The Ill. Side and Its Criminal Side Effects Could come to an Early Close

Go directly to the March 2009 Calendar of Events.

To stem the violence and crime that occurs in the wee hours of the evening, local and state law enforcers came to East St. Louis, Illinois to propose a daring measure --- close East St. Louis evening establishments at the same time as establishments on the other side of the river.

Many St. Louis party-goers who are not yet ready to "shut it down" head over to one or many of the entertainment venues just over the bridge. You can party well past the St. Louis, Missouri club closing time of 1-3 am. In fact, some East Side clubs close at six in the morning.

Late night club closing is one of the draws of the small economically-struggling town. In fact, late night entertainment may be the most successful business in the town. Closing establishments earlier could have some many consequences. That's exactly what law enforcers hope...there will be less crime. One of the most note-worthy violent crimes that happened in East St. Louis in the late evening was the slaying of Lee "The Rose Man" Nixon. Earlier closing times would decrease the number of disturbance calls the understaffed East St. Louis Police Department would have to handle.

Read more about the proposal here.