Yesterday the Vanguard covered Davis City Council Candidate, Rochelle Swanson’s response to community concerns about the events of Picnic Day and decision by many bars to serve alcohol at 6 am. The Graduate became a focus in part because of erroneous police reports that suggested the Graduate the locus for a fight that injured a police officer.
From our standpoint, this was an issue precisely because Ms. Swanson, whose husband owns the Graduate, is a City Council candidate. The Vanguard received a good amount of interest in the issue on Wednesday leading up to our Meet the Candidates Event. For that reason, we decided that we ought to allow Rochelle Swanson address the issue herself. The Vanguard interviewed Ms. Swanson for six minutes and she followed that up with two posts.
Ms. Swanson continued, “I believe one solution may indeed be to restrict early morning consumption of alcohol, not only in bars & restaurants, but the sale of alcohol in stores as well.”
Early she had suggested that the decision to serve alcohol at 6 am was not a decision she alone could make. She elaborated on that yesterday evening, “Something this important should not be decided in a hasty manner just days from the incident in question. The decisions made in regards to Picnic Day, alcohol availability and general tenor of that day’s events are going to be far reaching.”
Furthermore, she reiterated that it would be a tragedy in her mind to simply do away with Picnic Day.
Before reporting on Mr. Swanson’s response, I would offer this. I agree that it would be a tragedy to simply do away with Picnic Day. I lived in San Luis Obispo, I was in high school just a year away from beginning Cal Poly, when they did away with Poly Royal in 1990 due to “riots.” They would later come back with a more toned down event called Open House. Since I graduated nearly 15 years ago, I am not sure how that has worked out.
At the same time, I think selling beer at 6 am, even under controlled conditions is a bad move as it sends the wrong message and it begins people drinking when they would ordinarily be sleeping. It would seem that time and space limitations on alcohol would alleviate some of these problems.
Finally, while this is of an interest at least on this site because Ms. Swanson is a council candidate, it should be pointed out that the Davis Graduate is not the only bar to have early morning sales, they did take steps to address security issues, and this has not been a problem in past years.
Nevertheless, this is an important issue and Ms. Swanson has a chance to lead on it.
In a letter that Charlie Swanson, owner of the Davis Graduate, sent to various media outlets, he noted, “We had zero calls to the Graduate over the entire Picnic Day weekend. We take pride in that fact.”
In an attached letter that he sent with the police log, Mr. Swanson said, “These show that not only did the Graduate receive no calls, but that most of the calls were to house parties, venues not providing adequate security, and groups of people already violating our city’s open container and minor in possession laws.”
He continued, “To group The Graduate in with the areas and venues where the police attention was focused and needed is inaccurate.”
“We have always worked hand in hand with the Davis Police Department in providing a safe and secure environment,” he wrote. “We appreciate the challenges the police department has on such a high profile day and put staff and procedures in place to be part of the solution not the problem.”
Mr. Swanson then discussed the various measures they took. “The California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control (ABC) require that on-site and off-site sales by licensed establishments provide a secure environment to prevent underage and or over consumption. There are plenty of laws currently in place to deal with the areas of town that were out of control on Picnic Day. Strict enforcement of the open container ordinance from the beginning of the day is just one example.”
While that is true, part of the problem is that puts the onus on an already over-extended police force.
The culprit he argued was not just bars, but also the sale of alcohol in various retail stores. “I would also suggest that you take a look at the advertisements in our local newspaper the week before Picnic Day. They include 1.75 liters of vodka for $9.99. There are roughly 50 shots in a 1.75. That equals 20 cents a shot or 10 shots for $2. There are also countless ads for domestic beer at 50 cents a can (in a 30 pack) and premium beer for $1-$1.25 a bottle.”
He asked, “Where do you think the majority of college students are getting their alcohol? Where do you think the minors are getting their alcohol?”
Again if you look at the incident reports, most were at house parties not bars.
He continued:
“We have a fully trained and experienced doorman all day to insure that:
A- No minors are served
B- No intoxicated minors are allowed inside
C- We have a safe environment for our customers
D- We monitor our customer’s alcohol intake and actions.”
Furthermore, “Picnic Day is a mandatory work day for all employees to ensure safety. All employees are on the clock, trained and covered by our general liability and workman’s comp insurance.”
