- From the News-Gazette
Police ready for 'monster' of Unofficial
CHAMPAIGN – Police say they are ready to handle Friday's "Unofficial St. Patrick's Day" celebration on the University of Illinois campus, as it appears thousands of students are once again ready to participate in the infamous event.
Unofficial St. Pat's traditions are simple enough: Students spend the day in green, in bars and intoxicated, many waking up at dawn to tap the keg for early apartment parties that could last through the day.
On Wednesday, more than 23,000 had indicated on Facebook that they would "attend" the event, more than last year's 17,000. Police say it's hard to gauge what the actual attendance will be, but Champaign Sgt. Scott Friedlein says law enforcement agencies are preparing as they have for past events.
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Police from several different agencies will increase their presence on campus, one of their perennial strategies in limiting the effects of a day's worth of binge drinking. Officers from local law enforcement agencies and the state police will be running special details throughout the day.
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The officers aren't working for free: Last year, Champaign police clocked 252 hours of overtime, costing more than $10,000.
A state grant should help offset some of those costs this year, said Melissa Kearns of Community Elements, the lead agency on the grant that is being spread across several government agencies.
The grant has also helped fund an advertising campaign, Kearns said. Community Elements staff visited Campustown businesses this week to ask managers to post fliers instructing potential partiers on how they can stay out of trouble.
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some more rules for Unofficial
- From the Daily Illini
Underage drinking, rising levels of intoxication cause concern for officers
Nineteen-year-old Kayleigh McCowen, sophomore in LAS, didn’t have a second to think when an undercover cop was dragging her out of Joe’s Brewery the instant a drink was placed in her hand. Her friend thought the plainclothes officer was hitting on her, and told him “Dude, she’s got a boyfriend, leave her alone” before pushing the cop in the chest.
“He looked down and saw his badge hanging and kind of took off, but instead of the cop going after the guy who just pushed him, he was hell-bent on making sure I got a ticket,” McCowen said.
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Although Champaign bars will only allow those 21 and over to enter this weekend — and go a step further by including a ban on hard liquors to those of age — University Police Department Patrol Division Commander Lt. Skip Frost still receives “troubling” concerns from parents over the 19-year-old bar entry policy that is in effect the rest of the year.
“Where would you rather have that 19 and 20-year-old at? Would you rather have him in a bar, in a controlled environment where there is oversight of some type, or we want to lock them all out of the bars where there is no oversight whatsoever?” Frost said.
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Ignorance of law won't save you from massive fines this weekend
another rundown similar to the News-Gazette
After 15 years, holiday continues to flourish
Friday will officially mark the 15th anniversary of Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day, and all signs point to the tradition continuing through 2011. While campus clothing stores furiously produce green shirt after green shirt for Friday, University and local police ready themselves to keep the rowdy festivities under control.
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Although Unofficial may not have been quite so large that first year, University Police Lieutenant Skip Frost said it caught local authorities largely off-guard and left them asking, “What is going on today?”
“There was no social media. There really wasn’t that much advertisement,” Frost said. “The next thing you know, we have bars open at 7 a.m. and lines out the door on a Friday.”
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Frost said during the first couple of years, the event was scheduled during the same day as the Engineering Open House, which was distressing for the University.
“We have our best and brightest on campus who we’re trying to attract — the future astronauts — and they’re walking through puddles of green puke,” Frost said. “We weren’t too happy about that.”
What's your take on Unofficial
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