Barroom Brawl

Whatever rapport may have been reached in that corner of clubland, the closings there and elsewhere in the county will inevitably continue. Owing to its sheer volume and variety, Dade's nightlife scene has always stood apart from what goes on in the rest of the state. Not surprisingly, the local ABT bureau is Florida's biggest and busiest, filing more emergency orders than any other. Indeed, ABT officials in Tallahassee seem almost perplexed by the ruckus being raised in the South Floridian Gomorrah.

"We do so many of these cases around the state, and I'm still amazed people down there make such a big deal over the closing of a bar," notes department assistant general counsel Miguel Oxamendi, sounding somewhat bewildered. "It becomes a front-page deal!" As far as he can recall, says Oxamendi, the only other place a club- or bar-closing garnered TV news footage was in West Palm Beach -- "and that was only for five seconds.