May 5, 2001
At Cheers, everybody knows her name
Jenna Bush makes Austin bar famous
Rebecca Eckler
National Post

Doug Mills, The Associated Press THE TWINS: Jenna Bush, right, was voted by high school classmates as "most likely to trip on prom night" while her more quiet and studious sister, Barbara, was voted "most likely to appear on the cover of Vogue." Joel Salcidom, National Post "C.J.," left, Jimmy Ide, centre, and Jason Parker chat outside Cheers Shot Bar in Austin, Tex., where Jenna Bush was caught drinking underage.

AUSTIN, Texas - At Cheers Shot Bar, where the President's daughter Jenna was ticketed for under-age drinking, the shots are named after sex acts and body parts.

A Panty Dropper or Buttery Nipple costs $2.75. A Mind Eraser or Surfer on Acid costs $3.75. Other names need not be mentioned.

"You'll do a shot with me, won't you?" asks Craig, 26, a platinum-haired, tattooed bartender, on his way to work at another bar across the street. He wants a buzz before starting his 10 p.m. shift. We down a Three-Toed Sloth -- a three-ounce shot, which comes in a glass larger than most mixed drinks in Canada. After five minutes, my face is numb.

Cheers Shot Bar is on historic Sixth Street. It holds 140 drinkers and its most popular drink is the $1 Jell-O Shot. It isn't on the menu; regulars just know they're available.

Dozens of lipsticked women, in tight black miniskirts and white halter tops, scoop the Jell-O out with their fingers -- and then rinse off the stickiness in their beer.

Early last Friday morning, 19-year-old Jenna Bush was issued a citation after two officers entered Cheers to check for minors. You have to be 21 to drink in Texas. The citation is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by fine or community service.

"The Twin," as Jenna is known along the strip, was drinking a beer when caught.

"The Twin has started lots of trouble for bars," says Craig. "Last week, seven bars on this strip were raided after her. It used to be so relaxed, now the police are so uptight, thanks in part to The Twin. I was getting drunk when I was 17 at these places."

Whatever the hassle, it has been great for business.

"Everybody is talking about it," says Jeremy, the bartender. "Everybody wants to know about it."

Staff members have been warned to keep quiet. "If you are calling from the media, we have nothing more to say," is the recording on the bar's answering machine.

"Can you imagine being her? She's 19 and in college and constantly being followed. I feel so bad for her," says Kerri, 21, in town from Boston for a wedding.

"It must be horrible," her friend Dana agrees, solemnly.

Questions remain. Where exactly were her round-the-clock Secret Service agents when this happened?

"Well, I heard that they were across the street," Jeremy says.

Now Austin's latest tourist attraction is fanatical about checking IDs. Bars can be fined up to $4,000 for serving minors. Three young guys in green T-shirts check IDs at the door. The bartender, too, is supposed to check, but this is nearly impossible when it is busy.

Customers want their shots quickly; few stay at Cheers long. They come for a quick buzz before bar-hopping; or go there after bar-hopping to keep the buzz going.

At 10:45 p.m., early by Austin bar standards, three police officers in black cargo pants and T-shirts (Austin Police is stenciled across the back) enter Cheers.

A group of dolled-up babes, celebrating a birthday by taking photographs of each other downing shots, proudly offer their IDs.

The birthday girl gets her picture taken, shot glass in hand, beside the smiling officer who has just made sure she is old enough to drink. She now has a souvenir of the place where Jenna Bush got caught.

Jenna, the blond, and her fraternal twin, Barbara, the brunette, were born on Nov. 25, 1981. They have been regulars in the tabloids since their father's inauguration.

The National Enquirer ran a front-page photo of Jenna in December, cigarette in hand, lying on the floor on top of a friend, who was holding a beer and a cigarette. "Get Ready America: Here Comes George W. Bush's Wild Daughter," read the headline.

The press loves The Twins.

Jenna made news when she needed an emergency appendectomy on Christmas night, 2000.

She made it again when her exuberant father twirled her at the Inauguration Ball and she almost popped out of her strapless dress.

In February, 18-year-old William Ashe Bridges identified himself as Jenna's boyfriend after he was arrested for underage drinking. He was later retrieved from jail by her Secret Service agents.

Sister Barbara made headlines in April when she shook off her Secret Service escort while driving with friends to New York to catch a WWF event.

"Our girls are not public figures," Laura Bush, the first lady, has said. "They're the children of a president."

When they were just the children of a governor, and grandchildren of a former president, they tried to live normal lives. They were the first residents of the Governor's mansion, located just blocks from Cheers Shot Bar, to attend a public school in a decade. They were students at Stephen F. Austin High School, where the slogan is, "Everybody is somebody at Austin High."

Jenna was known as the bubbly, outgoing, fun-loving one, voted by classmates as "most likely to trip on prom night." Barbara, more quiet and studious, was voted "most likely to appear on the cover of Vogue."

Congress Avenue and Sixth Street is the epicentre of downtown Austin. At night, when dozens of bars open at 9 p.m., it is Austin at its best. The streets are closed to traffic. Doormen yell out drink specials. There are all types of bars, from dance clubs and live music venues to piano bars and rhythm and blues clubs.

There's a reason Austin is known as "the live music capital of the world."

On this night, the strip is more cranked up than usual. It is the end of exam week at the University of Texas, a 357-acre campus with 50,000 students. Jenna is a freshman here, along with her cousin George P. Bush. Barbara is following in her father's footsteps at Yale.

"I'm just blowing off some steam," says Jim, a 19-year-old freshman, buying cigarettes before bar-hopping. He does not know Jenna.

"You hear about her a lot -- lots of rumours that she's a party girl, but we're all pretty much partiers at this age. That's what university is about. I don't think she's any different. People just make a big deal because of who her father is. It's pretty easy to get served here. I'm not worried."

There have been Jenna spottings at two other bars on the strip -- at Fat Tuesdays, a "daiquiri bar," and at Buffalo Billiards, a pool hall.

It is midnight and a group of young men at Cheers has just ordered a round of flaming somethings. The bartender spits alcohol on the line of drinks, while lighting a match, and a line of fire explodes.

You can feel the heat from the fire on your face from across the room. The guys down their fizzy drinks quickly. Customers laugh. Another normal night at Austin's newest tourist attraction.

"Here's to Jenna," laughs one of the guys, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.