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Members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club shake hands outside the Boulder City Inn and Suites as they hold their annual convention in Boulder City Saturday, June 23, 2012.
Saturday, June 23, 2012 | 8:05 p.m.
City quiet during Mongols' stay
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KSNV coverage of biker gang Mongols' presence in Boulder City, June 23, 2012.
Boulder City prepares for Mongols
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KSNV reports that Boulder City braces for the Mongols motorcycle club to visit for their national meeting on Saturday, reported on June 22.
Ever since the Mongols Motorcycle Club members rumbled into Boulder City with their tattooed bodies, low-riding motorcycles and black leather vests that declare “Mind your own business,” they have been downright pleasant.
At least that’s what Cindy Ford, owner of Southwest Diner and Restaurant, has noticed.
Ford’s restaurant, Southwest Diner, seems like the last place someone in a motorcycle club that considers itself the “Baddest 1 percenters” would be. It is the definition of quaint, with dolls and flowers along the wall, antique tool decorations and signs that read “Give Thanks” and “The Woman’s Guide to Love and a Lasting Relationship.”
Yet Mongols members have flooded her restaurant with business since they arrived Friday. Ford said they’ve been polite, friendly and great tippers.
“My friend Shirley, who is 80 — she is just the sweetest little lady — came in yesterday,” Ford said. “And a couple (of Mongols) stopped to talk to her. They were just really nice. It was real cute.”
Ford’s restaurant is across the street from Boulder City Inn, the site of this year’s national Mongols meeting. The event has brought more than 300 club members as well as more than 100 police officers waiting to pounce at the first sign of trouble. No one knew what to expect from the gathering.
Some worried it would bring rival clubs like the Hells Angels, inciting a shootout like what occurred at a motorcycle rally in 2002 in Laughlin. Others felt it would bring a big boost to business. Instead, Mike Sitton, a Boulder City resident, said the event, which has been the buzz of the town for two weeks, has been quiet.
“It’s a hummer, a yawner,” Sitton said. “As far as I can tell they’ve barely been downtown.”
The most action since the group’s arrival has involved minor traffic tickets for not using a turn signal and jaywalking.
Instead, many of the Mongols are behaving like, well, tourists. A group purchased ice cream sandwiches from an ice cream truck, others visited local restaurants and many walked around near the hotel. Lee Bennett, owner of Little City Grille, said he thinks they’re enjoying their stay, and went out of his way to make them feel at home with a “Welcome Black and White” sign.
“They’re having a great time,” said Lee Bennett, owner of Little City Grille. “They love the food, they love the atmosphere.”
Still, many locals have stayed home to avoid any trouble with the Mongols. Frank Freer, owner of Frank’s Barber Shop, said almost no locals are outside. His shop is in the heart of downtown, a few blocks from the hotel. Normally he said the sidewalks would be filled with foot traffic, but on Saturday, all he’s seen are a few Mongols and a lot of police officers.
“A lot of (locals) said they’re not going to come up here, they’re just going to stay away,” Freer said. “I’m not going to let it stop me from doing whatever I want to. If I go somewhere and there’s Mongols there, so be it.”
Freer said his business has dropped off dramatically. John Kaposta, manager of Tony’s Pizza and Subs downtown, said his bar and restaurant is usually packed, but on Saturday there were open seats and tables everywhere.
“There’s been a few of our regulars come up, but really the last few days, it’s been three of the slowest days we’ve had,” Freer said.
On Sunday, however, all the excitement will be gone, rumbling out of town the same way it came in. There may not have been a lot of excitement, but Ford said it will give the peaceful, small town a lot to talk about.
“We’ll just be talking about it the whole week,” Ford said. “It’s something for a small town to say, ‘Oh they were here.’”
If Boulder City wants to bring in tourists...finish the road project ASAP. It's a nice town.
"good tippers"....
Like to hear that. Sounds like a nice bunch.
Southwest Diner is the last place they should hang out.She will call the cops
i live here and dont want to go uptown because of the cops way to many were brought in such a waste of taxpayer money theres 2-3 cars on every corner and the bikers look freindly compared to them
Compare: How they acted and the wonderfully tipping, kind, classy lawfull NBA All Star Crowds. A few traffic citations vs. numerous beatings, robberies, shootings, horrid tips and merchant-customer relations! Even during the NBA A.Star Wknd. Chinese New Year was celebrated in Vegas with thousands of asian revelers with nothing of crime to report! Enough said, now just focus on the time spent on them customising their bikes, that's an art in itself !
