Roughly 30 students were peacefully enjoying musical stylings of Barefoot Junction outside 40 fountain today when psafe, middletown police, and a k-9 unit showed up. Is this the end of Fountain as we know it? Is wesleyan the new police state? Certainly something has changed at our wonderful university. If anything tonight is an unfortunuate allusion to the end of spring semester in ’08.
Please comment with any first hand acconts or corrections.
[EDIT] Jared Keller of Barefoot Junction writes:
We as a band do not know the specific details of the event, only that we were cut off mid-set by the authorities. We do not know why Middletown police showed up in the numbers they did. What we do know is that Wesleyan students behaved like champions tonight, allowing P-Safe and MPD to do what they had to despite how overly cautious and obnoxious their actions were. The best thing that Wesleyan students can do right now is give the authorities no legitimate reason to repeat last May’s incident by being orderly and responsive to their demands, and tonight’s party was a good example of the strategy we can use to avoid further ridiculous conflicts.
That being said, Fountain is far from done and Barefoot Junction will live to groove another day. Our resolve is strong, Ph.D program multiple credits, and our funk reserve brimming with vigor and zest. Contact us at jbkeller@wes for a funk injection. And remember: we shall return…
[Edited by Justin on 2008-09-12 at 12:48 AM.]
would someone explain to me why a city of ~45,000 needs a k-9 unit?
would someone explain to me why a city of ~45,000 needs a k-9 unit?
People are being slaughtered in the Sudan for no good reason, and we’re calling Middletown a police state for breaking up a party? Get a life!
People are being slaughtered in the Sudan for no good reason, and we’re calling Middletown a police state for breaking up a party? Get a life!
What, exactly, should we be protesting? The police doing their job? A K-9 unit that might have been there out of sheer coinicdence (see: 8:15 am)?Listen, I think the shit they pulled in the spring was fucked up, but that doesn’t mean we should protest anytime the MPD sets foot on this campus.
What, exactly, should we be protesting? The police doing their job? A K-9 unit that might have been there out of sheer coinicdence (see: 8:15 am)?
Listen, I think the shit they pulled in the spring was fucked up, but that doesn’t mean we should protest anytime the MPD sets foot on this campus.
good. enough with the fucking protests for no fucking reason.
good. enough with the fucking protests for no fucking reason.
wesleyan has no balls. no protests, no action, no nothing?sad.
wesleyan has no balls. no protests, no action, no nothing?
sad.
i like doggies. i wish mine were here with me at school :(
i like doggies. i wish mine were here with me at school :(
With regard to the dogs, or dog, I do know this, if a K-9 officer is on duty and a call comes into his/her area they respond like any other officer, and where they go, the dog goes, just as if it was his/her partner. So it could be that Fountain was part of the officer’s zone for his or her shift. Or it could be that MPD is assigning canine officers to work a zone that includes Wesleyan.
With regard to the dogs, or dog, I do know this, if a K-9 officer is on duty and a call comes into his/her area they respond like any other officer, and where they go, the dog goes, just as if it was his/her partner. So it could be that Fountain was part of the officer’s zone for his or her shift. Or it could be that MPD is assigning canine officers to work a zone that includes Wesleyan.
is there a way to track the urls or isps of the posters on this? i think 245 is a narrrrrrk
is there a way to track the urls or isps of the posters on this? i think 245 is a narrrrrrk
Err, there should be event hosting info available on your blackboard, anon 2:28.It doesn’t sound like there’s any reasonable cause to bring K-9 units into this. That said, I’m glad it sounds like both the MPD and the students were calmer tonight.
Err, there should be event hosting info available on your blackboard, anon 2:28.
It doesn’t sound like there’s any reasonable cause to bring K-9 units into this. That said, I’m glad it sounds like both the MPD and the students were calmer tonight.
Bringing what seems like unreasonable force as a response to a noise complaint might have been a choice the MPD made in the wake of what happened in May.12:35, if you hear a law enforcement official say something like that, ask for a badge number.
Bringing what seems like unreasonable force as a response to a noise complaint might have been a choice the MPD made in the wake of what happened in May.
12:35, if you hear a law enforcement official say something like that, ask for a badge number.
registered party? how do you register a party?
registered party? how do you register a party?
I’m sorry but the police had absolutely no reason to bring dogs for a NOISE COMPLAINT at a REGISTERED PARTY. I’m sorry if the police and their fucking dogs struck a nerve with me after I saw one of them bite the shit out of a student in May.
I’m sorry but the police had absolutely no reason to bring dogs for a NOISE COMPLAINT at a REGISTERED PARTY. I’m sorry if the police and their fucking dogs struck a nerve with me after I saw one of them bite the shit out of a student in May.
snaps 1:17. I would be embarrassed and saddened if Wesleyan students used last May’s events on Fountain as a point of comparison for every time they think unjust acts happen to them. What happened last Spring was horrendous and every party break-up that people feel is unjust should not be compared to it. To do so is a simplification and mockery of a true and traumatizing event.Furthermore, it reflects poorly on us as a student body to continuously bemoan how unfair our treatment is by the MPD (last May’s incident being a clear exception). As students at Wesleyan we are residents of Middletown. If the police receive a noise complaint, it is their duty to respond. This fact is widely known by this point. To continue to throw outdoor noisy parties is a direct ignorance of our knowledge of what protocol will go down. Don’t throw events that invite the police and then criticize their arrival.
snaps 1:17. I would be embarrassed and saddened if Wesleyan students used last May’s events on Fountain as a point of comparison for every time they think unjust acts happen to them. What happened last Spring was horrendous and every party break-up that people feel is unjust should not be compared to it. To do so is a simplification and mockery of a true and traumatizing event.
