19 students arrested in Smokey Joe's raid

Additionally, six other people may soon be charged with disorderly conduct in connection with the raid, according to Gary Kardisco, a supervisor at the State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement. Kardisco added that charges would soon be filed to challenge the tavern's liquor license. If convicted, Smokey Joe's could be fined, or have their license suspended or even revoked. In the event that the license was revoked, the tavern would be prohibited from reapplying for a new license for one year. Smokey Joe's could receive a harsher sentence due to a prior record of arrests which includes a October 1988 raid in which 51 underage students were arrested. Despite repeated phone calls to the tavern last night, several members of the Ryan family, which owns the bar, declined to comment on the case. According to students at the bar during the raid, four plainclothes police officers wearing their badges on neck chains entered the tavern shortly after midnight and quietly checked the identification of several suspected underage drinkers. Some people were reported to have slipped out the front and back doors before the police had a chance to check their identification. However, those who did not have valid identification were asked to stand off to the side and await instructions, while others were told the bar was closing early. According to Wharton junior Phil Robinson, one of the students arrested for underage drinking, the police took the remaining people, including a few who were of legal age, downstairs where they conducted short personal interviews. The questions asked included how the people got in, did they show any identification, and did they drink any alcohol. The people were told that if they had drank any alcohol, they should admit it rather than have it showed up on a litmus test. Robinson said the students were told they have three choices: attend an alcohol awareness class, play a $45 fine and have their driver's license suspended for three months; go to court and be found guilty which would result in a $200 fine and a suspended license for one year; or go to court and be found not guilty. College junior Robert Garber, a 21-year-old who was in Smoke's that night, said that shortly before the bust, the rumor spread that there was going to be a raid. But once the search had begun, Garber added, it was not difficult to see what was going on. "It wasn't really discreet," Garber said. "The officers were dressed really cheesily and if anyone had opened their eyes and hadn't had too much to drink, they would've noticed."

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