What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Maine
I go to Colby College, a small, private, liberal arts college, in Waterville, ME, which is a depressed ex-textile town in the middle of nowhere. This past weekend multiple police cars came to a junior/senior dance and arrested many people. Then they issued these statements that were made the next day in the local paper, front page. This is the article
Morning Sentinel:
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
WATERVILLE -- Deputy Police Chief Joseph Massey said he will send undercover
police officers to the Colby College campus to stem the surge of underage
drinking after another alleged weekend of college boozing.
Massey said five Colby women, three of them members of the college's lacrosse
team, were arrested and several others were issued summonses after parties
Friday night and Saturday night. He said the numbers of hospital visits,
arrests and summonses for illegal possession of alcohol by minors this school
year has forced his hand.
"I will do some undercover operations on campus," Massey said Monday. "I think
the level of underage drinking we're seeing since the beginning of the year
warrants some undercover details."
Massey said plainclothes police officers will walk the Mayflower Hill campus and
will sit in parked cars, watching the comings and goings of students at Colby.
He said the officers also will try to blend in at house parties off campus
where Colby students live and entertain.
"I'm going to get officers that blend in," he said. "I am concerned about the
fact that someone is going to get hurt while intoxicated or overdose on
alcohol. It hasn't gotten any better as the year has progressed."
Massey said a police visit to a off-campus residence at 16 Winter St. early
Sunday morning resulted in the five arrests.
Those arrested included Elizabeth Kelsea Neville, 21, a senior from Duxbury,
Mass; Tracy Anne Kolakowski, 21, a senior from Darien, Conn.; and Leah Farrell
Weisberg, 21, a senior from Falmouth. All three women are on the Colby lacrosse
team; Weisberg is a team captain.
Also arrested were Kathryn Jane Roberts, 21, a senior from Chatham, N.J., and
Ashley Brooke Lamb, 21, a senior from Menlo Park, Calif.
All five women are charged with furnishing a place for minors to consume
alcohol.
Massey said police were called to Winter Street initially for a loud-noise
complaint. He said that when officers saw people jumping out of windows at the
house, it triggered suspicion.
"They saw students jumping out side windows -- there were in fact three more
students identified as underage; five were summonsed for illegal possession of
alcohol by a minor," he said. "All five women who rented the apartment were
physically arrested."
Massey said the weekend began with parties Friday night, one of them at The
Heights, a Colby dormitory. The police call came in initially as an assault on
a security guard, he said.
A guard apparently was pushed, but not injured, and no charges were brought.
Massey said a party was in progress at The Heights in a student activity center.
When police arrived, Massey said, they found students outside the hall who were
"stumbling" around, apparently intoxicated.
Officers went to the bar area of the party and found two adult students in
charge of the alcohol, according to Massey.
Colby spokesman Stephen Collins said there was some confusion inside The Heights
because other, unsanctioned parties apparently were being held at the same time
as a senior/junior prom.
He said Colby officials do not mind the added police attention, even if it means
sending in plain-clothes officers, but he stressed that some parties are for
students over 21 and are legal.
"That's perfectly within the right of the police," Collins said of the added
visits on campus. "We understand that the laws of the state of Maine and the
city of Waterville apply on campus."
Collins said the party at The Heights was a legal, school-sanctioned event with
Colby Director of Student Activities Kelly Wharton on duty that night. He said
the party was not an open bar and the two hosts were checking identification.
He said the underage students who were summonsed were from the other parties.
"The junior/senior prom was all above-board and by the book," he said.
Massey said it is the drinkers who don't go by the book that he wants to get
tough on this year.
"This weekend comes on the heels of 10 other students summonsed for alcohol
violations in the last two weeks," he said. "Add this to the 35 students that
we have summonsed or arrested since the beginning of school and you can see
we've had 60 students who have been arrested or summonsed -- that's 60 that we
know about."
He said those numbers indicate that it is not just one group of substance
abusers on campus, but appears to be a bigger problem, campus-wide.
"I think it really shows the significance that alcohol has on college campuses,"
Massey said.
Now, I am underage. I don't get blackout drunk and do stupid things. But sometimes I do like to have fun on the weekends and enjoy college without being afraid of getting randomly stopped, breathalized, and arrested. I have no criminal record. Yet I don't feel safe anymore, I fear not an attacker but the police, the ones supposedly trying to protect me.
Oh and a little side note, Waterville spites all of us because the college doesnt pay taxes since its not-for-profit.
Are there any things I should look out for in the undercover police procedures that may be illegal, or anything I can do to get around these drones.
