CASTINE, Maine — In the span of a week, police have charged seven Maine Maritime Academy students during alcohol enforcement details at or near the school’s Castine campus.
Deputies with the county’s Alcohol Enforcement Team have targeted Castine in an effort to curb underage drinking and other violations of alcohol laws.
“Typically, you dedicate your resources to areas that need particular attention,” said Chris Thornton, a sheriff’s deputy and coordinator for the Hancock County Alcohol Enforcement Team. “I think the incidents in the past two weeks speak for themselves. It’s clear, this year, that Castine is the focal point of our investigation.”
Michael Blake, 18, of Florida was issued a summons for illegal possession of liquor by a minor and unlawful use of fictitious identification. When he was caught, Blake was on campus, headed home to his dorm room with a case of beer, Thornton said. The Georgia ID he gave police was deemed fake after Thornton noticed “Governor” was misspelled.
The same night, Evan Carrier, 19, of Lewiston was summoned on Water Street with illegal possession of liquor by a minor and unlawful use of identification after he gave police someone else’s driver’s license. Darren Shaw, 20, of Gorham was summoned on Pleasant Street on a charge of illegal transportation of liquor by a minor.
These three summonses come after four incidents on Thursday, Nov. 1, including one in which a student crashed his truck twice in one allegedly drunken joyride, and another was charged with driving drunk on his way to serve security duty on the training ship State of Maine.
Representatives from the HCSO and MMA were quick to point out that underage drinking is not a problem specific to the academy. Anyone who has attended, or even visited, an institution of secondary education knows that underage drinking is a fact of life, they said.
Still, Chief Deputy Richard Bishop said the rate of incidents at MMA seems to be on the rise. He couldn’t provide any firm numbers, but said the number of charges this school year already tops the handful recorded before graduation day last spring.
“Last year it seemed like we reached that turning point because the numbers were a lot lower,” Bishop said. “This year, we’ve already seen a large increase in offenses. This year, every time we go, it’s something.”
While the academy may be a somewhat natural hotspot for underage drinking in the county, the school’s administration has been an ally in attempting to curb dangerous or illegal activity, Bishop said. Not only have the academy and law enforcement officials worked together to educate students about responsible alcohol use, the school also has strict policies regarding alcohol, including fines and the possibility of suspension.
“We do have a policy that we implement vigorously, and we do it quickly,” said Mike Whetston, spokesman for MMA. “We don’t wait for the court to say this guy is guilty. We go on the preponderance of evidence.”
Students who run into trouble with the school’s alcohol rules — no booze in the undergraduate dormitory, for example — or who are caught drinking underage, face the school’s Unified Alcohol Hearings Board.
For a first offense, a student faces a $100 fine, community service and an online alcohol education program. A second offense sees placement on disciplinary probation, a doubled fine and community service sentence, and the student is made to see an alcohol abuse counselor. A third offense nets a semester-long suspension.
For violating alcohol rules or laws in conjunction with another crime — say, driving drunk — a student will face the school’s Honor Board, which metes out punishments at its discretion, up to and including expulsion.
Whetston said MMA is no different than any college, but its small size of less than 1,000 students means bad behavior disproportionately affects its reputation.
“We’re a small school in a small community, so any alcohol offense is going to stick out like a sore thumb,” he said.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
What do you do with a drunk sailor ?
Way-hey …
Up she rises
Throw him in the longboat and make him bail her….Ear-lye in the morning
Have we ever reached a consensus about that? I mean, the song has a lot of suggestions, but I don’t recall it ever reaching an actual conclusion. (Partial to heaving him in the scupper with a hosepipe on him, myself.)
Well, in this modern age where you’ve got to worry about physical abuse and your own papers, about all that gets the job done is (hit it) …
… Put amphetamines in his coffee, put amphetamines in his coffee, ear-lye in the morning !
way… hey ?!?
: 0
Weigh hey and everything on board gets alphabetized and/or lined up from left to right in descending order of height, ear-lye in the morning.
Only Uncle Sam would organize things like that, so them sailors got fed sliders and were bundled into wire litters like cargo before being allow back on the liberty launch, I’d be guessing.
Besides your words don’t fit the tune, twice anyway, so it’s your round,
and you have to pay the piper, too, Hutch.
Well, no, it’s an amphetamines joke… never mind. :)
I’ll get the next round.
Most MMA students are polite, nice young people who work hard at their studies and are good citizens in the community. All you need is a few who abuse alcohol and it tarnishes the reputation of an otherwise fine school.
Underage drinking at a college that sure is a surprise. This is news why?
Yup. I think UMO and Husson have them beat.
