WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25, 2:09 a.m. — Binghamton’s New York State University Police responded to a fire alarm at Mountainview College’s Marcy Hall. Vestal Fire Department responded to the scene. The source was determined to be the third-floor lounge: burn marks were found on the ceiling, apparently as a result of fireworks labeled “Showtime Smoke” being shot off from a table in the lounge. Vestal Fire ventilated the building between 2:45 and 3 a.m., and during the ventilation process police were required to open all residents’ rooms and windows to air them out. In the process they found a homemade bong in open view and a green leafy substance on the desk of one resident’s room. The green substance tested positive for marijuana. They also found a “RESERVED FOR RESIDENT DIRECTOR” sign. The bong, substance and sign were confiscated, and the student who owned the paraphernalia was referred to the campus judicial office for possession of the sign and marijuana. In another room, they found two BB guns and an orange traffic cone. One of the residents eventually claimed responsibility for both. The items were confiscated, and the resident was referred to the campus judicial office. Officers never received permission from the students to enter the students’ rooms, but according to University Police Investigator Dennis P. Bush, “exigent circumstances” allow them to enter rooms without permission, and the confiscations were within the law.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25, 3:35 a.m. — An officer patrolling the nature preserve found three students on the bridge. Between them they had five bottles of Molson Export beer, three of which were open and in the students’ possession. None of the students admitted to buying the alcohol. The bottles were confiscated and the students were referred to the campus judicial office.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25, 11:57 a.m. — Police responded to a call from College-in-the-Woods’ Mohawk Hall to investigate the smell of marijuana. Officers went to the alleged source of the smell and knocked on the suite’s door. The residents then locked the door, only to open it several minutes later. When the officers asked them to open the door to the room within the suite from which the smell apparently originated, the residents inside that room too refused to open the door. Those two, a 19-year-old male and a 20-year-old male, were referred to the campus judicial office.