Editorials

There is nothing the city of Anniston can do to bring back Dwayne "Richard" Duncan, the 22-year-old Ashland man who died in a New Year's nightclub shooting on Wilmer Avenue. In that sense, his death is a story already told.

But the events that led to Duncan's passing have splashed light on the subject of private security guards hired by Anniston businesses, particularly bars and restaurants. What's at stake is the reputation of Anniston as a place where those who wish to spend late nights and wee hours with drink and dancing can go without fearing for their safety.

To that end, Anniston has every right to require that private security guard firms are licensed by the city. It should strengthen its ordinances and fines to ensure that bars and restaurants comply. It's a matter the city should take with extreme seriousness.

The issue of private security guards at Anniston businesses stems from the arrest of 20-year-old Joseph Thomas Pannell, who Anniston police have charged with murder in the Duncan shooting. Pannell has told investigators that he worked for a private security firm that was hired for New Year's security by Dee Ford's Underground, a Wilmer Avenue nightclub.

There seem to be other murky details about this case, not the least of which is the age of the alleged shooter, which is below the legal age required to buy a handgun or handgun ammo. (At 20, Pannell is old enough to legally possess a handgun that's given to him.) Understandably, there is significant work about this case still to do.

For the city, it's the big picture that must be addressed. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board does not regulate private security guards at businesses with liquor licenses, ABC officials say. In typical Alabama fashion, neither is there a state law that regulates or governs how nightclubs hire security guards. "I think that's the real tragedy here," Lt. Mike Reese of the ABC Board told The Star recently.

That places the onus of regulating the hiring of private security firms in these cases directly on the cities themselves. Hence, the dilemma for towns like Anniston.

Anniston's bars and restaurants and the city itself have much at stake. It's good for no one — residents, business owners, city leaders, not to mention those possibly in harm's way — when events muddy the reputation of the city's nightlife options. Anniston must take a strong, emphatic stand and enforce its private security firm regulations with an iron hand.

The death of Dwayne Duncan is all the proof that's needed.