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pluryou

Can you swing both ways?  

11 members have voted

  1. 1. Can you swing both ways?

    • Yes, I can got to Nations sober
      9
    • Yes, I'm always sober
      1
    • No, I can't deal without my....
      1
    • Not sure
      1


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I get an e-mail today saying all military members are banned from Nations because since 1999 91 service members got caught using/selling drugs and they said they got them from Nations.

So in order to protect the welfare of others we can not go out and have a good time. I go just to have fun. I enjoy the enviroment and the people who are there. Who says you need mind altering substances to have a good time?

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Originally posted by pluryou

Who says you need mind altering substances to have a good time?

9 times out of 10 I'm completely sober at Nation or any other place I go out. To me "mind altering" substances are for special occassions. Otherwise I'd think you would build up a tolerance and they would either lose their effects or you would have to start taking more :( But that is just what works for me. To each his/her own :D

I thought the ban on places like Nation was already in affect a long time ago? This isn't the first I've heard of it. Its not just Nation, right? Isn't their a list of clubs?

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Well, first - define sober! :D

I've been sober once or twice. I prefer to at least have a couple of drinks in me. Other festivities are always optional.

This is what happens when you sell your soul to the US Military! Sorry sweetie! ((hugs))

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No. Just Nations. I deleted the letter by mistake. Well, maybe out of anger but it said send this to the widest distribution you can. So, for where I work it was sent to everyone who is on outlook for the hospital and the post. It said Nations in the title. DiscrimiNATION is what I cry. By sober I dont mean not drinking alcohol. :)

Thanx for the support everyone. I'm feeling club withdrawals. :(

You know what the bad thing is? I didn't go last week. Pigs are gonna stay flying now.

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Originally posted by pluryou

No. Just Nations. I deleted the letter by mistake. Well, maybe out of anger but it said send this to the widest distribution you can. So, for where I work it was sent to everyone who is on outlook for the hospital and the post. It said Nations in the title. DiscrimiNATION is what I cry. By sober I dont mean not drinking alcohol. :)

Thanx for the support everyone. I'm feeling club withdrawals. :(

You know what the bad thing is? I didn't go last week. Pigs are gonna stay flying now.

what would happen to you if you said f**k it and went anyway? do they keep a list or something to monitor who is going there?

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Originally posted by hoke

Well, if the letter said Nations, then you can still go to Nation, no? :P(that really does suck though...)

Exactly! I have always wondered why some people call it Nations - it confuses the hell out of an obsessive Virgo like moi ;)

DSC01177.JPGNotice the lack of an "S" at the end of the word above

Sorry you are banned pluryou, I'm sure you'll figure something out. . don't forget you can at least listen to BuZz on the radio every Friday night. . *shrug*

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I'm not sure on that but thats been in my head. I know they will have CID there. CID is like undercover people for the military.

Well, if the letter said Nations, then you can still go to Nation, no?

I'm to mad to even remember. That is true its Nation not Nations. I'll have to check that e-mail again. Hehe Maybe there is a way around this. Hmmmmm Can I get that e-mail again. LOL

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nation club off-limits to military

Navy investigators to 'monitor activities' at Southeast D.C. club

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.

The Southeast D.C. nightclub Nation, including its Saturday night gay dance party, Velvet Nation, has been declared off limits to all military service members because of "illegal drug activity inside the establishment," a military board ruled last month.

A spokesperson for the Military District of Washington said the Joint Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board for the National Capital Region voted unanimously Aug. 22 to prohibit military members from patronizing Nation.

The spokesperson, Tom Findtner, said the decision followed a "lengthy investigation" in which military investigators "observed service members engaging in activities involving ecstasy and marijuana inside the club."

"Throughout the investigation," Findtner said in an Aug. 28 statement, "the military worked in coordination with local and federal law enforcement agencies."

He said that since 1999, as many as 91 military members have been apprehended on illegal drug charges stemming from alleged drug transactions inside Nation.

"The military's criminal investigation agencies will continue to monitor activities at Nation, which is located at 1015 Half St., SE, to ensure service members stay away from the premises," Findtner said.

John Guggenmos, co-owner of the company that promotes and produces the Velvet Nation party for a primarily gay crowd on Saturday nights, said "most of the incidents" that prompted the military board to issue its stay-away order occurred other nights of the week, which feature rave and hip hop dance parties. Guggenmos said it would be inappropriate for him to comment further on the matter.

Jim Boyle, an official with the Primacy production company, which operates Nation nightclub on nights other than Saturdays, could not be reached by press time.

