CSUPD: Tailgaters need refresher in responsibility

If contemplating kegs, hard liquor or glass bottles, tailgaters

may be forced to reconsider.

“We enforce things for safety and I don’t apologize for that,”

said Capt. Bob Chaffee of CSU Police Department. “No glass, no

kegs, no beer that’s not 3.2, these have been the rules since as

long as I can remember.”

CSUPD is on a mission to educate and enforce existing tailgating

laws, but the actual importance of tailgating to the football games

has become increasingly controversial.

Tailgaters must have their parties broken down 30 minutes prior

to game time so they can be seated in the stadium prior to kick

off.

“The tailgating is not the event,” Chaffee said.

Tailgaters who are issued a permit may have up to 50 individuals

while those who do not attain a permit can only have up to 25.

Parties are getting a bit out of control in the eyes of CSUPD.

“What’s slowly happened is that because we only have 40 to 50

officers to manage the entire game we haven’t really been paying as

much attention,” Chaffee said. “And it slowly has crept back into

the beer bottles and slowly has crept into the kegs and the hard

liquor. It is time for the pendulum to swing the other way.”

Serving those already intoxicated or underage, using charcoal

grills or having bonfires are also activities off-limits to CSU

tailgaters, and CSUPD has no problem punishing violators.

“We don’t go out desiring to spank anybody,” Chaffee said. “If

you go out there knowing better I don’t have any apologies for

spanking you if you deserve it, its just a part of life.”

No matter how hard CSUPD tries some students may refuse to

listen.

“I think even if the cops explain the rules to me I won’t comply

with them because there’s thousands of us getting wasted,” said CSU

sophomore Cody Bride. “They should just leave us alone.”

Gary Ozello, assistant athletic director for CSU, encourages

responsible tailgating but also recognizes that it is an important

asset to the football experience.

“When you come to a CSU game, the game is only a small portion

of the event,” Ozello said. “I think it’s one of the things you

look at when you consider the pageantry of the event.”

Most seem to hope that tailgating regulations won’t eventually

lead to the termination of tailgates altogether.

“I think that most are responsible and very few make it

difficult,” Ozello said. “The unfortunate thing is that an

irresponsible few can ruin it for everybody – we hope it won’t ever

get to that point.”