Riot at Iowa State University

(Ames, Iowa) There was a drunken riot in the streets of Campustown last night in Ames. The riot coincided with the annual Iowa State University student-run Veishea celebration. Around midnight, police responded to a call of several hundred or more than 1,000 rioters (Pick your favorite report).

"People from the crowd began throwing bottles and cans at the responding officers and at their vehicles," according to a police department press release. "People in the area began yelling and chanting 'riot riot."'

Police said crowds scattered from the area around the party, gathering closer to Campustown. People in the crowd began to commit acts of vandalism, including tearing down street lights and road signs, setting Trash bins on fire, rolling parked cars, breaking storefront windows and attacking cars that were driving by.

The crowd began throwing objects at officers on the scene, police said. Officers let off tear gas, but the crowd didn't fully disperse until around 5:30 a.m.

I spent some time living in Ames back in the 1970s and the Veishea celebrations during that period were boring flops. Boy, things must have livened up a bit. Nonetheless, I think the reporting on the extent of the riot is probably somewhat exaggerated. Ames is not a very big town.

By the way, the word Veishea is derived from the first letters of all the different schools that comprise the university.