Finger Lakes Times
October 31, 2006
by Mike Maslanik
Intentional or not, the Geneva High School band picked an appropriate song for last night's Halloween parade, which coincided with Bob Weir and RatDog playing at the Smith Opera House: "Shakedown Street."
City police hauled eight would-be merry-makers to the pokey Monday night, mostly for minor drug offenses.
Arrests aside, the 1,200-plus crowd was generally well-behaved, said police and Smith Opera House management.
"Once you make a few arrests, the word gets out that the fuzz is around," Chief Frank Pane said.
Both Wyatt R. McBain, 20, of 379 Ashby Court, Geneva, Ill., and Charles J. Dolceamore, 32, of 1972 Nassau Drive, Henfield, N.J., were charged with fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. They each stand accused of selling 10 doses of LSD to plain-clothes police officers.
Both were arraigned in the Geneva City Court and remanded to the Ontario County Jail in lieu of $20,000 cash bail or $40,000 bond.
Jordan M. Youngblood, 24, 6369 South Lima Road, Lima, was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance after police reportedly found he had a small amount of cocaine. He was also arraigned and released on $100 cash bail.
Rounding out the arrests were five open container charges and two unlawful possessions of marijuana. Most of the action took place in the Seneca Street parking lot where concert-goers tailgated for hours before the show.
Pane said three Geneva officers and two Ontario County sheriff's deputies patrolled the area.
No major fights occurred outside of the Smith, but police did have their hands full keeping the tie-dyed and dreadlocked mass on the sidewalk and out of the street, Pane said.
"It was a very well-behaved show," said Kevin Schoonover, executive director of The Smith. "It was very mellow, just like we hoped it would be."
He did hear about a fight that broke out in the balcony, but security quickly moved in.
Now, the only problem is cleaning the place up for what will likely be a totally different crowd for Thursday's performance by the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.
"It should only take us a couple days," Schoonover said. "Maybe there will be a lingering odor."
Monday was the first time The Smith brought RatDog to Geneva, and Schoonover said it was a stunning success.
"It was very exciting for us," he said. "We're trying to grow and do more things like this."
