The Place Where Ludington Talks
Oktet of Ludington Liquor License Violations, #4 of 8: Green Beer
This article is the fourth of eight articles on the violation of State of Michigan liquor laws by the City of Ludington by submitting knowingly insufficient or false data to the state as regards their application for a special liquor license for a special event. This negligence was compounded by Ludington's Chief of Police Mark Barnett certifying each and every one of these events by signing his approval after 'investigating the application'.
I am not a prude by any means, but there has been a shift away from the Ludington community throwing family-friendly events that can be enjoyed by all members of the public, into a series of special events spotlighting drinking which necessarily exclude parts of the public, often from the public squares and streets of our fair city. New events including the New Year's Eve Ball Drop, St. Patrick's Day beer tents, Oktoberfest, Friday Night Lives (starting this year), Ludington Area Art Council dinner theatres, and other drinking-centered events held outside of our local drinking establishments have popped up since then.
Such changes reflect an organized effort to change the direction of how Ludington is perceived, and one can soberly reflect that this trend does not help that perception. Back ten years ago, you could probably be hard pressed to see a handful of special events with drinks being served by Ludington publicly funded entities in twenty months. But a recent FOIA request to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (DLRA) shows that about 40 events have sought these special permits in the last 20 months.
Does this reflect that the current leadership of our community love to hit the bottle, or that the suppliers of beer, wine and spirit for these special events (who happen to serve as Ludington officials) are out looking for private gain? Not necessarily; but one should begin to question the agenda being covertly set around town. In our goals for representing Ludington as a great tourist destination, do we want to appeal to families or just appeal to the tourist looking for a drinking party?
We can't successfully do both. We should at least make sure our public officials follow the rules however, when they apply for liquor permits.
The fourth violation occurred on this St. Patrick's Day. The custom of imbibing alcohol on St. Patrick's Day comes from an old Irish legend. As the story goes, St. Patrick was served a measure of whiskey that was considerably less than full.
St. Patrick took this as an opportunity to teach a lesson of generosity to the innkeeper. He told the innkeeper that in his cellar resided a monstrous devil who fed on the dishonesty of the innkeeper. In order to banish the devil, the man must change his ways. When St. Patrick returned to the hostelry some time later, he found the owner generously filling the patrons' glasses to overflowing. He returned to the cellar with the innkeeper and found the devil emaciated from the landlord's generosity, and promptly banished the demon, proclaiming thereafter everyone should have a drop of the "hard stuff" on his feast day.
This custom is known as Pota Phadraig or Patrick's Pot. The custom is known as "drowning the shamrock" because it is customary to float a leaf of the plant in the whiskey before downing the shot. So the tradition of drinking (though not to excess) actually pays homage to the Saint the day is named for.
Be that as it may, area taverns normally see some extra patrons that day, but the City's Downtown Ludington Board (DDA) figured getting government involved by putting on an outdoor drinking venue with prizes (paid for by the taxpayers) would get some of that action themselves. Perhaps in the idea that it would bring drinkers from far away to help 'raise the water' for all boats in the harbor so to speak. I cannot say whether that goal was realized, but I can say that the drinkfest they arranged in the North James Plaza to celebrate the Christian Saint Patrick did not get the okay from the Christian churches within 500 ft. of the party.
And the police chief of Ludington Mark Barnett, once again certified that the Community Church was the only religious institution in a 500 ft. radius.
But we know from Oktoberfest parties and New Years Eve events, that there are four more churches within that radius, two to the north
And two to the south:
And so when someone tells you that the outside bar was legit on this last St. Patrick's Day, you'll know it's a lot of blarney. For celebrating this holy day, they only went to one of five churches. The snakes have yet to be driven from Ludington.
View the rest of the series:
Views: 108
© 2024 Created by XLFD.
Powered by
