Jul 13 2008
Mullen Says He’s Not a Killjoy
I wrote a few weeks back about Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen’s crackdown on outdoor alcohol consumption during special events which has been a tradition in Charleston longer than any of us have been alive. People can no longer take their beer outside with them if they go smoke nor can art goers tour the galleries with their glasses of wine any longer (because we all know what a routy bunch those artsy folks are.) People have started complaining and apparently Mullen’s feelings have been hurt.
Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen wants to set the record straight: He’s not a killjoy, he doesn’t mind if you have a beer and he doesn’t sit up nights wondering how he can snatch wine glasses from the hands of strolling ArtWalk patrons.
Mullen has taken some hits in recent months for a police crackdown on drinking in public. Some folks think the chief is out to strip this thirsty port city of its Southern charm by curtailing tailgating and other forms of outdoor imbibing.
Mullen insists this is all in the name of safety and that the police aren’t making any extra effort to target specific venues. He says he is simply enforcing the law across the board.
Some residents see a big difference between rampaging college kids and well- mannered folks who simply want to drink some suds outside a football game or sip Pinot Noir while admiring art.
They maintain that it is patently unfair to paint everyone with the same brush and chip away at Charleston’s aesthetic charm.
“I think it is ludicrous to go after middle-age, middle-class people walking along Queen Street with a glass of wine on an art walk,” downtown resident Robert Stockton said. “That is not causing crime.”
Stockton recently wrote a letter to the editor of The Post and Courier noting the illustrious role that alcohol has played in Charleston’s storied history, from the copious consumption of rum during colonial times to the creation of Planter’s Punch during the antebellum period.
He also recounted the various failed efforts to control the city’s thirst over the years. Of the recent police crackdown on ArtWalk drinking, he simply stated “How un- Charlestonian.”
Maybe so, Mullen said, but it would be unethical for police to enforce the law with some folks and not others. In other words, what’s good for the guy slugging a forty of malt liquor out of a paper bag must also be applied to the well-heeled wine drinker who likes to march about admiring paintings of marsh scenes.
I completely disagree. Common sense can and should be exercised. ArtWalk drinking, for example, is certainly not a threat to anyone’s safety. I think it’s perfectly acceptable for the city to make common sense exceptions for certain venues.
The police really should be taking their time to concentrate on real problems. 2006 crime statistics ranked Charleston 22nd out of 300 metropolitan areas in rates of violent crime.
