UNC frat's 'bar' raided

[hoosier]

Published: Sep 30, 2005

AMUNC frat's 'bar' raided
17 accused of 27 misdemeanors

By JESSICA ROCHA, Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL -- The fraternity's "bar" had a menu, a file with patrons' tabs, plenty of clientele and a heck of a lot of beer and liquor.

It just wasn't a bar.

Last week, that distinction prompted a raid at St. Anthony Hall, the UNC-Chapel Hill literary fraternity whose back door opened into a speakeasy of sorts.

In what could be the first bar raid inside a UNC-CH fraternity, officers from the N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement Division, the Chapel Hill Police Department and one Chatham County Sheriff's Office canine unit raided St. Anthony Hall at 207 Pittsboro St.

They cited 17 people on 27 misdemeanor charges, including possession of marijuana, underage drinking and selling alcohol without obtaining an ABC permit, ALE agent Mike Penland said. All were cited at the scene and released.

St. Anthony Hall's President Sally Enloe, 21, of 2106 Sandy Pond Lane, Waxhaw, was cited for selling alcohol without a permit. The "bar's" bartender, Owen Fitzgerald, 19, of 4513 Keswick Drive, Raleigh, also was cited for selling without a permit, along with underage drinking.

A man and woman who answered the fraternity's front door Thursday told a reporter they had no comment before swiftly shutting the door. As of this past spring, the fraternity had 18 members, said Winston Crisp, UNC-CH senior associate dean of students.

"This is a fairly unique happening," Crisp said. "I don't think there's anybody around here that remembers anything like this."

On Sept. 22, about 30 people, almost all thought to be students, were hanging around the hall's backyard patio and basement bar when law enforcement officers showed up about 11:45 p.m., announcing they had a search warrant.

The bar was typically open Tuesdays and Thursdays, Penland said. "They actually had a bar, a real bar with stools seated around the bar," he said. Behind the bar were two refrigerators, a cash box with $480 in it and an index card box filled with 3-by-5 cards with drink prices and other information on them that appeared to be tabs owed to the bar.

Officers confiscated the cards and cash as well as more than 40 liters of alcohol and about 35 grams of marijuana, Penland said.

Crisp said the information from the investigation likely would be passed on to the university's student-run judicial system to determine whether any penalties were necessary for the students. He said the Division of Student Affairs would look into the conduct of the fraternity as a whole and determine whether the group deserves some kind of penalty as well.

"We want to make sure we have the full story before we take any sort of action," Crisp said.