Many of these guys are honorably discharged Military Vets. too!
"...on Saturday, all he's seen are a few Mongols and a lot of police officers."
Imagine that -- all those cops and nothing to do.
"Indifference to personal liberty is but the precursor of the State's hostility to it." -- United States v. Penn, 647 F.2d 876 (9th Circuit, 1980), Judge Kennedy dissenting
I was at Harrahs when the "big brawl" broke out -
I was sitting on the nickel slots machine with Hells Angels on my left, Mongols on my right - swillin free Budweiser listening to the behemoth bikers jawing about 401K plans, Justin Bieber, the housing bubble, stool-softner, viagra and the roast beef at the buffet table. One of the Mongol's had this annoying ring-tone of Brittany Spears "Oops I did it again" that rang and rang - The bearded 1%er kept saying, "Yes dear -sorry, love you, be home soon, milk, bread, eggs, pot."
Suddenly there's a ruckus over at the dollar BJ table and I see Angels and Mongols all throwing those windmill-punches with their eyes closed - a shot rings out, and it's a huge wall of denim & leather - stealing chips off the tables, grabbing granny purses off the backs of chairs as they headed for the exit! Bikers speed-dialing 9-11 hysterically telling the dispatcher -Hoooraws Casino Now!" Bikers were falling over chairs trying to get their Players Club cards out of the machines - Angels and Mongols hiding in the SAME stall in the Mens room waiting for the cops to arrive!
By this time, I had seen enough - and I remember the dank smell of urine and gunsmoke wafting through the air as I grabbed two leather jackets off the casino floor - One Mongols - and one Hells Angels. I put on the Angles jacket, climbed in my Volvo 240D (with the faded Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker) and headed back to Vegas.
I sold the Mongols Jacket on EBay for $267 bucks - which is exactly the amount of credits I left on that nickel machine.
You know what? These folks are just regular people like the rest of us, except they're bikers. I'm a biker, too. Sometimes when my husband & I ride into towns, we get treated like BS cause we're on 2 wheels. DO NOT JUDGE ON WHAT YOU SEE. Some of the nicest people we know wear "colors" on their backs. Oh, by the way.......they ARE tourists. They chose BC and did the right thing by letting them know they were coming. I would say that was downright GRACIOUS of them considering what the club has been through in the last years. Lets just FORGET about Laughlin. End of story
Cops are doing all they can to instigate something.
From the photos it looks like the bikers are all 30+ with a good amount in their forties. How are they some kind of threat? At the most they are shriners with attitude.
I agree there are a ton of cops here, mostly from Vegas with a bunch of 21 yr old cadets. You also have to ask the question if there would be trouble if the police presence was less.
A few hundred folks who own Hogs get together and they're called a 'gang'. PFFT!! The proper term is 'club', thank you very much. We have 15,000 known gang members here in the valley alone. These biker clubs have rallies that raise some serious coin for organizations like the American Cancer Society. I never saw any 'gang' do that before. Leave these folks alone, they're just regular joes and janes..like US.
Find it interesting all the posts about the "cops" over reacting and to many of them there.
If nothing happens, people complain because the department was there. If they are not there and something happens there would be the same number of posts complaining about the police not doing their jobs.
Think about it, who really wants that job since they can't make any of you happy no matter what they do?
You get what you ask for folks.
All quiet in Boulder..as there's a double shooting in North Las Vegas. Priorities. It's not the motorcycle "gang" that's the problem but the gangs in North Las Vegas causing mayhem and destruction every single day.
Double D-- are you for real ?????? Yer livin' in
a fantasy world. I'll bet you really believe the spew comin' outta' your mouth. Try writing some fiction books.
There was only one real near-biker.....Hunter S.
Thompson.......... and you are NOT him.
I dont think Double D can get out of his chair in the trailer. i been waiting all day for him to crash the mongol party, like he said he would do he never showed.
@Doubledown
"I was at Harrahs when the "big brawl" broke out -
I was sitting on the nickel slots machine with Hells Angels on my left, Mongols on my right - swillin free Budweiser listening to the behemoth bikers jawing about 401K plans, Justin Bieber...
Justin Bieber eh? He was 7 years old during the 2002 brawl and no one even knew who he was then. I find it funny that somehow the Mongols and HA's knew about Justin before the rest of the world as Biebs only came to be known in 2008.
Care to revise your BS story.
Kerry Edwards was in 2004 -
Never was much for that "book learnin"