Underage drinkers party at Dorset bat cave
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By BRENT CURTIS Rutland Herald Staff - Published: July 10, 2009
DORSET — A drinking party at important bat hibernation caves off Dorset Hill Road late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning led to three arrests, a number of citations and a broken police cruiser windshield, according to state police.
Four state police troopers and one officer from Manchester were called to the caves about an hour before midnight for reports of heavy, loud and "reckless" traffic on the remote roadway leading to them.
"Many of the cars were driving recklessly and well over the speed limit with music blaring from within," Trooper John-Paul Schmidt said in a statement on the incident.
Schmidt said officers found several vehicles parked at a trailhead along the road that leads up to the caves.
As the officers prepared to set off up the trail, people in trucks, sport utility vehicles, on ATVs and on foot began returning to the cars. Schmidt said "most" were under the age of 21 and the "majority" showed signs of alcohol and other drug use.
Schmidt said police screened those returning to their cars and "took appropriate action" including making arrangements for transportation and calling parents so those who had been drinking could get home safely.
When police walked up the trail, they found more inebriated people and a large volume of litter, including empty alcohol containers.
The cave entrance was also littered with trash, Schmidt said.
A state Agency of Natural Resources spokeswoman said Thursday that the cave was probably empty, since the hibernation period for the animals is over. However, she said zoologists trying to explain a widespread epidemic that has been killing bats have been trying to minimize human traffic in caves because it's believed that people may be tracking the disease to new sites.
When the officers returned to the trailhead, they found that someone had thrown a large rock into the windshield of one of the cruisers. The damage rendered the cruiser temporarily inoperable and amounted to a "felony level" of damage, although Schmidt did not specify an expense.
By the end of the evening, police had arrested three people: Thomas Elam, 20, of Dorset; James Haffner, 17, of Bondville and Sabina Formanek, 19, of Manchester. Schmidt said the three were arrested due to prior histories of alcohol possession. Police also issued several diversion tickets, he said.
Schmidt said many of the people police saw in the area had been kicked out of another underage drinking party earlier Wednesday night.
Police are now investigating the vandalism to the cruiser and have "several" leads, Schmidt said. brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com
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