Statement from Bin612

I wanted to post this here because I was a part of the thread about them pushing out the people. I also did not want it to get lost and people still not know their reason.

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STATEMENT BY BIN 612 CHEF AND OWNER TY THAMES:

We take the concerns of our customers, employees and our Starkville community very seriously. We would like to address the safety concerns brought up in regards to the emergency event last night in the Cotton District. First and foremost, we are very thankful that no one in the Cotton District or anywhere else in Starkville was injured last night due to the severe weather.

Bin 612, along with most other establishments in the Cotton District, is comprised of exterior wall to wall glass windows. The overwhelming majority of the seating for the restaurant is on the outdoor patio with the interior space having an indoor occupancy capacity of 99 people. There is no adequate indoor shelter space for what was in excess of 250 people. All indoor spaces in the restaurant face the exterior wall to wall glass windows. There is an underground storage cellar that was utilized and able to provide shelter for approximately 15 people.

Due to these safety concerns, security personnel at five Cotton District area restaurants, including Bin 612, made the decision together to close at the same time before the potential tornado was to touch down in the immediate area in an effort to give patrons time to leave and find a safe space, including the underground parking structure directly across the street.

We certainly do not condone the language or aggressive behavior of any of the security company?s personnel or our staff. We know that the intent of the security personnel and our staff was to prevent serious injuries from occurring inside of glass enclosed rooms. The intent was for people to leave with time to get to a safe space, including the underground parking garage directly across the street.

Any security company we work with in the future will need to not only be able to clearly execute the evacuation plan to the underground parking garage in the event of a possible tornado but also to do so in a calm and compassionate manner.

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It seems they are blaming the security company.

Even with the glass windows being under a table in that restaurant would have been safer than being outdoors.

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Originally Posted by Coach007

It seems they are blaming the security company.

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NOT OUR FAULT, NOT OUR FAULT, NOT OUR FAULT!!!!

Just curious as why if "most of the other establishments in the Cotton District" agreed to close at the same time, then why aren't we hearing about them forcing people into the streets during a tornado warning? I think Bin 612 would have been better off to accept full responsibility instead of trying to pass the buck.

Makes good sense. Glad Ty gave a statement. In all fairness, employers don’t really train for what to do in tornado situations. His basement space could only accommodate his staff so customers’ best bet was the parking area. Learning experience for everyone involved

Honestly, I didn’t even know about this parking garage. Why wasn’t SPD directing folks to said garage?

24 Hours later. Pitchfork down.

Their response makes sense; however, it should be noted that allowing the maximum occupancy to be passed means that fire code was severely violated. That lead to the difficulty of removing people in the bar.

That difficulty was met with the wrong attitude by the security company. The vulgarities should not have been thrown around. A clear and proper message should have been announced and the people in the should have been told where to orderly reach safety, not simply “get the **** out.”

That’s the disconnect, I, and many others have. The “get the **** out” may not have been initially heard, but believe me that Starkville hears them loud and clear now.

They need to come out with a formal apology and do something especially for those who were there that night (a savvy business owner would give $50-$100 gift cards to each, which will more than pay itself back), show that the employees responsible for the obscenities being yelled (all the way up the food-chain) have been reprimanded and have sensitivity / crisis management training, and that a clear detailed plan is set up in case of mass evacuations of the bar.

All that would help mend the relationship they have with this town. No one is saying they weren’t well within their rights to kick people out. It was the manner and lack of compassion / empathy with which it was done that shows just how little they care for their patrons. People wanna go to places that care about you. Bin 612 is not that place.

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Originally Posted by Coach007

I wanted to post this here because I was a part of the thread about them pushing out the people. I also did not want it to get lost and people still not know their reason.




It seems they are blaming the security company.