He also addressed the 6 am “tradition.” He argued, “. We limit our drinks, only 2 per person in line and only people age 21 and older are allowed in from 6-10am. It is a safe, regulated alternative to house parties serving minors and over-serving guests.”
He continued, “Beer is $1 first 1000, and this year it took until 2:30 in the afternoon to reach that amount, or roughly 125 beers an hour. “$1 beers” is not an uncommon promotion for a bar, and many establishments in town have dollar-beer-nights throughout the week. Less than 10% of the Picnic Day sales for The Graduate occur before 11am.”
Moreover, “We are also not allowed to let people off premise with alcohol purchased here, and not allowed to allow people on premise with alcohol from an outside source. We take these rules seriously and strictly enforce them.”
He concluded that they were buy but never out of control. “I would support the City of Davis if it wants to limit the hours of alcohol availability on Picnic Day as long as it is across all venues, includes on-site sale and off-site sale and includes strict enforcement of our current open container law- but it needs to be a law, not a suggestion.”
At this point the community and the university need to think about what they want to do. Again, it would be a travesty in my view if the only answer was to shutdown event that has a regional draw, particularly because at every business forum I have been to, business leaders are thinking about how to have additional events that can draw people into our downtown from the rest of the region.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
[i]I agree that it would be a tragedy to simply do away with Picnic Day.[/i]
Not to mention, an obvious strawman.
Want to save Picnic Day? Then back a one-year moratorium to break the escalating pattern of unacceptable behavior. Think of it as a “stand-down” and substitute an alcohol-abuse awareness day.
Bring Picnic Day back the following year with fixed, measurable expectations for improvement. If the number of police calls, arrests, sexual assault reports and emergency-room visits doesn’t drop dramatically, we’ll know we need to try a longer moratorium, until the current generation has graduated and a new one can restart it as a community event.
I certainly had questions about the Graduate and it’s beer promotion on picnic day, but I find Mr. Swanson’s response very compelling. Clearly they had a well considered plan which they implemented well, given the fact that there were no police calls the entire day at his establishment. Thanks for providing both Rochelle and her husband the forum to present their side of the story.
Seems both the Emptyprise and the Bee painted the Grad with inuendo. Thanks, David, for “the rest of the story”.
Serving beer at 6 am is asking for trouble. Those same people who drank beer at The Graduate or at any other bar, went out the door to drink somewhere else, including at private parties, and were ripe for eventually causing problems. Picnic Day is known for being a day for students to get drunk, according to UCD students. Picnic Day is no longer a family type activity as it was meant to be originally. Bars that start serving alcohol at 6 am are part of the problem – it clearly sends a message that Picnic Day is all about getting “drunk as a skunk”. When people have to close stores, avoid the downtown, young women are groped, fights break out, shots are fired – it is high time to rethink Picnic Day and what its purpose is supposed to be. Do we want Picnic Day to be a family day, or a day of debauchery? Personally, I prefer the former…
I honestly wonder sometimes if the people who post on this site actually go outside ever…
The problem was NOT UCD students, it was NOT local Davis people, it was NOT alumni. The problem has nothing to do with the Grad or morning drinks. It is out of town losers who come looking for a good time, they aren’t here at 6am. They roll in after picnic day is mostly over, and head downtown. Find a way to keep them out of Davis (heck, make that an ongoing statment of priority) and you solve your problem. Racial profiling works!
“Racial profiling works!”
You know how to throw the bait.
Let’s assume that Gunrock isn’t just plain dumb. If so, Gunrock’s comment really serves to point out the tacit xenophobia and silliness of the “it isn’t our kids,” “it isn’t our bars,” “it isn’t our liquor stores,” “it’s just those craaayzee out-of-towners drinking elsewhere” position that seems to be one reply to the Picnic Day outrages.
The Swanson/Vanguard position seems to be that this is just a police problem: get the police out early enough, in large enough numbers, and aggressively enough to drive the drinkers into the Graduate and we’ll be OK.
Come on! We can’t police our way out of this. Let’s start by recognizing that it’s irresponsible to encourage early morning drinking, whether at “our” bars or outside them.
