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Fight outside The Harvester bar, chairs being thrown, caller says

By Billie Owens

A fight is reported outside The Harvester bar on Harvester Avenue in Batavia and the caller says there are chairs being thrown. City police are responding.

UPDATE 1:21 a.m. (by Howard): Apparently, two of the people involved in the original fracas tangled again. Police are looking for a suspect and an ambulance has been requested to The Harvester to treat a victim with an injured nose.

Kyle Couchman

Not really Frank, it's actually the law that bartenders arent supposed to serve to people that exhibit intoxication. They are also supposed to encourage them to leave when they are drunk. However in the real world we know this is a judgement call. It is in the lawbooks and is part of agreement they sign in getting their permit to serve.

Apr 24, 2014, 12:33pm Permalink
Lincoln DeCoursey

Bar fights can happen anywhere but some bars are more susceptible due to the crowd they draw. Most people resort to violence only when there is a lack of other viable option, but there are circles in which violence is a go-to approach for settling disputes. Places that are known as "blue collar" or (especially) "dive" bars need to be vigilant. Sometimes it's only possible to get a situation to "go outside" rather than to truly diffuse it. Outside or not, a fight creates real problems for a bar especially if police response is involved. Information from local police about service call-outs for bar fights, or other awareness of illegal (e.g., drug) activity is forwarded to the liquor authority for consideration during the license renewal process.

Regarding over-serving, it's a good bet that over-serving is involved in most bar fights. However keep in mind that different bars draw different crowds. In some bars, the norm is for many different people to stop in for perhaps two or three drinks, then go. Other bars tend to draw fewer, more experienced drinkers who often want to stay and drink all night. Unless someone is falling down drunk or belligerent and refusing to settle down, in bars where drinking to get drunk is the norm, it's impractical to shut off patrons just for being drunk. This sort of bar becomes trickier to manage and really needs consistent, experienced staff that knows the personalities to make it work.

In today's climate, businesses definitely are held to task for the behavior of the crowds that they draw. We see this affecting malls, movie theaters, and diners. Regionally, some businesses have had to adjust their hours or policies in order to curtail violent incidents. As an example, Rochester used to have many 24-hour diners, mostly now they all close in the evening due to having accumulated too many "points" during frequent police responses. Other businesses have had to re-do their marketing in order to draw a different crowd.

Apr 24, 2014, 4:46pm Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Kyle, I'm well aware of laws pertaining to serving alcohol. My point was, blaming the bar is as lame as blaming a gun for someone getting shot.
The people involved in the fight may have been buzzed, or maybe they just didn't
like each other, we probably will never know.

Apr 24, 2014, 5:16pm Permalink
Timothy Walton

Perhaps the bar did what they should have done and cut them off and had their security/staff ask the patrons to leave and go outside once they noticed they should not be served anymore.

Apr 24, 2014, 5:57pm Permalink

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