(Hey, I didn't know this dude was white! I wonder how that plays into any of this.)


Friday, September 29, 2000, 07:40 a.m. Pacific

Seattle nightclub owner denies blame in shootings

by Dave Birkland
Seattle Times staff reporter

The owner of the Pioneer Square nightclub near where five people were shot last weekend said his club is not to blame for the shootings and faulted Mayor Paul Schell for "condemnation of the business" he owns.

Anthony Frazier called a news conference yesterday to combat the black eye his Bohemian Cafe has received since Saturday, when a gunfight erupted about 3 a.m. in a nearby parking lot, killing one and wounding four others.

"My club is upscale, clean and - unlike what you may read or see on TV - not a haven for gang members," Frazier said.

What happens outside the club, he said, is the police's responsibility, not his.

Frazier, who said he will not change the club's format, stressed that he could not even be sure any of the shooters had been inside his club, which closed an hour before the shootings.

In the eight years he has owned the club, Frazier said, he can count on one hand the number of times the police have had to intervene. The music featured at the Bohemian is reggae, not hip-hop, although 5 percent to 10 percent of the groups he books do play hip-hop, he said.

He invited Schell and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to join the customers at his club this weekend to "see what a safe place it is . . . to be more informed."

Hip-hop music has been blamed for drawing crowds prone to violence, but Frazier denied any link.

"The violence that we are seeing in downtown Seattle is not about music any more than a baseball game against Oakland could be to blame for the shooting . . . near Safeco Field on Monday," he said.

Four people were shot in a car late Sunday near Safeco Field. Police are still investigating, but say there is no connection to the Saturday shootings in Pioneer Square.

Tina Bueche, owner of Dutch Ned's Restaurant & Bar in Pioneer Square, said she believes there is a connection between hip-hop and violence. There is a history of violence by "some, not many" customers drawn to clubs that feature hip-hop music, she said.

"All you have to do is look at the facts," she said.

Bueche said she is unsure whether other Pioneer Square businesses will try to force Frazier to drop hip-hop, "but everyone will be watching very, very close," she said.

At the suggestion of police, Frazier said, his security guards use a hand-held metal detector to keep guns out of the club, check identification closely, and are able to identify gang-type clothing and make sure members don't get inside.

"I work with the police on an ongoing basis," he said.

Instead of pointing at his club, more blame should be placed on the owners of the surrounding unlit and unsupervised parking lots, where people gather after the clubs close, Frazier said.

Schell also should step up and put more officers in all areas of downtown, he added.

Maud Daudon, Seattle deputy mayor, said Schell, who talked about the problems at a news conference the day after the shootings, did not single out the Bohemian Cafe as the source of the problems.

Schell did not identify "any specific location that was the source of the problems," Daudon said.

But Schell did say things got out of control at "a club" and blamed hip-hop music. He later said he was not against that type of music.

Police activity has been beefed up in all areas of downtown, including Belltown and Pioneer Square, Daudon said. Stopping the violence is the mayor's "No. 1 priority," she said.


Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company

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