By: Scott McCabe
Two fire-breathing bartenders face up to 45 years in prison each for
performing flaming bar tricks.
Jimmy's Old Town Tavern owner Jimmy Cirrito said his bartenders have
been entertaining his customers -- by juggling bottles of alcohol
and spitting out streams of flames using matchbooks and lighters --
for more than a decade and no one's complained. But shortly after
midnight on July 24, two of his longtime employees were hauled out
of the Herndon bar in handcuffs and charged with three felonies each
plus other misdemeanors
"They were being treated as if they were terrorists, charged as if
they intentionally tried to burn down the tavern," Cirrito said.
Fairfax County fire investigators charged Tegee Rogers, 33, of
Herndon, and Justin Fedorchak, 39, of Manassas, with manufacturing
an explosive device, setting a fire capable of spreading, and
burning or destroying a meeting house. They also were charged with
several state fire code misdemeanors.
Both men have worked at the tavern nearly since it opened. They both
recently became fathers and are very anxious about facing serious
criminal charges, Cirrito said.
Jimmy's Old Town Tavern bartenders have performed the fire-breathing
act for 13 years, at first doing the tricks on special occasions
like birthdays or to honor a fallen fireman, police officer or
soldier, Cirrito said. By 1999, the fire-breathing bartenders had
become a Friday midnight tradition, he said. The bar uses the
fire-breathing bartenders on its advertisements.
Cirrito said an investigator told him that the marshals received a
letter in the mail with a photo taken of a previous performance at
the bar.
Cirrito said he has never received a warning from the fire marshals,
and he would have stopped if marshals had given him a warning.
"But I don't think we've done anything wrong," he said. "There's a
lot of fire in restaurants. I've been served flaming desserts, I've
roasted marshmallows on tables, I've seen 75 candles and sparklers
on cakes, and I've seen bartenders perform the tricks coast-to-coast
and no one's been arrested."
smccabe@washingtonexaminer.com
* * * * *
I don't drink. I gave it up many years ago because it was too
much fun and anything that I enjoyed that much must be bad.
Nevermind.
This arrest is bullshit. America is about Life, Liberty and the
Pursuit of Happiness. The people in the bar were pursuing happiness
in their own way and the bartenders were providing some happiness.
They had been doing it for 13 years and had apparently had no
casualties yet. That's a decent safety record.
I suspect the Fire Marshall makes his seven year old child wear a
helmet and a safety harness when he climbs the stairs to go to
bed.
Apparently the civilians in civilian bars are more compliant and
obedient to authority than the denizens of fighter pilot bars. I'm
not talking bomber pilot bars, - they just maintain straight and
level, onload the fragged quantity of fuel and then go back to high
altitude. I'm not talking transport pilot bars, they dump their load
as soon as they can and RTB.
No, I'm talking an honest-to-God real fighter-pilot bar. If that
pencil-neck Fire marshal stuck his nose in a fighter-pilot bar and
bitched about the fire-breathing bartenders or anything else, he
would have found himself separated from his clothing, painted
whatever color old house paint was available in the storeroom and
super-glued to the ceiling. Fighter-pilots have many sacred
traditions and they are not to be taken lightly or f**ked-with by
the unworthy.
Each of our Military Services has a "Battle Cry."
The Army has "Hooah!"
The Navy has "Hoorah!"
The Marines have "Oorah!"
The Air Force has "Don't piss-off a fighter-pilot!"
And that's the truth.
Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, USAF (Ret.)
1922 - 2007
THE Fighter Pilot
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