News of a military investigation into drug related activity at Nation first surfaced in April 2000, when the Naval Criminal Investigative Service confirmed it had been conducting undercover operations at Velvet Nation and four other gay bars since 1998. The information emerged in testimony by three NCIS agents during a military court proceeding at the Washington Navy Yard on April 28, 2000.

At that time, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which represents gays serving in the military, said naval investigators appeared to be targeting only gay clubs for drug investigations. SLDN officials said they were concerned that the drug probe was being used as a ruse to identify and discharge gay service members under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

In addition to Nation, NCIS agents said they had conducted undercover visits between 1998 and 2000 at Tracks, a gay nightclub in Southeast that has since closed, and the Dupont Circle gay bars JR.'s, Badlands and Chaos.

Navy denies singling out

NCIS officials denied they were targeting gay clubs, saying they were investigating several non-gay nightclubs for drug activity. They declined to identify the non-gay establishments, saying that doing so would jeopardize an on-going investigation.

NCIS officials told gay activists in two separate meetings in July 2000 that gay military service members apprehended in drug investigations at gay bars or nightclubs would be prosecuted only on drug-related charges and would not be charged with violations related to their sexual orientation.

Steve Ralls, a spokesperson for SLDN, said this week that SLDN is not aware of any sexual orientation discharges stemming from the Navy's drug related investigations at D.C. area gay clubs over the past several years.

Ralls said the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays in the military prohibits officials from penalizing service members for patronizing nightclubs or bars solely because those establishments cater to a gay clientele. But Ralls said the military has authority to bar its uniformed personnel from patronizing any establishment where illegal activity takes place.

Col. Michael Stewart, president of the joint armed services board that issued the off-limits order against Nation nightclub, said military members who violate the order are subject to disciplinary action under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He said the maximum penalty for violating Article 92 is a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay, and imprisonment for two years.

"We determined that conditions inside the establishment were unsafe," Stewart said in an Aug. 28 statement concerning Nation nightclub. "To help maintain the health and welfare of our service members, it was necessary to place Nation off limits."

Stewart said the stay-away order would remain in effect indefinitely, although he said the board would consider lifting the ban if Nation owners show that "substantial corrective measures" have been implemented.

"Before reversing this policy, we would need to see a cessation of all drug activity in the club, :eek: as well as a change in the atmosphere that fosters drug activity," he said.

FOR MORE INFO

Joint Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board

Col. Michael Stewart, president

Chief of Staff, Headquarters Command Group

U.S. Army Military District of Washington

103 Third Ave., Bldg. 32

Fort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058

202-685-3041

www.ndw.army.mil

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Just don't use your military ID at the door. There's no way that they can keep track of every single military person employed in the Maryland, DC and Virginia area and be able to spot them at Nation. Absolutely ridiculous. And from reading the article, it looks like they're trying to target gays in the military more than anything else, which means that they are more on the lookout for personel at Velvet than Buzz.

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Originally posted by lizard23

Just don't use your military ID at the door. There's no way that they can keep track of every single military person employed in the Maryland, DC and Virginia area and be able to spot them at Nation. Absolutely ridiculous. And from reading the article, it looks like they're trying to target gays in the military more than anything else, which means that they are more on the lookout for personel at Velvet than Buzz.

so that means the runner will need to find a new place to hang out on saturdays when he gets back from saudi :D :D :D

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Originally posted by pluryou

I may still show up at Buzz on occasion. Ireally wanna go next week. Also, I want to go to the last foam party.

Yeah, I think you should go anyhow. I never went to the banned clubs when I was in the Air Force, and I don't know what the DC CIDs are like, but in a place like Nation, they'll never find or recognize you. Especially if you're a girl and you can put your hair down! And slap on a hat (a red one, preferably).

I'll see you there next week!

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I hope so. It's my favorite bitches b-day weekend. :) (its an inside thing with me and my friend) I'll see everyone there in red. Red thongs that is. Come on. If you wear that and another article of red you get to eat pizza and stuff. :D I'll come hungry because I won't eat any candy that day. Well, I might. Anyways, I should be there. I can't wait. :)

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Military Orders an About-Face At D.C. Club

Drug Activity Puts Nation Off Limits to Personnel

Tuesday, September 10, 2002; Page C01

The strobe-lit Nation in Southeast Washington has drawn club kids from near and far, mainly for the concerts, hot deejays and rave parties.

