By Daniel Silliman
Collegian News Editor

State Police served three Hillsdale College students citations for being minors in possession of alcohol on Saturday, Jan. 25.

Sophomore Patrick Michael McCarty, sophomore Brooke Neptune and sophomore April Raynovich were each separately given a MIP Saturday night on the corner of Union Street and Barber Drive, in front of the Delta Tau Delta house, State Trooper Keith Pillar said.

Raynovich, cited while driving home, said she thought that the entire incident was ridiculous.

“It was the stupidest thing ever,” she said. “They stopped me, gave me a breathalyzer test and two sobriety tests, which I passed. The policeman told me that I had .03 of alcohol in my blood, which he said was equivalent to a cough drop of alcohol.”

The legal limit for the blood alcohol level is .08 for adults, but anything over .00 percent is illegal for minors.

Raynovich intends to fight the ticket, she said.
Multiple students who witnessed the police described them as harassing students, stopping students for any reason or no reason at all.

A number of students were stopped for minor traffic violations and reported being asked if they had been drinking and if the police could search their car.

Don Reed, a junior, said he was stopped for having a headlight out and was immediately asked if he had been drinking. He hadn’t been drinking, and promised to get the light fixed soon.

The police searched his truck, but found nothing.
He was not given a ticket for the missing headlight.

Amy Peterson, a junior, said she was not violating any traffic law and was just being harassed.

“He had no reason to pull me over,” Peterson said. “He just stopped me for no reason.”

Pillar said it was not harassment. He and his partner, Britt Owen, were just doing their job, he said, and only stopped those students acting suspiciously.

“We stopped several students over the course of the night,” Pillar said. “I don’t know what everyone got stopped for but they had to be in violation of some law before we had cause to stop them.”

Aaron Petersen, dean of men, said he didn’t know if the police were harassing students.

“I want the students to obey the law, period,” he said. “I don’t recall a history of harassment by any sort of police against the college.”

He hopes students will take any complaints to him.

“If students on this campus feel as if they are being harassed by officers, I would like to know about it so that I can look into it further,” he said.

McCarthy and Neptune could not be reached for comment.

Staff Reporters Konrade LaPrade and Colleen McGinness contributed to this article.