The Liquor House and WMDs

My local paper apparently just got bought out by some media giant, and I know this is supposed to be the death knell for good local coverage.

Despite this, there is a certain something that certain staff writers (yet unfired), sometimes bring to the the Herald-Sun. a naturalism to the journalism. And two things in particular: the eye for the story worth writing, and simplicity in letting the story “tell itself,” saying things with such clean lines (and one sentence paragraphs) that every detail absurd, beautiful, and cruel is so clear as to be invisible and imminent at the same time. um, or something like that.

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And really, that there is a speakeasy club in Durham with the false name “Trimmaz” is absolutely amazing (below). What more is needed to recommend the virtues of non-fiction over fiction? That it was BYOB is so damn do-as-you-please.

But then the shotgun detail is sad and scary --the criminal charge brought forth scarier still in its surreality. No WMD’s in Iraq, but friend, just go down onto Garland St. and apparently you can find something worth calling one. It’s just that kind of world these days....:

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City Shuts Drinking Club Front Business

BY Eric Olson : The Herald-Sun
eolson@heraldsun.com
Jan 24, 2005 : 8:53 pm ET

DURHAM -- City officials have closed down a Garland Street barbershop that was operating as a front for a liquor house.

Police responded to the business in late December after receiving a complaint of noise, Durham police Sgt. D. Gunter said.

When they arrived, they saw a Trimmaz sign that advertised the 1911 Garland St. business as a barbershop, he said.

The business had nothing inside except for a single table and a box for collecting money, Gunter said.

"What they were doing was opening up a liquor house and an activity center," he said. "They weren't selling it, people were bringing their own in."

To avoid drawing attention to what really was going on, Gunter said, patrons of the business parked across the street in empty hotel parking lots and walked to the building.

"We watched it for a couple of days and found a flier that said, 'Parties all night, every night,'" he said.

Police at one point also arrested a juvenile boy with a sawed-off shotgun outside the business and charged him with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, Gunter said.

City officials got involved and cited the club for several violations the next day.

Within a week, the landlord evicted the tenants, and Pratt Simmons, the City-County Planning Department's planning supervisor who oversees zoning enforcement, had closed the door of the barbershop for good.

"With no foot dragging or tape to cut, I was amazed how fast they were shut down," Gunter said. "Everything just sort of fell into place perfectly."