Spank my peepee!

Screen Shot 2015-03-04 at 7.40.28 AMClick on the photo to check out the most recent Victorian episode in the Raj — I mean Anchorage, Alaska.  “Come now!”, you say, every civilized society frowns on the sale of intoxicants to the intoxicated. That may well be the case, but it is NOT what is in issue here.

From the ADN article:

Thompson said she took steps and spent money to comply with the council’s requests.

“They asked us to upgrade our security camera system. We did that. They asked me to work with (APD officer Sally Jones) to come up with ideas for better lighting, so we did that,” she said.

At the same time, starting in October 2013, Anchorage police were gathering surveillance footage of Spirits of Alaska to document the kind of behavior residents were complaining about.

They edited the footage into a kind of supercut that shows, condensed, what Gilliam says is the problem: “Apparent drug deals. Assaults. Straw purchases — where individuals buy alcohol and sell it to drunk individuals. An allegation that one clerk is working in conjunction with a known drug dealer … People have difficulty getting up. People standing on corner drinking. Female employee leaving with a known drug dealer. Guy smoking crack. Public defecation on south side of building …” he said.

Gilliam says it is clear to him that Spirits of Alaska is selling largely to street alcoholics.

In other words, as was the case with the hysteria promoted by the “liberal” East side Assemblyman, Paul Honeman, this is not about stopping the sale of alcohol to the inebriated, but about stopping the sale of alcohol to people who drink. I understand that there may be some of my readers, as few as you are, who cannot fathom the difference; this is for you.

Anchorage is aflame!  We have public drunks! And the bright lights of Anchorage, living as they do in the seat of universal logic, have determined that the best way to rid the community of public drunks, is to shut down liquor stores that sell booze to the poor, unimportant, people. Think of it as a modern day equivalent to Henry Anslinger‘s 1930’s attempts to stop crime in its tracks by shutting down the Negro scourges of jazz and marijuana (oh, wait, that was before we became a “post-racial” society, so that was OK!) Apparently either rich important people aren’t drunks (well, we know THAT’S not the case) or we don’t care that you are driving around looped to the gills, as long as we don’t see you (and please watch out for those little bundles of flowers along side the roads). And therein lies our tale. But I am getting ahead of myself.

DRUGS! BENGHAZI! DRUGS!  I mean, associating with a known drug dealer! THAT is certainly not Constitutionally protected!  But what about consuming an intoxicant while not intoxicated in a public place? Well THAT is unlawful AMC 8.35.400, and THAT is not the responsibility of the Alcohol Beverage Control Board; that is the responsibility of the very same Anchorage Police Department that has been the target of attacks by the Mayor and is seriously undermanned and underfunded. So what have the Assembly done? Of course, they gave them more to do – now they have to write $100 tickets for public pot smoking (of COURSE they still need pot sniffing dogs!) As one can see from reviewing Anchorage’s alcohol ordinances, the licensee is NOT responsible for any conduct off the licensed premises, and is subject to a very clear standard of care.  Nor is there anything in the story which suggests that the licensee has not met her duty.

These efforts are cut from the same cloth as Honeman’s past efforts, which were based upon the premises that as homeless people rarely have ID in their possession, requiring people to show ID would keep homeless people from buying booze. I argued it was an indirect attack that could not stand constitutional scrutiny; the local ACLU was fine with it (apparently the ACLU folk did not want scruffy street people living near their homes…  Go figure.) In other words, if we don’t want dogs in town, we raise the price of dog feed to $500/bag and require that the feed be purchased by someone wearing $1000 pumps — problem solved because now, though we still have dogs, the dogs are well groomed.

So, let me ask you, Ms. Demoski,  if I publicly urinate in front of your house, are you going to organize a protest to make water fountains illegal? If I think you are a bit overweight, should I raise the price of food at all the stores you can shop at?

 

One comment on “Spank my peepee!

  1. D. Lee says:

    I just ran across your page I find it fascinating.

    I had just made a comment on the article. Wanted to share.

    Continue engaging us to think.
    Alexandria Sassafras commented on a link.
    9 hrs · Edited ·
    Baffling to read peoples point of view on this situation.

    Some seem to think closing down Spirits is going to be the cure all for the Fairview neighborhood.

    Quick visual.

    Turning from 3rd Ave, unto Gambell thats a task in itself.

    Dodging hoards of people; the random walkers, to the ones that decide at the 25th hour, that my vehicles breaks are working and let’s play jump in the street.

    Screech

    We make it to 12th Ave. Spirits Liquor. As you get out of the car look directly across the street from Spirits its a bar. 2 blocks up is another high traffic liquor store. Now, go a few feet, 1 more block to be percise its another bar. Then look ahead across the alley is another bar.

    Ooooh, but wait!

    Go thru the light that leads to midtown to accidentally fall into a seedy strip club.

    Sure theirs some logical reasoning behind all of this. I’m sure it makes sense to the picketers or it even helps them sleep better at night, because you feel as if you’ve done some type of civil service for your neighborhood.

    Wrong.

    Try this on

    ABC board hasn’t been in the Spirit store since 2012?

    YIKES!

    Where else haven’t they visited? I believe the gentlemen that has orchestrated the wrongly placed witchhunt said, If someone ‘else’ were doing their part, yada, yada, yada.

    Let’s picket the ABC board next. They need it.

    Why is that no one has felt compeled to start an actual neighborhood watch. Maybe some type of surveillance squad, community patrol, one alsoncould possibly find a actual project manager that will work towards a ultimate goal of working with all businesses on Gambell to collectively plan, and cohesively as a community unit, extinguish preventable crimes.

    Or maybe

    Ask the cops why they seem to never be at/in the substation. It’s connected to the building that houses a problem store.

    Is there I safe house anywhere?

    Can we picket them too?

    Or maybe ask them

    Why is it, they, the cops; facilitators of the law, right? Sit back and watch a lot of this unlawful activity. From the prostitution, to drug sales, car hopping, knife pulling, lugy spitfiring, debauchery that is a nonstop at each establishment on Gambell.

    The cops that witness most of the whats happening, to them driving off leaving us, the underpaid, undertrained individuals to deal with they that are on the brink, or just came back from a psychotic break, with homicidal tendencies, and suicidal ideation.

    The very diverse group of Alaskans’. The inhabitants

    The inhibrates.

    What about the Brother Francis Shelter!?!

    Maybe if they had a better handle on crowd control all the way on 3rd, it could help with the issues on 12th.

    Is that not your intended overall concern?

    Really ask yourself….
    Am I going to be apart of a continuous problem of shifting blame.

    The endless cycle of chasing ones tail, or am I to be the change I want see. By veering my energy to where its needed most-Getting answers and a viable solution to our community.

Leave a Reply

Connect with:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *