xiane | Law Enforcement vs. Witches Brew Coffeeshop.

So many things are wrong with the attitude of the police in that town. Small town police come in two types. Nice ones that want to do the right thing and bitter ones that feel that policing a small town should be done with an iron fist. Often they have been turned down by big city police forces, state and federal agencies and have had to settle for the small town much to the small towns detriment.

I hope more outraged citizen complain about the strong arm tactics.

I think a few really bad [prejudiced] apples are spoiling the whole bunch. One of the real problems there is one I've experienced a bit since moving south - there's a strong "Christian"* movement here, and those people seem inclined to make trouble for anything that doesn't fit into their ideology. They use that as a mask for making themselves feel more holy, more righteous-than-thou. That means that Witches Brew gets a lot of flack from certain aspects of the community. [unfortunately that seems to include some of the cops there!]
Then you have the other half of the town, the people who are trying to move the town to a more "enlightened" point of view - of course that includes a lot of the kids that hang out at The Brew, and often their parents, too. They are the ones who need the most to step up and speak their minds loudly, because without that, The Brew will fall.
I know that Kym and her business partner have had a really tough time with some people in that town. I thought they were particularly brave to step up and say "No, we won't hide being pagan and having a business that declares it loudly. No, we won't stop offering events that welcome the teenagers of the town to participate, because otherwise, where will they go? No, we won't stop featuring music and other events that don't appeal to a certain aspect of this town, because you aren't ALL of the town."

They are brave folk, and I support their work completely.

* "Christians" in this case represents those mealy-mouthed types that love spewing scripture when it suits them, to make their point, yet don't live their religion. They give a bad name to real Christians. [just wanted to make it clear I'm not bashing the good god-folk, I know a lot of them and I feel really bad that they have to deal with this, too.]

It is not the kids that are in plain sight that are the problem.

The People that scream about "Christianity" the loudest are most often the people that are the least christian. That makes the police attitude seem even worse. It adds bigotry to the stupidity.

I will stop here before I get on my Constitutional and Bill of Rights soap box.

I think you and I are on the same page here. And don't worry about soapboxing, I climbed up earlier with this whole Lincolnton cops/Witches Brew debacle. :)

I never added you when you friended me, because I didn't know you. I'm going to rectify that now; I'm really glad you commented to this post. You'll be able to see a lot of other posts that I make here, as I post a *lot* as friends only.

I also think we are on the same page. Many years ago I was in the video and pinball arcade business. I specialized in opening new store locations. I worked in a lot of small towns in VA, MD, PA, WV and NJ. What was said about respect was true in all the small towns I was in. If you treated the youth with respect they respected you back. The good kids did not want the few bad apples to ruin the only form of entertainment that many of them had outside the home. We normally had one confrontation with the macho alpha type and if you did not let them get away with shit but told them the rules in a respectful way we never had trouble again.

It worked the other way as well. If you gave them an inch they would take a mile. Little things like seeing a kid toss a empty drink can on the ground in the parking lot and not saying anything would be an invitation to let them see how much they could get away with. Those were a very small minority of the kids. Most were polite and respectful.

It was very hard to pick the permanent location staff for these arcades. It had to be people that were local but had not been significantly bullied in school. The manager was not much of a problem, but the assistants and the parts timers were the vulnerable ones. They also had to show respect to the kids, have the respect of the kids and not be intimidated. The staff was only as strong as the weakest employee.

Your friend seems to fully understand this based on the post. In this case the lack of respect is not from the store owners it is from the police.

Dashboard cameras were put in patrol cars as much to reduce police abuse as much as to document DUI arrests. I wonder if the officers would behave differently if they knew they were being filmed.

One other thought on this. My wife and I worked EMS for over 23 combined years. We often shared meals with Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) from many different jurisdictions (small towns, university security, state police, county sheriff, etc). Almost all these men and women had the same attitude as did most of the older EMS personnel. The best shift was a quiet shift, NO CALLS. We had a few people at EMS and there were a few LEOs that were not happy unless they were up to their elbows in blood or for the LEOs arresting someone. Those few LEOs give the rest a bad name.

I do not remember for sure how I came across your journal. I think it is when I was looking for alternative forms of entertainment for our house guest. She was having problems meeting nice guys in Baltimore night spots.

evilcresyluna pointed me at a long list of alternative sites in Baltimore for Robin (our house guest) to check out. I think your journal was one of those sites. I added it because you were planning a spread the good will day by dressing as a pixie. It seemed like a great idea.

Thank you for adding me. Many of the friends posts in my journal deal with the personal relations of the people around me and me being outraged when someone trespasses against them. Or acts in a bigoted way towards redheads in general (I am not a redhead, but many of my friends are).

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I'd be pretty pissed if I was walking from one business to another in the same block and was hassled just for that. This sort of baseless harassment has been going on for some time in front of Witches Brew. As far as I can see, she didn't do a single thing wrong.
This stuff happens there every weekend. It doesn't bother me if the cops fuss at the kids for blocking the sidewalk, etc. But when they start hassling patrons that are just doing the sorts of things that regular pedestrians do, such as stop to pick up their kids' dropped toys - there's a serious problem. I'd be pissed, too. And I would definitely make a big deal out of it. That's the only way that things are going to change there.

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So it is best to allow this kind of behavior to continue unchecked? The officer in question appears to have given grounds for a harrassment charge.

A badge does not give carte blanche, it is supposed to carry a certain amount of trust and respect which this officer has now put into question.

She appeared to be in the process of picking up toys, which apparently was not good enough for said officer who was "Out to make an example" by another officer's statement. How long till he steps over another line? How many more people will make excuses? I have had friends who have been physically attacked and I myself have been threatened by local authorities over the years, I have a high regard for police officers who do their job, less for those who abuse it to compensate for ego problems.

