HEMPSTEAD, NY VOL. 81 Issue 1
The Hofstra
Chronicle
Tuesday September 29, 2015
KEEPING THE HOFSTRA COMMUNITY INFORMED SINCE 1935
16 arrested after police raid local bars By Michael Ortiz NEWS EDITOR
Nassau County police carried out a sting operation on the three local bars – Bangers, the Dizzy Lizard, more commonly referred to as Dizzy’s, and McHebes – that led to the arrests of 16 bartenders on Sept. 3. All of those arrested were charged with a violation of the state alcohol beverage and control law, prohibited sale of alcohol and unlawfully dealing with a child because they served an underage undercover agent. “I think it’s a good thing, I think it’s progressive. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that the bars are by
Hofstra, but the way those bars are run, it’s corrupt,” senior film major Ryan Nelson said. Four bartenders were arrested from McHebes, five were arrested from Dizzy’s and seven from Bangers. After the initial bar raids, during which all three bars were affected, there was another police infiltration of Dizzy’s during a weekly Greek Night event on Sept. 15. No arrests were made; however, Dizzy’s has not been open since. The bartenders and bar owners could not be reached for comment. Jim Emery, the father of a first-year Hofstra student, was surprised to hear of how many
bartenders were arrested at once and felt that the bar owners should be held accountable. “I think the owners should be responsible for enforcing rules, and if they haven’t trained their bartenders enough, they should be responsible,” Emery said. Emery also felt that the recent crackdown will push more students to off-campus parties. “They’ll keep going to the frats and getting plastered there. Because it’s less supervised and less expensive, I think it’s easier for a kid to drink more than the kid is aware they’re drinking,” Emery said. McHebes reportedly has been operating as usual since the raids.
One 19-year-old English major described to The Chronicle what the atmosphere was like this past Friday. “It was clear that there were many underage people there. When going in they checked our IDs and anyone who was 21 or over was given a wristband while those who were under 21 got stamped on the hand,” she said. The Hofstra student said when she arrived with a friend who was also under 21 to McHebes relatively early on Friday, the bar was not crowded. “The girl I was with actually knew one of the bartenders, so she said she’d serve us but had to wait until more people got there so
that it wouldn’t be as obvious. As the night went on and it got more crowded we were able to get a few beers ourselves despite not having wristbands,” she said. Nelson feels that the bars don’t care about the safety of their patrons. “They clearly let underage people drink. It’s very unsafe; they put people in overcapacity, they don’t care about people’s safety or health at all. They just care about making as much money as possible,” Nelson said. Those arrested were arraigned on Sept. 22 and will appear for a hearing at the Nassau County district court Oct. 20.
2015 Fall Festival kicks off start of school year By Amanda Valentovic STAFF WRITER
Parents and families flooded to campus this weekend for carnival rides, a concert and a comedy show as Hofstra kicked off its annual Fall Festival to celebrate autumn and the beginning of the semester. Ludacris headlined the show with Sugar Hill Gang and Billy Joel cover band, Big Shot, who performed first. To end the evening, former late-night television host Craig Ferguson got the Mack Sports Complex laughing. “We had a little bit more of an intentional fall theme,” said Director of Communications for Student Affairs Colin Sullivan. “We called it Fall Fest and it wasn’t all that ‘fall’ before, so we created more around the season.” This year, there was seasonallythemed food like roasted corn and a photo area with pumpkins and bales of hay where students could take pictures with their friends and family.
Pricing for guests to the events was another change. “We really worked hard to make it more affordable for family and parents to attend,” Sullivan said. “And we were really happy to see that affect the attendance.” The carnival also featured new rides and games that catered to both younger audiences and families but also kept student favorites. Aside from these small changes to improve the event, there were no drastic changes to Fall Fest this year. “We try not to reinvent the wheel too much,” Sullivan said. “People see it as a tradition.” The student body decides on the themes and acts that make up Fall Fest. “We poll the student body on the genre and specific acts and we work our way down that list,” Sullivan said. “And we pay attention to what alumni would want because they remember it from when they were here.” This year, hip-hop was the most requested genre of performers. “Ludacris’s
genre always polls the highest among the student body,” he said. The Parade of Floats theme, another tradition, is also voted on by students. This year’s theme was Superheroes and Villains. Different clubs and organizations combined to come up with their interpretation of a superhero. Alpha Phi Omega, Zeta Phi Eta and Alpha Kappa Psi, the community service, communications and business fraternities, respectively, joined forces to create a Kim Possible float. “We wanted to try and do something outside of the typical Marvel and DC superheroes,” Alpha Phi Omega president Beth Backer said. “So we tried to come up with shows from when we were younger that had superheroes and villains in them and came up with Kim Possible versus Drakken.” Fall Fest was not complete
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Photo courtesy of Cameron Keough Sarah McGough reacts to being crowned 2015 Fall Festival queen.