Underage drinking bash turns into brawl in Freeburg

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Osage County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a large fight and a reported sexual assault at an underage drinking party in Freeburg early Sunday morning.

Sheriff Carl Fowler said between 200-300 people, ranging in age from 13-30, were partying at the Freeburg Lions Club when a fight broke out at about 2 a.m. Some 150 people, he said, were involved in the brawl, which may have started when someone from one group there stole beer from a pickup truck of another group.

The reported sexual incident at the event involves an underage male and female. Fowler said his department is investigating whether it was consensual.

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him 1 year, 1 month ago

Just like old times!

stop1 1 year, 1 month ago

not where I grew up

jeffcitygirl 1 year, 1 month ago

These parties have been going on for years, I had to drive to one in Chamois a few years back to pull my own 15 year old daughter out, and was confronted with about 200 or so underage kids drinking obviously in public. (Thank you att family map as she had lied about spending the night with a friend). I know these parties went on when I was a kid in Osage County and the excuse was always "There's nothing else for kids to do.." I called the police to report it and they never even showed up. My question is if there is THAT large of a gathering of kids, how can the police possibly not know about it? Why aren't these parties busted up and shut down? Why are the halls (Knights of Columbus, Lions Club, etc..) allowing these events to be held on their property? Will they be legally liable when one of these kids gets drunk and kills themselves or someone else? I have never understood why the Osage County SD turns their head and lets these events continue!

linoge 1 year, 1 month ago

Osage County has a well deserved reputation for this sort of thing. I spent several summers there as a child and underage drinking was rampant even then. I learned to drink and drive when I was fourteen. The adults who provided the drinks believed that it was best to "demystify" alcohol. In other words, if they were to place restrictions on underage drinking, it would cause us view it as something naughty or especially sinful. We would then desire it all the more and this desire would ultimately manifest itself as full blown alcoholism during adulthood. In order to prevent the young people from ruining their lives with too much drink, it was best to provide them with all the alcohol they could desire during their formative years. Today this type of thinkng error has been debunked by scientific research. Studies show that underage drinkning is strongly correlated with adult alcoholism. The American Medical Association supports enforcement of the 21-year drinking age limit. Doctors have long been aware that the human liver is generally not fully developed prior to that age. On a brighter note, the Village of Freeburg has a strong AA group in place. They meet in the basement of the Catholic Church Rectory on Wednesdays between 7:00 and 8:00 pm. The first Wednesday of the month is open to the public. I am sure that everyone who attends will be made welcome. There are no dues or fees for AA membership. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.

Sequoia 1 year, 1 month ago

Sounds like that club in Jefferson City that everyone wants to shut down.

Once again, the News Tribune misses the most important question: Who was the 30-year-old sketcher at the teen beer bash?

And, we can always speculate about why some drunken (and underage! and driving!) mobs get the nudge-nudge, wink-wink while others are darn near a national security event. If this had happened, say, near Lincoln University, the comment section here would look very different, eh?

jeffcitygirl 1 year, 1 month ago

And what the heck are 13 - 17's doing out at 2 am anyway? Where are the parents?

tonto_goldberg 1 year, 1 month ago

Please read your own earleir post.Did you think you had the only deceptive teenager? It goes with the territory; sometimes their very survival is just a matter of luck.

wow 1 year, 1 month ago

I agree wrong is done by more than just a certain group of people, yet the headlines don't report it that way. When it's let's say....the people in the more urban enviornment that is acting out...well the headlines tend to report things in a more more hostile way.... Yet when these good old country folks are partaking in a 150 person Battle Royal... the incident is called a brawl (with a lowere case b. Also did ya notice that nobody was reported as going to jail and not very many people asked why. Yet when the kids from Westview had their little shoot out with the stolen guns....there were more than a few calling for thier heads. Now I agree the Westview situation called for somebody to go to jail...but so does the Oasge fight night.

Oh well I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.

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