I lived in Castine for the first 21 years of my life and this is NOT news, there has always been underage drinking, there was a huge barn a mile down the road from my house that the middies gathered in on the weekends to drink and then drive back to campus drunk. I worked at MMA 14 years ago, nothing had changed from when I was a kid, partying is all they talk about. The problem may be slightly worse now because they have non-regimental students and they don’t have to worry about an OUI screwing up their future careers as much. Regimental students are suppose to be expelled and lose out on the opportunity to make a great deal of money in lost tuition and future earning potential. Many of the students who are driving drunk are returning from Bangor bars and colleges. The only way to stop the drunk driving accidents is to deny the students access to cars, but they are over 18, they are adults and have rights. Given the school they are attending they are suppose to be very intelligent, but intelligence and common sense are 2 very different things.
Janice, since you never went to college, you have no way of comparing this school to any other. If you did , you would know it is no different than any other college. The only difference is, that they have overzealous wanna-be cops as security guards who patrol the town as if they have jurisdiction over the whole island. ANY time there is a gathering of more than three cars, they call the sheriifs who are more than happy to come to town since they are bored out of their minds. They are searching for something to do and justify their existence. Drinking ON or near campus is a good thing, since it keeps them from driving to and from other campuses that are an hour or more away. College kids drink!!!! Its just a fact of life. Thank God they were carrying it back to where they were going to spend the night or to a friends house where they could also walk back home. Why are we trying to force these kids to party off campus and then try to return late at night?
Also, the middies NEVER drove back from the chicken barn drunk. There were shuttle vans set up to transport to and from the school. The only time there was a problem, was when an alumni got in an accident because he refused to be shuttled by students. I guess the students were more responsible than the adults that night. And lets get real: The campus is at the end of the road. Actually the end of the world. The closest public transportation is the BAT in Bangor. You can’t deny them the right to have a car. That is ludicrous!! We should be encouraging the kids to stay local and focus on OUI prevention. Shuttle these kids on Thurs. Fri. and Sat. nights. It will FINALLY give the MMA security a real purpose. They should be working WITH the kids instead of against them!!!!
How about the students take responsibility for their own safety and the safety of their peers….by choosing a designated driver? If you want to be treated like an adult, act like one and make a good choice if you are going to choose to drink. Are our young people so selfish that they aren’t willing to not drink for one night so that everyone can get home safely? Entitlement = Everyone should do it for me. Responsibility = I do it for myself and not blame others for my poor choices.
I think choosing a designated driver may be easier as we grow older. Fortunately most wives with children in the home will not drink more than one when out for the evening with their husbands. At least that been my experience during 30 years of marriage.
Most students that want to drink and party don’t even hang out with non drinkers or anyone willing to be sober for the night on their behalf. Sounds good on paper, but just isn’t practical.
The drinking age was reduced to 18 during my senior year in high school. There were many negatives, however one positive was that drinking stayed on campus-there was no reason to jump in cars and head for town. Young people are going to drink, we should all find a way to keep them safe until they acquire some judgement.
How to go Barney Fife, this has been going on at this school for at least three decades that i know of and there has always been a blind eye turned toward them because they are special….Thanks for pointing out what most of us already knew for a very long time.
my belief, like the thoughts and my beliefs on marijuana is that alcohol should be de-regulated for the age of 18. not that it really matters to me – I’m 26 and regularly drink but if you can fight in war, vote, smoke cigarettes, buy lottery tickets – why not allow younger people to drink. The only drawback to me is that they may give it to their peers so maybe 19 would be a better age -but the fact of the matter is I think more people would become aware of alcohol’s effects
I don’t condone or encourage underage drinking but I also firmly believe the task force should be engaging in their endeavors in the entire county of Hancock which would also include College of the Atlantic but the headlines never reflect that do they? COA not branded a drunken school as MMA so often is….and to state that it does not reflect against the school? Please…BDN is just as guilty. Maybe statistics should be done to see the actual numbers. I as a parent of two MMA students would like to see how UMO, Husson and the ever present COA match up!
“the task force should be engaging in their endeavors in the entire county of Hancock which would also include College of the Atlantic ”
COA ?
Boy is she barking up the wrong tree.
Bet the task force knows that, too.
lotflol.
As long as the government keeps the drinking age at 18 there will always be a problem with drinking while in college. I know it wouldnt eliminate all the drinking but once you took out the “no” factor or authority telling these adults they cant drink it would end some of it. A person can get killed serving their country but they cant legally have a beer at the same age…just a thought…
“As long as the government keeps the drinking age at 18 there will always be a problem with drinking while in college.”
Well, there shouldn’t be a problem, then, ’cause it isn’t.
Until there is alcohol poisoning involved there is no fun being had!
BUILD MORE PRISONS…AND RAISE TAXES!
One more reason why colleges should be allowed to serve beer and wine on campus in a monitored environment. Keeps students from driving off-campus and just may teach them to imbibe more responsibly.