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White River’s

Tip Top Cafe

Closes

BY Boa WOLFF

e Tip Top Cafe, a focal point for the
H LGBT community in the Upper
Connecticut River Valley, as of press
time is closing under financial stress.
The cafe, the creation of John

Quimby, opened in January 2002, serving
food, poetry andmusic in White River
Junction. It helped to make the newly renovat-
ed/restored Tip Top Building, an expansive
turn-of-the-20th-century bread baking facility,
the centerpiece of the ongoing White River
Junction renewal. The music, poetry, parties
and art exhibits presented at Tip Top Café
made it one of the important social centers of
the area.

 

The cafe"s patrons were surprised on
November 7, when they received an e-mail
announcing his intention to close the restau-
rant after dinner on Friday, November 21.
Quimby wrote, “I have recently had to make
the difficult decision to close the Tip Top
Cafe’. Difficult because the café has become
an amazing place with a wonderful staff, great
food and lots of very happy patrons.” But the
restaurant is “...just not cutting it financially.”

Quimby’s email explained, “I have
of course considered many, many alternative
approaches, but all in the end seem unwork-
able, or, untenable. I refuse to lessen the qual-
ity of the ingredients we cook with, or to
‘dumb down’ the menu to appeal to a broader,
blander public taste, or to purchase pre-pre-
pared entrees to cut down on stafi' costs.”

Quimby thanked his patrons for
their “tremendous support” and said, “It is sort
of like the closing of a long running theatrical
performance  there will be tears, but no
regrets.”

Contacted at his office, Tip Top
Building developer/manager Matt Bucy said
that John had done a femtastic job of creating
a1 restaurant at Tip Top, that he hoped that
Quimby would find a way to continue, and, if
not, that there would be a cafe’ or restaurant at
Tip Top again. '

' Although the Tip Top Cafe will be
closed by the time OITM_hits the streets, one‘
of its favorite activities — Poetry Night — will
continue at the Tip Top Building. Matte and
Michael of the Cooler Gallery (also in the Tip
Top Building) will host “Poetry Night at the
Tip Top” in their 2nd floor gallery at 7 p.m.
on the third Monday of each month.
Organizers say that those attending may read
new or old work, or the work of a favorite
Poet, or whatever!

At press time, a week before the
scheduled closing, there was a ray of hope
that the restaurant would continue. Quimby
said that since he made the closing announce-
tnent he has had-several offers of help that he
IS “processing.” V

Lesbian Sues BrattIeboroTV Station,
Discrimination Charged in Termination

V obin Chaia Mide worked
for four years as the execu-
. tive director of Brattleboro

Community Television (BCTV),
which operates two community

‘access stations, Channel 8 and

Channel 10. That is, she ran the
operation until July, 2003, when
she was fired. According to her
lawyer, Norman Watts, she was
fired because she’s a lesbian. And
now she has filed a lawsuit in
Windham Superior Court against
BCTV for discrimination, among
other charges.

John Mabie is the lawyer .

for BCTV. According to court doc-
uments, the station’s board of
directors denies any wrongdoing in
Mide’s firing.

Mide’s suit alleges
wrongful termination, breach of
good faith and fair dealing, inten-
tional and reckless infliction of
emotional distress, discrimination

based on sexual orientation, and
retaliatory discharge. Her lawyer
says he has never seen such blatant
discrimination in 20 years of
employment law practice.

_' Mabie’s response on the
board’s behalf alleges that Mide
did not perform her duties, missed
applying for an Adelphia
Communications grant, and “mis-
managed” $8500 in funds.

Both parties are request-
ing ajury trial, damages and attor-
neys’ fees. _

Mide was working with-
out a contract when she was fired;
her contract had expired the month
before. According to court docu-
ments, she continued to work

under a verbal agreement with the 7

BCTV board that a new contract
was being drafted.-

’ The complaint says that
Mide was “subjected to insulting,
harassing, embarrassing, intimidat-

ing and humiliating treatment,”,,
even though the station’s code "of '
conduct prohibits such behavior.

Among other allegations,
the complaint says that one repre-
sentative of the station referred to a
heterosexual woman as a “real _
woman.” .
i Watts, the lawyer for '
Mide, said that Mide’s case is “the
most blatant experience of conduct
hostile to a person for membership
in any group, much less for sexual
orientation” that he’s seen in his 15
years of labor law practice. He has,
he said, worked with cases involv-
ing “pregnant women, men, older
workers, and in every case the
defendant denies there’s discrimi-
nation involved, just as the bigots
in the South did” during the black
civil rights struggles.

Asked why Mide had
chosen not to take her complaint to
the state Human Rights

Commission, Watts said, “I’m sure
she felt that a direct civil action is
quicker and equally effective. They
do an excellent job, but they are
understaffed and underfunded.”
The trial date has not yet
been set, and when it is, it will
allow time for the discovery
process and an opportunity for
mediation. If mediation fails, the
case will go to trial, likely in about

‘a year.

Watts added that he is

J‘ “looking forward to going before a

jury. It’s the great leveler, and it’s a
thrill for me. But most important is
that Robin is able to receivejus-
tice. She has been severely disad-
vantaged. This is ugly stuff.”

Watts declined to make
his client available for comment. “I

prefer that my clients don’t talk to I

the press before trial,” he said. V