 "Photo:")
 "Photo:")
 "Photo:")
--- Watch a video of the festivities at the bottom of this page. ---
St. Patrick's Day: Some people got drunk, some got arrested and some partied hard, but this year that's just about all that happened.
Police arrested 39 people on St. Patrick's Day and 56 between March 14 and 16, said Sgt. Dave Barrow of the Chico Police Department.
University Police also made four drunk in public arrests and one DUI through the Chico Police Department, he said.
"Arrests have been down dramatically this year and for any St. Patrick's Day," Barrow said.
Last year, police made 65 arrests on St. Patrick's Day alone, he said. In 2006, they made 58 arrests and 69 in 2005.
"This is obviously the lowest figure in four years that we've had," Barrow said.
The activity level has gone down since St. Patrick's Day has fallen during spring break, he said.
Police prepared for a greater turnout and had about 40 officers on duty, Barrow said. Officers were on foot, on horseback and in vehicles. But there was no significant violence or fights.
"Even if you look at this last weekend, you could compare this to an average busy weekend," Barrow said.
Overall, the experience was pretty weak this year, said junior Nicole Locke.
"I think that a lot of people (were) more nervous about getting busted by the cops this year, so more people went to the bars than staying at their house," she said.
People knew about the Glass-Free Zone ordinance, so they were less likely to try anything, she said.
It's fortunate activity decreased, said Christopher Seibert, principal of Notre Dame of Chico, a Catholic school on Hazel Street. The school normally closes on St. Patrick's Day to avoid exposing students to heavy partying, but this year the city cooperated with the school by closing off sidewalks to let people know classes were in session.
The school runs on the church calendar, and with Easter so close and Holy Week coinciding with St. Patrick's Day, the school decided to stay open, Seibert said.
"Portions of the passion of Jesus are re-enacted here on campus, so that is the reason why we are here," Seibert said.
But it was pretty mellow, he said. Keeping the younger kids in line wasn't a problem, but junior-high age students were kept inside the gym to limit their interaction with drunken people.
"(It's) usually not a really healthy interaction," Seibert said. "They have a tendency to be impressed by such things."
Butte College student Daniel Bodeson described St. Patrick's Day as enjoyable, though.
Bodeson has only been in Chico for one year, so things are new for him, he said.
"It's different," he said. "It's a lot more wild out here, a lot more people, a lot more girls, which we all like, and the green beer. It's all good."
Destiny McElhaney, a 7-Eleven employee, thought business was slow on St. Patrick's Day, she said.
McElhaney worked the day shift in the early morning last year, and it was pretty busy, she said. But this year the pace was a lot slower. It started getting busier after 2 p.m., but was not fast paced, she said.
"I've had intoxicated customers," McElhaney said. "But they were in a good mood …"
Evan Burt can be reached at eburt@theorion.com
Video by Rodolfo Vazquez
Be the first to comment on this article!