Downtown vandalism needs more attention

By Jay Whitfield

Much has been said lately about the problem of vandalism in downtown Cape Girardeau. Let me tell you of my experience.

I own a small hair salon on Main Street. Most people know me as the man who sits in the doorway and burns incense on pleasant evenings. I have had to replace three large windows within the last 10 years, two within the past year due to vandalism by bar patrons. All of these incidents happened after midnight.

Luckily, the police caught two of the offenders, and restitution was made. I say luckily, because, insurance deductibles being what they are, one cannot assume that insurance coverage will be sufficient to pay for a large window.

In September, another window was broken during the River City Music Festival. The festival's insurance proved useless, because they say the coverage ends at midnight, and the incident occurred at 1 a.m. The customer representative informed me that I was being unrealistic to expect them to pay for damages caused by complete strangers who happened to be attending their festival. The promoters will hear from me when they apply for a license next year.

I feel that even though there is a problem, it is not being addressed properly.

The police reports I've received concerning the vandalism at my property indicate a problem of handling intoxicated bar patrons, who are increasingly members of Southeast Missouri State University fraternities and sororities. I'm not saying they are the cause of all the vandalism in downtown Cape Girardeau, but look, if you will, at the dilemma Carbondale, Ill., has had in the past at Halloween.

During the 1970s, the Carbondale Halloween street party was relatively benign with few problems. Then, during the 1980s, increasing incidents of broken widows, fires and overturned autos began to make business owners nervous. Now Halloween is a bad word in Carbondale, with liquor sales cut off before and after Oct. 31. What had been a fun party for students and lucrative for business is now a ghost town on the strip at Halloween.

Is stricter licensing of the bars an answer? Is more regulation in order to assure us that bar patrons will not cause property damage? Who knows? I don't know the answer, but I do know downtown Cape Girardeau has two completely different clienteles: the latte-drinking, antique-buying art patrons during the day, and the bar crowd at night.

I have lived in downtown Cape Girardeau for 15 years. During the day I feel as safe as ever. But at night the crowd is different. I no longer feel comfortable with the drug dealers and prostitutes so boldly selling their goods. I no longer feel comfortable that a harmless college prank can result in a huge brawl with people hurt and property being damaged.

I have sat in on meetings of various downtown organizations just to listen to business owners venting their frustrations. It is my wish that something can be done to make bar patrons responsible for the damage they cause. Otherwise, downtown will degenerate. That's sad, because it has great potential. I would hate to see the day when businesses have to bard their windows and point video cameras at you because of the actions of a few out-of-control drunks.

Downtown business owners are being made to compensate for bar owners who don't see their drunk patrons as a problem. Maybe we should send them a bill the next time a window is broken. What do you think?

Jay Whitfield is the owner of Jay's Salon in downtown Cape Girardeau.