Police, however, say there's an added attraction: Ecstasy, heroin, amphetamines. "It's become a hot spot all over the East Coast, not just for the music or the parties, but for the narcotics that are sold inside and outside of the club," says Inspector Hilton Burton of the D.C. police.

Not even our buzz-cut men in uniform have been immune.

Since 1999, 91 service members have been busted on military installations for using, selling or possessing illegal drugs that, they told investigators, they got from Nation. And for months, undercover military investigators have witnessed service members buying drugs such as marijuana and Ecstasy in the club just off South Capitol Street.

As a result, the Joint Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board recently voted to ban all Washington area military personnel from Nation. "The military services are working together to curtail the availability of illegal drugs to our service members," Col. Michael Stewart, the board's president, said in a written statement.

The board -- made up of representatives from each of the military branches -- plans to continue its surveillance of the club to make sure military personnel obey orders. Violators could face anything from no punishment to a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and two years' confinement.

This is the first official ban the board has issued on a local club. (The board also has restricted access to parts of the Potomac River for safety reasons.) It is common for individual branches to declare some areas off limits. For instance, some Marines say they've been told to stay away from the Edge, a Southeast nightspot whose "wet" nights feature male strippers and a largely male crowd.

The Nation ban is indefinite for the time being, but the board says it will consider lifting it if the nightclub's owner can show that things have been cleaned up.

Numerous attempts to contact Nation management for a response were unsuccessful. Reached by phone last week at the Northern Virginia headquarters of Nation, a division of Primacy Cos., Nation Marketing Director Greg Alemian declined to comment, referring all questions to his colleague Jim Boyle, who did not return at least a dozen phone calls requesting comment.

Police, though, say they don't believe the drug activity is sanctioned by club management.

This isn't the first time that Nation has been in the spotlight for drug-related activity. Three years ago, the cavernous nightclub and concert venue was the subject of a two-part series by WTTG-TV focusing on a weekly rave called Buzz, where cameras recorded patrons using illegal drugs. The Buzz party was briefly put on ice. Now, at nine years, the Friday night bash is one of the area's longest-running rave parties.

And in 2000, a gay rights group got wind of the military's surveillance activities at Velvet Nation, the club's long-standing Saturday night party that caters to a primarily gay clientele. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network accused the military of conducting a witch hunt of gay service members at Nation in an attempt to skirt the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

The board's recent action applies to all concerts and parties at the club, including Buzz and Alchemy, the industrial/goth night. "This is certainly within the military's right to do," says Steve Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers group. "Military bases across the country have similar off-limits lists that name bars and clubs that are known for drug usage."

The board vote came about Aug. 22 after months of observing the situation at Nation, according to military board spokesman Tom Findtner. D.C. police representatives briefed board members in August. Nation management, also present, unsuccessfully tried to stop the ban, Findtner said.

Nation has long posed a challenge to the police, who are actively working to curtail the availability of drugs there. (And the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration is addressing unspecified complaints, according to Director Maria M. Delaney.) But police have stopped short of trying to shut down the club for a number of reasons, according to Burton, a member of the department's major-narcotics branch. Though there have been a handful of arrests for drug activity outside Nation in the past year, the crowd is largely peaceful, and violence rarely erupts there, he said.

"If we found underage drinking or shooting in the club, it would be a lot easier to do that," Burton said.

Then there is the problem of making arrests for drug activity. "It's a hard area for us to work, especially doing undercover operations," Burton said. He said it's difficult to find officers who can blend in with Nation's largely young, suburban clientele.

"You can't send your typical officer, even your typical narcotics officer," he said. "Someone who really doesn't know the music, the lingo, the culture, they are going to stick out like a sore thumb."

Several of the young servicemen milling around the Marine Barracks in Southeast Washington said they were unfamiliar with Nation. Those who did seemed to take the recent directive, which they saw posted on bulletin boards, as part and parcel of the military discipline they signed up for.

"I think it's fair," said a 22-year-old Marine who wouldn't give his name. "How can you do something when you're not in that element? It's just one less place for them to go to get in trouble."

Other servicemen said many of the drug problems arise from new recruits who are away from home for the first time. "They are still in their transitional phase," said a 19-year-old Marine who enlisted right out of high school.

"Young people today are more liberated. They pretty much do what they want to do. They might experiment when they get in."

The one time he'd been to Nation, when he was in high school a few years ago, he didn't notice any drugs, the Marine said. But in any case, he's not sweating the ban.

"There are plenty of clubs in D.C.," he said.

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