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Why weren't they directing people to the parking garage if that was a safe place? Seems like an after the fact but this to try to shift blame, which is all this statement is. Trying to shift blame on anyone that is not them instead of actually just apologizing and taking responsibility for the manner in which things went down. Even the talking about the other bars in the district part, just no responsibility taken, all blame shifting. If the intent was for people to leave in time to get to a safe space why not close an hour before the storm hits instead of 10 minutes? This is just a PR statement trying to shift blame and a poor one at that. I could go on about the inconsistencies, but I feel like yall get it.

Thanks for posting, always wanna see both sides.

Yeah, first they did not exceed occupancy. That occupancy is for indoor only. Second, even the guy on the wcbi broadcast said they were directing people to the parking area. They should have probably not offered a statement, because it just offers a second opportunity for everyone to shit on them. The funny thing is, the owner is sbsolutely right and i stated literally every one of their reasons in the other thread.

I understand that the optics of this are terrible. I see no reason to apologize, they actually did the right thing, in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by Lord McBuckethead

Yeah, first they did not exceed occupancy. That occupancy is for indoor only. Second, even the guy on the wcbi broadcast said they were directing people to the parking area. They should have probably not offered a statement, because it just offers a second opportunity for everyone to shit on them. The funny thing is, the owner is sbsolutely right and i stated literally every one of their reasons in the other thread.

I understand that the optics of this are terrible. I see no reason to apologize, they actually did the right thing, in my opinion.

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Yelling "GTFO" to their customers... yeah, no reason to apologize for that**

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Yelling "GTFO" to their customers... yeah, no reason to apologize for that**

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Exactly. Pretty please with sugar on top would have worked.

Horrible apology.. if that is what you want to call that. Pass the blame to someone else. SMH.

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Originally Posted by gravedigger

Exactly. Pretty please with sugar on top would have worked.

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"Free drinks in the parking garage" would've worked haha

I realize why they were yelling to evacuate, but still, you have to apologize for cursing out your customers esp when the students talking of boycotting the place

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Even with the glass windows being under a table in that restaurant would have been safer than being outdoors.

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Unless you have a storm shelter there is not safe place with a tornado. I think being in a car driving the opposite direction is a better decision then sitting in a glass building. Here is another idea. Stay home when threatening weather is on the way.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lambert

Unless you have a storm shelter there is not safe place with a tornado. I think being in a car driving the opposite direction is a better decision then sitting in a glass building. Here is another idea. Stay home when threatening weather is on the way.

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This is the real issue. The number of people out on a night that had been broadcast for many days to be potentially dangerous was entirely too high. I get we had a lot of stuff going on in the city that day. But how many of those people were ignorant of the fact that severe weather was imminent? Or how many just said screw it who cares it never hits here so why bother?

Either way is bad. Too many weather illiterate people.

Let this be a lesson to everyone:

Teach your kid to know what to do in an emergency.

1. Don?t be outside when you have warning about poor weather.

2. Have YOUR OWN plan if you can?t accomplish #1.

3. Keep in communication with loved ones.

4. Help others in need.

Things not to do:

Rely on a small business to have a plan for you.

Stand outside of a bar at 10:30 at night thinking you won?t hear a cuss word or two.

Believe a small building with glass panes all over it and 250 drunks is adequate cover in a tornado.

Oh, and while you are in college:

Look both ways before you cross a street. Come in out of the rain.

Sincerely,
Proud husband and parent of a family that was near the path of the tornado Saturday who responded correctly.

I’m not defending the Bin here, but my friend works security for a third party the Bin hires. He left at 7 so he wasn’t there when it all went down. He asked his coworkers what happened and they said the Bin told them an hour in advance they were shutting down due to the inclement weather and it was last call.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

"Free drinks in the parking garage" would've worked haha

I realize why they were yelling to evacuate, but still, you have to apologize for cursing out your customers esp when the students talking of boycotting the place

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Dude have you ever worked in a bar and dealt with drunk people? Esp a college bar. They might be the worst customer demo from the standpoint of crowd control, destructive, violent, disrespectful, etc... Now they spend money which is why so many jump in that space. Ask Ron w/Mugshots how he feels about the college bar crowd. He totally got out of that shit show. I’ll say for the thousandth time that could have been handled better.

