The now relatively long-tenured period of mass revelry that marks the annual State Patty’s weekend (since 2007) for students, other local State College residents and an increasingly growing number of participants incoming from other parts of Pennsylvania and adjoining states was its usual eventful self this year.
That is, people came — in droves. They drank, they partied, they congregated en mass on decks and rooftops.
And, yes, they collectively made lots of noise.
The annual gala leaves an imprint each year that has become ever-more predictable for any similarly large-scale gala that has the sole objective of having fun as its premise.
That imprint is crystallized by this recurrent annual reality: Most people simply have a good time in what is generally a safe and friendly environment, with, of course, a few individuals acting out a bit through engaging in behaviors that law enforcers frown upon.
And, candidly, things often become instantly less than amiable and upbeat for those individuals, given the patent downsides linked with arrest and a criminal charge of one type of another.
Reportedly, local police cited or arrested 17 people over this year’s State Patty’s weekend for public intoxication. Twenty-two unfortunate minors were cited for underage drinking. A few individuals were arrested for drunk driving, with a few more being cited for violating open-container laws.
Overall, police responded to an estimated 215 incidents over the State Patty’s weekend.
The repercussions to any individual who is personally on the receiving end of an adverse police interaction can in select favorable instances result in nothing more than an admonition or lecture.
That is far from always being the case, though, and certainly not with State Patty’s, with officials declaring in recent years that police will be generally uncompromising when they confront disruptive behavior or catch people breaking the law.
A bit of recurring revelry within a major campus environment is a given and, arguably, a good thing in most respects.
Some participants encounter legal headaches, though, as the result of their participation. When that is the case (and, especially, when a criminal charge has been filed), a timely and candid consultation with a proven defense attorney might reasonably be in order.