The Galveston County Daily News

GALVESTON — Galveston police officers wrote about as many citations for noise violations and bad behavior during this year’s Lone Star Motorcycle Rally as in past years, even though the city promised stricter enforcement.

Police Chief Charles Wiley attributed the lack of a significant increase in tickets to a good crowd that, for the most part, followed the rules.

“It was a pretty good crowd and a pretty quiet weekend, considering how many people were here,” Wiley said.

Within the downtown event area, which stretched from Harborside Drive to Mechanic Street between 25th and 19 streets, officers made 16 arrests and filed 18 charges. Of those, eight were for public intoxication, four were for noise violations and four were for disorderly conduct. The other two were for possession of narcotic paraphernalia and a felony warrant.

Officers also handed out 121 tickets, 34 inside the event area and 87 in other parts of the island. They also issued 17 warnings.

For the first time this year, the police department enforced a zero-tolerance policy on bikers revving their engines, commonly referred to as “racking pipes.”

Although officers did issue tickets for noise violations, most of the bikers responded to verbal requests to follow the rules, police spokesman Lt. D.J. Alvarez said.

Rally promoters estimated as many as 250,000 visited the island during the four-day event, but police officials put the number somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000.

Several bikers suffered minor injuries from accidents, but no one died during this year’s event.