STATEMENT OF ROAN LEWIS My name is Roan Lewis and I am 53 years old. My spouse, Alex, and I moved to Whiteacre Bluffs in 1983. For the past ten years, I have been the owner and manager of the Panache Cafe, an upscale restaurant/jazz club located in downtown Whiteacre Bluffs at 2598 Napa Valley Drive. I first got the idea for the restaurant/jazz club from my years as an aspiring actor/actress in New York. I was moderately successful in the theater, appearing several times in minor roles on Broadway. My talent was never fully realized, however, and I never truly hit the big time, but I was wonderfully fortunate in one respect: I married one of the playwrights I met during my last stint as a dancer in the hit musical Felines. I like to consider myself to be very cosmopolitan--a sophisticated connoisseur of the arts and fine cuisine. I never thought I would ever want to leave New York; there is no place else like it. However, while in New York I was accosted by a group of youths in Central Park and, I must admit, am quite paranoid whenever in the presence of more than one or two teenagers. I was quite relieved when Alex accepted an opportunity to become the head of the Theater Department at the University here.
When we moved to Whiteacre Bluffs in 1983, it was a nice suburban community which had experienced significant growth from its semi-rural, middle-class beginnings. At that time there were a few commercial enterprises, but most of the population growth came from nearby Gateway City. Gateway City had expanded a great deal in the past decade or so and was continuing to grow at a phenomenal rate. Whiteacre Bluffs also grew tremendously over the next fifteen years. I believe the growth was attributable, in part, to a number of industrial parks which were developed because of the relatively low cost of land, the availability of a skilled workforce, and the city’s proximity to the Interstate. I think the city leaders--myself included, of course--can also take credit for having the foresight to provide enough amenities and culture to attract those in positions of authority at these commercial enterprises that chose to locate here. Whiteacre Bluffs came to be viewed as a trendy, accessible, bedroom community, due in some degree to our concerted efforts to take advantage of the University's focus on the performing arts and our tireless efforts to bring more of the arts--theater, music and dance--to the City. In fact, since 1990, Whiteacre Bluffs has been touted in many regional and national publications as a fine place to raise a family as well as a culturally vibrant community.
Shortly after arriving in Whiteacre Bluffs, both Alex and I became active in a number of community groups. Over time, we became very well known in the City. In 1988, I opened the Panache Cafe'. The city had never had a restaurant/jazz club format and it was immediately popular both with the professionals who had fled nearby Gateway City and the students and faculty at the University. We were instrumental in bringing a number of peff9rming artists to the Whiteacre Bluffs area. At our request, they often prevailed upon some of their acquaintances from New York to consider bringing shows to Whiteacre Bluffs. Whiteacre Bluffs was a good location for summer theater because it was close enough to the metro area that there were always large audiences for whatever performers came through. of course, we encouraged these artists, in part, so that we would be able to enjoy more of the kinds (if not the quality or quantity) of cultural activities that had been available to us when we lived in New York. More importantly, I recognized the necessity of a viable nightlife to the ongoing success of the Panache. The more vibrant the nightlife, the larger the potential clientele base.
Over the past three years, I have become increasingly disturbed at a number of signs that Whiteacre Bluffs is on its way to developing more of a "big city" look. I have noticed increasing amounts of gang graffiti, especially in the city center's cultural district. I became aware, through my presence on City Council, of Whiteacre Bluffs' increasing crime rate. Most disturbing, however, was the problem of loitering youth. Throughout the week, but especially on Friday and Saturday nights, I have had problems with groups of youth, often as many as 15 to 20, hanging around the Panache's vicinity, sometimes within a few feet of the entrance. I attribute the presence of these youth, in part, to the location of the Worldwide Pizza Palace next door. Worldwide is owned and operated by Reagan Locksdale, a hippie holdover from the sixties. How S/he ever managed to become the president of the Chamber of Commerce, I will never understand. Anyway, youth congregate outside the Pizza Palace, especially on warm nights. These youth are often loud and disruptive. I have had a number of patrons complain about these kids. The youths would ask them for "doggie bags," beg for money so that they could get something to eat, or otherwise intentionally annoy them. On occasion, several of the youths would ride on those skateboards and careen into people walking along the sidewalk. Those kids act like they own this City. And the language that comes from such young mouths is incredibly vulgar-they will talk about anything in public. The problem became so pervasive that I often had to close my sidewalk Cafe--a main drawing point for the club on spring and summer evenings before and after the theater or other performances.
Finally, in May 1998,1 presented a request to the City Council to do something about the loitering problem. In support of this request, I recounted to the Council my own experiences in New York and the insidious nature of youth street gangs. I described my increasing awareness of the presence of gang graffiti in and around the Napa Valley Drive area, my observations of what I believed to be drug transactions among the youth loitering in the vicinity of the Panache, and the increasing number of patron complaints concerning the abuse and intimidation they have experienced when in the theater area and when arriving at the Cafb'. A string of others citizens came forward with similar tales. Even many of the residents from the Northeast part of the City, in some of the more troubled neighborhoods, provided testimony in support of some action. The Northeast area is plagued by a group known as the Fuchsia Posse. My understanding is that the Posse is an appendage of a larger gang in Gateway City. The people who moved from Gateway City to work in some of the new factories undoubtedly brought it with them.
