Excise police cite 81 people at party

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Indiana State Excise Police officers issued 84 summonses to 81 people early Sunday morning at a party on Atwater Avenue, according to a press release from the excise police.

Seventy-eight minors were cited for illegal consumption and all three residents were charged with furnishing alcoholic beverages to a minor, according to the release. The owner who sold alcohol to an excise officer was also charged for selling alcoholic beverages without a permit and possession of a keg without a keg registration label.

The excise police sent an undercover officer dressed in street clothes into the party shortly before 1 a.m. after receiving a complaint of underage drinking at the party’s location.

There were more than 100 people inside and outside the location, Excise Officer Travis Thickstun said.

Thickstun would not release the name of the excise officer who infiltrated the party.

The undercover officer purchased a $5 alcoholic beverage from one of the three residents of the party.

Thickstun said nobody was taken to jail or severely intoxicated; people were generally co-operative during the incident, which lasted from 1 to 4:30 a.m.

The money generated from the 84 citations will not go to the excise police.

“That’s a common misconception,” Thickstun said.

Excise would only receive money if the incident were to be classified as a notice of violation against an establishment – a situation in which a bar establishment would be selling alcohol to minors. The house residents, however, did not have a permit to sell alcohol.

Thickstun recalled a similar incident two years ago at the Varsity Villas, where a high number of alcohol-related citations were also issued.

The most recent bust by the Indiana State Excise Police occurred Sept. 13.

Eighty-nine people were cited for alcohol-related incidents at a residence where University of Evansville students were partying, according to the IESP Web site.

IESP issued 84 tickets during Welcome Week from Aug. 26 to 29.