Texas Lone Star Burglarized Sunday

[george]

Texas Lone Star Burglarized Early Sunday Morning

SOURCE: MekhongKurt

Yes, the story jumped right to the head of the list; if you didn't already see it, I put it up today with a link from my homepage as a stand-alone story (identical to this one).

For starters, my heart leaped when I heard the bar had been robbed, which is a drastically different story than for a place to be burglarized. A robbery involves someone going in and confronting someone else, usually threatening the person in the place with a weapon. A burglary, on the other hand, is when someone breaks into a place unoccupied at the moment. Yes, a burglar is sometimes armed, in case someone catches him in the act, but not always.

And what happened at the Texas Lone Staar was, indeed, a burglary, not a robbery -- thank goodness. Robberies way too often go wrong, with someone ending up hurt or dead. Those disastrous cases usually can be attributed to the robber(s) being amateurish and panicking, then unnecessarily striking out at their targets or bystanders (or both).

The details: sometime between about 2:00 A.M. and 6:00 A.M. Sunday, someone, maybe more than one person, broke the padlock securing the front (and only) door of the bar, and broke the glass in the door to be able to reach inside and open the thumb-latch operated deadbolt, which is of course secured with a key from outside.

The they entered the bar, where their targets are a little curious. They took some 15 bottles of whiskey -- mostly Thai whiskey -- and three cases of beer. They left behind quite a lot of booze. More curiously, they didn't raid the cash box.

So, while any burglary is irritating, at least this one resulted in pretty much small losses. Though I've not talked with the owners, no doubt they're irked to no end, small losses or not, for which I can't blame them. In fact, even we Squaronians with no financial interest in any of the Square's establishments are irritated at this disturbance in the tranquility of our home-away-from-home.

Adding to the irritation for the owners is that the police ordered the bar closed until today. When I first heard that (at Taffy's bar, from Taffy, when I made my first stop of the day at his place about noon yesterday), I assumed it was so a crime scene search could be conducted without any potential evidence or possible fingerprints being disturbed. However, as of about 8:00 P.M. last night, when I came home, no investigators had turned up.

Oh, well; the staff couldn't get the door repaired yesterday anyway -- though they could have opened, had the police allowed it. The glass-in-a-metal-frame door had the glass mostly intact, so someone could have taped some paper over the small hole in it to help keep the air-conditioned air inside, but the police order prevented that.

I have to give the staff credit. They sat outside on the smoking deck all day and were still there, outside lights blazing, when I passed by on my way home. It was a tough sell to get customers to stop. The ladies couldn't go inside to fetch beers or other drinks, since the interior was off limits -- come to think of it, someone did have to go inside to turn on the outside lights; guess the cops don't need to know that! And the smoking deck doesn't have any fans yet. At least it was pleasant yesterday, after heavy rains just before and after dawn. (The high yesterday was about 28°C/82°F.) Even so, the air was very still and humid. But the ladies stuck with it, doing their best; anyone stopping could easily order a drink from the Wild Country, immediately next to the Lone Staar.

People debated all day yesterday whether the burglary might have been an inside job, but I rather doubt it. In the first place, any employee would stand to lose far more than the value of a few bottles of beer and booze if caught. In the second place, workplace security is hardly a priority at the bar; it would be an easy matter for an insider to spirit out stuff, a little at a time. In this case, it wouldn't take too many days to spirit away everything that was taken. By the time I left, the general opinion was swinging towards a belief that the probability is the burglary was done by amateurs on a smash-and-grab basis, hitting a target of opportunity off the cuff. During the time frame the burglary occurred is a very quiet time around the Square, with no place open. And, of course, very little is visible from either Sukhumvit Road or Sukhumvit Soi 22, with the side of the Square where the Lone Staar is located entirely blocked from view from either of those streets.

The likelihood the perp or perps will be caught? Hard to say. I have no idea how extensive any fingerprint database here is, and even if it is extensive, there's always the possibility whoever committed the crime hasn't been fingerprinted. Assuming there are any fingerprints not matching an employees in the first place that is.

If there aren't any fingerprints that can't be matched to an employee, does that prove the burglary was an inside job? Nope. The bad guys could have worn gloves, though the apparently amateurish nature of this particular burglary doesn't suggest any thinking that far ahead.

The main point is no one was hurt, and for that we are, one and all, thankful.

-- BangkokAtoZ.com 2008-04-08

[mrtoad]

Does anyone go down there these days? It's a pretty derelict and desolate area.

