Cracking down on tailgating at The Joe
For centuries, Charleston's image has been the very portrait of Southern charms - moonlight, magnolias and mint juleps.
Well, at least we still have the moonlight and magnolias.
In the last year, Charleston police have cracked down on drinking in public. You can't take your beer on the sidewalk in front of A.C.'s when you need a smoke, or stand on the corner with a cold one on a Saturday night. And the days when you could walk The Battery on a warm summer evening with a cool glass of wine are gone with the wind.
Better keep your rum punch on the porch.
Last year, police curtailed tailgating at Citadel football games. Since then, they have turned the annual downtown art walk into a staggered event - you can't carry your wine from one gallery to the next. And now, police say Dave Matthews fans won't be able to grill out or sit on their cars drinking beer in public parking lots before the band's July Fourth show at Riley Park.
Police Chief Greg Mullen has talked to a lot of groups about this in recent months, explaining that it's all about risk management - the police department's responsibility to keep people safe and abiding the law.
He says he intends to enforce the law equally, uptown and downtown.
"I think most people probably don't like it, but some of these same folks want us to enforce those laws against other people," Mullen said. "We can't look the other way for one group. It puts our officers in a tough position. It's not about The Citadel, it's not about the art walk, it's not about Dave Matthews. It's about taking our responsibility seriously."
Read more in tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier.
E-mail this story
Printer-friendly version
Comments
LocalTruth (anonymous) says...
This is just one more example of local government taking the fun out of life. I bet you i can go in the hood, drink and deal all day long, and never get caught. See if the old Charlestonian dignitaries get arrested on St. Patricks day walking down the street on parade with green beer in hand. If you really have the courage to mention equal enforcement, then you have to explain why you do not arrest illegal aliens illegally assembling downtown protesting why they should be able to take over our country. An officer once told me during a traffic stop years ago "son, ignorance of the law is no excuse." If i were Chief of police, the first thing i would do is have NONSTOP patrols with ALL of my assets 24 hrs a day in all of the areas where they are dealing, robbing, and killing. I would not care about outcry from citizens because they are they same citizens that never drop a dime on anyone and DO NOTHING to get rid of the losers. I would pull a Riley and work the media as long as it took until they gave up. I would have the strength to not care about people being offended. I would push these animals out of my city until they found themselves either hitchhiking near the Francis Marion Forest or signaling the coast guard 40 miles offshore. And then i would be able to focus on some "mayberry" laws since my priorities were finally in order. The real criminals are killing us in Charleston and it seems the Chief is more concerned about tailgaters and wine tasters? Are you kidding me? We pay the chief to "get it right" I want my money back. By the way, i will not be spending my money in the city of Charleston anytime soon. Atleast not for Dave Matthews.Oh and Dave, i can think of an excellent location to dump that sewage from your bus! Direcly across from the Joe Riley Stadium. Just look right down the 3rd base line.
June 21, 2008 at 12:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
forget (anonymous) says...
There's a house in my neighborhood that the occupants have been dealing out of for 2 years. The police have been called by various different people. They were even called by an undercover narcotics agent that lived on the street. (not in his jurisdiction) He gave them his name, what county he worked for, his commanding officer, etc. then proceeded to tell them what he watched. Fast forward to this weekend - cars ride up outside the house, they run up there, do the high-five thing twice, then they move on. They have a cooler set up out there and they drink and carry on waiting for their next drive up customer. This goes on every weekend. So, if you want to tailgate, come on up to Summerville. It's an every weekend thing.
June 21, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
letstakeawalk (anonymous) says...
@Forget:
Either The problem is worse than we realize, or you and I are neighbors. There's a house down the street where the "slangers" hang out 24hrs, drinking on the sidewalks. That might be my brother-in-law you mentioned - as a narc agent he was rather uncomfortable parking his car on the same street, and then being watched by the very criminals he dealt with undercover as he came into the house (he was dating my sister at that time). Cops ride by all the time, but they never stop.
Oh, wait; I just noticed you're in S'ville while I'm Downtown. I guess the problem IS worse... which is precisely why the LEOs should be focusing on frat boys at concerts and High Society types at art walks: Those tickets MAKE money, whereas locking up criminals COSTS money. Simple economics.
June 21, 2008 at 1:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jammanofdi (anonymous) says...
After reading this article, I couldn't wait to post on this one - until I read comments that are the same as mine.
"We can't look the other way for one group."
I've driven past the same strip of stores on meeting street - right across from the updated Piggly Wiggly for years and always have noticed the same good upstanding citizens standing around, brown bags in hand. Not once have I ever seen one cop do anything about them. And it's not that there are no cops present, or that they don't notice - they'd just rather look the other way. I'll remember the "we can't look the other way for one group." statement the next time I see cops hassling someone for taking their drink when they go smoke outside a club down here. What a bunch of hypocrites...
June 21, 2008 at 2:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bigwhip (anonymous) says...
Public safty over crime. What a different way to look at law enforcement. A waste of crime deterring manpower at best. I bet there will not be a drop in moving violations. Can you play poker in Charleston? King Mullen and his party nazis.
June 21, 2008 at 3:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kerwin1959 (anonymous) says...
So, let me get this straight...I can put my bottle of Boone's Farm strawberry vino in a brown bag, loiter, rape coeds and sell drugs on the corner, snort and sell my coke SOB. But I can't have a beer in a blue plastic cup while I'm enjoying the fireworks, music or baseball, minding my own business, unless I'm indigent, black or an illegal immigrant?
Has anyone considered having King Joe and his cronies declared mentally incompetent? Things are getting out of hand! What do we do?!?
June 22, 2008 at 12:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Postandcourier.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Postandcourier.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.
Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by signing up!
Full terms and conditions can be read here.