Fairfax County, Virginia prosecutors had charged two bartenders at Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern in Herndon over the trick, which (the report suggests) resulted in no mishap or injuries and which the tavern owner said they had done hundreds of times previously. They still face misdemeanor charges. [Fairfax Times] Scott Greenfield discusses the case (with a mention of yours truly) and proposes a “bartender flambé” rule for knowing when the bubble-ization of everyday life has gone too far.
8 Comments
The fact that they’ve gone from felony charges that could have yielded 45 years in prison to misdemeanor charges tells you the initial charges were a grotesque overreaction.
I live in the area, and hate to sound cynical (OK, I don’t), but I can’t help but note that this all revolves around flammable activities in a bar…I strongly suspect we’d never see such a thing if this had occurred in a high-end restaurant…
i think they deserved a warning, a cease and desist order.
But i would like to hear more about the circumstances. i mean if it was a well-controlled situation, okay, but i can’t help but think of that scene in revenge of the nerds when the jocks burn their frat house down. alcohol and fire seems to be a dubious mix, at the very least.
Now obviously there are situations where it is safe enough. i mean taking unnecessary risks for the thrill of it is just part of entertainment, see, e.g. the circus.
but like i said, the fire marshall should have started by saying, “guys, don’t do this, this is dangerous.” then and only then after disobeying should they have brought the law down on their heads.
If the fire marshal reacted without first being a reasonable human being and politely admonishing the bartenders and speaking with the owner, then he is a power hungry prig or nursing a grudge.
The angle that firefighters were present in the past is interesting. Old credit card bills should be able to confirm date and time, and witnesses can be had. The purpose is to embarrass the fire department and fire marshall for having witnessed this repeatedly while condoning the alleged ‘unsafe’ activity. Once the bartender’s fate is settled it is time to turn the tables.
nevins
certainly showing those old reciepts, or otherwise proving that firefighters have witnessed it in the past would be a great way to argue for jury nullification, which i would be tempted to do if i was on the jury.
I live in the area and am a regular at the bar where this happened.
Not only has the fire department witnessed this activity many times in the past, but they are directly across the street. The bar has done dozens of fund raisers for them specifically, pulling in thousands of dollars which has gone directly to the firefighters.
My understanding is that a complaint was sent in and the following week the fire marshal came out to witness it first hand with the ABC officer as well. The obvious overreaction seems to me like a CYA for the fire marshal who has known about this for a long time and didn’t want to seem like he was being lenient on them for all the charity work.
Either way, an activity that was a staple event in the community is now gone. The danger from the event was minimal as the conditions were highly controlled, (flame resistant ceiling, extinguishers at hand, FD across the street, etc…) this is just another sad example of the nanny state our society is turning into.
Some people just want to suck all the fun out of life.
I found a YouTube of what, I imagine, this looks like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq2qB8qXGJY
Felony charges certainly aren’t warranted, but I think the Fire Department has a point in asking them to cut it out, esp, if they were making this amount of flame….