without hesitation, “more personnel"
Commissioner John Barrow expressed a great interest
in special situations — times when the usual downtown
crowd of 1,500 - 2,000 people might expectantly or unex-
pectantly swell to 7,000 - 8,000 people At times like these,
questioned Barrow, what would be the procedure for
bringing in additional officers? And while Chandler and
Wallace outlined this plan concisely, it was still a concern
as to how quickly these men could be reassigned, since
such situations could possibly arise with little or no warning
In response to this, Chandler outlined the plan for
bringing in officers from other zones on nights (like Hallow
een) when a large crowd is expected. How this might affect
these other zones if they were left short-handed would be
a problem solved by calling off - duty officers in to fill these
empty slots for the evening. Though this seemed an
adequate plan for those evenings when a large crowd was
expected, the commission still expressed concern over
those nights when a large crowd was a surprise. All in all,
the consensus was that more officers were needed
The commission seemed in agreement that it would
favorably consider additional police personnel at the tine
of the next budgeting session.
Open containers
Police officials claim that there is a link between the
violence downtown and alcohol consumption, even though
a comparison report prepared by the Police dept, shows
conclusively that violence has decreased, as have the
presence of drugs downtown. In comparison with the first
10 months of 1990, the first 10 of 1991 have seen a
decrease in number of rapes, murders, armed robberies,
aggravated assaults and batteries committed downtown
Still the Police insist that an open container law is neces
sary Using information handed to him by Brent Lane,
Wallace quoted figures over three years old — statistics
that showed the decrease in violent crimes in the year after
the first open container law was put into effect
Police spokesmen were very clear on this point. It would
be much easier to control Downtown with the aid of an open
container ordinance that works. If you will recall, police
officials were among the old open container ordinance’s
mam critics prior to it's repeal last spring. They claimed that
the law was difficult to enforce. Public complaints of selec
tive enforcement were common, but there was little that the
force could do on game days and during special events
with large crowds downtown. In Chief Wallace’s words.
“We need an ordinance that we can enforce."
A new open container ordinance, claimed Wallace,
would work if it exempted, “events [at which it] can’t be
enforced." Since there was such criticism about the lack
of enforcement of the old law at events such as the Twilight
Criterium and the jazz festival, not to mention U G A
football games, the logical choice would be to exempt
these events from the new ordinance.
Commissioner Barrow disagreed, claiming that, "that's
when you need to enforce it." If one purpose of the
ordinance is to limit the amount of litter on the streets of
Athens, then those days when large numbers of people are
congregating in town are the very days that it shouia be
enforced. In Barrow's opinion, an effective open containe"
law would be a "simple one that’s strongly enforced."
And Yet...
Falk continued well into the evening about the techni
calities of enforcing an open container law in moving
vehicles and also considered the sale of alcohol at side
walk restaurants. In the end, C.E.O. O'Looney ordered the
staff to draft a new open container ordinance exempting
football games, the Twilight Criterion and "other sponsored
events." The good news is that it is to include an exception
for the sale of alcohol at sidewalk restaurants. This draft is
to be ready before the commission’s Nov. 19 meeting The
earliest it will be voted on will be at the Dec. 3 meeting
/ do requests If you have an idea of something going
on out there that people should know about, or if you just
think there's something fishy going on, drop me a line c/o
Flagpole. PO Box 1027. Athens GA. 30603 m0vewnd
WUGA
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