Four UI Students Plead Guilty To Underage Drinking

Four University of Idaho students have pleaded guilty to underage drinking in the first round of local authorities’ crackdown on alcohol consumption on and around the Moscow campus.

Most notable was the guilty plea entered on Monday by 17-year-old Alpha Phi sorority pledge Jamie Rewoldt, who was hospitalized last month with a blood alcohol content of 0.2, according to police records.

But while Rewoldt took blame for her drinking, Theta Chi President Scott N. Roberts, a senior, pleaded innocent to providing two shots of vodka to Rewoldt.

Rewoldt told Magistrate William Hamlett she served herself two shots of vodka at the Theta Chi fraternity after watching another girl do the same thing.

“So you poured yourself a couple shots and knocked them back?” Hamlett asked. “When people come to my house they usually ask me if they want a drink before they take a bottle off the shelf.”

But Rewoldt held firm, admitting drinking a few beers at an off-campus party earlier in the night before she was treated at Gritman Medical Center. She said her family supported her decision to plead guilty.

Rewoldt said she was taken to the hospital by friends at her sorority after getting sick. She told Hamlett she did not plan to drink vodka again.

“And you’re not going to have a couple drinks for your birthday” on Saturday? he asked.

“No,” she said.

Hamlett fined her $298 and suspended her driver’s license for 90 days. She can have her fine reduced by $150 if she attends a one-night school for alcohol offenders by Oct. 21.

The three other students who pleaded guilty of underage drinking were caught walking on-campus with cans of beer.

“Those are going to be expensive beers,” Hamlett said as he fined each $298 fines and suspend their driver’s licenses were suspended for 60 days. More than a score of other students pleaded innocent and will again appear before the court in the coming weeks.