| Shawna Morrison

shawna.morrison@roanoke.com, 381-1665

For the fourth year since it was canceled by Radford University, Quadfest continued over the weekend as a nonsanctioned event and was bigger than last year, resulting in more than 600 charges and leaving several streets strewn with litter.

An on-campus weekend celebration sponsored in the past by Radford's Black Awareness Programming Board and Campus Activities Board, Quadfest was canceled in 2006 when the two boards pulled out amid concerns over attendees' frequent run-ins with police and drunken behavior.

But students have rallied to keep the event alive, sparking a Facebook group called "Quadfest Will Not Die in 2009" and similar groups for 2008 and 2007. The celebration moved off-campus but kept the Quadfest name.

Radford police Chief Don Goodman said he couldn't estimate how many people took part this year but the crowd was larger than last year's.

"All in all, I think the crowd was well-behaved," he said Monday. "We had a lot of cooperation with people."

Still, he said, 616 charges were issued from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon, Goodman said, compared with 609 last year.

That number includes 38 charges for drunk in public, five for driving under the influence and 12 for obstruction of justice. It also includes 241 for underage possession of alcohol, 168 for violating the city's open container ordinance, 16 for urinating in public and 54 traffic violations.

A total of 80 people were taken into custody, while the rest were issued citations, Goodman said. Many of those charged aren't Radford students and don't live in the New River Valley. Some are younger than 18, he said.

Also, rescue crews responded to 31 calls, including 10 in which patients were taken to a hospital.

Police expected a large turnout this year, and the city department was assisted by officers from the university, the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the Department of Corrections, Virginia State Police, Christiansburg police and Dublin police and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

There was one particular incident, Goodman said, that drew as many as 2,000 people to the middle of the 1200 block of Fairfax Street, where young women held a wet T-shirt contest on a rooftop. Four women were charged with indecent exposure, Goodman said.

Radford's Vice President of Student Affairs Norleen Pomerantz noted on Monday that nearly every university has a "party weekend."

"As with our colleagues at other universities, we hope that students and visitors to the city will have fun and enjoy themselves in a safe and civil manner," she wrote in an e-mail.

The university partners with police to encourage appropriate behavior, she said. "Those people who don't heed the warning about their behavior do experience the consequences of their behavior."