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April 02, 2009
"[There is] no constitutional right to engage in recreational dancing in a licensed liquor establishment." With those words, Judge Joseph Cardoza shot down Maui Dance Advocates' latest attempt to do away with the LC's dancing rules.
The ruling came quickly; the small handful of reporters in attendance barely had time to put pen to pad, and the camera operator from Akaku had scarcely started filming.
MDA's efforts began in 2006, so they've met with defeat before. But the group—which is really just two guys, Anthony Simmons and Ramoda Anand, and their pro bono attorney, Lance Collins—will press on.
It's impossible not to admire their tenacity. In the face of unrelenting indifference from the LC and the courts, they remain undaunted.
"I'm a dancer, and I feel this is important for the community as a whole," said the wheelchair-bound Anand after the ruling. "It's absurd that you don't have the right to dance."
Collins said Cardoza made "an error in judgment" and promised to file an appeal. But he also called the ruling "no great surprise." After two years of wrangling, the group has an air of wry acceptance—clearly they care about the issue, but they also seem to see the grim humor in it.
Seeing the humor is good. Because as long as the Maui County Department of Liquor Control gets to tell people where they can and can't tap their toes, it's either laugh or cry.
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