Ames Police say the Vieshea celebration went off this weekend without any major problems. The Iowa State University student-run celebration was canceled last year after alcohol fueled parties during Vieshea in 2004 turned to rioting. Ames police commander Randy Kessel says it was busy but nothing serious. He says they had 10 alcohol arrests, four nuisance party citations, and a total of about 218 calls.
Kessel says it wasn’t much different than what police are used to, it was just a busy spring weekend. Iowa State University officials and the City of Ames made several changes in response to the rioting. Kessel says those changes appear to have worked. He says they attribute it to early intervention as they’ve had their “Party Response Team” out since early April to work with the students in not only enforcement, but education.
Kessel says the officers want to work with the students to keep things safe. Kessel says they’ve “worked with our customer base” since the disturbance two years ago and he thinks it has really paid off. Many of the Vieshea events were centered more on campus this year to try and avoid some of the problems that led to the rioting.