I also presented the Council with literature and other information which detailed the problems associated with youth gangs. Seen by some as a relatively recent phenomenon, particularly in communities like Whiteacre Bluffs, the current scourge would have surprised many prior generations. Whether it be random violence associated with street gangs; their aggressive recruitment of new members, some as young as nine and ten; the public intimidation of law-abiding citizens; or the significant degree to which their presence contributes to a sense of community lawlessness, the problem of gangs is no longer limited to large urban areas. The studies I presented demonstrated that their presence, in differing degrees, can be felt in many rural, semi-rural, and suburban areas. The increase in gang membership and gang activities crosses all racial/ethnic lines and can be found in all socioeconomic strata. Based on this testimony, the City Council enacted an anti-gang loitering ordinance which went into effect on September 1, 1998.
After the passage of the ordinance, I asked Sgt. Kelsey Johnson, who is in charge of Whiteacre Bluffs' gang task force, how I should go about reporting any incidents of gang loitering. Sgt. Johnson informed me that I should keep my eyes open and be very observant of the area in the immediate vicinity of the Panache S/he also suggested I occasionally inquire of my patrons whether they had experienced any problems when arriving at the Panache. On September 25th, a Friday evening, several of my patrons who were having dinner before attending a concert mentioned that they had experienced some difficulty when arriving at the club. They said that a large contingent of youth was beginning to congregate in front of the Worldwide Pizza Palace and that the young people were skateboarding, standing around on the sidewalk, and being loud and boisterous. The patrons said they had not been threatened or directly harassed in any way, but I decided to keep my eyes open, as Sgt. Johnson had suggested.
At about 8:30 or 8:45, 1 started to hear loud music blasting from the Pizza Palace. I looked outside through the side window and observed about fifteen youth loitering. I continued to observe them on and off for the next twenty minutes or so. There were so many of them that every once In a while they would end up in the street and cars would have to drive around them. At about that time a number of people were proceeding along Napa Valley on their way to the Performing Arts Complex. The youth began shouting things to the pedestrians, and making highly inappropriate gestures to those who dared respond. I was quite concerned because I had heard rumors of some sort of altercation the previous evening between two rival gangs, and I could see that several of the youth gathered outside the Pizza Palace were wearing gang colors. It was fairly dark outside by that point, but the patio at the Pizza Palace is awash in light. Besides, I was using my binoculars to be better able to see what was going on.
At a little after 9, 1 decided I had better contact the police department before things got out of hand. The dispatcher put me through to Sgt. Johnson; I informed him/her that the police
were needed to disperse the youth loitering outside Worldwide Pizza. I informed him/her that several of the youth, perhaps three or four, were wearing green-and-white bandanas, green shins, and jeans. When Sgt. Johnson asked me if they were wearing any kind of insignia, I had to leave the phone and return momentarily to the window. Through my binoculars I could see that two or three had gold medallions around their necks, although I could not see the medallions well enough to describe them to Sgt. Johnson
I also realized at this time that K.J. Tyler was one of those present. I have known K.J. for several years. She testified before the School Board several years ago about the 'Light in the Window" Program which was, at that time, provided by the Whiteacre School System. At the time, her presentation was quite impressive; she spoke with us about how she had been teetering on the brink of joining the Fuchsia Posse; she had begun smoking marijuana; and she was drinking a good deal of alcohol. She had been ordered into treatment and had participated in a program run by trained drug and alcohol counselors through the Light in the Window program. It was my view then, however, and remains my view today, that those types of services, and the people who need them, are better served by the county social services, not by the school system. The other part of the LWP, the arts and crafts and other recreational activities, are more properly located in the Department of Parks and Recreation. Our schools are there for the purpose of educating our children, not baby-sitting them. I can’t say I was much surprised, however, to see Tyler hanging out with those gang types. Her miraculous recovery always seemed a bit fishy to me.
Although I had not seen K.J. for some time, I knew she was up to no good. By around 9:30, as I was continuing to observe the situation, I couldn't understand what was taking the police so long to arrive. of course, I later learned that Sgt. Johnson had arrived immediately but was sitting, out of my line of sight, observing. I saw K.J. Tyler and some young man gesturing wildly at each other. The music was so loud it was impossible for me to hear what they were saying, but they appeared to be engaged in quite a heated argument.
It was right at that point that I saw Sgt. Johnson's cruiser appear from the shadows and Sgt. Johnson approach the youth located in the grassy area between my place and the Pizza Palace. As Sgt. Johnson walked over to the group, a few of the youth fled. They were obviously up to no good-why else would they run away like that?. I then observed Sgt. Johnson talking with several of the youth who remained. At one point, Reagan Locksdale ran out, gesturing like s/he was one of the kids. Sgt. Johnson must have had a few choice words for him/her, since she retreated. Several moments passed, and although Sgt. Johnson appeared to be trying to give the kids every break to allow them to disperse without any further problems, Tyler and two or three others would not leave. Sgt. Johnson then had Tyler and the guy she was arguing with stand up with their hands on the top of the cruiser, and placed them under arrest. S/he put them in the back of the cruiser. I really hated to see it all end in that way; but, all those kids had to do was to act civil in the first place or leave as they were instructed.