This past weekend's Unofficial Halloween celebration in Carbondale led to some unruly behavior.
Carbondale Police say they made a total of 60 arrests or citations. Police say of those arrested, 31 were SIUC students. Most citations were alcohol related. Hundreds of students filled the intersection of Elm and Ash Streets. Some of the mischief led to multiple arrests and the flipping of a car. Police say a little after 11:00 pm on Saturday officers observed a group of about 200 people in the 400-block of South Ash Street. Officers say most of the group was peaceful. Police have not identified those responsible for overturning the car. Police say some individuals began throwing rocks and beer bottles in the direction of police. Carbondale police say officers did not use force or pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
Anthony Greff is the creator of the website Soberly Intoxicated. He took over coordinating musical acts to perform at local establishments for Unofficial Halloween in 2010. He says the actions of a few are getting all the attention, giving the misrepresentation that the entire event was out of control. He says it appears to have been a select few that caused the problems and is not representative of the majority of those people celebrating unofficial Halloween. Greff says he did not hear of a single problem at any of the bars that he works with.
Greff says his website had a lot of social media traffic over the weekend, and it seems the unruliness was limited. He says his group encourages socializing, not drinking. He says Unofficial Halloween is one of the three most popular events at SIU, along with Polar Bear and SIU's Homecoming - which is this coming weekend.
