Many people came to enjoy the family oriented Pumpkin Festival in New Hampshire in October. This was until local college students crashed the party, nearly destroying the entire neighborhood. The students began the festival with yelling and screaming, smashing beer bottles on the ground, fist fights, and later pumpkin smashing.

Later into the festival the teens became more reckless by ripping speed limit signs out of the ground, smashing windows, slashing tires, and flipping a cars. Police came as soon as calls were made by worried parents, which made the teenagers even more dangerous. Police started by asking the teens to go home but later intervened, making 49 arrests.

New Hampshire governor Maggie Hassan said in a statement Sunday that she was “outraged by the irresponsible, terrible actions that marred New Hampshire tradition.”

The incredible amount of teenagers left police no choice but to break out tear gas which immediately resulted in the students dispersing. According to the Dean of the Keene state college, they are going to find out which students were a part of the riot and will have them punished for their behavior.

“The donning of riot helmets and the use of chemical munitions had the effect of creating confusion and perpetuating the unruly behavior of the crowd,” said former Boston police commissioner Edward F. Davis.

The report found that even students were stating they were appalled by the actions of their peers, especially Alex Karabakakis, a student at KSC, claims, “I’m definitely not proud to be a KSC student after seeing this kind of behavior, KSC is known to have pretty wild parties going on around where the police were yesterday, but I’ve never seen actual riot lines in Keene before.”

While many were forced to run from the tear gas or spend the night in a cell due to resisting arrest, this Pumpkin Festival will be one that the town will certainly remember.

FSA Connection Questions

1. In the article the author’s purpose is what?
2. In the article the word “donning” means what?
3. The author seems to offer what main idea?
4. Select the best two sentences from the story that supports the punishments that the students should receive?
5. What is the connotation of the word disperse?