WTC HARD HATS GET HAMMERED
GROUND ZEROES' TAVERN BREAKS TURN 9/11 SITE INTO A SLOSH PITBy ANNIE KARNI, JAMES FANELLI and BRAD HAMILTON
Last updated: 7:54 am
June 28, 2009
Posted: 2:42 am
June 28, 2009
Hard-drinking hard hats at the World Trade Center site have turned their lunch hour into happy hour, pounding beers and shots of hard liquor before returning to work, a Post investigation found.
CUOZZO: LATEST STUMBLE ON 'SLURRY' WALL
Dozens of workers belly up to the bar at gin mills on Murray Street -- two blocks from the sacred soil of Ground Zero and America's most scrutinized construction project -- shortly before noon every day.
One group of three workers threw back eight drinks each in less than an hour before returning to the job.
Their power drinking is a violation of the Port Authority's zero-tolerance policy -- and escaped the notice of the agency's safety investigators, who have conducted dozens of sweeps since taking control of Ground Zero construction in 2006.
Reporters watched hard hats for a week as they walked from the pit for their hourlong meal break, typically at about 11:45 a.m. Many headed north on West Broadway to Murray Street, which is lined with bars and pubs.
On Friday, June 19, three men working on the site's transportation hub were spotted at Biddy Early's Pub & Restaurant at 43 Murray St. The three pals plus a fourth worker gulped three beers and two shots of whiskey each during the lunch hour, when the bar was packed with construction workers.
They openly discussed their drinking, their Ground Zero work -- and DWI arrests.
"We don't have to worry until someone severs a hand," joked one of the hard hats.
The three amigos went at it again on Wednesday, ordering three beers and two whiskeys apiece between noon and 1 p.m.
On Thursday, their boozefest kicked into overdrive.
The trio -- the oldest man around 40 years old, the others baby-faced -- sucked down four beers and four shots of hard liquor each in about 50 minutes.
That much booze would likely result in a blood-alcohol content of 0.14 to 0.16 percent -- twice the state's definition of drunk.
The three workers arrived at Biddy's at about 11:50 a.m. The older hard hat ordered a Bass ale, and his buddies each got Budweisers. At 12:06 p.m., the youngest worker bought shots of clear liquor and three more beers. The men were then joined by a colleague named Johnny, who ordered a beer.
At 12:14, Johnny left and the other three bought another round of beers and three more shots of liquor. After more beers and shots, they left at 12:40 p.m. and walked back to Ground Zero, ducking into an entrance for workers to the side of the PATH station. They told a reporter they were working on the hub's 1 train line.
The guzzling Ground Zero guys appeared to be regulars; a female bartender called them by their first names. They walked back to the pit all three times reporters observed them.
They weren't the only ones pounding 'em back before doing some hammering.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06282009/news/regionalnews/manhattan/wtc_hard_hats_get_hammered_176474.htm