Marines & Dogs Keep Off The Grass
And out of this city

Shame on Wilmington, NC. I'd like to remind the city attorneys that purposefully discriminating on the grounds that one is a member of the Armed Forces is a felony offence.

From WRAL.com; Marines ask Wilmington mayor to change bar policy
Posted: Jul. 19, 2008

Wilmington, N.C. — A group of Camp Lejeune Marines have sent a letter to Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo asking him to change a policy that allows downtown bars to refuse entry to service members.

The four Marines said they were turned away at three separate downtown Wilmington bars on July 12 between 11 p.m. and midnight. The Marines said they were surprised to be turned away as they had all visited the bars previously.

One member of the group, who did not have a typical Marine haircut, was allowed inside one of the bars.The above terse news snippet is just the tip of the iceberg. It's much worse that this article leads to believe. And I've spoken to more than a few young people locally who've told me that it's an open secret that most downtown bars refuse service to "Jarheads and Squids" solely because they're in the military (from nearby Camp Lejeune).

I've also had some of the same locals tell me that Marines and their Navy Corpsmen "sometimes get into fights at the bars". And the locals don't? And keeping in mind what these combat veteran Marines and Corpsmen have been through, I'd say that they conduct themselves rather civilized, bar fights or no bar fights.

I personally don't see the City of Wilmington moving quick on this... but I wonder how they would react if the discrimination wasn't aimed at "Jarhead and Squids", but at Blacks and Jews. I have a funny feeling things would be much different.