McMurphy's Uptown Tavern: A college aged youth favorite
A little late for Christmas but just in time for New Year's Day the Boston Globe published a list yesterday of Massachusetts bars and restaurants named as the last place the perp had a drink before getting behind the wheel of a deadly weapon only to be taken off the street by a sagacious patrol cop.
Now I will have to make inquiries on Tuesday because the Globe states these were a byproduct of being "convicted" of drunk driving.
Because after a few years of covering Eastern Hampshire District Court I'm used to hearing the name of an establishment that served the last drink to a driver arrested for drunk driving but they were smart enough to take a plea deal known as a 24D disposition.
In other words they were not "convicted" of drunk driving and after a year the charge is dismissed.
But over the years I've observed perhaps a 100 or more of these plea deals and I have heard McMurphy's Uptown Tavern named more than a few times as the last place the driver was served a drink.
For instance (A BAC almost 2.5 times over the limit)
Sure the perp could by lying and just trying to get a particular bar in trouble because they once made them stand in line too long to get in, but I seriously doubt it. Because that would be perjury -- and the Courts frown on that even more than they do DUI.
So I was not surprised in the least to see McMurphy's name appearing on the list published by the Boston Globe. After all, they were the architects of the infamous Blarney Blowout.
39 comments:
I doubt that nervously standing before the judge, people are strategizing to frame McMurphy's.
Indeed.
And that's the reason I think it's so important to show photos of folks being arraigned before da judge, because you tell from their body language how nervous they are.
larry was an alcoholic.
Name the farm that produced the potatoes for vodka....come on, who cares where the liquor came from. Looks like all bars should be shut down,right? This is yet another non news story. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Tell that to the Boston Globe.
The difference between this and the farm that grows potatoes is you have a supposedly trained employee handing a drink to an already drunk patron.
Cops seem to have no trouble figuring out a driver has had too much to drink in the first few seconds of contact.
Agree, this is a non issue,non story. Let's focus on what really matters in Amherst-paper or plastic? I love drinking out of plastic solo cups.
Larry, to prove perjury, you have to prove both intent and competency.
The Commonwealth has just proven that the person was DRUNK AT THE TIME!
He/she/it could have been on the Third Ring of Saturn -- to argue that the person knows otherwise is to argue that the person wasn't drunk -- and hence was just convicted of something he/she/it didn't do. Courts can't do that....
And Larry, the "Dr." part of me has to say this -- the problem with your statistics is that it is independent of sample group. In English, the number of people who DIDN'T drive home drunk from the establishment. Note how Fenway Park gets mentioned -- Fenway can hold nearly 38,000 people, each of what, 180 games? You have a much larger population of potential drunks than McMurphy's that has far fewer potential patrons.
LIKEWISE, while I am no fan of McMurphys (which wouldn't even be in business but for Team Enku), I am opposed to deception via statistics. Even if it has the same number of drunk drivers, the bar in, say, Orange or Palmer that is lucky to get a half dozen patrons is far worse because, well, they are ALL driving home drunk from there...
Go after McMurphy's if you want, just be intellectually honest if you do so.
As a crippled for life victim of a 4x bar hopping criminal perp- who stood beside me at sentencing and denied alcohol- only to sue a bar for serving him drunk when he lost his job as a Deerfield UPS driver when his drivers license was revoked for a year-You can bet that this is not just a deadly game-it's murder-terrorism on the road-and society !!?$&@$$$
Always describe yourself as a victim. Sorry. But is this all that's left for you? Victimhood?
Chill Out Dudster-stay put home when you spike your auld lang syne New Years eggnog- you sound very dangerous-and in denial- recognizing the mental illness of alcoholism- is the first step toward adequate TREATMENT - think about it ?!!!!!$&@$$
"As a crippled for life victim of a 4x bar hopping criminal perp- who stood beside me at sentencing and denied alcohol- only to sue a bar for serving him drunk..."
Why the hell didn't YOU sue the bar? You'd have won.
Or petition the ABCC to shut it down? The ABCC'd love to have a victim at the hearing.