[taxexile]

Does anyone go down there these days?

the intrepid hat wearing scoopster mekhong kurt does , his younger brother , chao phraya charlie , used to but has now moved on.

re. the above report : unbelievable that so much can be written about something of so little significance. a few bottles of thai hooch missing and a broken padlock at a rundown dingy backstreet bar and

People debated all day

.

having seen some of the punters in that area , perhaps that should have read "people dribbled all day".

apart from the prices at the dubliner and the happy endings at the massage parlours , there is little that causes excitement in washington square these days , so perhaps we should excuse mr. kurt his reporting overkill of the great washington whiskey heist.

[bendix]

I'm struggling to see what they could have stolen from those godforsaken bars. The patrons' collection of Vietnam war medals, perhaps? Half a dozen leather biker waistcoats? A century of sad and depraved memories.

I haven't been a fan of the redevelopment of lower Sukhumvit in recent years (I still miss the soi 15 bars), but Washington Square truly is a godawful and depressing dump. Thankfully it will disappear at the end of the year.

[mrtoad]

I'm struggling to see what they could have stolen from those godforsaken bars. The patrons' collection of Vietnam war medals, perhaps? Half a dozen leather biker waistcoats? A century of sad and depraved memories.

I haven't been a fan of the redevelopment of lower Sukhumvit in recent years (I still miss the soi 15 bars), but Washington Square truly is a godawful and depressing dump. Thankfully it will disappear at the end of the year.

Amen to that.

[taxexile]

Thankfully it will disappear at the end of the year.

any news on what will be built there ?

[Spaniel]

I'm struggling to see what they could have stolen from those godforsaken bars. The patrons' collection of Vietnam war medals, perhaps? Half a dozen leather biker waistcoats? A century of sad and depraved memories.

I haven't been a fan of the redevelopment of lower Sukhumvit in recent years (I still miss the soi 15 bars), but Washington Square truly is a godawful and depressing dump. Thankfully it will disappear at the end of the year.

I think you meant the Soi 16 bars?

[Ulysses G.]

but Washington Square truly is a godawful and depressing dump. Thankfully it will disappear at the end of the year.

Does that include Bourbon Street restaurant?

[mrtoad]

but Washington Square truly is a godawful and depressing dump. Thankfully it will disappear at the end of the year.

Does that include Bourbon Street restaurant?

I'd assume that all of that are is goiing to be flattened including Bourbon Street. However, I would imagine that given there reputation they would not have too much of a problem relocating. In fact, I reckon they would do much better if there were in a better location. Washington Square is an absolute dump.

[dekka007]

Agreed it is a dump. But it has some character about it!

You never know what you will see / be greeted with when you enter Taffy's at 2pm in the afternoon. Highly entertaining.

[Groongthep]

Don't be so hard on the old Square fellas. Sure, it's run down but a few of us still get a kick out of stopping into the Silver Dollar or the Texas Lone Star or Denny's Corner from time to time just for a hoot. Granted, the joints on the far end near Bourbon Street are really nasty dives and the staff in pretty much all of them are, shall we say, rather unrefined, but I still can't help liking something about the area. Probably because it hasn't changed all that much in the 20 years I've been walking by the place. Yes, the Washington Theatre hasn't shown a movie in almost 2 decades since they figured the katoey show brings in much more money from the busloads of Chinese and Japanese tourists and The Dubliner with it's whole over done fake Irish Pub thing is so phony it just plain su<ks. What Washington Square needs is refurbishment not replacement. Sadly, neighbourhood refurbishment, while a huge succes in places like Singapore is still a foreign concept in Thailand. I for one will be sad to see Washington Square go.

[rgs2001uk]

Agreed it is a dump. But it has some character about it!

You never know what you will see / be greeted with when you enter Taffy's at 2pm in the afternoon. Highly entertaining.

that bar was okay when the sri lankan guy (sorry cant remember his name ) owned it.

hunter s thompson on his worst acid trip couldnt have imagined anything like the dump it is now..

wasnt upstairs the home of the infamous hairy pie club?

[bendix]

I'm struggling to see what they could have stolen from those godforsaken bars. The patrons' collection of Vietnam war medals, perhaps? Half a dozen leather biker waistcoats? A century of sad and depraved memories.