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

Dude have you ever worked in a bar and dealt with drunk people? Esp a college bar. They might be the worst customer demo from the standpoint of crowd control, destructive, violent, disrespectful, etc... Now they spend money which is why so many jump in that space. Ask Ron w/Mugshots how he feels about the college bar crowd. He totally got out of that shit show. I’ll say for the thousandth time that could have been handled better.

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I'm not saying they were wrong for yelling at them to GTFO, but you still have to apologize for how it looks. Why is that hard to comprehend?

Like another poster said... don't jump to conclusions based on a 1 minute video. Hear both sides of the story then decide.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

I'm not saying they were wrong for yelling at them to GTFO, but you still have to apologize for how it looks. Why is that hard to comprehend?

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Last 2 paragraphs of statement chief

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

Last 2 paragraphs of statement chief

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Ok, follow closely....

1. Gravedigger said no reason to apologize.
2. I said/insinuated yeah there is for the language.

Is that clear?

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Ok, follow closely....

1. Gravedigger said no reason to apologize.
2. I said/insinuated yeah there is for the language.

Is that clear?

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Lmao the bar should apologize for profanity

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

Lmao the bar should apologize for profanity

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Different views I suppose... I don't think GTFO all over social media is a good look though.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Different views I suppose... I don't think GTFO all over social media is a good look though.

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Purely guessing but drunk college students probably did nothing when people were yelling to leave. Security probably lost their cool.

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Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe

Purely guessing but drunk college students probably did nothing when people were yelling to leave. Security probably lost their cool.

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I have no doubt. Again, I'm not saying they're wrong... just it looks bad, so an apology.

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Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe

Purely guessing but drunk college students probably did nothing when people were yelling to leave. Security probably lost their cool.

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You arent guessing. That warning came LONG before the tornado came through. The kids at Bin 612 who stayed ignored it.

Moral of the story, if you are going to ignore the warnings, you've passed up your right to complain about those who are trying to force you to get to a safer place.

Sure, apologizing for the language is the mature thing to do. I'll concede that.

This is 100% on the people who had time to find a safe place and waited too late.

But of course, it's never too late to blame someone else for ones own stupidity. Seems to be a common thing on social media.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Different views I suppose... I don't think GTFO all over social media is a good look though.

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I agree. It’s not a good look. But that’s pretty par for the course. But you have to remember, do you have any idea how many used condoms, coke straws, empty coke baggies, pharm pill bottles, etc... that bar has probably found on their premise while they clean up? College bars are the Wild West. It ain’t like security cussed at a group of nuns

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Originally Posted by gravedigger

You arent guessing. That warning came LONG before the tornado came through. The kids at Bin 612 who stayed ignored it.

Moral of the story, if you are going to ignore the warnings, you've passed up your right to complain about those who are trying to force you to get to a safer place.

Sure, apologizing for the language is the mature thing to do. I'll concede that.

This is 100% on the people who had time to find a safe place and waited too late.

But of course, it's never too late to blame someone else for ones own stupidity. Seems to be a common thing on social media.

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I have no basis to dispute this, but it seems crazy that the owner wouldn't have mentioned that in his statement if that were the case. That would have pretty much completely defused the issue.

Just catching up. When exactly did they tell patrons to leave? When the sirens started blowing or before as precautionary?

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Originally Posted by Johnson85

I have no basis to dispute this, but it seems crazy that the owner wouldn't have mentioned that in his statement if that were the case. That would have pretty much completely defused the issue.

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I was on main street in the Starkville Community Theater in the middle of a play when the alerts went off. That was somewhere around 9:30-9:40. We got people downstairs in the basement until the all clear was given. You can look at the storm thread on this board and tell when people knew. Every phone in the theater went off at the same time.

