Security tight at tonight's bonfire
Anticipating a crowd at this year's Homecoming bonfire commensurate with the large crowds of yore, Safety and Security and the Hanover Police Department are prepared and armed in numbers.
To assist with crowd control on Friday night during the bonfire, College Proctor Harry Kinne estimated that approximately 30 Safety and Security officers and 20 to 25 officers from the Hanover and other area police departments will be on the Green. Safety and Security has also hired Green Mountain Security to assist in controlling the crowd, and, in case of an emergency, the Hanover Fire Department will be on duty by the flagpoles.
Students who succumb to disorderly conduct during the bonfire, including touching the fire, streaking and alcohol-related offenses, face both College discipline and Hanover police arrest, Kinne and Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone said.
Kinne offered some advice for students attending the bonfire.
"It's a wonderful ritual, and we want to encourage people to be very careful, and not to touch the fire," he said.
Officers will be back on duty the next day for the Homecoming football game against Harvard University, which draws the largest crowd of all home games, according to Giaccone. Students, or anyone, for that matter, who decide to run onto the field will be subject to arrest by the Hanover Police for disorderly conduct, Kinne added.
However, Kinne stressed that people should come watch the game. "Dartmouth is going to win," he predicted.
Giaccone does not necessarily expect more police activity on campus this weekend. "We've found in the past that sometimes 'off-weekends' have just as much activity as the larger weekend," he said of his expectations for Homecoming.
Giaccone provided students with this dose of wisdom: "Don't drink more or you'll be enjoying it less."
