Bar owners have made extra effort to provide safety

To the editor:

As a musician and disc jockey who has performed in most of the clubs and bars in this area, I understand the responsibility of the owner as well as the employed security to provide safety. The places that have the most problems with incidents of violence are also the places that are ill-prepared for the crowd they are trying to draw. Most of the clubs in Cape Girardeau are operated by experienced people who are savvy to the level of security necessary for safe patronage. Most of the problem nights I have seen happened on specialty nights such as homecoming weekend, fair week and weekends when the numbers simply saturate the establishments.

Security has tightened in nearly all of the establishments in the last 10 years. Door workers and bouncers are better trained and less volatile and pay more attention to the patrons than they used to. Communication between establishments regarding chronic problem customers seems to have increased. Bar owners seem to say no a lot more than they used to.

The Cape Girardeau bar scene has really come around in the last 10 years, thanks to less greed and apathy on the part of the owners and managers. We always enjoy the crowds at our shows downtown and elsewhere and hope people will feel secure enough to continue to patronize Cape's nightlife.

DARREN BURGFELD

Cape Girardeau