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By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Washington’s Mayor Dean Morehouse made good on his promise that the Town of Washington will no longer tolerate rowdyism and loitering in the town square.
Early Sunday morning the mayor called the Sheriffs Department after observing what he called “disorderly conduct” in the parking lot of the Country Cafe on Main Street.
Steven Edward Baldwin Jr., 20, of Front Royal, Jerry C. Pullen, 29, of Washington, and William Edward Settle, 18, also of Washington, were arrested and charged with being drunk in public.
Mayor Morehouse said that he sat on a bench across from the parking lot about 2:30 Sunday morning aand watched as the three “cursed and fought in the parking lot.” After watching them for some time, he said, he called the Sheriffs Department and lodged a formal complaint about the conduct he had witnessed. Several sheriffs deputies responded to his complaint and made the arrests.
The mayor had promised “strict enforcement” of state statutes against disorderly conduct, public drunkeness and unlawful assembly if the group which has gathered in the Trinity Church parking lot and the Cafe parking lot all summer did not stop the behavior which had brought numerous complaints from town residents and visitors.
“It’s unfortunate that it came to this,” the mayor said on Sunday afternoon.
He said the action was taken only after several sessions with Commonwealth’s Attorney Peter Luke and Town Attorney Frank Reynolds where the applicable ordinances were reviewed. “It has been a lenghty process,” the mayor said.
But, as he had told the group of young people, including Jerry Pullen, who attended the Town Council’s meeting on Sept. 12, Mr. Morehouse repeated his assertion that “guests, visitors and residents have rights as well,” and he promised that the town will continue to enforce ordinances regulating gatherings in public places.
“I just want them to know that if you’ve got time on your hands and want to cut up and disobey the law, you’d better not do it in town. We’re going to get you — no maybe’s about it,” Mr. Morehouse concluded.
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