In what has become an annual event, local law enforcement officials were out in force late Saturday night and early Sunday morning is anticipation of a repeat of the time change riots. Well, the time did change, and so have the times.
Instead of the heralded riot that supposedly is on the verge of breaking out every time the clocks spring forward, it was just another typical weekend in Athens. There were some disturbances, but nothing that warranted a massive police response. According to a Post article last week, Ohio University President Roderick McDavis said in the last few years this notorious weekend has seen little violence compared to past decades. McDavis was right, but the question that begs to be asked is, if the past years have been tame, then why do the city of Athens and the university insist on gearing up for a knock-down drag-out war every Spring Quarter?
It has been almost a decade since the first infamous time change riot. In 1997, when current OU seniors were still in seventh grade and freshmen were in fourth grade, a group of students estimated to be as large as 2,000 strong rioted when the Uptown bars closed an hour early. Since that time, the weekend has seen its share of troubles but has not come close to the number of people in attendance or the 47 arrests made that year. According to Post articles chronicling the past few years, the riots turned out to be nothing more than a spectator event, and the arrest totals, at their highest rate, have been less than half of that infamous year.
After almost a decade, it is time to put the fear of the riots behind us. Although it might seem logical that an increased police presence would deter inappropriate behavior, there is no evidence that more police or more proactive tactics equate with a more peaceful weekend.
Last week, McDavis said that OUPD and university officials were going to treat this weekend more like an average weekend. That's a good first step, but ultimately local officials need to realize that the time change is just another weekend.
And it has been that way for nearly a decade.
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And so should approach to weekend