Chill Out Dudster-stay put home when you spike your auld lang syne New Years eggnog- you sound very dangerous-and in denial- recognizing the mental illness of alcoholism- is the first step toward adequate TREATMENT - think about it ?!!!!!$&@$$
Excuse me, where did 11:53 mention alcohol? HOW are you able to determine he/she/it even drinks, let alone is an alcoholic, let alone is in denial about it????
Of course, like most of this "mental illness" bullshit, reality doesn't matter.
On the basis of nothing more than disliking an opinion on a completely unrelated topic, you not only staple a label onto him/her/it, but make spurious accusations of criminal acts.
That is bullshit.
I'm going to go further -- arbitrarily defining people as "dangerous" is itself dangerous -- it's what caused the Holocaust.
And as to drunk driving, it's a crime and should be treated as such, but it's only one factor in OUI accidents -- and the accident wouldn't have happened but for the other factors. Like waiting for a vehicle to stop before walking out in front of it, presuming that the driver didn't/can't see you, etc.
And Larry, one more aspect of variance in the "last drink" matter -- differences in police deployment. In other words, when was the last time you saw a cruiser parked across the street from the VFW? Yes, people have driven home drunk from there, but as the ABCC itself states, differences in location & enforcement skews these statistics. And Larry, I make a distinction between .08 and .18 -- I'd be more concerned about the bars serving the .18s...
Finally ed has helped us nail down the cause of the Holocaust in one sentence. Now...what is the cause of wasted PHDS?
Ed- being BOTH an absent minded and TIPSY professor- your demographic is in even more peril from DWI's- next time you fail to crawl out on a legal ped-X-ing-Think about it- your mom had your wunderkind for a REASON. !?&@$$$!!!???
Wouldn't it be relivant to list the parents or teachers that failed to teach the person how wrong drunk driving is.
In stread we thrust this to the bar or even worse, the stuggling waitress that got paid a buck to bring a drink to a customer?
Let us shame those that failed when people drunk drive....that is those that raised them and then them....certainly the bar is way down on the list, who thinks of this crap and then Larry, if you are really passionate about life, how can you piblish something that blames the bars of all parties to blame? Drunk drivers come from shitty families, school systems and communities, not shitty bars.
Expecting waitresses to be our last resort protection is just odd.
Is this some kind of joke, putting any blame on the bar for drunk drivers?
No wonder drunk driving is such a big issue....the idiots that pretend to care about it talk about it like this. They also widely accept repeat offenders.
To give you a perspective - have you met a Chinese person from Mass? Well folks that admit to driving drunk in Mass are more common than a Chinese person. Have you ever met a Jewish person from Mass? There are 3x as many Jewish people as people who admit to driving drunk. There are 2x as many admitted drunk drivers as Arabs in Mass.
10% of alcohol driving deaths in the state are by those under 21, who learned how to be this way in Mass as children. Perhaps it's the real message that is the issue. As a kid when I heard there were 3rd and 4th offenses for drunk driving, I then knew it was not that important to adults. Then when I saw all kinds of media hoopla, drivers ed photos and school assemblies about it at the same time, I learned the real lesson: Drunk driving is ok as long as you get away with it - the issue is getting caught (multiple times). Parents show kids this by example after they go out to dinner or come home crazy drunk after driving.
This is Massachusetts tradition at its finest, perhaps Ed can comment if the tradition is stronger in Maine. Sunday Beer Drives, Dropping Rs and Lobster folks - Maine learned it from watching Mass.
Sunday beer drives ended 20 years ago, and in Massachusetts, breaking laws is okif you can get away with it, as UMass shows us.
Hey eddie...who you threatening today? We shouldn't allow your implied violence! I think you might be dangerous!
Soooooooooooo- Let us try to fathom this dysfunctional logic-we arrest illegal drug dealers for enabling a crime-yet to someone with a booze addled mind-bartenders-merchants of death with an undisputed profit motive-are Lilly white angels ?!!!HuH !??!!
Sunday Beer Drives did not end 20 years ago. That's funny.....
Supply and Demand folks. It made no sense and was ineffective to arrest drug dealers to stop drugs as they were doing what pharmacists do, now what dispensaries do - meet demand. That was contorted drug war logic, similar to antisemitism and the like - just looking for someone to blame. It also make no sense to hold bar employees responsible for what no one else could teach a drunk prior - not parents, friends, media police or teachers - in comes the bartender to the rescue (our real hero).
