Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 25, 1995 TAG: 9504250107
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
They were for "various violations, including underage possession of alcohol, drinking in public and possession of fake or falsified identification," said Robert Chapman, a spokesman for the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department.
All the violations were misdemeanors. Four ABC special agents, assisted by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, investigated the "Betastock" festival, sponsored by Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
Russell Phillips, a fraternity member, said the event drew 700 to 800 people. He said ABC agents and others checked cars as they entered the concert for open beverage containers. They also checked IDs for those with alcohol.
The day before, an ABC Department hearing officer denied the fraternity a banquet permit. It would have allowed the consumption of alcohol at an event open to the public.
After the hearing, fraternity officers said the concert would be a private party on private land open only to invited fraternity members.
But ABC agents found otherwise. "The investigation determined that it was opened to the public," Chapman said. The Richmond-based spokesman could not say how the agents made that determination because they wouldn't discuss their investigative techniques. J.C. Swope, the special agent who handled the case locally, and Alice Ratliff, his boss in Roanoke, both referred questions on the case to Chapman's office Friday and Monday.
Fraternity member Phillips said the agents informed the Betas they had breached the festival's security late in the afternoon. At that point the ABC told the fraternity the concert was a public event and could have been shut down, but it was not, Phillips said.
The event was billed as a fund-raising festival for the Montgomery County Community Shelter, but the fraternity considered its effort hampered by the lack of the ABC permit. "We'll be making a donation, I'm not sure how big it will be," Phillips said Monday.
by CNB