“The Swanson/Vanguard position”
Hold on there Steve, I’ve said very clearly that selling beer at 6 am is inappropriate. I said it today, “At the same time, I think selling beer at 6 am, even under controlled conditions is a bad move as it sends the wrong message and it begins people drinking when they would ordinarily be sleeping.”
this isn’t a guess, its reality- ask a cop. Walk the streets of downtown at night- a lot of Escalades rolling by with brothers from another town. Gang bangers from the east bay in front of Ket-mor-e. Large gangs of hispanics from sacramento and other less fortunate places. In short, its not our folks. Easy answer- keep em out.
ps- there is nothing wrong with adults drinking at 6am, keep the nanny bs to yourself.
I want to make a general comment about the registration policy, then about Ms. Swanson. I understand the Vanguard feels the one pseudonym policy is good and that it is anonymous. I claim it is not.
If I had attended the vanguard’s event with the candidates, I might say, “I spoke to Miss Swanson, or John Li and they said thus and such” Therefore, anyone who remembers any faces at the event can narrow my Pseudonym down to a select group of people. If I attend other vanguard events and post that I had attended, then my pseudonym can be deduced by my beliefs and process of elimination. If I am able to say things under multiple aliases, however, it is harder to figure out. bottom line, for the one name registration for all intents and purposes, I argue is not really anonymous, because you can easily slip once and give yourself away, and once it is out, it is out. The only way to get it back in would be to post under another alias.
To the issue: I found miss swanson’s responses to be extremely weak and self-servng. Miss Swanson does not need the entire community to come together and discuss the issue for her to take a position on public safety. We all know damned well what caused this mess, and that was plying people with Alcohol at 6AM. As a candidate, she strikes me as very indicisive in a crisis, which this clearly was. She also strikes me as someone who puts her husband’s business first, and Davis second. I also think that other businesses that served alcohol have a lot to answer for.
As far as doing away with picnic day goes, I’m very disturbed about what I have heard. Swanson abdicates all responsibility (imagine what is going to happen when she is on the council) and businesses are trying to make excuses and downplay the damage done so they can repeat their profit margins. Thus, until I see some leadership, forget picnic day.
[edit — stick to the topic, please]
Calm down people, my family and out of town friends attended Picnic Day and had a wonderful time. My kids later went downtown and enjoyed the night life, sure there were a few drunks and rowdies but that is to be expected. There must have been over a hundred thousand attendees, the most crowded I’ve ever seen it and our city presented itself well. Don’t let a few derelicks change what is a glorious day for Davis. You stick in the muds should quit trying to put curves on that once a year wonderful day. Damn I’m getting so tired of gov’t trying to regulate everything, leave things alone. Gunrock has it right, keep your overbearing boring nanny state out of my life.
When marajauna gets legalized beer wont be a problem ! Careful what you ask for !
Very strongly disagree. I’ve never met someone who got violent on marijuana. I’ve rarely if ever heard of someone killing someone driving under the influence. I think marijuana is far less of a public safety threat than beer.
Dude , marijuana is just the starter drug of the day , then you mix in alcohol , then more weed , then stronger drinks or stronger drugs . When weed becomes legal you will have just as many people dying from car wrecks as you do drunk drivers . Do you really believe that weed smokers only smoke weed when they are getting high ? If you do your not in touch with what really happens in this city when it comes to drugs and liquor .
Those people are doing drugs anyway. You act like someone can’t get weed within five minutes as it is now.
DMG: “Very strongly disagree. I’ve never met someone who got violent on marijuana. I’ve rarely if ever heard of someone killing someone driving under the influence. I think marijuana is far less of a public safety threat than beer.”
There was a case just a few months ago about a man high on marijuana, who regularly smoked this drug, who murdered someone. Marijuana is not a harmless drug. Like alcohol, it lowers the normal inhibitions, and according to the article I read, many years of smoking pot had done physical damage to this man’s brain. Furthermore, public safety is at jeopardy when someone gets behind the wheel of a car and drives under the influence of marijuana. Most crimes are committed under the influence.
Gunrock: “The problem was NOT UCD students, it was NOT local Davis people, it was NOT alumni. The problem has nothing to do with the Grad or morning drinks. It is out of town losers who come looking for a good time, they aren’t here at 6am. They roll in after picnic day is mostly over, and head downtown. Find a way to keep them out of Davis (heck, make that an ongoing statment of priority) and you solve your problem. Racial profiling works!”
