Working The Weekend

I was working Saturday, but not blogging. Sometimes all my time is spent getting information and writing a story and I run out of time for posting. That was one of those days.
I was too busy trying to find out what happened at Stephanie's Sports Bar in Forestville early Saturday morning.
I'm not the police reporter; I was just working that Saturday. My story about it appeared in the Sunday edition of The Herald Press and online at http://www.bristolpress.com/.
According to the police, there was a big fight at the bar, which is on Central Street next to Nuchies, and three men were apparently stabbed during the fracas. There may have been a gun brandished and shots fired, but no report of anyone shot, the cops said. One of the guys who was stabbed had surgery at Bristol Hospital. That's the last I know of anything. I don't know what happened to him or the other two as the cops didn't even release a name.
Some of my focus in writing about the incident was on Forestville Center, and the impact such a crime would have on that typically quiet little spot.
I never could reach the bar's owner, Steve Coan, whose home phone is unlisted. No one answered at the bar, either.
Dave Pasqualicchio, who owns Nuchies with his brother Mike, had plenty to say. He was furious at the mess he says is consisently left by Stephanie's and its customers. He was worried about the reputation of the village in light of the incident and also, understandably, the impact on his own business next door.
To be clear, Nuchies serves alcohol but is not a bar. It's a banquet facility and caterer and isn't even available for drop in customers as far as I know.
Anyone who knows Dave knows he runs a tight ship there and spends a good deal of time every day picking up litter all over Forestville. His own place is spotless, so off he goes with a bag and picks up trash that thoughtless people cast out of cars and drop along the roadways and in the parks, in and around the center of Forestville and beyond. He's been doing this for years without a lot of recognition, mostly because it just bugs him to see litter and he cares about the community.
He said the police didn't even call him to let him know that there had been a serious incident next door to his building, or that they'd put police tape around it and blocked off his parking lots. When he got to work Saturday morning, they wouldn't even let him enter his building at first. (Nothing happened in his building but apparently the search for evidence had a pretty big radius.)
I lived happily for many years not far from Nuchies and the Manross branch of the Bristol Public Library. That part of Bristol, Forestville, is a nice neighborhood with good businesses and decent people living there. I still like to visit there. It's clean, safe and usually quiet. Dave and the good people at the Forestville Village Association are working hard to keep it that way.