Correction:

The western portion of Oktibbeha was given a warning at 9:04 pm, which is what caused the phones to go off. The alert for the tornado that passed on the eastern side of MSU was about 10:04. That was about 15-20 minutes before it passed.

Bar should have been cleared by 9:30 as a precaution. That is no excuse for the people who should have left it on the first warning for West Oktibbeha.

At the worst the kids should have gotten to a safe place at that time, 9:15 , or 15 minutes before it passed Starkville 10:05.

These storm chasers did their jobs well Saturday night and gave many people the warning they needed or the fatalities could have been worse.

If Bin 612 is going to take this approach then any time s tornado watch is issued they need to stop serving.

Thus will solve this.

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Originally Posted by gravedigger

I was on main street in the Starkville Community Theater in the middle of a play when the alerts went off. That was somewhere around 9:30-9:40. We got people downstairs in the basement until the all clear was given. You can look at the storm thread on this board and tell when people knew. Every phone in the theater went off at the same time.

Correction:

The western portion of Oktibbeha was given a warning at 9:04 pm, which is what caused the phones to go off. The alert for the tornado that passed on the eastern side of MSU was about 10:04. That was about 15-20 minutes before it passed.

Bar should have been cleared by 9:30 as a precaution. That is no excuse for the people who should have left it on the first warning for West Oktibbeha.

At the worst the kids should have gotten to a safe place at that time, 9:15 , or 15 minutes before it passed Starkville 10:05.

These storm chasers did their jobs well Saturday night and gave many people the warning they needed or the fatalities could have been worse.

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So you are not claiming that Bin 612 gave warning a lot earlier; just that people with phones set to receive alerts would have been aware?

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Originally Posted by Johnson85

So you are not claiming that Bin 612 gave warning a lot earlier; just that people with phones set to receive alerts would have been aware?

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I am claiming that as early as 9:04 pm there was a tornado WARNING with one on the ground in west oktibbeha county that every phone hooked up to maroon alerts and any other weather service got notified. I have no idea when a bar told people to take cover and dont particularly care. I know that many of those kids knew to get to a safe place either 1 hour prior or at the very worst at 10:04pm to take cover on the one approaching south of campus.

If people had to be told to leave after 10:05....they were willfully ignoring what was happening. Blaming the owner of a bar for not making kids do what they should have already known to do is preposterous, at best.

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Originally Posted by gravedigger

I am claiming that as early as 9:04 pm there was a tornado WARNING with one on the ground in west oktibbeha county that every phone hooked up to maroon alerts and any other weather service got notified. I have no idea when a bar told people to take cover and dont particularly care. I know that many of those kids knew to get to a safe place either 1 hour prior or at the very worst at 10:04pm to take cover on the one approaching south of campus.

If people had to be told to leave after 10:05....they were willfully ignoring what was happening. Blaming the owner of a bar for not making kids do what they should have already known to do is preposterous, at best.

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Nobody is blaming the bar owner for not telling making patrons go find shelter earlier. They are blaming the bar employees for throwing patrons out into the street when a tornado was on the ground nearby.

The fact that there was notice to the bar employees and students doesn't make the action of the employees better, it makes them worse. According to you, they had an hour notice of a tornado, so they had plenty of time to (1) realize the risk and (2) communicate where patrons should go in the event a tornado landed nearby.

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Originally Posted by Johnson85

Nobody is blaming the bar owner for not telling making patrons go find shelter earlier. They are blaming the bar employees for throwing patrons out into the street when a tornado was on the ground nearby.

The fact that there was notice to the bar employees and students doesn't make the action of the employees better, it makes them worse. According to you, they had an hour notice of a tornado, so they had plenty of time to (1) realize the risk and (2) communicate where patrons should go in the event a tornado landed nearby.

