The State : Brawl Brings Suspensions

A barroom brawl led to suspension of the police chief and volunteer fire chief of San Juan Bautista in Central California. City Administrator Onofre Contreras said Police Chief Lonny Hurlburt, who sometimes patrols on horseback with a six-gun slung low on his hip, recommended his own suspension because he was too intoxicated to interfere when Fire Chief George Dias became involved in a drunken melee involving a civilian bar patron, the fire chief’s brother, a reserve police officer and regular police officers. “Alcohol was the problem,” Contreras said, “and I know every one of them regrets it.” Hurlburt will be suspended for three days; Dias for two weeks, and other parties to the brawl for two weeks. “It’s embarrassing,” Hurlburt said, “but it just proves one thing--we’re normal.”