I go to Colby College, a small, private, liberal arts college, in Waterville, ME, which is a depressed ex-textile town in the middle of nowhere. This past weekend multiple police cars came to a junior/senior dance and arrested many people. Then they issued these statements that were made the next day in the local paper, front page. This is the article
Morning Sentinel:
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
WATERVILLE -- Deputy Police Chief Joseph Massey said he will send undercover
police officers to the Colby College campus to stem the surge of underage
drinking after another alleged weekend of college boozing.
Massey said five Colby women, three of them members of the college's lacrosse
team, were arrested and several others were issued summonses after parties
Friday night and Saturday night. He said the numbers of hospital visits,
arrests and summonses for illegal possession of alcohol by minors this school
year has forced his hand.
"I will do some undercover operations on campus," Massey said Monday. "I think
the level of underage drinking we're seeing since the beginning of the year
warrants some undercover details."
Massey said plainclothes police officers will walk the Mayflower Hill campus and
will sit in parked cars, watching the comings and goings of students at Colby.
He said the officers also will try to blend in at house parties off campus
where Colby students live and entertain.
"I'm going to get officers that blend in," he said. "I am concerned about the
fact that someone is going to get hurt while intoxicated or overdose on
alcohol. It hasn't gotten any better as the year has progressed."
Massey said a police visit to a off-campus residence at 16 Winter St. early
Sunday morning resulted in the five arrests.
Those arrested included Elizabeth Kelsea Neville, 21, a senior from Duxbury,
Mass; Tracy Anne Kolakowski, 21, a senior from Darien, Conn.; and Leah Farrell
Weisberg, 21, a senior from Falmouth. All three women are on the Colby lacrosse
team; Weisberg is a team captain.
Also arrested were Kathryn Jane Roberts, 21, a senior from Chatham, N.J., and
Ashley Brooke Lamb, 21, a senior from Menlo Park, Calif.
All five women are charged with furnishing a place for minors to consume
alcohol.
Massey said police were called to Winter Street initially for a loud-noise
complaint. He said that when officers saw people jumping out of windows at the
house, it triggered suspicion.
"They saw students jumping out side windows -- there were in fact three more
students identified as underage; five were summonsed for illegal possession of
alcohol by a minor," he said. "All five women who rented the apartment were
physically arrested."
Massey said the weekend began with parties Friday night, one of them at The
Heights, a Colby dormitory. The police call came in initially as an assault on
a security guard, he said.
A guard apparently was pushed, but not injured, and no charges were brought.
Massey said a party was in progress at The Heights in a student activity center.
When police arrived, Massey said, they found students outside the hall who were
"stumbling" around, apparently intoxicated.
Officers went to the bar area of the party and found two adult students in
charge of the alcohol, according to Massey.
Colby spokesman Stephen Collins said there was some confusion inside The Heights
because other, unsanctioned parties apparently were being held at the same time
as a senior/junior prom.
He said Colby officials do not mind the added police attention, even if it means
sending in plain-clothes officers, but he stressed that some parties are for
students over 21 and are legal.
"That's perfectly within the right of the police," Collins said of the added
visits on campus. "We understand that the laws of the state of Maine and the
city of Waterville apply on campus."
Collins said the party at The Heights was a legal, school-sanctioned event with
Colby Director of Student Activities Kelly Wharton on duty that night. He said
the party was not an open bar and the two hosts were checking identification.
He said the underage students who were summonsed were from the other parties.
"The junior/senior prom was all above-board and by the book," he said.
Massey said it is the drinkers who don't go by the book that he wants to get
tough on this year.
"This weekend comes on the heels of 10 other students summonsed for alcohol
violations in the last two weeks," he said. "Add this to the 35 students that
we have summonsed or arrested since the beginning of school and you can see
we've had 60 students who have been arrested or summonsed -- that's 60 that we
know about."
He said those numbers indicate that it is not just one group of substance
abusers on campus, but appears to be a bigger problem, campus-wide.
"I think it really shows the significance that alcohol has on college campuses,"
Massey said.
Now, I am underage. I don't get blackout drunk and do stupid things. But sometimes I do like to have fun on the weekends and enjoy college without being afraid of getting randomly stopped, breathalized, and arrested. I have no criminal record. Yet I don't feel safe anymore, I fear not an attacker but the police, the ones supposedly trying to protect me.
Oh and a little side note, Waterville spites all of us because the college doesnt pay taxes since its not-for-profit.
Are there any things I should look out for in the undercover police procedures that may be illegal, or anything I can do to get around these drones.
