On two votes, Baldwin chose Thursday to unite with the parish and Franklin on bar closing hours.

After an hour-long public hearing, Alderman Clarence Vappie offered the ordinance mandating a 2 a.m. stop to the sale of alcohol seven days a week. Alderman Gene St. Germain seconded.

Aldermen Mike Lancelin, Mike Caesar and Herbert Druilhet abstained from the vote. Legal counsel Tommy Senette said a vote of two in favor passed the ordinance.

During the public hearing, representatives on both sides of the issue voiced their views.

Sonny Legendre, representing the St. Mary MADD chapter, said the group isn’t out to close business down.

"But the rest of the parish has done it," Legendre said. "By having Baldwin do it, we’ll have the whole parish. We’re trying to keep the drunks from driving from Morgan City to Baldwin to buy their alcohol. They’re already inebriated and looking for more drinks."

Police Chief Gerald Minor said in the past year there were 12 fatalities in the parish related to alcohol.

"I think it’s the right thing to do to come in line with the rest of the parish," Minor said. "We’re not trying to pick on anybody. If we remain open, we’re going to have people from three different parishes coming in here from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m."

Minor said since the passing of Franklin’s 2 a.m. closing ordinance that went into effect on Dec. 30, he’s watched traffic flow into Baldwin after that time.

"You’d swear it was a Mardi Gras parade," the chief said.

Shelton Barard, a lounge owner, said a large crowd of people must be handled by club owners.

"Running this town differently is important," Barard said. "That’s how we got where we are. We don’t follow everybody else. For organizations to come in here and tell us, under the guise that everything’s going to be all right if you go to 2 o’clock. You’re going to have that same large group of people at 2 o’clock as at 4 o’clock."

Barard said there are more serious problems in the community. "Alcohol sales, and I’m not talking about the liquor they give away, have been neutral. All of this energy should be put into the drug problem. The town (Franklin) that initiated this, you can walk around the corner from the police station and buy all the drugs you want. Here, you can go three blocks, everybody in this area knows, you can buy the drugs you want three blocks from here, day or night. But instead we’re concentrating on the legal sale of alcohol."

Ray Frost, a Baldwin resident and police officer, said that while he agreed with many of Barard’s statements, the problem will be with the influx of people coming into Baldwin after 2 a.m. He said that since Franklin’s ordinance went into effect Dec. 30 "from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. traffic has increased at least 50 percent. The problem is, yes, we still have to handle the large crowd, but the larger the crowd gets the worse it is for officers to handle."

Jacki Ackel, Safe and Drug Free Schools co-coordinator for the St. Mary Parish School Board, said that in cases such as that with her husband, who leaves for work early in the morning, "I want to assure that my husband is as safe as he possibly can be. Can I ask for assurance 100 percent from anyone? No. I can pray. But I believe that the passage of this ordinance will make our entire parish much safer."

Herbert Joseph of Baldwin said "if you’re going to go uniform, you’ve got to close the casino. Let’s use common sense."

Cypress Bayou Casino remains open until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

"All the traffic you’re seeing, don’t assume they’re coming to Baldwin," Joseph said. "They’re going to the casino. If you’re going to have uniform closing why are you evading the casino?"

"We have no control over the casino," Mayor Wayne Breaux pointed out.

"At my establishment you have to buy liquor," Joseph said. "Over there it’s free. Where do you think those people are going, where it’s free or where you have to pay for it? Let’s be for real. You can get free liquor and almost free food."

Resident Janice Cole said she agreed the casino has free liquor, but they also give money to the parish and Baldwin.

"If we’re going to keep these bars open, then let these people put up the same amount of money that the casino is," she said.

Barard replied that he pays taxes to the town.

"We don’t take in what they do, but per capita, we do pay," he said.

The Rev. Benny Druilhet, Justice of the Peace Ward 10, said he was totally opposed to the sale, use or consumption of alcohol in general, and urged for adoption of the ordinance.

Margaret Coleman said she was against "the control of someone’s property, telling them what to do. I don’t go to the bars anymore, but I’m against it because as the owner of a business, I don’t want anyone coming and telling me when I have to close."

Herbert Bell, a lounge owner, opposed closing as well.

