The Appalachian
State University Police provided security for two high-profile events
at the George M. Holmes Convocation Center over the past two weekends.
George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic played the Appalachian
campus Friday, March 21, and Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds performed
an acoustic show in the same venue Saturday, March 29.
“All in all, everything went very smoothly,” University
Police Maj. Larry Foster said. “It was a relatively quiet crowd
[at both shows].”
These were not occasions of inactivity for the University Police,
however. In addition to working the doors and checking concert-goers
for weapons and contraband, the police worked inside the concert
to arrest people who were using drugs inside the show.
Six citations were issued at the George Clinton concert, Foster
said. Three were written to non-students for marijuana possession
and drug paraphernalia. Charges were issued to three Appalachian
students for possession of marijuana.
“I think they were all inside the concert when the citations
were written,” Foster said.
The three non-students were issued university citations, effectively
banning them from campus, and criminal charges were turned over
to the state of North Carolina. The three students charged will
be turned over to Student Judicial Affairs.
There was also a drug overdose incident. A high school student from
outside Watauga County was transported to Watauga Medical Center
by ambulance after ingesting a toxic amount of psychocilibin mushrooms,
according to police reports.
Information has not been released on the young man’s condition
by the Watauga Medical Center due to his status as a minor.
The Dave Matthews concert kept officers even more occupied as people
flooded into Boone to attend the sold-out show.
“The parking lots were full,” Foster said. “We had
a lot of people here.”
There were six citations issued for possession of marijuana at Saturday’s
show. Of these six, only two were issued to Appalachian students.
“The officers actually observed these individuals using drugs
down on the concert floor,” Foster said.
The legal process for these suspects will be much the same for the
suspects arrested at this show as for the suspects who were arrested
at the George Clinton show.
There was another incident where someone left the concert in an
ambulance.
“She was a 17-year-old from South Carolina staying at Hampton
Inn,” Foster said. “She was examined for a possible alcohol
or drug overdose before being taken to the hospital.
“The only thing that could be determined to be in her system
was alcohol,” Foster said.
Watauga Medical Center also released no information because the
individual was a minor.
