Shutting a raucous party down is fine enough, Ohio University students said at Monday night’s Athens City Council meeting, but tacking on a hefty fine to this offense is too much of an overstep.
Shutting a raucous party down is fine enough, Ohio University students said at Monday night’s Athens City Council meeting, but tacking on a hefty fine to this offense is too much of an overstep.
Second-year grad student Jack Opal spoke at the Athens City Building, 8 E. Washington St., with Caleb Balduff, a senior studying chemistry and pre-pharmacy, to speak with council about a potential nuisance party ordinance.
If passed, it would increase the fine for offending parties from $150 to $250, while decreasing the penalty from a criminal to civil offense.
Opal asked the city to reconsider increasing the fine, instead leaving it at the previous amount.
“I have been at parties with people to whom $250 would be devastating,” Opal said. “$250 would negatively affect some students’ ability to buy groceries.”
Opal spoke passionately against the increase in fines, arguing that students were being “used and abused for revenue.”
Councilman Steve Patterson, D-at large, said that council plans to move forward with the amendment as-is, but they will continue to consider making changes if any convincing arguments are brought to the table.
“We’ll certainly discuss it if anything further comes up,” he said.
City officials also invited Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle and John Paszke, city director of code enforcement and community development, to provide insight on the proposed amendment.
Pyle had previously given the same presentation at a Student Senate meeting Aug. 27, which included the Athens-OU Joint Police Advisory Council.
Pyle emphasized that lowering the charges to a civil offense would allow a learning experience for offending partygoers, instead of a life-altering criminal penalty.
“We are as much of a teaching organization as we are a criminal (enforcement) organization,” Pyle said.
Pyle also mentioned a video that was recently brought to his attention, which showed a man standing on the roof of a home on Palmer Street. A crowd of partygoers cheered for him to jump off, and giving in, he leapt from the roof.
“We need to show them that is not acceptable behavior,” Pyle said.
The amendment would also make it so an initial citation would be considered a minor misdemeanor, while following offenses would be a fourth degree misdemeanor.
If the initial $250 fine was neglected, the charges would escalate to a criminal offense.
Patterson said that this amendment will likely not be enacted until after Halloween weekend.
