Correction: the original version of this article identified Ron Lucas incorrectly. Lucas is the deputy service safety director for the City of Athens. The article also incorrectly portrayed attempts to contact the Athens Police Chief. The chief returned multiple calls for comment. The Post regrets these errors.
Local officials and law enforcement plan to curb wild student reveling by rejuvenating a three-year-old ordinance allowing police to shut down disorderly parties and even arrest everyone in attendance.
The “Nuisance Party” law, passed by City Council in 2009, allows police to arrest any partygoers who continue disruptive behavior after a party has been shut down, said Jim Sands, Athens City Council president.
“This ordinance means the disruptive behavior has to stop immediately, not necessarily the party,” Sands said. “If police come back to the party and the disruptive behavior is still happening, then everyone still in attendance could be arrested.”
The crackdown came after an arson house fire and a riot designation brought a premature end to April’s Palmerfest. Athens and Ohio University officials created a task force to find a way to prevent similar uncontrollable parties in the future.
After meeting throughout the summer, the task force recommended that local police enforce the Nuisance Party Law more stringently “to improve safety and curtail unlawful activity at all house parties,” according to a news release from Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle.
Police may declare a party a “nuisance” if any person at the party commits any of 14 offenses, including alcohol violations, noise violations and public urination.
The offense may occur at the site of the party or on neighboring property, according to the ordinance.
Before Palmerfest, police would enforce the ordinance if multiple offenses were occurring at a single party, but now parties may be shut down after a single offense occurs, Pyle wrote.
The task force hopes the more stringent enforcement will establish consistent expectations of legal and civil behavior, which will then lead to improved conduct at the fests.
Similar ordinances were passed in other Ohio college towns, such as Oxford and Bowling Green.
“We received many complaints from residents asking us how the students were getting away with this excessive partying,” Sands said.
At the recommendation of Pyle and Deputy Service Safety Director Ron Lucas, Council deliberated creating a multi-house party ordinance to regulate the huge block parties during the 2012–13 school year.
“We realized there was no way we could do something like that and be able to enforce it,” Sands said. “So enforcing the Nuisance Party Code more strictly was our best option so the good parties can still carry on.”
Athens Police Department and Ohio University Police Department will have more officers patrolling on weekends to help enforce the nuisance party code, University Police Chief Andrew Powers said.
“We have always worked with (Athens Police) with enforcement strategy and luckily we don’t have to worry about on-campus partying thanks to the (resident assistant) system here,” Powers said.
Sands said enforcing the party code early in the year should help students conduct themselves more reasonably on the weekends.
“We just want our students to be careful on the weekends and make good decisions,” he said. “Palmerfest was just too much craziness and it has to stop.”
kg287609@ohiou.edu