A citizen has every right to question, as much as we have the right to an attorney and the right against unreasonable search and seizure.

A citizen has every right to question, as much as we have the right to an attorney and the right against unreasonable search and seizure.

Agreed.

What gets me is that it is obviously not *all* the officers in Lincolnton, just a few - one of which is in a position of leadership. They don't like the kids, they don't like the owners of Witches Brew - I guess it is easier than going after any *actual* crime there. :P

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I don't disagree that I would have handled myself differently. This was written after the fact, possibly while still pretty angry. However, her retorts - which I feel were fairly mild, considering - came *after* the cop was utterly unprofessional and provoking. Do I think that having a retort in that situation was constructive? Resonable behaviour was thrown out the window long ago with the way cops handle the patrons at that business. Again, I've seen it happen, so I know that the story's bones aren't trumped up. I don't know how cool she was, because I wasn't there, but most people have a difficult time keeping their cool when being harrassed - especially when it comes out of the blue.

I think that you make some assumptions in your statements that can't be proven or disproven. People are getting harrassed there that are definitely not of the mallrat contingent. Like I said, I've seen it, I've also heard stories from perfectly credible adults there. The point for me wasn't her story as much as it is that Witches Brew's customers are getting hassled because that's a convenient way to undercut their livelihood. I got sidetracked but I want to bring things back around to that. They are the ONLY business that has cops in front every weekend, bothering the customers when they're doing perfectly reasonable things. I don't want to see Witches Brew fall prey to predjudice because some people with some power don't like the owners' religion and policies.

I agree that MySpace and LiveJournal complaints don't solve problems. What they *can* do is draw attention to the problems, though. Kym posted the original post because that's how she keeps in contact with her customers. I talked about it because I care about the business and it bothers me to see them discriminated against because of their religious affiliation. I go there as often as I can so that I can support them. Some of my other NC friends might do the same now, because I posted about it. It isn't much but it doesn't take much to type this out, either.

Volunteering is awesome and I recommend it highly to everyone. I've gotten a lot out of it. Standing up for people like Kym and Witches Brew who are getting shat on by some of the law enforcement in their town, even if it's just pointing out the problem to other people, is also awesome and I recommend it to everyone.

I don't think I'm a knee-jerk type of person. If I hadn't seen this sort of thing happen there already, I wouldn't have mentioned it here at all. I'm not telling anyone to *do* anything. I just said that it made me angry. I don't envy Kym and her partner's position at all, but I admire that they're willing to stand up and try to make a place for themselves in their town, even if that draws ire.

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Sometimes being the bigger person can really help matters, especially when it is impossible for whatever reason to beat antagonists at their own game. Stooping to (or below) the level of an obvious bully rarely does.

I totally agree with this. [although sometimes a bully needs a punch in the face, this was NOT the time! Eeek!]

More than anything, tonight I am GRUMPY [see next post] and fussy. I really like debating with you, though, even when I'm grumpy. It is good to have you to bounce throughts against, because we agree on some things and see others very differently [yet can understand each others' points] - thank you!

She questioned the officer in a confrontational tone
I dunno. We have no way of knowing what tone she used, we weren't there.

However, if I felt that I was being unfairly "pushed around" by cops or anyone I'd at least ask them what was going on. I've watched the cops in front of Witches Brew, and I've seen them use those strong-arm tactics before. They're totally unwarranted, especially in a situation where a woman is obviously trying to corral her child.
I think that Jynxx said pretty much how I felt about it. The cop in question was trying to make a point, not actually enforce a law. Not questioning those tactics allows them to spread. That's just my opinion, though.

.......My problem is also with a town that supports people (adults) who are known criminals, Drunks, Drug addicts, Wife Abusers, and plan pain in the butts and allow them to get away with their crimes because of money, political influences, favors and basically who is scratching who's back. These are the real menus yet they are allowed to walk the streets and have say in what goes on in this town! That is not only appalling but very, very scary!!

......Why are the officers not patrolling the area's where the crimes are being committed???

Pretty much sounds like my city (Baltimore) too. The police are supposed to serve and protect the people. The police are also paid by the people. Where I live the local taxes are high. Yet the people arrest innocent people here left and right including tourist. I like to mention we have a serious police problem here in Baltimore. Policeman on the take. Policemen taking advantage of teen prostitutes. It slowly becoming a bigger problem recently.

The problem is that the police now feel they can do whatever they want under the Bush era. Ah, the war on terrorism. What we are drifting into is complete localized totalitarianism by (by the police) under the banner of the war on terrorism. Yes, the police want you to be afraid of them and never question their actions.

Oh well, absolute power, corrupts absolutely.

Baltimore's had a problem with the police force for a really long time, and I don't see it as getting any better. I miss my hometown sometimes, but I know it has been teetering on the edge for ages, and one day it is going to collapse and crumble.

I totally agree with your comment. Being allowed to run unchecked has ruined the institution that was put in place to Protect and Serve. Now they seem to only protect and serve themselves.

Good for the Witches Brew folks. If the place weren't this necessary, it wouldn't be so threatening. Have they tried recording what happens outside with a video camera? Often, official types calm down when they know that there will be evidence of their misbehavior, as long as its done in a non-confrontational way.

That's a great idea. I don't know if they're doing that, but I will suggest it. Even setting up a webcam and broadcasting from the from of the business might put a little fear/respect in the hearts of the law enforcement officers who can't seem to do their jobs properly.

"from the front" that is.

Rob says he's not sure of the legality of my idea, unless they could say it was under the blanket of "business protection" - I have no idea what state laws are on this, but it would be worth it to them to find out, I think.

Law Enforcement vs. Witches Brew Coffeeshop.

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I hear you

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