A good friend's father passed away, my cousins from Indiana spent the night in Orleans Parish Prison last Wednesday night/Thursday morning for asking a policewoman for help, 931 Harmony Street went on the market, and we spent Thursday-Sunday in Washington DC for the DC Mardi Gras festivities. As you can see, it was an eventful week to say the least.
In order to break up what would be a very long post with lots o' pictures, I am going to relay the events of last week in episodes---with each post being an episode. Thus, this post is Episode I (see above). In addition, I think creating a little anticipation and maybe, dare I say, some suspense with each post, I might be able to keep some of my readers (Hi Julie).
My cousin Michael and his wife Sarah came to New Orleans last Wednesday evening for Sarah's sales meeting. Sarah works for Matilda Jane (a clothing company for children) as its director of sales development. She spent months planning this meeting. The original plan was for JSH and I to meet them for a late drink on Wednesday night at the Carousel Bar. However, they got into New Orleans early and we were in Baton Rouge at the wake for our friend's father. Our plans to see each other never really solidified.
Sarah and Michael went out with some of their friends who were also in town for the conference. JSH and I got home around 9pm from Baton Rouge and still had not packed for our 6am flight to Washington. When Michael sent me a text message that they were at Pat O's, I responded that we were going to pass on the plans tonight but would see them on Sunday for the Super Bowl. His response was only "I'm on my second hurricane." GOO. I responded that he should careful not to be the Kevin Padget of the 2009 Matilda Jane sales meeting. (Kevin is my cousin that could not attend my wedding because he had one too many hurricanes at Pat O's the Friday afternoon/evening before)
Around 3am on Thursday morning, I receive a phone call from my cousin Nancy (Michael's little sister) that Michael and Sarah were arrested after Michael was "jumped outside a bar on Bourbon Street." Now, I am not going to lie. I love my cousins. But, my first thought was that Michael (aka "Bad Buzz") had mouthed off to the wrong bouncer, a fight started, and Michael ended up on the losing end-both with the bouncers and NOPD. Sarah, never one to shy away from expressing her opinion, probably mouthed off to the wrong cop and got to ride along with her husband.
Boy, was I wrong.
After a night in Pat O's, Michael and Sarah are walking out of the main entrance holding hands for their walk back to the Monteleone. As soon as Michael steps outside....BAM!.......One of the waiters/bouncers/workers in the green vests is on top of Michael hitting/kicking him. Michael is able to get away from him and runs towards Royal Street looking for help. The Pat O's worker runs towards Bourbon Street. As Michael gets to Royal Street, he sees a police car and knocks on the window. He asks the police officer for help and they walk back to Pat O'Brien's. The staff members says they never saw anything---even though there was a group of green vested gentlemen watching the incident. The next thing Michael knows he is shoved against a wall and put in handcuffs for disturbing the peace. The cop didn't believe his story. Sarah yells, "What the eff (you can translate) is going on !!??" and the cop turns and says, "What did you say to me b*tch?" Thus, Sarah is also arrested for disturbing the peace. My favorite part of this story is that, at some point, Sarah asks one of the officers, "How do you get arrested for disturbing the peace on Bourbon Street?" That's funny.
They both got out the next morning and are okay.
Your first instinct , upon reading this, is that something must have happened to cause the fight---whether it be an exchange of words or whatever. Typically, you might assume Michael probably deserved the initial treatment by the Pat O's staff and subsequent arrest because he was "just another hammered tourist." However, it doesn't appear that way. The cop was out of line for making the arrest and simply decided to mess with a young couple from Indiana.
The worst part (and the point of this post) is that it is another negative impression of New Orleans by people that were trying to support the city. Sarah and Michael spent their first wedding anniversary in New Orleans in the summer of 2003. When Sarah was charged with organizing the sales meeting, she chose New Orleans as the location immediately. I don't think there was another city on her list. She spent months negotiating with Hotel Monteleone to "host" her salespeople, their families, and the events of the weekend because she and Michael had enjoyed the hotel so much during our wedding. This sales meeting was a small example of what this city needs as support.........and was also a HUGE example of why this city can't get out of its own way.
By all accounts, the meeting was a success and everyone enjoyed the rest of the weekend. While the staff at the Monteleone was extremely helpful (even going so far as to pick Michael up from OPP so he wouldn't have to take a cab) and apologized profusely for all that had happened, it didn't matter. When the manager asked Sarah if she would like to book the meeting for the same dates in 2010, she politely said, "Thank you but I don't think we will be back."
I will be writing a letter to the editor of the Times-Picayune on their behalf. I am sure Sarah will be writing one as well. Besides the belabored point that New Orleans continues to shoot itself in the foot with this type of stuff on a national level, I want to know WHY a police officer and the police department waste time, money, and resources on this type of stuff. There are armed robberies, muggings, shootings, and carjackings on a nightly basis in areas of the city that were considered safe. Not to mention, a bartender was shot and killed walking home in that very same French Quarter a few weeks ago. What is wrong with people?
A little common sense by the cop, a police escort to the hotel on the condition Michael and Sarah stay there and everybody wins............especially New Orleans when it hosted the 2010 Matilda Jane sales meeting.
Because there are no pictures to go with Episode I (although it would be much cooler if there were), I give you a picture of me and the beautiful JSH before the first event at DC Mardi Gras:
Tomorrow: Epidose II "Private Jets and Shots of Grand Marnier"
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