First, all this is a fairly moot point to the thread, because I defended Baldimo for taking the intruder seriously.
kelticwizard wrote:I don't think too many crackheads are still up at 4:30 in the morning. But Baldimo was still right to assume the intruder, who was attemptimg to enter his garage, might be dangerous.
Be that as it may, as long as the issue has been taken up, here goes.
OCCOM BILL wrote:South Florida... and it's not uncommon at all. Some have 5 a.m. licenses, some are just opening up then. If one had the stamina, around here, one could party 24/7 with short walks between establishments. Believe it.
Oh I believe it all right. I checked your coordinates on Google Maps-and your town is or is next to Palm Beach, Fla. Isn't that the place where Ted Kennedy was drinking doubles at 3 in the morning with his nephew William Kennedy Smith the nightSmith brought the girl home and allegedly raped her? Kennedy brought a girl home too. When the story came out the whole country was wondering what this town of Palm Beach was that it had Father & Son pickup bars.
Bill, even you have to admit that is not a typical town.
kelticwizard wrote:Bill, most municipalities and even states have closing hours. Maybe not all states and cities, but most. And they definitely are closed before 3 AM weekdays.
OCCOM BILL wrote:I spent last year running my own bar, which closed at 2:00 a.m. weekdays (Wisconsin State Law)
Thank you.
OCCOM BILL wrote:...and someone was having an after bar party that began shortly thereafter, more often than not.
Who goes to these after bar parties, the employees? If other people are allowed in it must be some kind of unique Wisconsin rule. If your place took advantage of some unique glitch in the law, fine. But in most states and municipalities closed means closed. And if you drive around most towns and cities at 3 AM on a weekday, the bars will be closed.
OCCOM BILL wrote:I've played poker till the sun came up more times than I can count; in games that didn't begin until after bar. It is VERY common for people in the bar business to gather at someone's house to unwind after a night shift. You apparently have no idea how other people live.
Don't break your arm trying to pat yourself on the back, Bub. You're not that unique. I've worked many a second shift, not in the bar business, and I am well aware of the custom of leaving work to hit the bar until closing time then continuing it at someone's place afterward. Very often we had pot there as well. But we were just working people with time to kill after work on a schedule that didn't jibe with the rest of the world. Most people went home after work, and we didn't have an after hours party every weeknight. We also didn't bring along dealers to our after hours meetups to supply us either. In short, we weren't addict/dealers who were likely to break into people's garages at 4:30 in the morning.
OCCOM BILL wrote:Chai was right about Denny's and George Webb restaurants: At 4:30 a.m. you'll find as many late-nighters as you will early risers. Hell, we'd deal a few more hands if only to wait till the better breakfast restaurants opened up at 6:00 a.m
which incidentally is when at least one bar in most small towns re-opens for business, catering to 3rd shifters and "night people" who aren't done yet. Believe it.
I didn't see any evidence of it on the few occasions I've been in a diner at 4:30 on the weekdays. And I really, really didn't see any indications of it when I regualrly went to work a mere hour later. All I saw then were people looking to grab breakfast and get to work.
You know Bill, the things you say might be technically true for your life in your industry in the towns you lived in, but they sure don't add up to a normal picture. So far you've given an example of a bar in a world class city, (Chicago) that was open way late on a Sunday night. Then some unique after hours rule in Wisconsin, and a resort town where people go on vacation. Reading your post, somebody would think that if you drive around the towns and cities of America at 3AM on a weeknight, you would see revelers in bars and at 6AM you'd see the diners with sizable numbers of people still going from the night before.
Well, bunk. If you drive around the neighborhoods of America at 3 AM on a weekday, you're going to see bar after bar locked up tight. Okay, maybe not Palm Beach or similar vacation places, but just about everywhere else. If you go into the diners at 5 AM or after, you'll see a group of people going to work, by and large. And if you leave for work at 4:30 AM on a weekday in most American neighborhoods, you are going to see nobody on the street. That's what you're going to see.
You're in the bar business, you know all the little exceptions, but a group of exceptions do not make the rule.
In this case, since Baldimo has a garage and it is a low crime neighborhood, I am assuming it is a residential neighborhood with front lawn, back yard with grass, and if you walk the streets at 4:30 you are not likely to encounter a crackhead. Are there exceptions? Yes, as I stated before. But crackheads in residential low crime neighborhoods at 4:30 AM on a weekday is the exception and not the rule.
I spent last year running my own bar, which closed at 2:00 a.m. weekdays (Wisconsin State Law) and someone was having an after bar party that began shortly thereafter, more often than not. I've played poker till the sun came up more times than I can count; in games that didn't begin until after bar. It is VERY common for people in the bar business to gather at someone's house to unwind after a night shift. You apparently have no idea how other people live. Chai was right about Denny's and George Webb restaurants: At 4:30 a.m. you'll find as many late-nighters as you will early risers. Hell, we'd deal a few more hands if only to wait till the better breakfast restaurants opened up at 6:00 a.m
which incidentally is when at least one bar in most small towns re-opens for business, catering to 3rd shifters and "night people" who aren't done yet. Believe it.