Nice little town, but police are rediculously inva
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3/21/2009
Buckhannon is a descent little town that WV Wesleyan College is apart of. I went to college there and also was a resident there in town for a few years after graduating. My main beef with the town is how the Buckhannon Police Dept. always likes to harass the college students and try to find any far fetched reason to hand out tickets or arrest the college students and other young people in town. They are quick to pull you over at night for any reason possible during the evenings like, "Sitting at a stop sign too long" or "Crossing left of center" on a small minor side street with no double solid yellow lines. One kid, with WV Wesleyan stickers on his car and Florida plates, who I knew received a ticket for not having his car headlights on while having his windshield wipers on during a light rain in the middle of the day, which is apparently a dumb WV law. There are many others examples as well. Once they have you pulled over and if you are young looking they are quick to whip out their breathalyzers and give tests to anyone without a valid reason. Not just the driver, but everyone in the car who may be a college aged student. Even if you try to walk home from a bar or a store at night, doing nothing wrong at all and not being disruptive, they roll up on you with their spot lights and harass you and then try to scare the kids into running so then they supposedly have "probably cause" to chase the kids and to questions them and give them breathalyzer tests. The town is trying to give out underage drinking tickets like candy so they can get their big grants from the state or feds for an "anti-underage drinking program". This is one reason why I never put anything on my car or wear any clothing to indicate that I was a student or alumni of the college for fear of being profiled and pulled over for some ridiculous reason. I'm not saying all of the cops in the town are ridiculous but for some reason there are a select few that love to interrogate and act like tough guys to the young people, instead of acting like level headed law enforcement officers. It's a sad situation unfortunately. There has been enough of a stir in the town and from the college to nip this crap in the butt, so we'll see if anything changes in the future at a city council meeting.
The town likes to have random DUI checks a few times during the school year, and they usually are placed somewhere near the college or on roads frequently traveled by college students that don't know the side streets and more secret routes through town. I am told that they post these random DUI checks in the newspaper, but unfortunately no one reads the local newspaper there. If you try to turn around legally in a parking lot or take a left or right turn before you approach the check they will hunt you down like a dog.
Also, everyone loves to drive 5-10MPH under the speed limit for some reason. Maybe it's for fear of getting pulled over for going 1MPH over the speed limit.
Overall, town is a descent town, but there are a few quirks that need worked out. There are a few other minor concerns or pet peeves that I have with the town, but it's nothing too bad.
Dustin | Buckhannon, WV