MMA officials probe underage drinking party

CASTINE – Officials at Maine Maritime Academy are busy trying to determine how many students were involved in a large underage drinking party last weekend and what disciplinary action to take with those who were.

Twenty-four alcohol-related summonses were issued following a St. Patrick’s Day party at a large mansion near the college last Friday night. How many were MMA students hasn’t been determined.

Six of the summons were issued to residents of the mansion for furnishing a place for minors to consume alcohol. The remaining 18 partygoers received summonses for possession of alcohol by a minor.

“This is a much larger number of offenses than we normally see,” Jeff Loustaunau, vice president for enrollment management at MMA, said Wednesday, adding, “We’re a small college, but we have the same problems as any other school.”

Another party was raided the same night across Hancock County in the town of Otis, where several other underage drinkers were charged.

Hancock County Sheriff William Clark said the two parties last Friday night cost his department about $2,000 in overtime for nearly a dozen deputies.

While some discussion about the party in Otis indicated that it was advertised on Internet sites including Myspace.com, Loustaunau said MMA is a little too small to worry about computer networking for parties.

“Parties here are very much word-of-mouth,” he said.