Remember when the teacher punished the whole class because Johnny was flipping eraser bits into Caroline’s hair and nobody would rat him out?

That’s what some establishment owners on Station Street say is going on with Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly’s 15-day executive order to stop serving alcohol at 12:30 a.m. and close by 1 a.m.

Seven businesses are on the street that runs along the south side of the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel, but Comedy Catch co-owner Michael Alfano earlier this week said it is “one business that is the problem.”

He didn’t mention the business by name but previously has mentioned the Blue Light in past Chattanooga Beer & Wrecker Board meetings. Blue Light, since opening in late summer of 2021, has, at times, had its beer permit revoked, has been asked to work with the city on an improved security plan, and has been the scene of incidents where police were called.

We sympathize with Alfano, who has been a stalwart in making sure Chattanooga has had a consistent comedy venue for nearly 40 years, but we think Kelly made the right call.

Nobody liked being part of the class being punished over Johnny’s eraser antics, either, but it kept Johnny from trying that stunt again.

Blue Light owner Brian Joyce said his club is no less violent or disruptive than any other club on the street, and we also sympathize with him — to a point. He can’t control the people who come around Station Street in general, and he can never know what any one person will do when he or she enters his club.

But from May through July 2022, Chattanooga police reported 228 calls for service in the Station Street area, with most of those being related to burglar alarms (24), a suspicious person (23), a motor vehicle collision (23), suspicious activity (21) or disorder (18).

Over the same period, according to city data, 38 arrests were made, including five related to disorderly conduct, three for public intoxication and two for driving under the influence.

Last weekend, Chattanooga Police Department handled 17 calls for service in the area and made three arrests.

Blue Light’s beer license was revoked on Nov. 18, 2021, for not reporting an altercation and for operating a disorderly place (though it was granted a stay), and it was slightly less than a year ago on June 4 when a large fight on Station Street drew 22 patrol cars, some of which were still on the scene when a deadly shooting — leaving three dead and 14 injured — occurred on McCallie Avenue.

Later that same month, a massive fight broke out in front of Blue Light, shots were fired nearby and two women were injured.

Nearby residents and business owners, according to newspaper archives, said the area had been tourist-friendly and relatively quiet before the bar and dance club opened. They said the establishment’s patio and adjacent common area often wound up being hang-out places when people couldn’t get inside the venue because they weren’t old enough or for other reasons, and it was there where trouble could flare up.

Kelly met with several Station Street owners at City Hall to tell them of the executive order last week and in a statement said the temporary curtailment of alcohol and the early closing time was due to “a recent increase in violent incidents in the Station Street district and out of concern for public safety.”

The order — with which Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp agreed — also prohibits patrons from bringing open containers with alcoholic beverages outside the businesses and onto Station Street. The businesses also are being asked to create a security plan for the district. Blue Light, asked to create an updated security plan when its beer license revocation was dropped, never did, according to newspaper archives.

The executive order runs through May 6, but it could be renewed if an acceptable safety plan is not in place.

Other Station Street business owners said the restrictions will cost them thousands of dollars worth of business and will cut the pay of bartenders, dishwashers and ride-share drivers, among others.

But no establishment and no worker is going to go broke with a few less dollars over a two-week period, and what is happening over this interim could save a life in the future.

We suspect that most people can recall a time or two in their lives, in this city or another, where they were out late at a trendy place having a drink and good conversation with friends, and Chattanooga deserves to have that on Station Street.

To have that, though, safety must be the first consideration, and the Chattanooga Police Department should not have to be the first line of security. To that end, Chattanooga police said Thursday they would be locating more police around Station Street but that businesses would be hiring more of their own security.

By the end of the mayor’s executive order next Thursday, we hope all parties have worked out a plan to make the area the safe, fun place it ought to be.