Channel 6, the DN, and the Inky all covered the trouble at Koko Bongo over the weekend, at which one patron died and one police officer was wounded. For convenience, I put all three reports online together at _www.nonid.blogspot.com_ (http://www.nonid.blogspot.com) ; it's the first item. This occurrence raises a plethora of issues for the community. Here are some to start: 1. If this club is known to be a trouble spot, has there been any effort to have it closed down -- as have other "nuisance" establishments in the general area? 2. There was apparently a fracas outside this place last week, causing someone (and if so, who... the 18th Police District Command, UCD, The Penn Police, Lt McCurdy of the UC ministation, the local chapter of the TonTon Macoute, other?) to have -- as the DN said -- "10 officers ... assigned to handle crowd control as patrons poured out... the officers attempted to move the crowd ... a small group of individuals refused to budge... When officers persisted, at least one man, Lamarr Bembry [who was subsequently killed by the police], turned and fired." To what, if any, extent was the gunplay the result of the way the police handled the situation (the way those who were there acted to "handle crowd control," the arguably oppressive deployment of 10 officers at the place, the fact that two police officers resorted to gunplay with hundreds of people crowded around? 3. The building in which the club is located is owned by the same group of investors who own the former Rite Aid at 43rd & Walnut that they're proposing for a state liquor store. What does this say about the ability of a property owner, let alone a commercial lessor, to control what happens outside an establishment? Enquiring minds want (and deserve) to know the full story, Al Krigman
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