|
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/business/south-bend-bar-targeted-neck-tattoos-in-dress-code-policy/article_8f5bdc80-ef19-11e4-ba8f-43ba93ac8ff7.html
SOUTH BEND -- On a Wednesday evening this spring, Gary Briscoe, owner and instructor at the Ribeiro Jiu Jitsu Academy of South Bend, went out for a drink after class with others from the school. Briscoe's friend and fellow instructor, Jack Wilkinson, said they were celebrating with guests from out of town, and decided to go to Brothers Bar and Grill at Eddy Street Commons. A place the friends frequented.
But that night in March, because of a tattoo on the left side of his neck, Briscoe was told he wouldn't be allowed into the bar. The tattoo, a small cross surrounded by the words "Lord Watch Over Me," violates the establishment's dress code.
It's a measure the bar implemented in 2013 to deal with problems of violence -- violence that has calmed in the past year and a half.
Among limitations to clothing and jewelry, no visible tattoos above the neckline are allowed in Brothers Bar and Grill. The Brothers franchise is owned by the LaCrosse, Wis.-based Fortney Co., which has 18 locations across the country. Fortney Co. didn't return numerous requests for interviews or comments.
"It was really embarrassing," Wilkinson said of his friend being turned away. Wilkinson spoke out about the incident on behalf of Briscoe.
Although the group's evening ended well, Briscoe having no problem entering O'Rourke's Public House just down the block, the incident left Wilkinson upset enough to speak out about what, he said, felt like discrimination.
But Brothers, as a private business, is well within its rights to make customers follow a dress policy, said Jane Henegar, executive director of the Indiana Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. There are rare occasions where refusal to provide service on the basis of a customer's dress or appearance has been found to be pretext for racial or religious discrimination, she said, but that's not the usual case.
"As a general matter," Henegar said, "there is no constitutional issue implicated in a restaurant's dress code."
Brothers implemented the policy after a spike in violence in the Eddy Street Commons in fall 2013 area put the bar in the spotlight. In October 2013 gunfire broke out and one man was shot a block south of the bar amid a fight involving at least 100 to 200 people, many of whom came from inside Brothers, according to South Bend Tribune archives.
Also in the month span when the shooting occurred that fall, a man was killed and two others injured in gunfire east of the University of Notre Dame and a grad student was robbed at gunpoint on Notre Dame Avenue.
To address the violence, area residents met with leaders from the city, Notre Dame and Brothers. Brothers' then general manager explained at the meeting changes the bar had made to discourage gang members from entering the establishment, which included the dress code as well as asking for two IDs after midnight and turning the lights up earlier in the night.
Even with a spike in trouble at the time, no other establishment at Eddy Street Commons has a similar dress code to Brothers -- or one at all. Tina Miller, a manager at O'Rourke's, said in a recent interview she doesn't believe their establishment has ever had a big problem with crime.
In the fall 2013 Tribune investigation into crime at Eddy Street Commons, police were called to O'Rourke's 13 times in an about eight-month span, compared with 95 times for Brothers. And Miller said O'Rourke's is used to accommodating customers who were denied service at Brothers, adding they wouldn't turn someone away strictly on the placement of a tattoo.
"We do feel we are a different type of bar," she said.
Wilkinson said his biggest problem with the policy at Brothers is it has made a judgment call about tattoos above the neckline. Wilkinson said he would like to see the research or data Brothers' policy is based on, adding that he thinks this is not the way to solve whatever crime problems the bar may have.
Brothers isn't the only South Bend establishment with a dress code, though. Madison Oyster Bar in downtown also has restrictions on customers' dress, but nothing that extends to placement of tattoos. The Oyster Bar's policy requests "casual but neat," and states "gentlemen must have sleeves, no sweat pants, no sagging, no white undershirts." The owner of Madison Oyster Bar had no comment on the bar's dress code.
Parts of the two bars' dress policy are comparable, but Brothers' goes further banning headbands and bandanas, and restricting that loose neck jewelry must be tucked in and ball caps must be worn either straight forward or straight back, among a few others. But the printed policy posted at Brothers does state the restrictions are not to discriminate.
"We do not exclude or otherwise discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, sexual orientation or age (except as required by law)," the policy reads. "Our policies apply to all equally, no exceptions."
Further down, the policy provides some explanation, stating "a level of appropriate dress is required for entry to keep the late night atmosphere a fun and positive experience by all."
There has been a decrease in crime in the Eddy Street Commons area, South Bend police Capt. Phil Trent said. In the last year police have not received the volume of nuisance calls to Eddy Street Commons and specifically Brothers as in the past, Trent said.
It's hard to say, though, how much Brothers' policy specifically has been a part of the decrease, Trent said. On the police side, he said, the credit goes to the work of South Bend's Nuisance Abatement Officer Keenan Lane. Under the city's nuisance property ordinance, properties that police are frequenting are the focus of enforcement.
Beyond enforcement, Lane works with landlords, residences and businesses to find effective solutions, Trent said. For Lane to succeed, it takes a partnership with those either causing the problem or being affected by it.
"I credit everyone," Trent said of Eddy Street Commons, "especially the businesses." @geahuwine
|
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
General Discussion
