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 Hells Angels are coming ... |
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| Hells Angels are coming ... |
   
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With hundreds of Hells Angels poised to descend on the Garden City this week, Missoula?s top law enforcement officials are waiting to exhale.
For Sheriff Mike McMeekin, the apprehension is business as usual.
Angels or no Angels, McMeekin will have his hands full policing western Montana?s annually celebrated Testicle Festival, which gets under way Wednesday at the Rock Creek Lodge. This year, the event coincides with the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club?s annual USA Run, when about 400 members of the group and their families are expected to ride into Missoula for a gathering that runs Wednesday through Sunday.
?We have to do the Testicle Festival every year, so rather than the Hells Angels being a separate event for us, we look at them as an extra component,? McMeekin said recently. ?With that said, because of the Testicle Festival, the potential for a significant flash point to occur in the county this year is as great or greater as it is in the city.? The Hells Angels have reserved campsites at Marshall Mountain, a few miles east of town, and have a full itinerary of planned events. But McMeekin says the club scheduled its USA Run in accord with the notorious Testicle Festival, and he expects many Angels to turn up at the Rock Creek Lodge, where alcohol and nudity abound.
For the thousands who attend the Testicle Festival, the five-day event is an opportunity to kick back, imbibe and ?have a ball? an ethos that characterizes the event?s festive atmosphere as well as the abundance of Rocky Mountain oysters, which are either served deep-fried or grilled on kebabs.
The way McMeekin sees it, the 26th annual festival has been going on 26 years too many, and points to the perennial assaults and drunken debauchery as proof.
?One of these days, the Testicle Festival is just going to explode. It makes no difference if the Hells Angels are there or not. My bottom line is we cannot protect people from themselves,? the sheriff said.
??? But protecting Missoula from itself, it turns out, is sometimes necessary.
The Hells Angels last came to town during a sweltering week in July 2000, when a heavy police presence riled locals. The event culminated in downtown rioting, even though the outlaw motorcycle club was uninvolved and played no role in the disturbances.
On the final night, when the bars closed and the Hells Angels left for their campsite at Marshall Mountain, hundreds of people remained downtown and filled the streets. When the crowds refused to leave, police turned to more forceful tactics. When the pepper spray cleared, more than 100 people were arrested and several others went to local emergency rooms with bruises and burning eyes.
The fallout from the incident was significant, and a wave of intense public criticism fell over former police chief Pete Lawrenson, who retired from the department that same summer.
In the weeks that followed the riot, a Hells Angels Citizens Review Committee was formed to advise the community on how to restore respect and trust among police and citizens. In a report detailing its findings, the committee praised police for handling the Hells Angels gathering, but called for greater community involvement should the city face a similar event in the future.
Missoula Police Chief Mark Muir recently told members of the Missoula City Council?s Public Safety and Health Committee that he?s optimistic about the upcoming weekend and anticipates a ?non-event,? but he?s been following the committee?s recommendations to a T.
?The Hells Angels? last visit was the end of one chief?s tenure; this visit marks the beginning of mine,? said Muir, who took charge of the department on June 1.
Muir said he took the committee?s recommendations to heart. In particular, police are making an effort to communicate their patrol strategies to the public prior to the high-profile event a cause made evident by a pair of recent public meetings, which are part of a ?visible planning process? that Muir hopes will quell any lingering misgivings about the police department?s response eight years ago.
?We are fairly certain that the Hells Angels plan to spend a significant amount of time out at Marshall Mountain,? Muir said. ?They have planned activities and entertainment. But I expect that, like last time, they will come into our community and spend some time as well.? To that end, Muir and McMeekin have developed a ?mutual aid agreement.? That means the Missoula Police Department can tap additional resources from or divert them to the Sheriff?s Office, and vice versa. Both agencies will work out of a shared command post on West Broadway, at the former Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation building. Sheriff?s deputies will also be stationed at the Clinton Fire Department in order to quickly respond to any mishaps at the Rock Creek Lodge.
??? Muir?s and McMeekin?s general concern about the Testicle Festival is heightened by a history of biker gatherings there, and they worry that other rival motorcycle clubs, like the Bandidos and the Mongols, will clash with the Angels.
?We can?t ignore the fact that this group and others like them frequently come into conflict with other rival groups,? Muir said. ?It?s that kind of situation that makes us a little nervous.? ?We can identify the ingredients, but we can never identify the flash point until after the fact,? McMeekin said. ?But remember, their PR campaign notwithstanding, these are all felons, with the determination to preserve their big, bad, outlaw mystique.? While sheriff?s deputies once patrolled the grounds at Rock Creek Lodge during the Testicle Festival, they have since turned that role over to private security workers hired by the Lodge?s owners. With a year-round staff of six employees, the Rock Creek Lodge tacks an additional 100 staffers onto the payroll for the festival, including 45 security workers and dozens of bartenders to operate the six outdoor bars.
If the long weekend is a non-event, as Muir and McMeekin hope, the dozens of additional officers will spend the lag time getting caught up on required training exercises.
?I think it?s great to utilize what would otherwise be hurry-up-and-wait time for training,? Muir said, adding that some of the training will focus on crowd management.
Missoula City Councilman Dave Strohmaier congratulated Muir and said he appreciated the police department being so forthcoming.
?It sounds like a good game plan and responsive to lessons learned the last time around,? Strohmaier said.
As for the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, Muir got a cordial phone call from one member following the July 1 public meeting. The member who called Muir is serving as a liaison between the club and Missoula law enforcement agencies, and said he read about the meeting in the Missoulian online.
http://www.montanastandard.com/articles/...bjchbjcgcej.txt
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28.07.2008 17:14 |
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