MINOT, N.D. (KXNET) — “The Ward County Sheriff’s Department is aware of a birthday party invitation circulating on social media,” the Facebook post made by the sheriff’s department reads. “The party is inviting people to an undisclosed lake in Ward County [June 24]. The nature of the flyer leads us to believe that the partygoers could be in violation of numerous state laws.”
The laws in question were not mentioned in the original post, but Capt. Jason Kraft of the sheriff’s department told KX that they were led to believe that the organizers and patrons could have been violating rules against theft of services, underage drinking and policies requiring an officer to be in attendance at public festivals.
Furthermore, they said the flyer was advertising a cover fee to get into a party being held on a public beach — which requires permission from the Ward County Park Board (which reported they had not given any).
“We are not entirely sure what it meant to ‘vibe out,'” the post continued, “but we would assume that catching a court date or getting arrested isn’t the ‘vibe’ you were looking for. Our deputies have RSVPed to the party, and will be there with party favors to hand out to those deserving of them.”
To top it off, the department included a shout-out to us here at KX News, urging those who would not be deterred by the police presence to check out Amber Wheeler’s #OneMinuteForecast before attending the party — informing potential partygoers that they “may want to double-check your tent stakes while setting up your camp.”
The post concluded with a few unusual hashtags, including #HappyBirthday, #It’sMyParty, #I’llCryIfIWantTo and #PartyFavors, as well as an animated gif labeled ‘Party Time’ (the image for which, strangely enough, was taken from the band OK Go’s music video for their song This Too Shall Pass).
While the post gained mostly positive reactions, other commenters stated this was a blatant overstepping of power and that the sheriff’s department should be focusing on other things. One comment on the post read, “You’re trying to be funny but in all actuality, it’s messed up you wanna crash a bunch of people enjoying themselves at a lake, Probably smoking pot, big deal! Can we work on getting the Fentanyl and Thieves and Murderers off the streets please? Thanks.”
Other posters had their own concerns, with one saying that the police are “so out of touch with the community you’re supposed to be protecting and serving you don’t even know what vibe out means.”
The post is still visible on the Ward County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page.