Incident at fire company reported

Three people were cited after an incident at the Citizen's Fire Company in Tamaqua early Sunday morning.

Officers were dispatched to the fire company at 12:53 a.m. for a reported fight in progress. Once on scene Patrolman Jeffrey Wainwright was approached by a male identified as Brad Sanders. Sanders said the fight was in the foyer of the building.

Inside, Wainwright found two males sitting on the floor. Both had blood on them. An additional dozen or so people were in the foyer, yelling back and forth.

One person, identified as Renee Bartenope, 26, of 44 E. Ruddle St., Coaldale, was yelling and flailing her arms at the officer. When she refused to desist she was handcuffed and placed in the back of the police cruiser. Officers were then able to question the other people in the foyer.

According to police, Bartenope and two friends, Kenneth Oliver, 46, of New Ringgold, and Nicole Renee Raposo, 26, of 35 W. Rideg St., Lansford, tried to enter the bar area of the fire company. Bartenope did not have any identification with her and was refused entry. An argument ensued and the trio was asked to leave the premises, repeatedly.

A patron inside the bar, Travis Huegel, decided to enter the commotion but was intially held back until Oliver put his arms out to try and calm down his friends. Huegel then became involved and things grew even more heated. According to witnesses, two patrons pushed Oliver down two flights of steps into the foyer. Oliver told the officer he was also struck by several other people after he hit the floor. He admitted striking back.

Bartenope was charged with disorderly conduct and defiant trespass. Raposa and Oliver were cited for defiant trespass. Several other people involved in the fracas will be cited pending completion of the investigation.