Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Halloween at Athens: Trashed?
We have all come to know about Halloween in Athens, myself especially because I was here last year for the big great bash. What I have come to learn that I didn’t mind last year but I will this year is the fact that people and students who do not even go to OU destruct and trash everything when they are drunk. The town is absolutely “trashed.” When you have almost 30 to 40 thousand people come and meet in one small place it is destined to be a night mare. Last year I saw about five mattresses lit on fire and two cars pushed over by drunk kids. Now to me it was a culture shock. I had never seen anything like it; it literally reminded me of a smaller Mardi gras in New Orleans. Now at first I really didn’t care that much but now I have kind of become part of this school and I love the campus and I am glad I go here but the fact of the matter is I do not want out of town jackasses screwing up our campus that I have to walk around every day. Troy Gregorino who ran for a seat in the Athens City Council said “The biggest problem facing Athens is the rampant destruction of the natural environment that defines the very essence of our community.” http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=29589 I just feel the need that if an out of town student is caught they should be penalized worse. I know that it isn’t fair but it also isn’t fair that the majority of damage is caused by out of town students. That is what gives the Halloween here such a crazy, awesome, and bad name all into one. Something should be done for people who are from out of town and that is the end of it.
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6 comments:
I completely understand where you are coming from. You make a valid argument regarding out of town students and people help trashing our campus. I have to somewhat disagree with you about how people from out of town should be penalized more if caught vandalizing or doing something stupid. People from here along with O.U. students contribute just as much of trashing our campus as people from out of town do. I'm from here so I have heard and witnessed numerous of these damages and wild actions, and a lot of them fall on the hands of students here at O.U. The law is law and if someone is caught doing something either illegal or something they aren't supposed to be doing, they should receive the same equal punishment as the next person performing the same acts regardless of where they live or go to school. If police start punishing out of town people more harshly than O.U. students and locals it will discourage a mass amount of them not to attend the Block Party. As you stated in your blog the enormous amount of people on Court Street acting crazy one night of the year is what makes the Block Party so popular,appealing, and well-known.
Nick, I agree with you completely for this article. I have not had the opportunity to experience a Halloween here, but I have certainly heard stories of the debauchery that occurs over the course of 48 hours. I feel like Ohio University students take a lot of pride in the beauty of their campus and are highly unlikely to be the ones causing destruction during the Halloween celebration. I don’t know if it is legally allowed, but if fining out-of-town students more than students enrolled at OU for any criminal activities is an option, I believe it should be enacted. This way when the dust settles Sunday morning and the cleanup efforts begin to restore our little haven to how it usually appears begin, it will be much easier and quicker to get things done because people will be less likely to commit crimes and cause damage while visiting.
I completely agree with you. There is no reason why we should suffer for other peoples wrong doing. We walk around this campus everyday and the reason we dont trash it is because it is our home. People do not take into account how they would feel if we went to their campuses and trashed them, they are selfish. Then again they are drunk so they are completely oblivious to everything not just the environment around them. I think thats the main reason why there is cops on everyblock in Athens so that they can reserect any problem. Hopefully this year the city won't get destroyed too badly.
I totally agree with you in that sense because I love campus too. I don't want a bunch of idiots to ruin our campus because we have to live here the rest of the year, not them. It wouldn't be such a big deal if they took care of the place but they really don't. I was walking down court this morning and the place was a wreck and it made me think how a few drunk idiots can ruin such a great campus.
I completely agree with you. I heard about Halloween in Athens way before I had even considered coming to school here. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and it was even more special for me this year because the party was celebrated on my birthday. Looking around at all of the people as I approached Court Street two things came to mind, “This is absolute madness,” and “This is going to be a bitch to clean up.” When there is about double the population out on the streets on one night, lots of things are bound to happen. There were even signs I had seen on restaurants doors, such as Big Momma’s, who where closed after 11 because of “drunk out of towners that drink too much”. The people who get arrested lots of the time are people who are here visiting. The punishment should be greater for them so they know not to fool around. I think if there was a greater punishment for visitors they might not drink as much or maybe think twice about some of the things they want to do.
I agree with your blog completely. It is unfair that out of town guests are causing trouble in Athens because Halloween is getting a bad rap now. Out of town guests should respect Athens and the OU campus a lot more because it’s their privilege to be here in the first place. I think it’s unfair for people to judge OU and Athens because of the destruction and trash on Halloween because most of the destruction is caused by out of town guests. The out of town guests should definitely have a higher penalty because it will teach them to treat OU with a little more respect and treat it like it was its own campus and city.
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