A political ‘witch hunt’ is behind the attempt to crush ‘teen nights’ at a Long Beach Island resort and heading for court after the bar owner began a voter drive among his young patrons, he claims.
The weekly summer parties have been held at the Marlin Restaurant and Bar on New Jersey‘s Long Beach Island since 1989.
But councilors refused to renew its license in June after the town’s police chief said teens queuing for the venue were now ‘out of control’.
Bar owner Michael Battista is a former commissioner and mayor of the beach town and claims his successors are violating his young customers’ rights to assemble and rights to free speech.
‘The taxpayers should be outraged at the money the borough is going to spend defending a bad decision to ban teen night,’ he said.
DJ Erin Constantine entertaining guests at the Marlin Restaurant teen night in Beach Haven
Beach Haven Police Chief said the teenagers in the queues were now ‘out of control’
Beach Haven Police Chief James Markoski told councilors that his department did not have the resources to police the town as well as the queue where teens fight, damage property and ‘think it’s a joke’ when police intervene.
‘I’m not against teen night, it had its place, it’s just right now it’s out of control,’ he said.
‘It’s a public safety issue.’
Councilors voted 3-2 not to extend the license and Batista slammed a ‘witch hunt’ and ‘selective enforcement’, pointing to non-licensed venues that ‘have crowds of teenagers present on weekend nights, and patrons, as well as bar patrons, spilling out into the sidewalk’.
He also claimed that councilor Colleen Lambert had cast the deciding vote because he had voted against her serving as mayor in January last year.
‘If there was such a problem, why didn’t this come up in the off-season when we had time to discuss it and hopefully work things out?’ he said.
‘Now they spring this up on me right before the summer season.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ Lambert told sandpaper.net.
‘The truth is, as I stated publicly on several occasions, I never thought teen nights were a good idea, but only supported them because our police department did.
‘The minute our chief said he no longer thought they benefited the town, I agreed, and so, obviously, did two other council members.’
Battista launched a voter education scheme earlier this year requiring teens in the queue to click on a QR code taking them to a petition where they would be asked to vote in November’s presidential election.
Handouts with more information on how to vote were distributed inside the bar.
Its teen nights previously name the news in August 2021 when they were suspected to be the source of at least 20 cases of COVID-19.
But an announcement of its closure on the bar’s Instagram page brought protests from teens who said they had travelled from as far as Turkey and Russia to attend, and warnings that the move would backfire.
‘Some people think it’s not a good idea to have all of us in one spot, but it’s safe and it’s a good place to have fun and talk to people,’ said Sophia Im, 17.
‘It’s no different than people going to the beach and hanging out.’
‘It’s very social and you’ll definitely make new friends,’ added Kayla Clinton, 16.
The venue has hosted its teen nights since 1989 but has now opened them to all ages
Some teenage fans of the club said they had come from as far as Turkey and Russia to attend
‘If it were taken away, I think it would restrict all of the teens from meeting new people, and teen night helps us get out of doing the same routine every day of just going to the beach, going shopping.’
Ocean County Superior Court will be asked to rule on Battista’s lawsuit after a New Jersey federal court judge sent it back for adjudication.
In the meantime, Battista has opened his teen nights to clients of all ages in a bid to get around the ban.
‘The borough’s actions are a violation of several articles in the Constitution of the United States,’ he said.
‘Those are the right to assemble, right to free speech and the rights of non-discrimination.
‘It is a safe, supervised event where underage kids can enjoy socializing with their friends, get to meet new friends and enjoy a summer of their dreams.’
