[jrbeccles]

I am someone, who still after four years of living in the Villages, enjoys going to the Brownwood Square to see a good band. However, I have to say I am getting more wary of doing so. That’s because of the rowdiness and especially as the number of inebriated people at the square continues to grow. When I first started going, on Friday and Saturday nights and when there was a popular band, there were always Sumter police at the square. This always had a calming effect in my opinion, so that there were not waves of jaywalkers, people bumbling around, and you felt safe. However, when they shut down the small police station there, things have become bad. I have not seen a policeman down at the square now for a long time. The number of people who show up drunk at the square has dramatically increased. Last week a drunk (we call him red bandana man) who is at the square repeatedly, and shows up drunk, who staggers across the dance area with people trying to avoid him, finally passed out and fell flat over. The Community Watch (CW) sat him up in a chair and took details and then let him walk off into the sunset. My question is why is this allowed to happen? I know the CW folks have no powers, but their primary job must be to keep Villagers safe. To allow these people to ruin the fun of others is just wrong. Surely they could call the police and have him removed from the area. They should also stop the other drunks, and there are many, staggering into dancers.
Please don’t get me wrong, I enjoy going to the drink shack and buying beers. I think it’s great to have a few adult beverages and sing and dance, but not in what’s becoming a hostile atmosphere. My thoughts are:
1. No disrespect to the CW folks. They do a great job making sure people sit in the right areas and chairs are in the right lines. A not fun job considering what they are getting paid. However it must be safety first – and their bosses need to step in and tell them to call the cops on drunks and have them removed.
2. Where are the police? When you have an event with hundreds of people drinking, and golf carts zooming around avoiding jaywalkers, why don’t they show their presence at least for 15 minutes every hour? Just one cop crossing the square every hour will definitely calm down the drunks, and also the lousy traffic problems.
It’s just a matter of time before some big altercation inside the square, or a pedestrian getting run over.