NUISANCE ORDINANCE

Debate intensifies for rowdy weekend

Mike Joseph

STATE COLLEGE — As Penn State and Ohio State clash on the football field this weekend, borough residents who support an ordinance to curb rowdy parties will try to defend themselves against sleep-depriving noise, beer-bottle yard litter and urination without borders.

“I hope they wore themselves out on Halloween and it’ll be different, but it never is,” said Laird Jones, an East Prospect Street homeowner and father of a young boy, whose property is in the crosshairs of party-hopping students.

Jones described one strategy to counter students who walk from party to party and, in between, urinate in his driveway, shielded by his car.

“You hold up the cell phone and say the police are on the way and they usually leave,” he said. “The police don’t get them, but they usually leave before they damage your car.”

The biggest of big football weekends at Penn State comes as Borough Council is considering a controversial “nuisance gathering ordinance” that has provoked a threat of litigation from the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the measure is unconstitutional.

The weekend also comes just after students and permanent residents crowded a Borough Council hearing this week to voice opposing views on the ordinance.

And it comes after a municipal election in which the only student candidate for council finished last — owing to excessively light student turnout — despite campaigning long and hard against the measure.

The candidate, Brett Fisher, 21, acknowledged that binge drinking and off-campus parties pose a problem for the borough, but he said counter-measures would be more effective through the civil rather than the criminal justice system . “Sue them (the party hosts) for negligence,” Fisher told council.

He said Thursday his opposition to the ordinance may have mobilized voters who supported candidates more sympathetic to it, while students remained “generally apathetic” about non-presidential elections. “We ended up stirring the pot a little bit,” Fisher said. “I don’t think it’s going to pass now.”

The ordinance would confront party hosts with jail time or fines up to $600 if behavior by their guests results in illegal activities such as disorderly conduct, public drunkenness and underage drinking. But the fate of the ordinance — which is coming up for possible action Dec. 7 — is uncertain in the aftermath of Monday’s council hearing and the ACLU threat.

Councilwoman Theresa Lafer, whose East Foster Avenue home is in the heart of a mixed student and permanent-resident neighborhood, acknowledged Thursday she may not favor “the” ordinance discussed this week but does favor “an” ordinance of some kind.

She said the question for council will be how to get teeth into the measure without going too far. “This one clearly needs work — it’s a draft,” Lafer said. “I see this as a safety issue, and if you throw a party and you don’t know the people who are there, then you should call police.” If people are drunk at a party, take their keys, Lafer said.

“I think it’s a question of responsibility,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll be able to do jail. I don’t think we’ll need to do jail. I think it’s time to tell them they need to stand up and take care of themselves and their friends.” Permanent residents often say they began their stay in State College neighborhoods with a live-and-let-live attitude. But too many sleepless weekends have erased their reluctance to call police. Erica Anderson, a homeowner who has lived six years in the borough, told council this week that she’s “very tired” of the conflict between students and permanent residents, aggravated especially by people urinating in her yard.

“Every time I think of having children, it makes me even more angry,” she said. State College police acknowledged that this weekend — “the biggest game of the year,” police Capt. John Gardner said — will be a tough test for students and permanent residents alike. A total of 14 state police horses with mounted troopers will be on hand. Planning for the weekend — staffing levels, assistance from outside agencies and coordination with public works — started three months ago, he said.

Gardner, commander of the patrol division, urged residents not to be shy about calling police. “When you call us Monday morning after the fact, it doesn’t have the same impact or the same effect,” he said. “I don’t ever want the citizens of this town thinking they can’t call because we might be busy somewhere else.” Gardner also urged partygoers to be mindful of the law.

“I would say to people who want to have a good time — that’s fine, the police are not here to quash that,” he said. “Party within the law, respect other people’s property. You’ll have no problems with the police.” The borough’s proposed nuisance gathering ordinance is modeled in part after similar measures enacted by the city of East Lansing, the hometown of Michigan State University. State College has 64 police officers. East Lansing has 59.

East Lansing Police Chief Tom Wibert said his city’s “nuisance party ordinance” and “enhanced noise penalties” — the ACLU has not challenged them — have “changed the nature of parties.” Party hosts in East Lansing, he said, can be ticketed for a nuisance party if a guest is cited for public urination or other offenses. “Were it not for the party,” he said, “none of that stuff would have happened.” “With that ordinance in place, it hasn’t prevented partying, but it has promoted consideration of neighbors in the neighborhood,” Wibert said.

“We do a lot of education at the beginning of the year, so everyone knows that the ordinance exists,” Wibert added. “So their parties are smaller than they used to be. It promotes tolerance of students by residents and consideration of residents by students.” Mike Joseph can be reached at 235-3910.