With all due respect, how the heck would you know who specifically was puking in the bathrooms, groping women, yelling obscendities to passerbys, who fired the gunshot, who was involved in fighting? Do you know for a fact it was not a single person from Davis? Somehow I highly doubt that. My understanding is the groping took place primarily in front of fraternity row… someone correct me if I am wrong on that particular point.
The police specifically asked the downtown businesses to NOT start serving alcohol early, the downtown bars/restaurants ignored the warning, and the town had serious problems in consequence. Those early morning drinks could have been served to out-of-towners just as well as to residents, by the way. What you had was an unruly drunken mob mentality that the police could not control. Alcohol fueled the fire…
What does it have to take to make Davisites want to end this debauchery? Someone raped or killed? Remember, groping is the prelude to rape, gunshots fired is the prelude to a maiming/killiing. Is this the kind of reputation we want as a town – that we plie customers with as much liquor as they want, send them on their way, and bar owners, the city, the university take no responsibility for what happens after these inebriated folks leave the bar? If someone is seriously injured or killed, oh well, it was all in the name of “good fun”?
What happened was one step away from an uncontollable riot. The police could not even address the groped women, bc they were too busy dealing with the bar/party fights. Enough is enough. If you want to call me a party pooper, so be it. Toning down the consumption of alcohol on Picnic Day would go a long way towards bringing Picnic Day back to what it was supposed to be – a family event, not a drunkin orgy where anything goes, including physical and sexual assault. How would you have felt if your girlfriend/wife/daughter had been the victim of groping, or your friend/brother had been the victim of a physical altercation that put him in the hospital with a broken jaw? I have been the victim of groping, and it is not an enjoyable experience, and is in fact very depressing and demeaning. It makes a women feel helpless, frightened, and demoralized. If you don’t understand that, then you are part of the problem…
This is the bicycle capital of the world that is supposed to be a nice safe little college town – do we now want the reputation as a nasty little enclave of debauchery when it suits the bar/restaurant/grocery store owners? I found the excuses of the bar/restaurant owners who served liquor early and often to be extremely self-serving and irresponsible. To say that the drinking in their bar was “safe” and “controlled” totally misses the point. Sending someone out the door full of liquor, to move on to the next bar for more, to then move to the streets to commit mayhem, does not let the bar owners who served the liquor beginning at 6 am off the hook for having created the problem in the first place.
I tell you what, let’s make the bar/restaurant/grocery store owners who want to sell liquor at 6 am financially responsible for paying for the extra police/cleanup that were required to deal with the ensuing fights, sexual assaults and public indecency that occurred? I wonder how quick the bars, restaurants and grocery stores would be to sell liquor early that day if they had to chip in for the cost? And by the way, while the police were all descending on Davis, taking care of our town, it left other parts of Yolo County undefended. How fair is that?
First let me be clear that I have a dog in this fight. For the last 43 years I have earned a substantial portion of my income from playing guitar in saloons, including a couple in Davis. I think my introduction to Davis was a Friday night in 1970 at a pizza joint on f st. serving $1.25 pitchers to improve the ambiance, no doubt. I fondly, if not clearly, remember that era. Those days are, sadly, past and we are faced with police departments who can’t keep the peace without massive administrative and management structures. Apparently they could manage the students ok with tasers and pepper balls, but real thugs are tougher I guess. The next best thing to a solution being a scapegoat, lets go after the evil purveyors of demon alcohol. Ignore the fact that the owners of the bars operated entirely within the law, most running their usual operating schedule and prices. Those named herein had no calls for service from pd. Let us most certainly not question why good citizens failed to intervene in fights and groping incidents, which certainly would have happened 40 years ago. The Blue noses will demand penance and retribution,just stopping short of prohibition. What is missing is the call for public accountability by the police and personal accountability, both for the miscreants and those who could have acted to thwart them, but did not. Cops, it’s your job to keep order, no excuses. Citizens, if you won’t step up to help your neighbors in a crisis, you don’t have much of a community.
I’m an Aggie alum, live out of the area, and I wasn’t present at this year’s Picnic Day (PD) … so I’m ignorant of the actual on-the-ground realities. Was this simply a more active night? Or was it Animal House gone wild? Please, do give me some specifics. Was groping a common place occurance?