Folks supported the prohibition of marijuana and brought us the prison, coke and heroine epidemics....and these fucks walk around free.
Huh, huh?
The bar tender is legally an accomplice to murder-terrorism on the highway-by enabling a legally incompetent INEBRIATED criminal perp to visit violent death upon society-as sure as handing a gun to a kid-no more Alcoholics Anonymous nitwit troll piss pot poor negligent EXCUSES for killing !!?$$&@
Poor excuse for responsibility.
The bar tender is not qualified to evaluate whether someone is drunk.
Even when those well trained do so, with unbelievable legal protection while doing so, the police do chemical breath tests and sobriety roadside tests after being paid well and trained well. Then the case goes to court and we spend hundreds or thousands to determine the legal truth.
...but a waitress or bartender is expected to do this definitively in a moment, in a dark place, with lots of noise and literally drunk people all over?
Bear in mind you are asking to the bar employee to do this and reduce their income with no training.
The police and courts do it, take all the time they need and they profit off of the drunk.
We set up a system where drunks are allowed to keep driving on the road so those that bust them can keep profiting....and you blame the bar tender for not fixing it. Society sets up folks with piss poor rules about dealing with this and you blame the bar tender for not fixing it. So much of local government activity is about getting money for police, firemen and teachers at any cost, even lives...
that is piss poor and you know what, we have been doing it that way for decades and no one seems to mind loosing a kid here and there to drunks as long as public employees have great pay.
Well if you have ever bothered to watch a Select Board meeting where they grant a new liquor license you would know how careful they are to question the owner/manager about the training of all employees to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen.
OK cool. So if a bartender serves someone that should not be served (undefined but who cares right, we are busy blaming), it falls back to the owner that hired them. And since the owner is vetted by the Select Board, the responsibility falls to them being at the top of the pyramid. But since they work for government, they don't have any responsibility for when things go wrong, so it goes back to the bar owner. But if the bar owner can show that he properly trained his employee and fires them after the incident, we see how is really ends.
Some guy gets drunk, does something stupid, we assign blame on a low wage servant employee who did not do the job of the police in a dark, loud place in a fraction of a second.
It makes sense, they are the weakest person in the chain so we use them to divert responsibility from those that failed. We have government to make sure the weak get preyed upon, because without government this would not always happen, it would only happen most of the time.
Police, town, parents and teachers who were there to train the drunk for decades get off with no punishment for failing at their primary task.
What a shitty design to protect people from drunks. Thus rinse, repeat, add more.
You are passionate about stopping drunks from killing randoms, but it is clear you are slightly more passionate about your public employees and their reputation.
You must be new around here.
Terrorism? Let's not go nuts here.
Sooooooo.... go figure...when an ISIS madman kills innocents with a truck mowing them down-THAT'S terrorism...but cutting people up like a flash mob slaughter house of 5 tons of 30-120 mph moving steel...is all in good sport...MY BAD....!?$&@$$$
April 18 2017 marks my twentieth anniversary being crippled for life by a bar hopping DWI drunk driver -I have some real " Experiance " with this issue...sports fans...$&@?!!!$$
A Waste Reduction Employee???!!!OMG you have got to be kidding? Have you gone totally nuts?
Yes. Your bad. It's in the intent.
Do you think he Meant to cripple you for lfe? How many times do you need to tell us you're a victim?
Sorry-people get judged by RESULTS -you deliver-excuse crutches for MURDER....no such thing as an " Accident" heads up !???&@$$
How many times do you need to INSULT VICTIMS ... poor mental hygiene !!?@&)$
Those who wallow in their victimhood could use a little of that hygene too.
i guess listening to the piano man and wallowing in your piss..somehow qualifies you to judge what happens when a hit & run drunk DWI illegally un-insured driver catastrophically injures you-leaving you unable to walk-in nursing homes for a decade-staffed by abusive un-sympathetic fellow substance abusers-like you-and your family homestead-fortune-right to marry is stolen from you-get it-ROBBED !
I guess.
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