A beer is spilled. Drunken words are exchanged. A push is countered by another push.

This is typically how a bar fight starts in State College. State College resident Ryan Smith recalls seeing a fight aSt Café 210 West, 210 W. College Ave, last semester. "Someone was hit on the head with a bottle," he said.

"People usually try to break them up," Smith said.

Sgt. John Wilson, of the State College Police Department, said fights in State College are frequent. Sometimes there are, "two, three, four a night," he said.

They occur anywhere there is alcohol, he said, adding that the fights can occur for any number of reasons. "

There is no 'usual' when it comes to bar fights," Wilson said.

Hal McCullough, owner at Café 210 West, said that often times, violent exchanges occur due to "two guys arguing over some young lady."

The fights usually do not escalate to involve many people, he said.

"We have a fair number of doormen," McCullough said. "They stop it immediately before things get heated."

The Gingerbread Man, 130 Hiester St., also tries hard to prevent fights from moving to inside the building.

"We get people out before anything happens," said Joe Shulman, co-owner of the bar. "We wouldn't allow people in if they were fighting."

Mike Hess, manager at The Saloon, 101 Hiester St., said the physical confrontations are usually just two people in a fistfight. That is just the way drunken people act, he explained. "Some people get violent, some people get happy."

Scuffles at the Saloon are mild, he said. "We are the peacekeepers here."

Although occurrences are well controlled, damages still occur.

"People just destroy everything," Hess said.

Property damage is also a concern to Ray Rockey, manager of The Brewery, 233 E. Beaver Ave.

Numerous "verbal sparring" matches can often lead to physical fights, so keeping it under control is often on his mind. "It's always a concern, even though it doesn't happen that often," said Rockey.

Security at the bars usually takes care of any conflicts and breaks them up before the police arrive.

"The bar staff in State College is well trained," Wilson said.