I’m no monk, and usually celebrated PD both Friday & Saturday nights. But heavy drinking – at 6 AM? Really? I’m both an idealist and a pragmatist, and would HATE to see PD canceled. And don’t fret … I don’t simply have an eye for those getting sloshed at 6 AM, for I get the feeling that Davis being the land of Political Correctness means that many won’t hear the full story. Were there hooligans there, with no ties to Aggiedome? Gang members? Multiple cases of groping?
My suggestions would be multi-pronged, with an eye towards pragmatism. In some shape of form, I would consider …
1) Limiting the sale of booze from 6 AM – 4 PM.
2) Extra police called in – from the outset.
3) Enforcement of public drinking laws – to a moderate level.
4) Crime profiling of holligans – be they gang members, outsiders with no contact to Davis, or highly obnoxious frat boys. Street smart cops know how to do their job – let them do it.
5) Requiring the Greek system and / or other student groups to produce some actual floats … I know, you may think it sounds weird.
6) Staggered closing hours to assist the police. (Would this help, officers?) i.e., Bar A can be open from 5 – 12; while another can be open from 6 – 1 AM, so the cops don’t get slammed all at once.
7) Have the Greek system sign a pledge / agreement that there won’t be any drinking from 6AM to 4PM.
8) Strict enforcement of laws pertaining to groping, mayhem, etc. (It sounds like this event could have gotten out of control, if I am reading things correctly.)
9) This one is tough – is there any way to limit the event to folks who actually have some connection to Davis? Either you live in Davis, went to Davis, or are there with friends from Davis?
My hope would be that our professional police officers could and would be able to distinguish between a tired alum, who has spent all day at PD, and has had 3 or 4 beers, but is bothering no one … and a group of young, boozed-up holligans out for trouble.
“Ignore the fact that the owners of the bars operated entirely within the law, most running their usual operating schedule and prices.”
Is it normal practice for the Graduate or any other bar in Davis to start selling alchohol at 6 am for $1?
“Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy.” (Benjamin Franklin)
6am is just a time. It happens to be the legal opening time for sales of alcohol in California. How can The Vanguard or E. Roberts Musser determine what time I should or shouldn’t have a drink? If E. Roberts Musser would prefer a tea party , I heartily endorse her choice. No one endorses hooliganism and thuggery. I find the suggestion that the Swansons or The Graduate were in anyway responsible for any of the mayhem reprehensible. There is no evidence that anyone in The Graduate that day, customer, server or owner was involved in any untoward activities. The lack of evidence may not be proof of innocence, but should have been sufficient to prohibit accusation by The Vanguard. What is evident is that the police did not adequately respond and individuals who might have acted in defense of others did not do so. Those facts should be subjects of concern and debate.
biddlin: ” There is no evidence that anyone in The Graduate that day, customer, server or owner was involved in any untoward activities. The lack of evidence may not be proof of innocence, but should have been sufficient to prohibit accusation by The Vanguard. What is evident is that the police did not adequately respond and individuals who might have acted in defense of others did not do so. Those facts should be subjects of concern and debate.”
Is it NORMAL PRACTICE for the Graduate or any other bar in Davis to start selling alchohol at 6 am for $1?
Are you trying to tell me that no one who started drinking at the Graduate or any other bar in town on Picnic Day at 6 am, did not then go out and drink some more elsewhere, and then proceed to 1) puke in a public bathroom; 2) grope passersby; 3) take a gunshot at a passerby; 4) get in a fight? You have no idea what patrons at the Graduate or other bars did after imbibing and leaving the premises.
The police, the Vanguard, and the Davis Enterprise all seem to think alcohol fueled the problem on Picnic Day. So do many citizens and downtown businesses (the ones that didn’t serve alcohol).
Blame the police for inadequate response? You have got to be kidding! When a drunken mob gets out of hand, I defy any law enforcement agency to handle things “adequately”. You are accusing the Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento Police Depts, as well as the Yolo Sheriff’s Office and CA Highway Patrol of an “inadequate response” to UCD Picnic Day. Frankly, I would say your explanation for what went wrong is inadequate, is not based in reality, and refuses to put blame where it belongs – on the purveyors of cheap alcohol at an unseemly early hour, and those customers who imbibed too much alcohol too early.
Then you accuse passersby of not stopping fights and groping, when the police couldn’t even stop it? Give me a break!