Furthermore, it reflects poorly on us as a student body to continuously bemoan how unfair our treatment is by the MPD (last May’s incident being a clear exception). As students at Wesleyan we are residents of Middletown. If the police receive a noise complaint, it is their duty to respond. This fact is widely known by this point. To continue to throw outdoor noisy parties is a direct ignorance of our knowledge of what protocol will go down. Don’t throw events that invite the police and then criticize their arrival.
Assuming 12:35’s report is correct, this seems resonable. Other than the dogs–those don’t sem necissary. But in general, it sucks that a nice party was broken up, but if someone called in a noice complaint to the MPD, then they had to break up that party. In the end, we arn’t the only people who live here.
Assuming 12:35’s report is correct, this seems resonable. Other than the dogs–those don’t sem necissary. But in general, it sucks that a nice party was broken up, but if someone called in a noice complaint to the MPD, then they had to break up that party. In the end, we arn’t the only people who live here.
Whaley,How’s that report coming?
Whaley,
How’s that report coming?
sounds like too much response, but then there were forty students. Besides, if a noise complaint is called the police have to break up the party and psafe has to help them. Don’t overreact.
sounds like too much response, but then there were forty students. Besides, if a noise complaint is called the police have to break up the party and psafe has to help them. Don’t overreact.
there were. there were dogs.
there were. there were dogs.
so there wasn’t a k-9 unit? misleading headline…
so there wasn’t a k-9 unit? misleading headline…
im just sad i didn’t get to see barefoot junction finish their set, those guys can fucking GROOVE
im just sad i didn’t get to see barefoot junction finish their set, those guys can fucking GROOVE
Ok I was OR 12:36, someone posted at the same time as me, I wasn’t there as long as they, apparently.
Ok I was OR 12:36, someone posted at the same time as me, I wasn’t there as long as they, apparently.
I was leaving when suddenly there were three middletown police cars outside of the house. The house had told us to get rid of all of our alcohol about an hour or so before the police came I guess, as a precaution. But wtf? Where was psafe? This is so fucked up.
I was leaving when suddenly there were three middletown police cars outside of the house. The house had told us to get rid of all of our alcohol about an hour or so before the police came I guess, as a precaution. But wtf? Where was psafe? This is so fucked up.
I watched it play out, and thought it was handled reasonably well. A neighbor (civilian, not student) called in a noise complaint, according to one MPD officer. An officer drove up, walked around back, asked to speak to some one who lived there, and waited patiently a few minutes for a guy to show. When he did, the officer told the guy there was a noise complaint, the music would have to stop, and some slightly mean ‘I’m not going to give you another warning’ line. The guy went and stopped the band, the students got a little loud and unruly, but kept it under control. Around this time, three P-Safe officers showed up and were walking around the crowd, trying to calm especially unruly kids. Two MPD officers were standing just at the back of the house, about five others were gathered on the street. The plan basically worked. When the band stopped, people started leaving, and the cops all left. It all seemed pretty peaceful to me. I mean, it was a good band and it sucks that it got broken up, but a band playing outside on a Thurs. night getting broken up for a noise complaint does not mean we live in a police state. I think the police (rather than just P-Safe) were there only because a non-student Middletown resident called in the complaint, presumably to the real police and not P-Safe. The only sign of impending fascism I saw was one MPD officer, surveying the crowd of noisy students after the band was stopped, said something along the lines of: ‘Well if this is how they act its no wonder they got gassed’
I watched it play out, and thought it was handled reasonably well. A neighbor (civilian, not student) called in a noise complaint, according to one MPD officer. An officer drove up, walked around back, asked to speak to some one who lived there, and waited patiently a few minutes for a guy to show. When he did, the officer told the guy there was a noise complaint, the music would have to stop, and some slightly mean ‘I’m not going to give you another warning’ line. The guy went and stopped the band, the students got a little loud and unruly, but kept it under control. Around this time, three P-Safe officers showed up and were walking around the crowd, trying to calm especially unruly kids. Two MPD officers were standing just at the back of the house, about five others were gathered on the street. The plan basically worked. When the band stopped, people started leaving, and the cops all left. It all seemed pretty peaceful to me. I mean, it was a good band and it sucks that it got broken up, but a band playing outside on a Thurs. night getting broken up for a noise complaint does not mean we live in a police state. I think the police (rather than just P-Safe) were there only because a non-student Middletown resident called in the complaint, presumably to the real police and not P-Safe. The only sign of impending fascism I saw was one MPD officer, surveying the crowd of noisy students after the band was stopped, said something along the lines of: ‘Well if this is how they act its no wonder they got gassed’
glad I didn’t go to that….
glad I didn’t go to that….
Certainly I will be waiting to hear a full account of the incident, but this does not sound like an encouraging sign in the uphill struggle to improve student/P-Safe/police relations.I just hope there was no violence this time.
Certainly I will be waiting to hear a full account of the incident, but this does not sound like an encouraging sign in the uphill struggle to improve student/P-Safe/police relations.
I just hope there was no violence this time.
this is bullshit. fuck you middletown.
this is bullshit. fuck you middletown.