Although its student organizers stressed a day of responsible drinking, the second incarnation of State Patty's Day saw about 45 arrests by State College police between 8 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. yesterday.
The State College Police Department said they received about 121 calls; on a normal Saturday, police generally receive about 80 calls.
"We pretty much went call to call to call," Cpl. Barry Smith said. "It wasn't overwhelming, but we definitely used all the resources we had."
State College police increased staffing by about 50 percent to respond to the anticipated increase in crime.
The arrests included five for DUI, six for disorderly conduct, seven for public drunkenness and 17 for underage drinking, police said. There were also several calls for assaults, fights and snowball throwing.
Last year's State Patty's Day weekend, March 2 to 4, police experienced about 141 calls and seven DUI arrests, according to The Daily Collegian archives.
A man will be charged with open lewdness, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief after police say he urinated on a bar inside Tony's Big Easy, 129 S. Pugh St., Saturday afternoon. A man with the same name, which police would not release because charges are pending, was arrested for public drunkenness after he refused to leave Wing Zone, 433 E. Beaver Ave., early yesterday morning. Police said he had been asked repeatedly to leave the restaurant.
This year, student advocacy group Safeguard Old State (SOS) lent its support to State Patty's Day. The group planned to form a coordinating committee and partner with LateNight Penn State to offer alternative programming, but the plan never came to fruition.
SOS Student Relations Director Joe Veltre (senior-biochemistry and molecular biology), who organized last year's State Patty's Day, said he doesn't think the number of arrests this weekend would reflect negatively on the group.
"SOS getting involved didn't make it any worse. We didn't have the resources to offer alternative programming. It's still a day students enjoy," he said.
Student Programming Association President Raj Desai (senior-science) said while he personally enjoyed State Patty's Day, he didn't want LateNight Penn State to be affiliated with the holiday.
"If we did partner with SOS, I would have been 100 percent sure we would have gotten a lot more kids in," he said. "But at the same time we would have been involved with the drinking downtown."
Scot Whiskeyman (junior-finance) went to LateNight Penn State on Saturday night instead of drinking.
"It's like an excuse to drink. Those crowds just don't sound appealing," Whiskeyman said.
Although most downtown bars kept normal hours on Saturday, the Phyrst, 111 1/2 E. Beaver Ave., and the Cell Block, 420 E. College Ave., opened early. The Phyrst opened at 9 a.m. and hosted bands all day, serving blue beer and handing out party hats. The Cell Block opened at 5 p.m.
State College Mayor Bill Welch said he was pleased to see little activity downtown when he went out to breakfast Saturday morning.
"I gather it probably picked up later in the day. I saw a couple of forlorn-looking young women with green accoutrements on," Welch said yesterday afternoon.
State College Borough Council President Elizabeth Goreham said although she disagrees with State Patty's Day and the activities it promotes, she was not particularly offended by the commotion downtown.
Welch and Goreham, however, both said they believe there was too much criminal activity stemming from Saturday's festivities.
Martin Leslie (senior-landscape architecture), whose band, The Paint Chips, played at the Phyrst on Saturday, said he wasn't surprised State Patty's Day took place for the second year in a row.
"That's the whole point of Penn State," he said. "We have enough people to pull off anything, good or bad."
