RiverSplash Disaster: Blame Alcohol

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Visibly angry over what he and other city officials described as a festival marred by alcohol-fueled disorder and violence, Ald. Robert Bauman said Monday that "the jury is out" on whether RiverSplash will be held next year.

"Unless there are radical changes made in the way RiverSplash operates, RiverSplash is as good as finished as far as I'm concerned," said Bauman, who spoke during a news conference at City Hall alongside Mayor Tom Barrett and Police Chief Edward Flynn.

...A RiverSplash spokeswoman said too many people had too much to drink at the festival Saturday but said she hoped the event would not be canceled because of "an isolated incident."

"We will decide what we can do to make it safer and better for next year," Marsha Sehler said. "But it doesn't seem that the response to a single incident in 19 years of this event should be canceling it. It just seems to me that we would be giving it over to the punks, the young kids who came with a gun."

Sehler still sounds like she's minimizing the violence and disorder.

A shooting is a big deal. I wish she'd quit calling it an isolated incident. Rather than dodging she should be zeroing in on the shooting and promising that there will be changes.

About 20 minutes after the shooting, people began throwing beer bottles at police near the 1000 block of N. Water St.

One person was arrested on allegations of battery to a police officer, after an officer was struck by a thrown beer bottle on Water St.

Police said the officer was being evaluated Monday and may have suffered a broken arm.

This has been bugging me.

The story of the trouble at RiverSplash has been reported for two days.

Again and again, I hear that a police officer may have suffered a broken arm. All day on Monday, that was part of news reports.

Is it that difficult to make the diagnosis? If the news outlets don't have updated information or police aren't releasing it, fine. Just quit the "being evaluated" stuff. Take an X-ray.

...Bauman placed most of the blame for the disorder and violence on restaurants and taverns that had been issued permits to sell alcohol on the street but failed to provide adequate security or control the behavior of their patrons.

"This was clearly and unmistakably the responsibility of the bars, taverns and restaurants, who I might add made a lot of money this weekend while the community is pondering the consequences and effects of this melee that took place," Bauman said.

Fifteen establishments on N. Water St. and N. Old World 3rd St. were granted extension of premises licenses allowing them to sell alcohol on the street in front of their property until the festival closed, but Bauman said the businesses were required to provide security measures in exchange for the licenses.

"That was not happening," he said.

Barrett said RiverSplash "has transformed itself (over the years) from a family-friendly celebration of the beginning of summer to what this weekend was - unfortunately, in many regards, a drunken brawl. And that's going to end."

I don't want to let the bars and restaurants off the hook. If businesses were expected to provide security, then they should have held up their end of the bargain.

However, I think it's wrong to blame the problems on alcohol.

Alcohol is sold at sporting events and Summerfest and the ethnic festivals and the State Fair. There is no shortage of alcohol.

Nevertheless, those gatherings don't degenerate into gunfire and massive drunken brawls.

Flynn joined Barrett on the "blame the booze" bandwagon.

...Flynn, who attended RiverSplash on Saturday afternoon with his wife, said he was "very surprised at the atmosphere" he saw at the festival.

"It was clear to me that 3rd Street was about alcohol and only alcohol, and alcohol for young people," Flynn said. "I saw groups of two and three standing around fishbowls full of mixed drinks with straws in them, drinking them as fast as they could. Now, that may be fine at some fraternity . . . but not on the streets of Milwaukee."

Flynn was there and he was concerned about the atmosphere. Being the police chief, perhaps he should have called for some preemptive action. He's not just another citizen.

The type of alcohol that is sold on the street will be re-evaluated, said Sehler, the RiverSplash spokeswoman.

"Those bars shouldn't be selling those drinks, quite frankly," Sehler said.

I agree that it's not a good idea to sell fishbowls full of mixed drinks.

What I don't agree with is this notion that the problems of Saturday night can be traced to the businesses selling alcohol.

The problems resulted from irresponsible and violent people, not alcohol per se.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board follows suit with its conclusion that "Hooliganism at Milwaukee's first festival of the season might have been avoided with beefed up security and stricter rules about serving alcohol."

RiverSplash's future may be in jeopardy, and if it is, some of the organizers, particularly the establishments in the area that serve alcohol, need only look in the mirrors over their bars to find some of the culprits.

..."RiverSplash," as [Police Chief Ed] Flynn aptly put it, "may have shot itself in the foot" by failing to control the heavy drinking that preceded the trouble.

...[Ald. Bob] Bauman fixed blame primarily on the two associations that represent the bars, clubs and restaurants along Old World Third St. and Water St., which he said failed to provide necessary security as promised in their permits - and in some cases allowed alcohol to be served off premises, past the prearranged cutoff time.

While Bauman was concerned, as he should be, by the gunfire, the alcohol and the failure of those dispensing it to provide supervision and security, combined with the large crowds, resulted in a tense situation "with a lot of pushing and shoving" on 3rd St., he said.

The problem isn't the alcohol.

Festival-goers weren't forced to drink. They chose to drink. They chose how much they drank.

People caused the problems. Bad people did bad things and organizers failed to see to it that there was adequate security to control the bad people.

Don't blame the booze.

What does bringing a loaded gun to RiverSplash have to do with people drinking with straws from fishbowls filled with alcohol?

The shooter brought the gun to the festival. Would eliminating the fishbowls at the festival have changed that?

It seems to me the real problem isn't being addressed.