Friday, April 21, 2006

Father Knows Best

I am playing the part of a kid who wants to get married to the oldest daughter.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Eagle-Tribune -- April 4, 2006

There has been a lot of violence in area nighclubs so I wrote this that appears in today's Eagle-Tribune:


Punish clubs that break the rules

I respectfully disagree with The Eagle-Tribune's opinion about closing all Lawrence bars and nightclubs early.

While it is obvious that violence is a problem and I certainly agree that something needs to be done, I do not feel that shutting down everything early is the solution. In fact it is quite unfair to the majority of bars and nightclubs that are consistently trouble-free and it effectively punishes the patrons of such establishments.

In the spirit of everyone being innocent until proven guilty, it makes much more sense to me to go with the preference of the Licensing Board and determine early closing times on a case-by-case basis for the so-called "problem" nightclubs.

If this can't be easily accomplished through their licensing and regulation, then it can be up to the discretion of police officers working inside of the bars and nightclubs — the officers should be able to shut down someplace early if and when they deem it to be unsafe or dangerous. I might even go so far as to say that some of these "problem" nightclubs may still be "problems" whether they close at 11 p.m. or 12 a.m. or 1 a.m., but the police on scene can make that determination as needed.

It may not be the best solution, but I do feel it is more practical than penalizing or punishing everyone in town for the bad actions of a few people at a few places. It is definitely much better than doing nothing at all.

DAVID STRUFFOLINO