Jeremie Calo and Tiffani Lynn Barganier are accused of a bizarre crime of having sex in public at a Florida restaurant in front of families with children. Yet, they will not be charged with that crime because none of the adults, including parents, who watched the disgraceful scene are willing to come forward to be witnesses. It is an sad statement about our society that parents, who were upset with the alleged public sex act, do not view themselves as bound by civic duty to step forward as witnesses for the police. It appears that Calo is not the only one treating the incident with a wink and a nod.
The scene allegedly occurred at Paddy Murphy’s, an Orlando restaurant, after the manager was told by various patrons about the couple’s tryst. It is not clear why the manager is not a sufficient witness for the charge. He reported told the couple to stop and Calo, 32, allegedly told Tom Murphy “She can’t get up at this time” — a reference to Barganier.
Calo is accused of then scuffling with the staff and trying to leave without payment. He was charged not with having sex in public but “defrauding an innkeeper.”
What disturbed me about this story was the statement of the police that “The parents of the young children that observed Calo and Barganier having sex declined to write statements regarding their observations.” It is a chilling lesson that these parents are giving their children in not cooperating with police and stepping forward to serve as witnesses. I am not sure which is a worse lesson. This couple was presumably drunk but the parents were sober. In my view, one committed a contemptible act of commission while the other committed a contemptible act of omission. What do you think?
Source: Smoking Gun
Another post from here I thought relevant. http://jonathanturley.org/2011/05/11/ill-have-what-shes-having-leading-atheist-arrested-for-making-sexual-noises/
Thank you Doug, I’m with you on this.
Maybe they were discrete about having sex there– like she had on a dress and was sitting on his lap and no one could see the pee pee or woo woo.
Doug B. ………………..
I agree…. go have your wild sex at home… what ya can’t control yourself… geeeessss was it that hot ??? lol lol he isn’t all that…. lol just saying..
Oh hell… I think the parents or one of them should have taken the kids to the car…. one parent come back in and stand over the table and take a video of it with the phone and put it on U-tube… than we all could have watched it…. in private lol just saying…. Ice water would have worked maybe…. depends on how hot it was……. lol
Oh my….. I wouldn’t want to watch someone take a leak in a can at my next table…. geeeesssss NOT
just give them a fine and move on….who knows she might have sounded like Meg Ryan…. lol lol lol
Sex is good but not in the restaurant……. eat than go home and have your desert….. just saying….
People go to restaurants to eat. Sure sex is a natural act but it’s ridiculous to tell me that I should just look away from two people having sex in a restaurant. Peeing is a natural act. Shouldn’t I be able to unzip my fly and relieve myself in can while in a restaurant booth, especially if I decide that going to the restroom is not convenient enough. Don’t tell me that sex in a restaurant is perfectly natural. What if my wife and I were the only couple not having sex in a diner? How do I look away then? Are we expected to leave our meals because we are just too uptight about people having sex where we eat? Not buying it.
“Mark Kernes
1, October 19, 2012 at 8:23 pm
What this says to me is that at least some people are beginning to understand that having sex is the most natural act in the world, and frankly, I’d like to see (in the general sense) it happening in more public places like parks, beaches, etc.– and yes, even restaurants.”
==================================
I was 30, she was 25, we’d met on the bus a half-hour before. We were in a green park 200 yards from the Grand Hotel, and lively engaged in it on the green grass.
Three, maybe 5 years older, girlfriends strolled by a couple of paces nearby, I looked up, they gave me smiles, I smiled back, the sun shone and we continued and their conversation continued as did their stroll. Peace reigned.
BTW, She was American new arrival, thought that I was a Swede, which for fun I let her believe a while longer. So not only American men like coming to Sweden.
So it was not wild Swedish youths who did it.
The most natural thing in the world.
I think that if you did a poll of Floridians, you’d find a big majority who think this act should be viewed as crass, rude, inappropriate, in poor taste, freaky-deaky or whatever, but not criminal. I think you have a case of witness nullification, as it were, and I agree.
Nick, you might be right about the social contract being unwritten, but the ‘social contract’ is nothing of substance; it is a set of ‘rules’ that a majority people decide works for THEM, ergo, for society in general. There are always people who say (pardon the pun) ‘screw that’. Perhaps you have seen more on this story than I, but I don’t recall seeing that they were boffing ON the table. As for the Kraakens of the world needing it codified, yes. If you’re going to arrest someone for an action, it needs to be for something more substantial than the breaking of the ‘social contract’. Getting back, however, to the purpose of the article, I think the ‘witnesses’ actually did the correct thing. They probably thought it was objectionable, but not worth the trouble to testify. You know, go find some real criminals.
Dredd, that business was not damaged; I think they’ll get more business from all this, not less. Just think: They can start playing Meg Ryan tapes there for background music!
What this says to me is that at least some people are beginning to understand that having sex is the most natural act in the world, and frankly, I’d like to see (in the general sense) it happening in more public places like parks, beaches, etc.– and yes, even restaurants. For centuries, Americans have been among the most sexually-hung-up populations on earth, and it’s about time they realize that if it weren’t for sex none of us would even be here. And as for sex in public places, here’s a word of advice — the same advice I give people who have problems with certain TV shows — if you don’t like it, DON’T LOOK!
Nick wrote: “There is an unwritten social contract that says you don’t f@ck your date between the salad and main course.”
I think that’s what others have been saying too. It is an “unwritten societal contract” that very, very few ever break. The need for laws is nonexistent due to the rarity and lack of victims/damages.
I have to agree.
Kraaken, What about health laws? I have to wear shirt and shoes just to enter a restaurant, or even a convenience store. That seems excessive to me but that’s the law. Are we going to have to post “no sex on the tables” on restaurant doors. There is an unwritten social contract that says you don’t f@ck your date between the salad and main course. I guess for the Kraaken’s of the world that needs to be codified. We do agree about the food.
Eric I noted that the analogy was not spot on because of the extremity of one vs what these people did.
The problem is we end up criminalizing this kind of thing because too many people refuse to rein themselves in and then laws are made because people have discarded societal courtesy and decorum.
Oh good godd! We’re SO worried about what little Johnny or little Mary MIGHT have seen. These little ‘charmers’ (especially if they are in school) probably know more about the facts of life than their parents and, if asked, even a six year old can explain what the ‘F’ word means in exquisiite detail (I know….I’ve heard it done). So let’s just get off of this ‘Won’t someone please think of the children’ and just let people alone. Sure, it was bad taste, but maby the restraunt food tasted worse.
Nothing that a pitcher of ice water on Calo’s butt wouldn’t have cured.
rafflaw, LOL. I prefer Bushmill, but Jameson is equally superb. My brother married a woman who was the oldest of 10 kids in an immigrant Irish family in Allston, just outside Cambridge. Her old man had a thick brogue that made him hard to understand. The weekend of their wedding in 1981 I gave John a bottle of Bushmill. His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree! The kids also took note and quickly hid it. I didn’t know that John had the Irish curse and was only allowed to drink Harp or Guiness. Please realize rafflaw, I am part Irish. I just love to bust their balls. And food is a legit ball bust as it is for Norwegians, Brits, Russians, and a few others.
PS where has my avatar disappeared? Test!
If you only knew what goes on under very overhanging tablecloths in the typical Chez Pierre-establishment in Paris.
Again, a race to the bottom! Fun? Why not, the climate race is soon over. Woooo–hooo–hooo! As Wily Coyote says.