"I don’t see any way we can not stay open (late) Friday and Saturday. Those four hours are very crucial to my business … we don’t have an alcohol problem here in Baldwin. Drugs are the main cause of accidents and crime. I’m asking you as a business owner to see this is not a problem here in Baldwin."

Diane Wiltz, Safe and Drug Free Schools co-coordinator for the St. Mary Parish School Board, said a vote for the bar closing ordinance is a bit of prevention. An accident in the future might leave aldermen wondering if they made the right decision, she noted.

Paul Mortimer who said that he came from a family "significantly affected by alcohol addiction" asked if it was more important to aldermen "to think of the expansion of a few pockets from the money generated from the sale of alcohol from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., or the endangerment of many more people."

Baldwin Police officer Pete Armstrong said Baldwin has an opportunity to join the rest of the parish for uniformity.

"The problem I’ve seen over the years is that we’ve had to pick up people off the streets, breathing and dying, because of alcohol problems," he said. "That’s not good to see that, to see innocent people killed in a traffic crash. We’re not picking on any particular bar, but if we can cut down the time span people are drinking and possibly getting too drunk to drive, that’s a blessing for everybody. Those two hours, maybe we’ve saved some lives, but if we don’t what’s going to happen?"

Delores Martin, a member of MADD and a victim of drunk driving, said Baldwin is getting ready to grow, and people seeking a place to live will take alcohol sales limitations into consideration when making a decision.

"We keep talking about the casino, and there’s nothing we can do about it," Martin said. "The crowd that goes to bars goes to drink and dance. It’s a whole different crowd than goes to the casino."

Joseph returned to the podium to say future residents of the Raintree Subdivision development, part of the Baldwin municipal limits, may be disturbed by traffic heading to the casino.

"We can certainly appeal to (the tribe and casino)," Breaux said. "But this mayor has no control over the casino."

"If you close Baldwin and the rest of the parish at 2 a.m., they’re going to the casino," Joseph argued. "The casino gives away more liquor in one night than the entire parish sells on a weekend. I’m not against the casino, I love the casino."

Barard said he felt "a lot of this is aimed at me" and that no police officer has ever been into his establishment for a problem. He said he employs a counter to determine how many people are in the club and when some leave, an equal number are let in.

"I don’t want any trouble," Barard said. "I believe in controlling the people in my club. Never has a Baldwin officer stepped in to my club to stop and make an arrest. Never."

"Do people honestly go to the casino to get drunk?" Cole asked. "Do they let you go to the casino to get drunk? Do they?"

"I think their security and their policy is that if a security guard determines somebody is drunk they quit serving," Breaux said.

Cypress Bayou Casino has two cash bars, and serves free drinks to active players.

St. Mary Parish Councilman Paul Naquin, District 9, said that if Barard is turning away people already, there’ll only be more coming into Baldwin if closing time remains as it is. He urged uniformity, whether the time is at 2 a.m. or 4 a.m., but that the rest of the parish is at 2 a.m. already.

"You have a hard decision to make, and I would appreciate it if you would make the right decision to close at 2 a.m.," Naquin said.

"I hear people come in and tell me they can go to the casino and play the nickel machines with a dollar, and drink and drink and drink," Bell said. "All they have to do is drop a nickel. I’m in business to make money, and the most crucial time you’re talking about closing us is the only time we can make money. People go out late now. You need to consider us as businessmen."

Baldwin police officer Joe Garrison said that, since he isn’t a resident of Baldwin, he did not want to offer an opinion on whether or not the ordinance should be passed. But he asked that if the ordinance was rejected, the board of aldermen provide more police manpower during weekend nights.

"If you guys decide to keep it open, and I have to work out there on Friday and Saturday nights with the multitude of people that’s in that crowd coming into Baldwin, put some more reserves on the road," Garrison asked. "Hire some more officers or make it mandatory that two or three reserves additionally join in with two full-time officers. That way you can take care of any situation that arises out there. Mr. Barard has no control over the people in the parking lot. He’s right, most of the time it’s on the outside."

A previous state attorney general’s opinion upheld Senette’s opinion that the two in favor, three abstained vote passed the ordinance.

The ordinance goes into effect Feb. 1.