Some incoming freshmen just can’t handle Athens after dark, Pat McGee, managing attorney for Ohio University’s Student Legal Services, said. Those students could receive burdensome tickets and court dates before they even get their first exam grade back.
Part of that, McGee said, is simply because freshmen haven’t yet learned that Athens isn’t exactly the party town it’s acclaimed to be.
He said within the first few weeks, many freshmen coming in have already received a ticket for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He said that most students retreat to the bike path on South Green or over to the golf course to light up, and are promptly caught.
“They’re not discreet at all,” McGee said. “You’re going to get pulled over, especially at night.”
According to a previous
Post
article, most arrests occur on weekends between midnight and 3 a.m.
McGee said his office usually works to ensure that the student doesn’t receive a drug conviction.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said that uptown, most students are ticketed for disorderly conduct — such as public urination, littering and public intoxication, to name a few.
There will be more officers on patrol the first few weeks, Pyle added.
“We bolster our presence in the first two to three weeks,” Pyle said. “We want to maintain peace and order. We give out a lot of warnings, but we also arrest a lot more people because we encounter a lot more people.”
Pyle said that it takes a few weeks for house parties to get out of hand for freshmen, mostly because friendships haven’t been formed yet.
However, bar-hopping can become an immediate issue for incoming students.
“A lot of people make the mistake of running out and getting a fake ID and going uptown to the bars,” Pyle said. “That’s almost a sure way to get arrested.”
Mayor Paul Wiehl said he expects underage drinking and public intoxication to be increasingly prevalent in the first few weeks of Fall Semester, and that most students will partake in the partying early on.
“We always tell people ‘Would you act like this at home?’ ” Pyle said. “If not, you shouldn’t act like this here.”
Many citations students see come during the beginning of the academic year. Last year, APD citations for nuisance parties and underage drinking, as well as calls into the station for noise complaints, fell from Fall to Spring Semester.
According to a previous
Post
article, there were 150 underage drinking citations issued in the 2013 Fall Semester. Spring Semester saw 81 such infractions.
McGee said it’s common for students to be arrested early on for underage drinking and being under the influence, but added that most freshmen forget they can defend themselves against an underage drinking citation by refusing to answer any questions from an officer besides their name and address.
“You always have the right to an attorney,” McGee said. “For an under the influence citation, it also has to be a public place. But realize that there is no real test for an officer to conclude that they’re under the influence — slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, that’s enough.”
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@eockerman
