[Diddle E. Squat]

Well I understand the situation. Back in the day I did the same cruising up and down Westheimer(stayed away from Montrose, though) as a teen and college kid. Know all about that scene, its being going on for decades, and understand what a problem it can become. I sympathize with the property owners, and have no problem with a police crackdown on the rowdy elements of the post-midnight loitering. It IS a problem.

But this police raid wasn't simply going after the rowdy elements. I had the same initial reaction as you two did. But go back and read some of the prior threads on this, this was a great overreaction, didn't discriminate in the least between the punks and innocent patrons of all ages, with children, etc. Something went very, very wrong, and an earlier thread indicated that this Aguirre chief was antsy to take over and make a statement. He sure did. Arrest first, and ask questions later. And the Sonic owner did resist much of their efforts that night, shocked at the unwise treatment of the innocent customers. HPD arrested the baby with the bathwater.

Yeah, there are the Massillion-type idiots here that cry "jack-booted thug" every time an officer sneezes, and they make me angry, too. But in this case the police did grossly overreact. Occassionally the police are in the wrong, much as I hate to admit it. I urge you to read several of the earlier threads on this. It isn't the usually story of rich kids trying to get mommy to bail them out, or trumped up bogus civil-rights abuse charges by drug dealing ex-cons.

[tallhappy]

Yeah, there are the Massillion-type idiots here that cry "jack-booted thug" every time an officer sneezes

Exactly.

If the cops were out of line, it will be addressed.

The fact remains that for weeks on end there were out of control crowds bothering people and generating complaints.

Citations did not work.