Limiting one senseless act

Fourteen years ago today our collective memory was seared by acts of terrorism. We saw heroes and role models emerge, and we learned that some of the bravest among them never came out of the smoke and ruin.

So on this Patriots Day we honor them, and thank first responders and service members for risking their lives to keep ours safe.

Maybe we all can return the favor, at least in part. Maybe local communities should look at reducing at least one risk factor faced by their police officers.

Is it really worth the revenue to put police officers, not to mention the community, at risk from all-night liquor sales?

When Alvin Parks was mayor in East St. Louis, his refusal to curb the clubs and liquor stores brought U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin out in favor of Parks’ opponent. There was a big press conference with politicians and cops and prosecutors from the local, state and federal levels calling him out.

The same outrage and political pressure has not been applied to Sauget, where a man was just murdered over a spilled beer.

Oscar C. Carbajal is dead at age 26 after a can of beer slipped from a 12-pack, broke open and sprayed on another man’s shoe. Carbajal wasn’t even the one who dropped the beer, but the offended man went to his car, got a .45 and killed Carbajal.

Both the victim and shooter were from St. Louis. It was 5:20 a.m. on Saturday in Sauget.

All-night clubs and liquor stores on the east bank of the Mississippi have a big incentive to cater to the riff-raff that after 2 a.m. can no longer get a drink in Missouri or elsewhere in the metro-east. The question is: Why is the rest of the community willing to let police officers or even our loved ones face people who don’t have better sense than to drink all night and then get behind the wheel?

The patriot you save may be your own.

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Limiting one senseless act."