Residents met at the county commissioners meeting to vent their frustrations regarding Number Fest.
Number Fest organizer Dominic Petrozzi was described as a “snake oil salesman” by one Athens County resident Tuesday morning at the weekly county commissioners' meeting.
Almost 20 people showed up this week’s meeting, many of them to express their frustrations over 13Fest, which was held April 18.
“Dominic Petrozzi is not interested in my safety or wellbeing,” Janet Polzer, an Athens resident, said. “Dominic Petrozzi is interested in profit…. I believe that you need to set the safety standard. Not Dominic Petrozzi.”
Many of the complaints came from residents who live near the event or along State Route 56 going from the event into town.
This year, as with last year, State Route 56 had to be shut down as fest-goers flocked to the street on their way back from the event.
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“My resolve is stop (the fest) all together. Period,” Alice Ratliff, an Athens resident, said. “It’s a state highway. I don’t think the discussion even needs to go further.”
Ratliff said she thought governing bodies, such as city council, the sheriff’s office and the county commissioners, needed to work together in order to bring about change
County Commissioner Lenny Eliason said Monday he would be lobbying to change a portion of state code that exempts Number Fest from needing a permit from the sheriff.
“We cannot enact regulations to change that event,” he said. “We do not have home rule. That’s a decision that they have to deal with (on the state level).”
He said he had already reached out and gained support from State Representative Debbie Phillips, D-Albany, and State Senator Lou Gentile, D-Steubenville.
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Eliason said now the issue needs support from Statehouse Republicans.
A couple Athens County residents suggested that the event needed to be patrolled by a greater force than what's currently in place.
“We need a superior force to control a crowd,” resident Ed Penson said. “The notion that we can control 10,000 with 50 troopers is a great notion, but it’s just false.”
Athens County Sheriff Rodney Smith also appeared at the meeting and responded to concerns about whether the sheriff’s department was adequate in enforcing the crowd.
“Our plan was to move people (on buses) and not have people moving down Route 56,” Smith said. “If you’ve ever been there and ever seen it you’d know they rush the buses…. We didn’t intend to close down 56. They were there.”
Commissioner Chris Chmiel suggested that some of the residents who suffered damages from the event pool their resources and file a civil lawsuit against Petrozzi.
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Eliason added that the commissioners and several other city officials would be meeting Wednesday night at a closed meeting to further discuss what changes need to be made at the event.
He did not know if Petrozzi would be there.
But Penson said if Petrozzi did arrive, he could predict what would happen: Petrozzi would apologize and propose a number of changes that he plans on making, and those changes would fail at the next Number Fest.
“It’ll go on year after year after year,” said Penson. “All (Petrozzi) does in bring in the cash and leave us the trash.”
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