City's hash bash is burning out, police chief says

City’s hash bash is burning out, police chief says

By John Barton

POLICE REPORTER

Hash Bash, that annual April Fools’ Day paean to the go3 Cannabis which has been so nettlesome to police and university officials, appears to be finally headed for the scrap heap of distant memory.

“Hash Bash,” declared Chief of Police William J. Corbett after Wednesday’s fete, “is dying a natural death, and I am pleased to have been the one to preside over its demise.”

Smaller in its scale, and easier to control than any Hash Bash in recent memory, police say fewer than 500 people were concentrated on the diag at any given moment.

On top of that, there was very little hash, and police found no heads to bash, although 78 people were detained, questioned and charged with an assortment of minor offenses that ranged from simple possession of marijuana or other suspected drugs to urinating in public.

The official scorecard shows two arrests for minors in possession of alcohol; one arrest for consuming alcohol in public; 30-arrests for possession of marijuana; five for possession of controlled substances other than marijuana; and three persons detained on misdemeanor warrants from other police departments.

Also reported were 19 dog-law violations - seven for no licenses and 12 for allowing dogs to run at large. In addition, 29 cars were towed, eight vehicles were impounded and a single reveler was charged with urinating in public.

“At it’s peak,” Corbett said, “and I’m talking about it being high noon on the diag with students going back and forth between classes, there were no more than 500 people out there.

“For the rest of the time, there were maybe 250 hard-core people there, mostly a group of troublemakers, ne’er-do-wells, drifters and general s— heads.”

“Most of the students were looking askance at these people,” Corbett observed, “and they seemed to resent the intrusion and the disruption. It was as if they were saying,‘Who are these creeps and what do they think they are doing bringing this kind of disorder to my campus?’ I sensed an overwhelming disapproval for the whole thing.” 

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