I haven't been a fan of the redevelopment of lower Sukhumvit in recent years (I still miss the soi 15 bars), but Washington Square truly is a godawful and depressing dump. Thankfully it will disappear at the end of the year.

I think you meant the Soi 16 bars?

No . . . I mean the little warren of bars between, I think, soi 13 and soi 15 which were knocked down a couple of years ago to make way for one of the big condo building being developed on that side of the soi.

I must admit that the pending demolition will mean Bangkok loses one of my personal favourite cameos . . . at 10pm every evening it's fun to watch the hoards of gormless Japanese and Korean tourists file methodically out of Mambos, onto their tour buses, whereupon they gaze nervously out at the six foot ladyboys waving goodbye to them.

Honestly . . . did someone somewhere right the script for what a Jap tourist MUST do in Bangkok? It's so formulaic: Stay together at all times. Bus - Jap restaurant - katoey show - Bus. Drive to Pattaya and repeat as before. Never on any occasion walk around by yourself . . . . .

[mrtoad]

Burglarized?

I'd never heard this word before, I'll assume that it is an American English word?

I suppose it's good publicity for Lone Star and all the other bars in Washington Square, people might get a bit curious about the place and start to visit.

[dekka007]

A lot of people tend to hit the square in the evening when it is really really quiet. But you go lunchtime/ mid afternoon its surprisingly busy.

I can't recommend wild country bar in the afternoon.....makes Taffy's look like the dubliner

[grtaylor]

Burglarized?

I'd never heard this word before, I'll assume that it is an American English word?

I suppose it's good publicity for Lone Star and all the other bars in Washington Square, people might get a bit curious about the place and start to visit.

Quite - the word was "burgled" last time I looked.

[jEFFREYk44]

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Main Entry:

bur·glar·ize Listen to the pronunciation of burglarize

Pronunciation:

\ˈbər-glə-ˌrīz also ˈbər-gə-lə-\

Function:

verb

Inflected Form(s):

bur·glar·ized; bur·glar·iz·ing

Date:

1871

transitive verb 1 : to break into and steal from <burglarize a house> 2 : to commit burglary against intransitive verb : to commit burglary

Just thought I'd add that, LOL

[john b good]

Burglarized?

I'd never heard this word before, I'll assume that it is an American English word?

I suppose it's good publicity for Lone Star and all the other bars in Washington Square, people might get a bit curious about the place and start to visit.

Burglarized

It is in the Oxford so it is not necessarily "American English" and is more likely to be proper (read real) English (like wot the Queen speaks)

It is not used very much in the countries where I have lived with the common word being "burgled" (which is also in the Oxford of course)

And yes I have suffered at the hands of a "burglar" when he/they "burgled" my home.

[candoman89]

Thankfully it will disappear at the end of the year.

Say it ain't so. How sad. This is a definite stop for me on my "show the tourist around the sleazy side of Bangkok tour". It beats the he11 out of Patpong/Nana/Soi Cowboy.

I remember bringing one visitor there and he was enamored with one of the ladies in the bar (obviously it wasn't the first bar we had stopped at that night :D ) and he decided to do some heavy duty tongue sucking/spit swapping with her until one of the people in the bar started laughing and shouted across the bar.................hey don't kiss them...........this is a B J bar :D !! at which point he had to have a gargle with whiskey.

I pi$$ myself thinking about it all the time.

Will have to patronize there a few more times before its untimely demis.

[Ulysses G.]

I remember bringing one visitor there and he was enamored with one of the ladies in the bar (obviously it wasn't the first bar we had stopped at that night :D ) and he decided to do some heavy duty tongue sucking/spit swapping with her until one of the people in the bar started laughing and shouted across the bar.................hey don't kiss them...........this is a B J bar :D !! at which point he had to have a gargle with whiskey.

That is a GREAT Bangkok story!

[mrtoad]

Burglarized?

I'd never heard this word before, I'll assume that it is an American English word?

I suppose it's good publicity for Lone Star and all the other bars in Washington Square, people might get a bit curious about the place and start to visit.

Burglarized

It is in the Oxford so it is not necessarily "American English" and is more likely to be proper (read real) English (like wot the Queen speaks)

It is not used very much in the countries where I have lived with the common word being "burgled" (which is also in the Oxford of course)

And yes I have suffered at the hands of a "burglar" when he/they "burgled" my home.

Not so. the Oxford accepts both British and American.

The use of the 'Z' would suggest that the etiology of this word is American. In British language usage, burgled would be used as it is past tense.