CMU police, Isabella County sheriff's hand out 24 MIP citations, businesses keep busy over Central-Western weekend
Central Michigan University police and the Isabella County Sheriff's Department handed out 24 minor in possession citations over the weekend, falling in line with years past.
Between the football game against Western Michigan University and police activity, people flocked to and from various locations in the city. Police agencies said weekend arrests and citations were similar to previous years when the rival Broncos have come to town.
CMU police handed out 16 MIPs, while Isabella County sheriff's deputies issued eight.
“These numbers are pretty much in line with previous years of Western weekends,” said Lt. Cameron Wassman. “The majority of activity occurred off-campus in the evening/night.”
Wassman said CMU police noticed that activities Friday and Saturday night were tamer than in the past.
“For the football game, while there really wasn't anything ‘extraordinary’ that happened, this was a very active tailgate,” he said. “It was more active and populated than Homecoming, and while there weren't quite as many people around, it was a very similar atmosphere to MSU weekend.”
Overall, eight arrests were made by each agency, with two by sheriff's deputies and six from CMU police.
Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said less activity could have been caused by the weather.
“One contributing factor might have been the cold weather keeping everyone inside rather than lingering in courtyard,” he said.
However, there was some variation in citations handed out this weekend: those given to individuals who supply alcohol to minors.
“We usually get more MIPs and furnishings,” Mioduszewski said.
This weekend, 10 furnishing citations were handed out by sheriff's deputies. In addition, 20 citations were handed out for loud parties and 19 warnings were given.
Overall, Mioduszewski said he was pleased with the way the weekend played out. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, he said, but he would have liked to see CMU win the football game.
In addition to the aforementioned citations, CMU police made one non-aggravated assault arrest, one trespassing arrest, two disorderly arrests and two operating while intoxicated arrest. The department also handed out six disorderly citations, one violation of controlled substances act citation and one traffic misdemeanor citation.
Economic impact
With WMU on Mount Pleasant soil, local businesses took various measures to adequately prepare. Big games like this often have a big impact on the business community of Mount Pleasant.“We overstaff, make sure our orders as far as beer and food are bigger,” said Craig Stage, manager at the Cabin, 930 W. Broomfield. “It doesn't change a lot for us, because we know it's going to be busy and we prepare for that.”
As the weekend came and went, many community businesses saw much more traffic than usual. Morgan Saxton, service manager at Bennigan's, 2424 S. Mission, said the business saw its busiest rush happen between 3 and 9 p.m. And while it wasn't as busy as when MSU came to town, the store was pleased with the amount of business it saw.
“The economic impact of the game met our expectations," Saxton said. "Although we would always like to see even more business (during) community events"