Writers from the religious right need to just set down and get a firm grip on your bibles… you don’t actually get to decide what is an “unseemly early hour”. Now I will assume that you were snug in your bed at that hour, followed by church service and hoeing the fields, but seriously, we aren’t all as holy as thou.
My earlier comments stand- I was there at the Grad in the morning, I was downtown til after 2am, I know what I saw. It wasn’t locals, it wasn’t Grad patrons, it was seedy looking out of towners who were definitely not here for the weiner dog races. Keep them out and you solved your problem. The Grad had nothing to do with the problem. The folks who caused the problems are not the types up at 6am…
Get out of your house once in a while, and make comments based on facts rather than supposition based on reading articles that appear to overexcite you…
E Robert Musser-“Are you trying to tell me that no one who started drinking at the Graduate or any other bar in town on Picnic Day at 6 am, did not then go out and drink some more elsewhere, and then proceed to 1) puke in a public bathroom; 2) grope passersby; 3) take a gunshot at a passerby; 4) get in a fight? You have no idea what patrons at the Graduate or other bars did after imbibing and leaving the premises?”Who from The Graduate was involved in any of these untoward actions? If you know, then by all means name names.”Blame the police for inadequate response?” You bet, they get paid for a job, if they don’t get it done, they get the blame.”Then you accuse passersby of not stopping fights and groping,…”I was raised in a time and place where if you see your neighbor in trouble, you run and help. It is what makes us neighbors and not just co-inhabitants.
Gunrock: “My earlier comments stand- I was there at the Grad in the morning, I was downtown til after 2am, I know what I saw. It wasn’t locals, it wasn’t Grad patrons, it was seedy looking out of towners who were definitely not here for the weiner dog races. Keep them out and you solved your problem.”
No UCD students were puking; fighting; groping? You know this bc you were in every part of town the entire day? Many have claimed to have observed UCD students doing all of the above. Why are you right, and they are not?
bidlin: “.”Blame the police for inadequate response?” You bet, they get paid for a job, if they don’t get it done, they get the blame.”Then you accuse passersby of not stopping fights and groping,…”I was raised in a time and place where if you see your neighbor in trouble, you run and help. It is what makes us neighbors and not just co-inhabitants.”
Why are you so eager to blame everyone else, except those who 1) fueled the fire with alcohol; 2) engaged in puking; yelling obscenities; groping fighting; shooting? Look at the logic of your argument – Picnic Day became unruly bc of: out-of-towners; sub-par police from three jurisdictions, the county and the state; passersby unwilling to provide police protection. Yet you stubbornly refuse to believe overconsumption of alcohol had anything to do with what happened. Tell you what – let’s try a sober Picnic Day next year, and see what happens. Betcha it will be a lot safer…
this little jihaad is getting tiresome…
You miss the point, I am not eager to blame anyone, I don’t really see a problem. To the extent there were any issues of hosting 100,000 guests outside what would be expected anywhere, it was largely out-of-towners. There is nothing indicating that UCD students or alumni were the issue. Heresay doesn’t cut it.
The thing that started this endless dialog was a false argument, that somehow the Davis Grad and by association Rochelle Swanson, had some role to play in any of this. It is provably false. This is just a long diatribe by some prissy folks who probably hide under the beds on Picnic Day night in any case- I hereby declare the issue dead.
You are free to spend Picnic Day sober, chaste, and safe in your backyard!
I assume E Roberts Musser has comprehension issues and so I will repeat,”What is missing is the call for public accountability by the police and personal accountability, both for the miscreants and those who could have acted to thwart them, but did not.” Prosecute those arrested to the full extent of the law and if convicted give them the appropriate punishment. I have made no statement about the “overconsumption of alcohol…” but have no difficulty imagining that it was a contributing factor. What is not in evidence is that anyone associated with The Graduate committed any violations of the rules or laws under which they operate. There is no evidence that any of their patrons of that day was involved in acts of criminal behavior. Why are you so eager to blame The Graduate? Want a sober picnic day? Fine,and good luck with that, as I suspect drinking goes on in Davis everyday and some will over imbibe. Don’t make accusations if you cannot offer proof. By the way what kind of community do you have if neighbors won’t come to the aid of someone being assaulted?
If you are sober, chaste and safe, that is a bad thing? By the way, the police warned the bars/grocery stores not to serve alcohol on picnic day too early in the morning – and they were right, now weren’t they?