A melee or disturbance is what the papers and press call the happenings of Saturday night in East Lansing.

I was in East Lansing that night, and these two words do not describe the situation I was at until the police used tear gas to herd the people out of the downtown area. I really feel bad for the residents and/or students that were injured by the tear gas cans.

When we were finally able to leave Rick's American Café on Saturday night and arrived at my car, we found a hole in the windshield with a tear gas container in the back seat. Talk about bad smell, the glass company refused to work on it until Wednesday morning. It shattered the windshield and actually made it through.

It could have been from the police or a ticked-off fan. Anyway, it looked like it would have hurt a person. I was in North Carolina for business on Monday, and after reading their press and watching the news, it looks as if they call their situation "a gathering in the streets for celebration." According to the news, thousands of fans and students gathered in the square in downtown Chapel Hill to celebrate their victory. The same amount of police were present but no excessive force or tear gas was used, and the number of celebrants was nearly double to triple of what we had in East Lansing.

They had students on traffic devices, celebrants removing signs in some cases, and random bon fires on the street. I saw none of this in East Lansing, so what is different about these two towns that they categorize these situations at opposite ends of the spectrum? In my opinion something went wrong here, and whoever pushed the red button should answer for it to the residents and students.

Ed Wygnal
2004 graduate