It sure looks like Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief (shown above) was apologizing specifically for the Rainbow Lounge raid in this video, and an Associated Press story saying he did so has been picked up nationwide today. But now, Fort Worth city spokesman Bill Begley is backing away from the apology, according to The Star-Telegram’s PoliTex blog.
“The mayor and council are always sorry if anyone is hurt ever in our city,” Begley said Wednesday. “The mayor has asked for a thorough investigation of what happened in the Rainbow Lounge to the point that he’s asked for the U.S. attorney to get involved …They want to make sure that all voices are heard … but the apology is that anyone is ever hurt in any incident.”
Hat tip to Rafael McDonnell of Resource Center Dallas, who lives in Fort Worth and just posted the above links to his Facebook page. Said McDonnell of Begley’s statement: “As a communications professional, and a FW resident, who in the HELL is co-ordinating this messaging? What’s the thought process behind saying something like this? At best, it makes this city look disingenous. At worst, it throws gasoline on a fire. … Their window to effctively communicate with this community is rapidly closing, and they seem to want to slam their hands in the window in the process.”
John Wright said: “At worst, it throws gasoline on a fire. …”
What fire? You still need this to be a fire, huh? It’s not a fire.
If you listen to the video, at about 1:33 someone ask will he apolgize for a man being put in the hospital, it appears to me tnat is exactly what he apoligized for, not that the “raid”, or inspection, happend at the Rainbow Lounge. One thing that still concerns me is that th Ft. Worth Police Chief has not removed himself from the investigation. He should be part of the investigation for the homophobic remarks he made on the news, yes it is recorded, where he stated his officers were groped by patrons of the Rainbow Lounge. Everyone knows he was just trying to use homophobia to get this dismissed as quiclky as possible.
This is from the official 6/28/09 Ft. Worth. PD Press Release. While walking through the Rainbow Lounge, an extremely intoxicated patron made sexually explicit movements toward the police supervisor. This individual was arrested for public intoxication. Another intoxicated individual also made sexually explicit movements towards another officer and he was arrested for public intoxication. A third individual inside the lounge assaulted the TABC agent by grabbing the TABC agent’s groin.
He also said that in an interview on the news.
Brian, I didn’t say it was a fire. Rafael McDonnell said it was a fire. Please try to read posts more carefully before commenting.
I would argue from a crisis communications and PR standpoint it is a metaphorical fire, in that the city of Fort Worth has let the story slip away from them and it has taken on a life of its own. In crisis communications, the goal is to respond quickly and efficiently, with a unified and effective message. The “yes we’re sorry, but no that’s not what we meant” response undercuts the last two principles. If this were a straight bar in some other part of town, and they executed the same mixed message, I’d say the same thing.
Police Chief Jeff Halstead also said that officers that entered the bar during the scheduled inspection were touched inappropriately. “You’re touched and advanced in certain ways by people inside the bar, that’s offensive,” he said. “I’m happy with the restraint used when they were contacted like that.”
Rafael,
“Metaphorical fire?” For the City of Fort Worth the “story” is being handled. They have fully cooperated and most people agree they actually mean it. People that enjoy protest love to parse and stir the pot of discontent – kinda like “throwing gasoline on a fire” … I suppose.
As an advertising/marketing professional, I concur with Rafael that the city of Fort Worth needs consistent messaging. Everyone at every level should have talking points and be instructed to not stray from them. There’s entirely too much grandstanding going on by city leaders, law enforcement officials, Rainbow Lounge patrons, QLers and others. I’ve said this on other blogs and I’ll repeat it here: this isn’t about discrimination against gay people. It’s about a state agency that’s drunk with power. Why isn’t someone investigating TABC and reporting on the many other instances of raids gone awry?
Have you read James Reza’s musings on the Fort Worth incident on Dallasblog? It is a stunning piece:
https://www.dallasblog.com/200907141005031/james-reza/riding-shotgun.html
The restraint used? The restraint the Fort Worth PD, put a man in the intensive care unit of the hospital for over a week. The kind of action an individual took whether he was a part of the FWPD or the TABC was inappropriate use of force at best, and at worst one of the sparks that caused the original 1969 StoneWall Riots in NY, only to have happen 40 years later in Texas. I am horrified and saddened by the mistakes, not only by the Police Department but the insensitivity of the City Council and Mayor of Fort Worth. You couldn’t even apologize to an individual much less to a community grieving that has for all practical purposes had no civil rights. Has had no help in the movement anywhere for equality in the last 40 years. Its obvious from the actions of a few that we still have to be fearful of being persecuted and abused, mistreated and manhandled for who we are in our sexual orientation. If anything I’m appauled that the Mayor has decided to release a second statement like this just to appease his right wing conservatives in denying any hope of closure. I hope the national media continues to grill the City of Fort Worth and the City Council for its lack of professionalism and the US District Attorney’s Office gets involved in prosecuting not only the officers involved for the blatant cover up of another officers abusive tactics but also that the TABC is put under the same scrutiny as I’m sure it wasn’t just the FWPD that decided to rough up a patron.
You’re right about that, PB. It IS stunning. Check it out, people. This is what we’re dealing with.
What did you expect? You’re in Texas. HELLOOOOOOOOOO?
I read Reza’s piece on the dallasblog site and commented back to him. It seems to me that the definition of prejudice is taking one incident (in his case, from 30 years ago) and extrapolating it to cover everyone. The fact that he brought up rapists and child molesters in the same breath is a nice touch, too.
It’s like this: People like that say they’re live and let live, but in my heart, they believe we’re all sickos and perverts. Well hallelujah Jimbo, it’s a good thing Jesus didn’t feel that way when he took Mary Magdalene under his wing.
Apparently Reza has never been in a straight bar for wet t-shirts, mud wrestling, jello wrestling, “girls gone wild”, or any number of disgusting things that happen on a routine basis, with apparent impunity from police and TABC authorities. It sounds to me like he was hanging out in a sex club 30 years ago, not a regular bar, and things got a little out of hand.
Apparently someone blew a kiss to office which started the violence at the Rainbow Lounge. Sounds like a good reason to me!!!! check out this video WFAA
https://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090715_mo_policeevidence.44e0909b.html
If anyone remembers, a TABC officer sexually assaulted an underage girl (a sting participant) after a sting operation a couple of months ago. We are dealing with a rogue agency here. Also, isn’t there some correlation between the Obama approved DOJ brief comparing our community with pedofiles and incest with how the mayor, the FW police department, TABC and the straights have since treated us? I truly believe there is a trickle down effect when our ‘progressive’ administration sends such hideous signals.
Thank you for posting the link Rich McPhee. Everyone should watch it. I am confused about one part of it though. At the end of the reports Chad Gibson is shown out side the bar, his face with some blood and he is SMILING. What exactly does this mean? Drunk? The report said he was also covered in vomit.
No, I am not trying to stir up the Rainbow Lounge pot again, but this image is very odd. Also, has anyone heard of the official medical report for his injuries?
I believe the next day he said he had “no memory” of what happened. Surely, the blood test for his alcohol blood level will be released soon.
Of course, even someone drunk shouldn’t be “roughed up,” if that’s what happened, but if he was very drunk it does cast a different light on his story. Well, the story he can’t remember.
Interesting how this police chief accepts the blatant lies of his men, even in the face of photographic evidence. Chief Halstead announced that his men were not even there, when photos and witness accounts plainly show that they were. And the reports note that the raid was violent from the outset–the claims of “provokation” are clearly lies, as witness accounts attest.
A “gay panic” defense is a license to murder. If these clowns are so sheltered that any encounter of gays make them panic, they are sorely in need of another line of work.