# Bad news from nightclub in Chicagp **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 17, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616 "2003-02-17T13:44:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/21 "2003-02-17T16:56:52Z")
**Moderator’s Notes:** Longmos, you’ve made two baiting statements in this thread. Stop it. Now. I will shortly be reviewing **all** of your posts here and making a recommendation to the rest of the staff as to your continued membership. If the 10% of your total I see here is indicative of the other 90%, you shouldn’t be surprised to find yourself unable to post when you next return. In the meantime, if the rest of you wish to flame, Longmos, please do it in the apprpriate forum. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/22 "2003-02-17T16:57:29Z")
Bye, Longmos. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/23 "2003-02-17T16:58:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LolaCocaCola \* > I wonder how much mace was sprayed. Was the entire nightclub (I assume it’s a large club if it had 1500 people) affected? Are the effects of mace so unbearable that one must stampede to an exit? > > 😕 From the reports I saw on the news this morning, one man said he was in an area near a locked exit door, away from the spot where it happened. He reported easily being able to see a large cloud of gas, the crowd pushing way back from the cloud, and some people began passing out/falling over choking. Things got worse from there as people tried to get away from it and there was only one exit unlocked. At least one of the area hospitals was treating people for exposure to the gas. I suspect some people didn’t even know what was going on, maybe fearing some kind of attack (what with all the hype about chemical weapons and soft targets lately). Others probably got pushed along in the swell of people, just adding to the mass without wanting to go along. And I’m betting many did try to exit calmly but tripped or became clogged up in the narrow stairway to the one open exit, or stuck against a locked exit door with dozens of people behind them who didn’t know it was locked yet. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/24 "2003-02-17T16:58:24Z")
Errrr. Heh. Let’s discuss, Unc. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![1ofthegulls](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/bcef8e/32.png) [@1ofthegulls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1ofthegulls)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/25 "2003-02-17T16:59:36Z")
Maybe a fear of not knowing moderation?! What a crappy way to go. What about the guy shot in DC while pumping gas? The guy next to him continued pumping gas, went and paid for it, returned to see the guy on the ground and left! They’re looking for him now. Many people saw this man get shot to death, but no one bothered to help him. It scares me to think how hard we’ve become. I hear that in that part of DC it’s not all that uncommon. If I failed to do anything else I think I’d at least run and take cover! ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/26 "2003-02-17T17:06:04Z")
Heh. Never mind. There’s no need to discuss this Coldfire. I now see longmos is the clown that posted, several times, that racist link over the immediately preceding days. The rest o’ ya can just ignore this moderator chatter. It’s of no import to you. ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/27 "2003-02-17T17:13:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Right, because she totally expected to be fucking MACED AND TRAMPLED while dancing. I know that’s one of the things I account for when I go downtown to take in a revue at Chez Mado, right up there with alien invasion and the Rapture. :wally \*\* Man, I have _got_ to make it to the clubs in Canada sometime. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/28 "2003-02-17T17:17:04Z")
Abe Babe, that’s only the drag show clubs. In Alberta, you get gay-bashing and steak-eating contests. It’s sad to hear about this sort of thing. These people only wanted to go out and have a good time, and some assholes overreacted. Supposedly trained, professional security assholes, at that. 20 people have died because of their foolishness. ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/29 "2003-02-17T17:19:59Z")
After posting: Some clown set off a mace “bomb” at my high school homecoming dance. It was unbearable to people within about 30 feet. In the rest of the _large_ cafeteria, it was extremely difficult to see or breathe well. Think of sitting directly downwind in the smoke of a roaring campfire. Even an hour later, with numerous large fans trying to aerate the room, it was pretty unpleasant. Everyone pretty much left. So yes, it is that awful in an enclosed area that it could easily start a stampede to get away. Also, as mentioned before, people may have been extra jittery due to fears of a terror attack. ---
**Author:** ![lothos2002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@lothos2002](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lothos2002)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/30 "2003-02-17T17:24:22Z")
This reminds me of an incident in Mexico City about a year ago. In that case it was a fire, but the emergency exits were also locked and insufficient, so a lot of people were killed. In that case, it was criminal for the owner of the establishment to not have appropriate exits, and of the authorities to not have shut it down before the accident. In this case, I hope they put away forever anyone who used Mace and caused a panic, and moreso the people who locked the emergency exits. As I said before, my thoughts and prayers go to the families of the decesaed and to the injured people. ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/31 "2003-02-17T17:33:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GingerOfTheNorth \* > **Abe Babe, that’s only the drag show clubs. In Alberta, you get gay-bashing and steak-eating contests.** No comment on the gay bashing part. When driving through Texas, and Oklahoma, I saw some steak houses that offered a 50-60 ounce steak free if you ate the entire thing at one sitting. Do they have anything like that in Canada? ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/32 "2003-02-17T18:53:45Z")
Not that I am aware. I was only joking. About the steak, at least - there’s still gay-bashing in Calgary. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/33 "2003-02-17T22:09:35Z")
Big surprise…shades of the [Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.](http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/) From the Chicago [Sun Times](http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/night14.html) > [@](#): > > The South Side club where 21 people died has a history of code violations, most of them related to inadequate exits. > [@](#): > > Renamed Epitome or E2, the club has had a “history of code violations,” according to Buidings Department spokeswoman Kristen Lobbins-Cabanban. > > “There were code violations pertaining to exits. How many, I don’t know for sure. But they were cited for lack of sufficient exits,” she said. > > The last inspection took place last summer, when there appears to have been a “mandatory order to comply,” Lobbins-Cabanban said. She could not explain why the club was allowed to continue operating. > [@](#): > > Firefighters who arrived on the scene of Monday’s disaster found “locked or blocked” exit doors, according to Fire Commissioner James Joyce. Four victims in cardiac arrest were found near a kitchen door that firefighters were forced to pry open with sledgehammers and pry bars, the commissioner said. ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/34 "2003-02-17T23:26:49Z")
Another manmade disaster. Will we ever learn? Thoughts and prayers to the loved ones of the deceased and injured. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/35 "2003-02-18T06:52:11Z")
The last thing I saw on this was that they had lowered the estimated number of people in the club to 500, instead of 1500. Apparently, pretty much all of them headed for the one exit, but it was too narrow and the stairs were too steep. There also seems to be some disagreement as to whether the club was “allowed” to continue operating after last summer’s inspection, or if it just did anyway. It seems that the second floor was rented out to private parties and entertainments, which is what this was. Kind of sublet, if you will, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/36 "2003-02-18T14:43:30Z")
Latest I heard, Chicago was threatening “contempt” proceedings against the club owners for using space without permit. Wondering if that is good move or not, as the city positions itself for the inevitable targeting as the ultimate deep pocket here. ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616/37 "2003-02-18T19:20:09Z")
Rather than Triangle, it makes me think of [Happy Land](http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/happyland/index_1.html). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-news-from-nightclub-in-chicagp/155616.md?page=1)