Athens city officials are looking at ways to curb rowdiness and violence during large Uptown gatherings.
Athens Police Department Chief Richard Mayer and APD Lt. Tom Pyle joined Mayor Ric Abel's weekly press conference to discuss the city's plan to deal with events such as Dads' Weekend and Halloween. After Halloween, Wayne Key, the city's service-safety director, put together a task force of Athens city officials to combat illegal activities that result from parties in the Uptown area and throughout Athens.
The task force has since adopted what they refer to as the Core Strategy, he said. Outlined in the strategy is the task force's intention to gain control of incidences including excessive trash, noisy parties, overcrowding of bars, underage drinking and habitual fights and assaults. According to the Core Strategy, a plan for dealing with these problems will be implemented by Feb. 1.
And after Dads' Weekend, the Core Strategy has proved to be necessary, Abel said.
Mayer said the winter violence can no longer be blamed on people being trapped indoors, but is the result of alcohol, drugs, large gatherings, people from out of town and an attitude change among students.
Pyle said there appears to be a lack of respect for the police - as well as people in general - from people ages 18 to 25.
Mayer said the violence cannot be attributed to Dads' Weekend, because only six of the 52 people arrested last weekend were 30 or older. The average age of the people arrested was 24.4 years old.
Last Saturday APD called in additional officers for the late shift and utilized two officers from the Ohio University Police Department. Mayer said he plans to increase the APD staff by two officers on Thursdays through Saturdays. These officers would be people already on the staff working overtime. However, APD's resources remain limited with 28 officers serving more than 22,000 people in the city, Mayer said.
Along with the use of additional officers will be an increased presence of the Athens Fire Department. Department officials went into bars Saturday night to check for overcrowding and will continue to do random checks, Mayer said.
Despite the recent incidents, Abel, Mayer and Pyle all said Uptown was still a safe place to be.
Incident updates
At the mayor's weekly press conference, Athens Police Department Chief Richard Mayer discussed the status of the following cases:
- No new information is being released regarding the death of OU senior Jason D. Blice on Saturday, but Mayer said no foul play is suspected.
- APD has identified a suspect for the shots fired outside of Evolution early Saturday morning, and the charge will be a misdemeanor for firing a weapon in the city.
- The investigation of the stabbings outside of the Crystal, 34 N. Court St., is being turned over to the city prosecutor's office.
- The stabbing at the Days Inn on Halloween Weekend is awaiting action from the prosecutor's office.
- APD has suspects for the murder of OU student Terris Ross but is not releasing any names.
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