From the News-Gazette
Police issued 328 notices for offenses at Unofficial
As of 3 a.m. Saturday, police reported that there had been 328 notices to appear in court issued during the bacchanal that has become – for police, parents and university administrators – the most dreaded annual event on the UI campus....
In 2010, there were 269 notices to appear issued; in 2009, the number was 351.
"Last year, we were pretty much done by midnight. (This year) we were out all the way up to bar closing (2 a.m.)," he said, adding that a chilly rain that started in the early evening did little to deter the partying....
Of the 328 NTAs issued, about 120 went to UIUC students.
The tickets were for such city ordinance violations as adults allowing minors to drink, minors in possession of alcohol, the purchase of too many kegs, open alcohol, public possession of alcohol, sale of alcohol to minors, throwing objects from balconies, fighting and resisting a peace officer. One NTA was issued for each of the following offenses: possession of cannabis, possession of drug paraphernalia, battery, public urination, loud noise, littering and unlawful use of ID.
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Read the comments at the end of the article. Here's the first.
Let's hope the tab for all the overtime work by police, firefighters, ambulance, ER personnel, etc. is passed on to the bar owners and not to the taxpayers. If not, I suspect the move among Champaign residents that one of my neighbors approached me about-- to make campustown a dry zone-- will gain more and more support. He already had 600 signatures. The students bring a lot to this town, but they destroy any goodwill they earn when they insist on breaking the laws, going to class drunk, fighting with police, etc. All because some bar owners are jealous that every few years St Patrick's Day falls during Spring Break and students don't give local bar owners all their (parents) money.
Wow, just wow.
Here's even more stupidity:
easily done, double or treble their liquor license fees.
this problem event was the brain child of a bar owner, Cochrane, I believe
does Cochrane continue to make windfall profits today? which bars does he own?
Who says "treble"? And Liquor License fees have already gone up.
Vignettes from Unofficial St. Patrick's Day
Some snapshots of the people and activities involved in the 2011 Unofficial St. Patrick's Day:
A busy day for tow companies is starting to pay off.
A lot of money was being exchanged at Reynolds Towing today.
The company hauled in more than 200 cars during the past two days up by a few dozen from last year.
Drivers had to fork over anywhere from $115-$200 Plus an extra $35 if they didn't pick up their ride within 24 hours.
Needless to say there were a lot of excuses.
Things went from bad to worse at the Unofficial St. Patrick's Day celebration. The bars opened at eleven Friday morning, but drinking started well before that and it led to some dangerous situations.
WCIA crews got caught right in the middle of it. A woman trying running into the middle of a live shot. When the cameras were turned on her, things got ugly.
She ran toward our crews yelling and tried grabbing and batting at the camera. At one point she threw an orange cone at the team.
That wasn't the only crazy situation. Someone threw a television into a parked car.
A total of 157 citations were handed out. Seventy-eight of those went to University of Illinois students. The rest went to people from other schools.
Two to Hospital During Unofficial
A day full of drinking has lead to some dangerous situations. Provena says it's already had two people come in-- near death-- because of Unofficial St. Patrick's Day. Both had blood alcohol levels five times the legal limit.
But not everyone spent the day partying. WCIA 3's Tinisha Shade reports.
- From WAND 17 NBC
More towing stories
- From WICD 15 ABC
That was then. This is now. After two days of non stop parting in U of I's "Campus Town," blocks upon blocks are littered with trash. From beer cups, to left over food, to even articles of clothing. For nearly 48 hours it was all fun and games but not everyone is laughing about it.
"I'm pretty disgusted to be honest. Considering how much fines have been given out for drinking all all that stuff. They should use some of that to clean up the streets and getting rid of all that trash," said Jacob Cahnman.
CHAMPAIGN-URBANA--After a long night of drinking and celebrating day two of Unofficial is here.From the Daily Illini
After sleeping in a bit many people were wandering around Campustown in their green attire.
While some were looking for their next drink others were looking for food to help soak up some of the excess alcohol.
Those celebrating say Friday night was fun and they look forward to round two.
Champaign, UI police report more citations given this year
Just under 60 more people received citations on Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day this year from last year.
The Champaign Police Department had seen a decrease in the number of violations from 2009 to 2010 — 269 compared to 351 two years ago.
They were hoping to control that trend, but instead more students and others were cited for breaking the laws, with the final number coming in at 328 citations.
Unofficial 2011, by the numbers
Farthest distance a celebrator traveled, only to get ticketed: roughly 600 miles (from West Virginia)The top ten most memorable quotes of Unofficial 2011
Number of high school students to get tickets: 4
Pasta face-plants: 1
Public urinations: 1
Bag pipers: 2
Street violinists: 1
Hotdog wieners sold on Green Street: roughly 1,500
Plastic surgery procedures*: 1
Hospital transports: Over 20
Cars towed*: 82
First ticket cited: 9:47 a.m. on March 4
Last ticket cited: 1:30 a.m. on March 5
Males ticketed (excluding repeat offenders): 223
Females ticketed (excluding repeat offenders): 103
Out of state celebrators ticketed (excluding repeat offenders): 293
In-state celebrators ticketed (excluding repeat offenders): 33
Not that good.
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