Kevin Bacon, Thou Art Avenged: Dance the Night Away (Finally) at Arizona's San Tan Flat!

When we last checked in at San Tan Flat, a family restaurant in Pinal County, Arizona, county officials had invoked an anachronistic ordinance to ban outddor dancing at the popular steak joint.

It was the subject of this Drew Carey Project video at reason.tv, dubbed Dance Ban: Footloose in Arizona:

Well, here's some great news, via The Arizona Republic:

Pinal County Superior Court Judge William O'Neil overturned a decision from the county Board of Supervisors that said the country-Western-themed restaurant was operating an illegal dance hall by allowing patrons to dance to live music on its back patio….

The saga of San Tan Flat drew national attention, prompting commentary from actor Drew Carey and conservative Washington Post columnist George Will. The case also received several comparisons to the 1984 Kevin Bacon film Footloose, in which a small town bans rock music and dancing.

More here.

At the time we released the video, one of the owners of San Tan Flat told the East Valley Tribune, "'This adds one more voice, and I think Drew Carey has a credible voice and he speaks with some degree of credibility to the public,' said Dale Bell, who owns San Tan Flat with his son, Spencer."

All of us at reason are glad to see this incredibly stupid injustice made right—and proud of our role in helping it happen.

Comments

[Paul]

We had 'em beat by almost 20 years.

[Guy Montag]

Looks lik they are ahead of Cleveland again!

[Warren]

I say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything out of control
We can dance, we can dance
We're doing it from wall to wall
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody takin' the cha-a-a-ance

Safety dance
Is it safe to dance
Is it safe to dance

S-s-s-s A-a-a-a F-f-f-f E-e-e-e T-t-t-t Y-y-y-y
Safe, dance!

[Naga Sadow]

Sometimes I wonder if Kevin Bacon even remembers Footloose . . . *sigh*

[Naga Sadow]

What ever happened to Men at Work?

[Mike Laursen]

What ever happened to Men at Work?

If I recall correctly, the lead singer showed up on an episode of Scrubs not too long ago.

[sixstring]

Naga --

Wrong "Men" -- Safety Dance was Men Without Hats. And truly annoying.

[Warren]

Men without hats can't be at work because it isn't safe.

[J sub D]

Yippee! We are still losing the freedom war, but it's nice to score some points once in a while.

[Tym]

Wrong "Men" -- Safety Dance was Men Without Hats. And truly annoying.

True, just as annoying as Men at Work, or as I called it Men at Jerk.

[Naga Sadow]

My bad, sixstring. I blame those infomercials selling 80's hits for my mistake.

[R C Dean]

I think Drew Carey has a credible voice

Can't say I ever really expected to read that anywhere. Still, if [insert Congresscritter here] is credible on [insert issue here], then then why the hell not?

[sixstring]

I just can't get the image of Dana Carvey's Churchlady looking at the name of the restaurant, and, considering the topic was that unclean activity, dancing, having her say something to the effect, "Dancing? Could it be...SATAN?"

There's a joke in there somewhere. I think I'm done with my terrible '80s flashback.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

It was the subject of this Drew Carey Project video at reason.tv, dubbed Dance Ban: Footloose in Arizona

Just forwarded this to everyone I know in Arizona but I didn't realize that the link does not go to the video in question, it just goes to the main page. It will be confusing because most people cannot see the embedded video in their email.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

In the video the implication is that there is some unknown sinister force at work trying to put the place out of business so that some unnamed parties can pick it up at fire sale prices.

However, the issue is NOISE not dancing. If you read the IJ case summary you'll figure out pretty quick that the county should never have issued a permit for an outdoor dance hall that was less than a quarter mile from people's houses. A your right to play live music for dumb people ends at your property line sort of thing.

Once the fit hit the shan the county tried to do a backdoor revocation of the conditional use permit (or whatever they call it over there) and failing that has obviously tried to nitpick the place out of business to make up for their error in judgment.

It appears that San Tan Flat is in compliance with a pretty strict noise ordinance and by rights I would think that should be the end of it. 60 decibels at night ought to be quiet enough for the neighbors.

[pgt]

If you go back that far with Kevin Bacon movies, we might as well bring up his role as an Omega pledge in Animal House.

Thank you sir, may I have another?

[waylor]

Ya knwo why 7th day adventists ban premarital sex?

'cause it might lead to dancin...

[cgee]

Strange that Pinal County, Arizona can resolve their public dancing issues, but NYC still prohibits dancing in nearly all bars and restaurants.

[TallDave]

Good news!

Great job Drew.

[Danny]

Ha. This is about 20 minutes from my house, and quite the popular joint. Maybe I'll check it out now that this stupid dancing ban is up.

[BobDotson]

I was in court on May 7th when Judge O'Neil made his ruling concerning the San Tan Flat violation of Pinal County Zoning Ordinances. Even though Judge O'Neil ruled in favor of Dale Bell, Judge O'Neil spent a significant amount of time speaking directly to Dale Bell about how the Judge understood the plight of the neighbors near Mr. Bell's establishment, and how Judge O'Neil would be appalled if the County ever allowed an establishment such as Mr. Bell operates, anywhere near the Judge's home in rural Pinal County. Judge O'Neil talked of individual property rights, and the exercise of those property rights as a 'balancing act', rubbing together his colliding fists to help demonstrate his point.

It is this 'balancing act' of individual property rights that I would like to address in response to the various articles and editorials that have been published concerning this conflict over the past 2 years. The primary point I would like to discuss is the very important issue that Judge O'Neil pointed out in court, and that is the balancing act of property rights between property owners.

