Racial profiling concerns halt council meeting on troubled bar

Friday, Aug. 4, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.

Squiggy's Bar is a small, smoky joint with three pool tables, a jukebox and a security lock that requires patrons to press a buzzer for entry.

Most bars don't make it difficult for customers to enter. But then most bars don't need the police 260 times in 15 months.

Las Vegas alleges that Danny Piper and Joseph Bunch, owners of the bar, have fostered an unsafe environment at the tavern, which has become notorious for robberies, stabbings and a killing.

At Wednesday's City Council meeting, proceedings were under way for an agreement under which the owners would be given six months to sell or transfer the tavern's liquor and gaming licenses - or have them revoked.

Then the discussion came to an abrupt halt.

City Councilman Lawrence Weekly, the only black member on the council, objected to conditions in the agreement. For instance, patrons wearing gang colors would be denied entry. And the jukebox would be silenced because certain styles of music - hip-hop music was not named, but implied - supposedly excite the crowd.

Weekly thought the conditions sounded like racial profiling.

"I've really never been this uncomfortable on this council about an item," Weekly said. "What we're talking about today is how are you going to address your Hispanic and African-American clientele that walks into Squiggy's?"

Squiggy's is located in a strip mall in the 500 block of South Martin Luther King Boulevard, surrounded by other small businesses. The inside is dark and smells like cigarettes and beer, with video poker terminals lining the bar. Early Thursday afternoon, its clientele consisted of a few multiracial patrons.

Outside, a pay phone is mounted on the wall. T wo Metro officers handcuffed a man using the phone, searched his duffel bag and stuck him in the back of a patrol car.

The sight is common at Squiggy's. From January 2005 through March 31 of this year, police were called to the bar 260 times.

According to the city attorney's complaint for disciplinary action, the bar has racked up quite a rap sheet:

Capt. Gary Schofield of Metro's Bolden Area Command said no other bar in his district causes as many problems.

"Any time you have a place that has a lot of homicides and beatings and robberies going on, that's not normal," Schofield said. "Whatever the clientele is, they seem to like to shoot and rob and beat each other, in that area and the vicinity."

Mayor Oscar Goodman recused himself from Wednesday's discussion about Squiggy's because of his friendship with Piper and Bunch, owners of the bar.

"I really don't think I can be fair on this one," Goodman said.

Deputy City Attorney William Henry negotiated an agreement with the owners and their attorney, John Shannon, calling for the transfer or sale of Squiggy's gaming and liquor licenses within six months. If the licenses are not sold or transferred, Squiggy's would lose them.

Shannon and the owners declined to comment for this story.

City officials said two or three establishments a year lose their licenses.

Over the next six months, various conditions would be imposed on the bar, including those calling for shutting off the jukebox and not allowing colors associated with street gangs. The bar also would pay a $20,000 fine, hire security, refuse patrons under age 25 and make last call at midnight. Now, the bar is open 24 hours a day.

Objecting to some of the conditions, Weekly said the bar's owners need to take full responsibility for their establishment and should have the discretion to address anyone who acts inappropriately.

It's "discriminatory practice and borderline racist" to single out patrons just because they're wearing gang colors such as red or blue, he said.

"It's just not a cool feeling," Weekly said. "If I want to put on a Boston Red Sox hat, that should be my business. I shouldn't be profiled."

In an interview Thursday, Councilman Larry Brown echoed Weekly's concerns.

"Councilman Weekly was right - they started targeting a demographic or customer that wasn't addressing the overall issue," Brown said. "That's certainly not consistent with what we normally do."

The item was tabled until Aug. 16. By then, Weekly said, he wants to meet with the parties to come up with an alternate agreement that improves the business without raising the issue of racial profiling.