The Confederate Memorial Building, a meeting place for churches and classical music groups, where piano recitals and wedding receptions rarely go past 10 p.m., isn't a hot spot for Greenwood police.
But heated discussion continued this week over a police decision to halt a concert there Saturday night.
The music, which police say drew several noise complaints, was still going strong as midnight approached, and six people left the party in handcuffs.
The event featured a rock-and-roll double bill - Big Bad Wolf and Electric Mudd - slated to last until 2 a.m. Police say they had already warned the concert security personnel about the noise complaints once, but the disturbance persisted.
"I know police went down there a couple of times and asked for cooperation on it, and the people occupying the building weren't giving cooperation," Chief Ronnie White said.
But Big Bad Wolf bassist David Casiday, who was arrested, complains that the police response was a bit excessive.
"The only trouble being started up in there was them," said Casiday, 24, of McCarley. "They barged up in there like a SWAT team coming in."
Casiday and several other witnesses describe a frantic scene that ensued with the crowd fleeing, officers manhandling band members and doormen, and arrests left unexplained. Casiday said he and a friend were cuffed and hauled off to the station without knowing the charges against them.
"They would not answer any of our questions," he said. "They were rude. Every time we said something, they answered, 'Do you want to go upstairs.' We didn't know until we saw the report what we were being charged with."
All six arrested were charged with disorderly conduct and released after each paid $100 down on a $1,000 municipal bond.
Security guard Kris Lindsey said an offhand comment - "I said, 'I got your lights on brother'" - incurred the wrath of one officer.
"He came behind me and threw me on the table," said Lindsey, 26, of Inverness. "From that point on, whoever opened his mouth, they just arrested him."
Electric Mudd drummer Jason Boyles of Itta Bena said one officer displayed a handgun when he refused to immediately put out his cigarette and go inside. "I've been in that situation before, when cops come by and have noise complaints, and they tell you to cut it down," said Boyles, 25. "But it's never been like this. This was totally uncalled for."
Coy Jones, an Electric Mudd follower from Drew, said the music wasn't loud enough to warrant a preemption of the rent agreement the bands had with the Memorial Building, much less the forceful arrests.
"I don't think it was that loud at all," said Jones, 26.
Nearby residents differ on whether the concert was audible from inside their homes. Geraldine Matthews, who lives on West Market Street said that while she couldn't hear anything unusual from her bedroom, her visiting son did.
"He was up in the front part of the house, and he told me it took him a while to get to sleep," she said.
Sister Cristiana Hofman of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church said all was quiet from the rear bedroom of her Market Street house. Still, the rock concert was a departure from the venue's normally refined entertainment, and that did attract attention, she said.
"I saw cars coming in at almost 10 o'clock, and that was unusual, but I didn't hear any noise at all," she said. "It's unusual for cars coming in that late at night."
However, White said, some ears were offended and multiple complaint calls were made. He said he didn't know the exact number.
"If you're creating a noise that disturbs the neighborhood, that would be a violation of the noise ordinance," he said.
White also said the officers met resistance when they tried to shut down the show.
Boyles acknowledged that tempers were flaring and could have provoked the cops. "One probably did deserve it because he ran his mouth a little too much."
Electric Mudd, which is heavily influenced by a "jam band" called Widespread Panic, has never had a run-in with the law, said Jones. The band plays regular gigs in Cleveland and Greenville.
"They played at the Christmas parade that Drew had, and there was no trouble," Jones said.
So which side is justified in its version of the evening's end? That question might have to be answered in court, according to Casiday, who is mulling over a lawsuit.
"It's been discussed," he said. "I'm kind of wanting to go to court just so I can speak my piece."
