Down for the count...or, Who is ready to rock out in Bartlett!

I guess I can't hold a grudge against the Village of Bartlett. If I did, it'd be hypocritical of me not to place the same blame on the city of Chicago. Last Tuesday evening, the Bartlett board approved a permit request from Bannerman's Sports Bar, (here is coverage of the issue in the Daily Herald). With the permit, Bannerman's now has permission to host a midget wrestling event later in November. For some reason I held the Village Board of Bartlett to a different standard than the bars in Chicago that host midget wrestling. If the decision is solely in the hands of the bar owners whether or not they host midget wrestling, I probably don't have much of a chance to appeal to their priorities. The bar that hosts the event in Chicago won't take seriously anything I have to say. But in Bartlett, the village board had to approve the priorities of the bar owner. I thought I had a chance to appeal to the board's sensibilities. I was wrong.

I find the board's decision interesting in the context of some stipulations that were placed on the permit approval. During the course of debate around the issue, board members implied that they don't want the decision to be about morality. They wanted to make the decision based upon safety and economics, not based on their opinions of right and wrong. If that is the case, than why did the vote come with the caveat that Bannerman's may never use to the permit to host jello wrestling or mud wrestling? Unless, the chance of injury during a jello wrestling match is greater than the chance of two little people injuring themselves while stapling and thumbtacking each other in the forehead.