University Police Chief David Mitchell wants Thirsty Turtle shut down — for good.
Turtle was thrust into the spotlight yesterday after four patrons, who had been kicked out of the bar in a 10-person brawl, were stabbed early yesterday morning. Of the four victims, three were under the legal drinking age.
Although the bar’s fate now rests in the hands of the Prince George’s County Liquor Board, Mitchell said yesterday’s incident was the last straw.
“This is unacceptable,” he said. “This must stop. I’m ready to padlock the Thirsty Turtle tonight.”
Alan Wanuck, owner of Turtle, did not return numerous calls from The Diamondback yesterday.
County liquor inspector John McGorty said the bar has had three citations for serving alcohol to underage patrons in the past two years — a number that is considered extremely high for College Park establishments — not including yesterday’s incident.
McGorty said there will likely be a November hearing to determine what action the latest citation merits. But for Mitchell, that’s not soon enough. He drafted a letter to Chief Liquor Inspector Norma Lindsay last night asking the hearing be moved up.
“It is the position of this police department that this establishment continually violates Maryland law and regulations of the Board of License for Prince George’s County, and continues to operate to the detriment of the University of Maryland and College Park communities’ safety,” he wrote in the letter.
McGorty said the recent citation will be weighed more heavily, as Turtle already has three citations on record.
Mitchell, who took over as the chief of University Police in May, said he met with local bar owners immediately after accepting the job to stress the importance of complying with state and federal law — especially those regarding underage drinking and over-serving.
But after 26 students were taken to the hospital in alcohol-related incidents within the first three weeks of the semester, Mitchell said his concerns about over-consumption and underage drinking among students reemerged. He added that several of these students reported to police that they had been served alcohol at Turtle.
To test the students’ claims, Mitchell said he sent underage student law enforcement liaisons to all three Route 1 bars earlier this semester in what he called an “integrity test.”
Mitchell said his students had no trouble getting into Turtle with their state IDs that clearly showed they were under 21; they were also served alcohol without a problem. The students then called a liquor board representative waiting outside of the bar. Liquor board officials promptly seized the beers as evidence and cited the bar for serving underage students.
“In short, the Thirsty Turtle has become an attractive nuisance,” Mitchell said. “We’re not out here to take any action that’s going to have an adverse economic impact on anyone doing business in this city, unless you’re doing it to the detriment of my students.”
Mark Srour, longtime owner of Cornerstone Grill and Loft, said chaos in a bar can be expected when underage patrons are being served.
“The running joke is that [Turtle] is the high-school bar,” he said. “You can’t mix underage people and people younger than college age in a bar system in College Park; it just doesn’t work.”
The College Park City Council voted last night to write a letter in support of Mitchell’s letter to the liquor board. But District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin and two other members, who voted against the motion, had reservations about getting involved in the debate. Catlin said he doubted whether enough evidence is present to permanently close Turtle’s doors.
“I have some concerns about what’s happening here,” he said. “If we want to make a case, we want to make the best case possible. … Do we really have our evidence in order, or do we just want to do something for publicity sake? I need to know what’s behind this letter a little bit better.”
Council members alluded in their discussion to the closing of Terrapin Station — the bar that previously occupied Turtle’s venue but closed in 2001 after excessive fights and safety violations. Some said the action taken to shut down Terrapin Station is precedent for how Turtle should be handled.
Students who had already begun to hear rumors yesterday that Turtle may be asked to shutter its doors for good said they weren’t surprised that the bar’s reputation for catering to underage drinkers was finally getting back to it.
Senior geographic information systems major Kerry Jones said Turtle is well known among students for serving underage individuals.
“I don’t really go there a lot, but when I have been there, it’s packed with kids that look like they’re 12,” he said “You can tell by their physical attributes they aren’t 21.”
And even though senior communication major Erica Broome said Turtle is considered a freshman watering hole, she was shocked to hear about yesterday’s stabbing.
“Wow,” she said. “There’s been shit that’s happened, but nothing has ever happened this close. We’re there every single night.”
Junior criminology and criminal justice and psychology major Lyndsey Keyte said Turtle should be forced to only admit of-age patrons but noted that could lead to more unchecked drinking elsewhere.
“It could help Turtle’s business if they changed clientele,” she said. “But that would possibly increase drinking in the dorms.”
But Srour said although the 10 involved in yesterday’s incident were thrown out of Turtle, the chaos reflects poorly on all downtown drinking establishments.
“It’s unfortunate it happened, and it looks bad on all of us,” he said. “I don’t want anything close to that happening. But it did, and now they have to deal with it.”
Staff writer Alicia McCarty contributed to this report. redding at umdbk dot com