Police Try Four-Keg Limit to Tame ... Block Party

[Snazzy]

Police Try Four-Keg Limit to Tame Annual University of Wisconsin Block Party

By Jenny Price Associated Press Writer
Published: May 2, 2004


MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Police set a beer quota on an annual spring block party that draws thousands of drunken revelers, but Saturday's partiers weren't exactly tapped out: The limit was four kegs per household.

The keg crackdown for the annual Mifflin Street block party near the University of Wisconsin still gives each apartment between 700 and 800 beers. And the block is lined with wood-frame houses divided into apartments, giving some addresses as many as 16 kegs.

But police said what sounds like a lot of beer is much less than what has been available in the past. Last year, some houses had as many 50 kegs and were essentially operating unlicensed taverns out of their kitchens and front porches, acting Madison Police Assistant Chief Luis Yudice said.

The Mifflin Street event started 35 years ago and is part of the campus culture that put UW-Madison second on The Princeton Review's national "party school" rankings in 2003, behind only the University of Colorado in Boulder.


....

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAE685SQTD.html

[saigon68]

1. My Alma Mater UW

What a fun place to be this time of year. I was there last week-end to visit my 20 year old son who lives on Doty Street, 3 blocks south of "MIFFLAND".

Outside of maybe Berkley, this city will be the place where total civil uproar will occur if the draft comes back.. I plan to be there to lend aid and comfort to those who will take on the NeoCons in the Streets.

For those of you who don't know her check out the Website of Tammy Baldwin


http://www.speak-truth.com/bio/baldwin_tammy.html


http://tammybaldwin.house.gov/


She's in Congress from Madison and she represents the best things going in Amerika today.

[chasqui]

2. My alma mater also.

I actually lived on the 500 block of Mifflin Street for a year. The year before a mob during this party had burnt a car up, and then proceeded to stone the firefighters that tried to go in and put the fire out. This promped the cops to try to go in and quell this 'unrest,' which resulted in THEM also getting stoned - with bricks, and other such items. In the end a bunch of firefighters and cops ended up in the hospital, and with Mayor Soglin declaring that the next year the party was 'canceled.'

The deal is that the area that party is held at is colloquially known as the Student Ghetto, in light of the dismally maintained houses that exist in the area. The landlords have a captive set of tenants, and there is no motivation to keep the houses in shape. Furthermore, they are trying to gentrify that entire area, and some really nice condos have been built a couple blocks closer to the Capitol from there, so the landlords are basically squatters, waiting to sell the property to some developer.

As far as Madison being the site of more civil unrest should the draft return, I am not so sure. The quality of the student body in 1971 was very different from the quality of the student body in 2004. The University has been all too succesful in attracting nerds lately. Not a very politically concerned group of kids, in my opinion.

[htuttle]

3. They'll become politically concerned mightly quick if there's a draft

If there's one thing lacking in Madison's activism nowdays, it's a visible opposition. The police here wised up years ago, and except for one or two notable exceptions, stopped sending out an army of riot-equipped storm troopers for us to yell at. Generally, it's just a few casually equipped officers out there to direct traffic. One time last year, it was just the police chief. By himself. One of the protesters ended up bringing him coffee, since it was cold outside.

Part of the reason for this is that as the country became conservative in the 80's, Madison's activist community turned inward, and started to influence city government instead. We practically run it now, and our City Council has passed resolutions against both the Iraq invasion and the Patriot Act (our city is one of the ones where the police aren't allowed to cooperate with it). In addition, it also seems like the Federal government presence in Madison is very low key now (hmm...maybe because a lot of them got burnt down in the 70's...). Dick Cheney appears afraid to show his face here, since the City Council told him he'd have to pay for his own security to speak at the Chamber of Commerce.

However, if they reinstitute the draft, you will see a lot of once complacent students quickly wake up. I'm banking on it. The other thing 'missing' from how things were in the '70's here is pressure on those who don't ask for it, ie., non-activists. Once the draft puts their future at risk in an immediate way (instead of distantly through the threat of global warming, for example), they'll be out on the streets, too.

Don't forget, even with all the bio-science nerds at UW-Wisconsin nowdays, the 4-5 election wards downtown around the University and Isthmus (ie., 'The People's Republic') were the only ones in the state that Howard Dean won (Kucinich did very well in them also). The sentiments from the early 70's are still here, but the 'sparks' are not.

[saigon68]

4. Agreed htuttle

A wintery DRAFT blowing off Lake Mendota will pucker up the testicles of most wimps.

I count on Mad City to show the NeoCons we won't "FIGHT THEIR FUCKING WAR"

From our VVAW Days



The second and last Nixon Coronation Convention Miami Beach 1972

Ron Kovic in chair at right.

[fishnfla]

5. Ah Mifflin street, those were the days!

I Graduated UW '86. My friend designed the t-shirt for the block party that year.

[saigon68]

6. I wonder how it went?? I'll report more today

[saigon68]

7. GOOD TIME HAD BY ALL

Mifflin ready for Monday
10:53 PM 5/02/04
Nathan Leaf and Chris Martell Wisconsin State Journal


While some partygoers may have still been feeling the lingering effects of Saturday's all-day bash on Mifflin Street, the neighborhood made a quick recovery. With no major incidents and cleanup of the block party mostly done, the neighborhood was for the most part back to normal Sunday evening.

http://www.madison.com/wisconsinstatejournal/local/73503.php

Police were kept busy, though, issuing 226 citations to 190 people, mainly for underage drinking, urinating in public and having glass containers. At about 9 p.m., so many officers were involved in incidents at the block party that the police department was forced to go into "blood and blockade" mode, meaning only priority incidents involving physical injury or road blockages would get immediate attention.

The Mifflin party also led to an overflow at the Tellurian Detoxification Center Saturday night. Twenty of its 29 beds were occupied by partygoers brought in by police. All will be charged $291 a night for a bed. "For about two hours, we weren't able to take in any more people so they had to go to hospitals to sober up," said a Tellurian employee. "This happens every time there's a Mifflin Street party. It's nothing unusual."

At about 11 p.m., the crowd began to leave Mifflin Street, and at the same time, bars on State Street began to see a corresponding increase in the number of disturbances due to drunken Mifflin Street partygoers. <