End to winter of discontent for a few: Morgantown police took right course in charging most egregious offenders in riot

Many were beginning to think the investigation of the Feb. 1 snow day riot in Morgantown was put on ice.
As it turns out, much like Morgantown’s police chief described after the incident,  there was weeks of work to be done on this.
This week, 11 arrests occurred in connection to this riot and at least another six are reportedly in the works. Investigators are also continuing to identify others involved in the incident.
Some may look at the charges — all misdemeanors — and weigh them against the time and money that went into bringing these charges. We don’t.
Clearly identifying every person involved in this incident is ridiculous and would have taken considerably more time and money.
Instead, investigators zeroed in on the most egregious members of the crowd — those being confrontational with law enforcement or attempting to incite a riot.
Of course, those throwing bottles or setting stuff on fire also came in for particular attention.
We are not sure we understand WVU’s response to the majority of the initial 11 arrests. Eight of those charged were members of the same fraternity.
Oddly, members of that same fraternity were praised by WVU for helping clean up Spruce Streets two days later.
Yet, when many members of that fraternity are arrested in connection with this whole mess the response is: The fraternity is not being investigated “due to the actions of a few of their members.”
Huh? If anything those arrests should at least trigger a look at sanctions on a fraternity for its members’ involvement and applying the student conduct process to those who were charged.
It’s also baffling that some still defend the actions of this crowd as a bunch of kids just having fun in the snow.
That fun  took on an entirely different complexion when this crowd refused to disperse on the order of law enforcement and openly defied law enforcement’s orders.
Yes, we can understand a block party and some of us would even  participate in it if we were younger.
However, when the police order a crowd to disperse we would urge everyone to do so rather than defy their order and openly confront them.
We also urge WVU to review, if it hasn’t already, video and photos of this incident and take action against any students involved in the most egregious acts.
It could also not hurt for any fraternities whose members were involved to take action against them, too.
No one is suggesting snowballing the numbers of arrests or citations for the most minor infractions over this incident. However, interfering with or defying law enforcement in the performance of its duty cannot be ignored.
Nor should it ever result in some kind of snow job.