Marietta Police said certain bar owners in the city lease their floor space to club promoters for the evening, who then host a foam party there. The establishment is filled with waist-deep foam, which the attendees dance in. Trouble is, minors as young as 13 show up and mix with the adults, often ending up drunk and engaging in sexual activity.
Lt. Steve Kish and Maj. Cliff Kelker gave council members a flier from the El Texano Nightclub on Franklin Road near Delk Road. The flier advertises a foam party for this Friday. It shows a woman decked out in a bikini dancing in foam. The flier also advertises that no IDs are required, that the dress code is “booty shorts, bikinis and beach clothes,” and that there will be a $100 “booty shaking contest” at the event.
Police say the minors learn about the foam parties through such social media outlets as Facebook.
The officers said that after the foam parties close for the night, the minors will congregate outside the bar, sometimes in the hundreds, which attracts gang recruiters and leads to gang violence.
Police say one offender is Runaround Sue’s, located on Church Street Extension just off Cobb Parkway near the Canton Road Connector. Several arrests were made there after two rival gangs shot at each other, Kish said.
Kish said cities such as Savannah and Columbus have already passed ordinances banning minors from bars.
Councilman Philip Goldstein said it was one thing to ban 13- to 17-year-olds from bars. But Goldstein objected to banning 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds.
“That goes too far,” he said.
Mayor Steve Tumlin said he didn’t see a distinction between 13- to 17-year-olds and 18- to 20-year-olds in the context of the conversation they were having because Georgia law prohibits anyone younger than 21 from drinking alcohol.
“They are minors as far as alcohol,” Tumlin said.
But Goldstein said the 18- to 20-year-old set may want to be in the bar to dance and therefore shouldn’t be prevented from doing so.
“They can’t drink but they can dance,” he said.
Goldstein said there were bars and lounges in the city that didn’t host foam parties, and adopting an ordinance banning anyone younger than 21 from attending those places would penalize them.
“You’re painting everyone with the same brush,” Goldstein said. “Don’t adversely impact legitimate businesses.”
Moreover, Goldstein said state law allows people younger than 21 to work in bars. He urged his fellow council members to continue to allow minors to work in bars regardless of what changes they made to the ordinance.
Tumlin said state law may allow minors to work in bars, but that doesn’t mean the city has to allow it, a statement city attorney Doug Haynie said was correct.
Councilman Anthony Coleman, who had requested the subject be placed on the council’s Judicial/Legislative Committee agenda for discussion, said he sided with police in wanting to ban anyone under 21 from bars.
In the end, Goldstein and Jim King, the only two members currently on the committee, advanced the agenda item on to the council’s Aug. 6 work session, asking that the proposed ordinance is written so as to ban minors under 18 from Marietta bars, but that it continues to allow minors in bars if they are working there and if they are older than 17.
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Parents do you jobs and everyone stop trying to be so damn controlling. What kind of country do we live in? Old Russia??
Dont let some bad apples ruin it for the rest of us.
love and happiness people!
Stop the Hate!
Before you justify this type of activity is okay by saying, "its a foam party so what" I'd like to know if you have been in the parking lot of Runaround Sue's on a Friday or Saturday night after one of these "foam parties" is over? My guess is you, just like City Councilman Philip Goldstein, have not. You are correct by saying "this is 2012 things are done a lot differently and yes they are done at an earlier age" which is just even more justification to clamp down on this type of activity. You cannot compare "go on movie dates and kissed int he dark theater" to oral sex between teenagers inside the bar or in the parking lot. Yes kids are going to be kids and they will experiment, but businesses don't have to hold events that condone this type of activity and if they do the local government needs to step in and stop it. Allowing this type of activity to continue is an accident waiting to happen and you know things are bad when police officers are told "if you get a call at this particular location don't go there by yourself, make sure you have backup." But I guess you will not be affected by the 14 year old girl who gets pregnant because she did something she should not have done in the parking lot of a business like this, or be affected by the 16 year old who was shot in the head and killed because he was standing in the parking lot of a business like this just talking to friends when the gunfire broke out between two gang bangers or will have to tell the spouse of a police officer your are sorry for not supporting the City Council in their stand to restrict who goes into businesses hosting events like this after the officer is shot and killed by an 18 year old upon arriving to a fight call at a business where a foam party just ended.
Yes, things are different than when we grew up because society has gotten so liberal in their beliefs that I never would have thought that I, as a parent, could be put in jail for whipping my son for doing the same things my Dad whipped me for doing when I was a young and stupid teenager. Another reason America is going down hill real fast.....
Anecdotal or factual? Nonetheless, I agree that individuals under 18 should not be allowed.
If any minor, regardless of age, is drinking under any circumstances (foam party or not) in a licensed establishment then there is a bigger issue with respect to enforcement.
Lax enforcement of current laws lets bar owners push the envelope.
Punish the establishments. There are laws on the books already that can address the issue of underage drinking. A liquor license is an expensive commodity which needs to always hang in the balance. Increase the incentive for establishment owners to keep that license intact and you've won the battle.