By Lisa Rose

April 18, 2007 | LOGAN -- A Logan resident awoke to a knock at the door Saturday night and found an intoxicated man at his doorstep.

The resident in the 1500 E. 1200 North area was alarmed by the man and called police around 11:20 p.m. Police arrived and identified the intoxicated man as Matthew Putnam, 24, of Logan.

Putnam was attempting to find a party at a friend's house that he had recently left, police said. Officers cited Putnam on suspicion of intoxication, a Class C misdemeanor, and then released him into the custody of a sober friend.

"He [Putnam] was very intoxicated, hence the reason he knocked on the wrong door," said Dave Tarbet, administration division captain at Logan City Police Department. "He was staggering and obviously lost. It was alarming for the person he woke up. He has to be a little more responsible with his drinking."

Tarbet said police released Putnam without a blood alcohol content test because it was "pretty well apparent" that he was intoxicated. Charged for the citation had not been officially filed.

"If he was the struggling, fighting, combative type, we would have taken him to jail, but he was cooperative," Tarbet said.

Tarbet said that this occurrence has happened about 20 to 30 times in the last 19 years he has worked at the police department, which is a low estimate.

"People do dumb things when they are drunk. That's usually when we are called," he said.

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