GEORGETOWN: A shooting last weekend outside the Georgetown chapter of the Fraternal Order of Eagles prompted a flurry of emails to a neighborhood message board. The main concern: loud crowds that gather in the parking lot after events at the hall, which range from weddings to Mexican dance parties. One resident wrote, “There has got to be SOMETHING we can do about the noise, trash, and now violence that keeps continuing at the Eagles.” Another typed, “I think Georgetown has tried to be tolerant and fair toward the Eagles as a business but enough is enough.” The Dec. 31 shooting, which left one man with non-life threatening gunshot wounds to his thigh, happened outside the domed, 25,000 square foot hall, after a free hip hop show sponsored by a radio station.

Marc Eisenberner, the chairman of the chapter, spent Sunday cleaning up the hall, picking up several bottles of Courvoisier. As required by a good neighbor agreement, he said, the radio station provided security and secured a liquor license for the event. Problems that occur outside the facility, like this shooting, he said, are a matter for police. Eisenberner says the order has been getting complaints since it started renting out banquet space in the hall 25 years ago. The newest wave of aggravation, he says, has come from newer residents who’ve purchased property nearby. “It concerns us that they don’t care,â€� says Shannon Donohue, who has lived on the same block as the hall for six years. Members of the council plan on raising their concerns with city officials. They may see hope in news that the building is up for lease — because of declining membership. But there’s no guarantee that the parties will stop if the building passes into new hands.