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Anyone staying at that bar when there was a warning of a tornado on the ground to the west of starkville has no right to blame any employee of the bar when they should have already been gone. Making the bar the focus of this cluster is the problem. The focus should be on people ignoring the warnings and not leaving before they had to be told to leave.

I think it comes down to the fact that the Bin at it's core is a college bar. I know they like to think of themselves as a restaurant and their food is decent, but it's still a college bar. College bars are generally employed by college students or new graduates. Those workers weren't thinking "ok what do we need to do to make sure everyone gets out of here safe" they were thinking "I've got to get the 17 out of here" because they've never been trained in those situations. I can almost guarantee you that there's not a bar in the Cotton District that has an emergency plan outside of maybe StaggerIn. The bars are just too small. This will be a great lesson to every bar in the District that you need to have an emergency plan in place. Everybody shares some blame in this situation. People at the bars should've known that the weather was going to get bad, The Bin should've done a better job relaying the info to the patrons, and the bouncers and cops definitely could've gone about getting everyone out in a better way. Glad no one was hurt in all this and it can just be used as a learning experience of what not to do in the future.

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STATEMENT BY BIN 612 CHEF AND OWNER TY THAMES:

We take the concerns of our customers, employees and our Starkville community very seriously. We would like to address the safety concerns brought up in regards to the emergency event last night in the Cotton District. First and foremost, we are very thankful that no one in the Cotton District or anywhere else in Starkville was injured last night due to the severe weather.

Bin 612, along with most other establishments in the Cotton District, is comprised of exterior wall to wall glass windows. The overwhelming majority of the seating for the restaurant is on the outdoor patio with the interior space having an indoor occupancy capacity of 99 people. There is no adequate indoor shelter space for what was in excess of 250 people. All indoor spaces in the restaurant face the exterior wall to wall glass windows. There is an underground storage cellar that was utilized and able to provide shelter for approximately 15 people.

Due to these safety concerns, security personnel at five Cotton District area restaurants, including Bin 612, made the decision together to close at the same time before the potential tornado was to touch down in the immediate area in an effort to give patrons time to leave and find a safe space, including the underground parking structure directly across the street.

No other bar in the Cotton District kicked out patrons. Also, why did they wait to the last minute to close and kick people out if this was the plan? Why didn't they have people out an hour or so before the severe weather? This doesn't pass the smell test

We certainly do not condone the language or aggressive behavior of any of the security company?s personnel or our staff. We know that the intent of the security personnel and our staff was to prevent serious injuries from occurring inside of glass enclosed rooms. The intent was for people to leave with time to get to a safe space, including the underground parking garage directly across the street.

You can hear patrons asking where they need to go in the video with security/employees saying "We don't care, go get in your car". The security/employees really need to be trained on this. If the intent was to put patrons in the underground parking garage then security should have been working towards escorting them there instead of cursing and pushing people.

Any security company we work with in the future will need to not only be able to clearly execute the evacuation plan to the underground parking garage in the event of a possible tornado but also to do so in a calm and compassionate manner.

They should at least know where to tell people to go and the Bin should have a real emergency plan in place for severe weather. Amazing to me that they apparently didn't.

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See bold.

We gotta start licensing breeding... Or, at the very least, quit artificially limiting Natural Selection.

This is stupid.

JackBoots ON [OFF]

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Originally Posted by msstate7

I have no doubt. Again, I'm not saying they're wrong... just it looks bad, so an apology.

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The statement included an apology for the language didn't it? I just looked at it briefly but I thought I saw an apology in there.

I'm kinda old school where you didn't swear in the presence of females, so yeah, it looks bad. But certainly not uncommon these days. Nearly 100 years ago in "Gone With the Wind", the statement "Frankly, my Dear, I don't give a damn" was very risque?. Things have gone downhill since then relative to personal behavior.

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Originally Posted by mstatefan91

See bold.

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That's right ... they seemed to not really have a "plan" in place and were just reacting, almost in a panic mode. Most likely that will change now.