On one side we find Mr. Bell, operating an establishment that he claims he built following all of the required guidelines and procedures, claiming he has honored all of his commitments, making claims of how good his business is for the 'community', all with what he claims are within his rights as a property owner, and that the County is trying to 'ban dancing' in Pinal county.

On another side we find the surrounding property owners, who claim that every Friday and Saturday nights, holiday's nights, and many other nights in between, that Mr. Bell takes over our properties for his own use, blasting unbearable loud noise across our properties and into our homes, shines glaring commercial signage across our properties into the windows of our homes, casts a blanket of smoke across our properties from the marshmallow roasting fires fouling the air our families and livestock breath, and then nightly discharges inebriated patrons onto our neighborhood streets, patrons whom routinely choose our neighborhood streets to avoid encounters with law enforcement with no consideration for the families they put at risk.
Unlike TV, radio, or the printed media where when you are offended, or tire of it, or find the timing inconvenient, then you can simply switch it off, set it aside, or not buy it in the first place; but here in our neighborhood, only Mr. Bell gets to choose what music and speech we will hear, blasting into our yards, our homes, our lives, night after night, like it or not, want it or not, only Dale Bell gets to choose when and what will be heard for all of the surrounding property owners.

Now the predominance of the reporting and editorial about this conflict has focused around some injustice being perpetrated against Mr. Bell, which he has spun in the media as an attack on everyone's right to dance. The candid truth is, we could care less about people dancing in Mr. Bell's establishment. I don't know a one among us who doesn't like to dance. Mr. Bell, spun through his current proxies - the various media, would have us surrender our land, our homes, our dreams, our hopes, to the likes of the blatant recurring trespass from Mr. Bell, that we, Mr. Bell's neighbors, somehow hold some odd notions of responsible property ownership and appropriate civil behavior, that we have been duped into some kind of flawed thinking about our plight in the face of a bully, that the idea that we might cry foul is somehow wrong, and that it is somehow inappropriate to plead with our elected government to right the wrong, and restore the peace to our neighborhood.

If you remember, we all watched on television as a group of PSYOP soldiers played deafening rock music, 24 hours a day, over loudspeakers that ringed the Vatican Embassy compound where General Noriega had taken refuge. The siege continued until General Manuel Noriega couldn't take the 'constant bombardment of the music' anymore and surrendered. In Iraq, in Fallujah's darkened, empty streets, U.S. troops blast AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" and other rock music full volume from a huge speaker, hoping to grate on the nerves of this Sunni Muslim city's gunmen and give a laugh to Marines along the front line. That is Psychological Warfare Operations.

Granted San Tan Ranches is not a war zone (although some of your readers would like to make it one), and Mr. Bell is not by any stretch of the imagination, a hoard of terrorists bent on killing us all. However, much of the editorial opinion and reporting so far would have us all believe that when our nation's founding fathers were crafting the Declaration of Independence, that when Thomas Jefferson carefully scribed the concept "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.", that we all must have missed the footnote lay hidden until Mr. Bell came along, that holds an exception - that Mr. Bell somehow enjoys greater privilege over everyone else. Putting the pun aside, it was this very concept of privilege that our founding fathers found to be so objectionable, so much so, that they were willing to risk everything to protect against it. With the 9th amendment of the US Constitution, the premise of Mr. Bell's extraordinary privilege that some of the editorials would try to convince us all of, is clearly dashed by "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Mr. Bell's rights clearly end where exercising his rights deny the rights of his neighbors, and that is exactly what Mr. Bell has been doing, continues to do, and is doing so with the support of the media, and particularly unfortunate for our Republic, 'the press' - the very place our founding fathers created extraordinary constitutional protections in order to make sure the exchange of ideas would be forever assured.

The elected and appointed government officials in Pinal County, and the State of Arizona, as agents 'of the people, by the people, for the people' have an absolute obligation to protect the rights of 'all of its citizens', setting aside prejudice, special interests, and all other distractions that might interfere with protection of freedom and the fair application of justice, not just for Mr. Bell, but for all of its citizens. Mr. Bell has rights, and so far, the scale for the rights proposition has leaned heavily in Mr. Bell's favor, entirely at the expense of the rights of his neighbors. Mr. Bell is not entitled to the unencumbered use of our neighborhood properties, to use as he currently chooses to, constructively seizing them from us for his own enjoyment and enrichment, and the County through its actions or inaction, cannot surrender our properties to Mr. Bell or allow to continue, Mr. Bell's nightly trespass. That would effectively constitute an unlawful application of eminent domain, the taking of our properties, and handing them over to Mr. Bell, having denied our neighborhood property owners their due legal recourse, compensation and treatment under the law. The County is obliged to restore the "balance" Judge O'Neil referred to in court.

As for the editorial staffs of the press, I say to you: It's time for you and your readers to face up to your own prejudices and misconceptions instead of relying on the propaganda fed to you by Mr. Bell, and recognize the real injustice that is occurring, the real tragedy in our community, the damage Mr. Bell has inflicted on the trust in the press that our founding fathers recognized as so crucial to the survival of our Republic. Mr. Bell has used your publications for his own selfish propaganda. Regardless how Mr. Bell has portrayed our neighbors in the San Tan Foothills, there are good, hardworking and honorable people here, caring people, and mostly people trying their best to help our community. It would sure be refreshing to see the media, and especially the editorial staffs of the press recognize the real injustice, and finally come to the aid of the neighborhood under siege in the San Tan Foothills.

Respectfully,

Bob Dotson