Red Onion

I was really surprised at the bad publicity given to the San Diego Red Onion (“Red Onion in Danger of Losing Liquor License,” Nov. 23). I work at the Red Onion. I am not an employee. I am a job coach for the Assn. for Retarded Citizens. Three of our clients work five days a week at the Red Onion. I supervise them. This is their first job in the community, and the Red Onion is the only place that would hire them.

I have found the people of the Red Onion to be wonderful. They are friendly and giving. In fact, they have a contract to pay my clients sub-minimum, yet they pay them the full $4.25 an hour. The Red Onion has influenced area employers to also hire ARC clients. The Red Onion even gives ARC over $1,000 a month in food.

I got a laugh at some of the charges against the Red Onion. They said the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control cited them for some lady dancing on top of the bar. Maybe the ABC could come to my house and get my kids to stop jumping on my furniture. I’m a 42-year-old mother of four, but I still would have gotten a kick out of seeing the face of the policeman when some lady “flashed” him in the parking lot. The Red Onion got in trouble for that one, too.

I’m having my 43rd birthday party at the Red Onion. One reason is because the drink prices are affordable. The Red Onion was criticized about that, too. It’s funny--they complain how cheap it was to get drunk at the Red Onion, but never mentioned how cheap it was to buy a bottle of fortified wine across the street at the liquor store.

They say the Red Onion is causing crime in the beach area. Maybe because the criminals come down to the beach to mug and steal cars from people eating and dancing at the Red Onion. If you want to see crime, how about seeing my neighborhood in Southeast San Diego?

I can only say this about the police, like Red Skelton once said: “Why is it so hard for the police to find a drug dealer when it is so easy for a 10-year-old to find one?”

ALICE ROBB, San Diego