Lansdowne Street bars forced to deal with racist Sox fans from NH, an angry ex-serviceman and a dumb credit-card thief

Bouncers managed to avert physical contact and injuries at Bill's Bar on May 17, when a guy in a group of white Sox fans about to get on a bus to go back to New Hampshire after a game and some drinking decided to scream a racial slur at a small group of black men entering the bar, police and bar workers told the Boston Licensing Board today.

Bar manager Chris Williams said the slur led to a verbal confrontation, but that seemed to be that, until the New Hampshire men were about to get on their bus across the street when one of the black guys yelled something at them. The white guys "charged back towards the patio to start a fight," he said. He said bouncers managed to keep the two sides physically apart: "Nobody got hit." But the two sides also refused to back down, and it took ten minutes to get everybody to disperse, he said.

On May 9, meanwhile, Loretta's Last Call workers had to separate a man with Arab ancestry and a self-declared ex-serviceman who were arguing, with the ex-serviceman repeatedly claiming the other guy was disrespecting the service. A bar bouncer said he had separated the two when the ex-serviceman dumped the contents of his plastic beer cup on the ground and threw it at the other man hard enough to open a small gash next to his left eye. Bar workers and police say the ex-serviceman continued his angry ranting outside and got into tussle with a Boston cop - and would not settle down even when the cop told him he was ex-military himself.

On May 16, back at Bill's Bar, a woman who found another patron's wallet lifted a credit card she found inside, turned in the wallet, then used the card to buy drinks for herself and friends. When the woman who had reported the wallet missing got it back from the bar, she noticed her credit card - and cash - missing. Williams told his bartenders to be on the lookout for somebody using the card, and sure enough, a woman tried using the car to buy some beers. Williams then escorted her outside for a chat with a BPD detail officer.

The board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take on the incidents.