Arrest and booking numbers for both nights of Athens Halloween weekend this year bore a remarkable similarity to the same statistics last year, as did the general impression of a relatively peaceful block party.

Friday night’s arrest figures also resembled those from last year’s Halloween Friday night.

In a press release issued at 5 a.m. Sunday, Dan Pfeiffer, of the Athens County Public Information Officers Network, reported the Athens Police Department handled 50 calls for service overnight Saturday, and made 51 arrests where the subject was processed through booking. Of those, 40 were taken to the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail in Nelsonville.

Last year on Saturday night, the police made 53 arrests, and like this year, sent 40 to the regional jail.

Friday night’s Athens Police arrest figure, 24, was the same as last year’s.

The news release didn’t make any observations about the temper or tone of the crowd, whereas last year, the police report described the uptown crowd as “very mellow.”

In this year’s release, Pfeiffer said, “City of Athens officials noted that the crowd seemed larger than past years but broke up quickly after midnight.”

However, Ed Venrick, Athens NEWS photo editor who has worked every Athens Halloween since 1999, said he thought the Court Street crowds were lighter than in recent years. Unlike some years when the crowds pack the street, “the streets were never filled except at the bandstand areas,” said Venrick, who was out on Court Street for most of the night.

Unlike in the early years of the Athens Halloween block party, in recent years neither police nor organizers have made crowd estimates. Informal estimates, however, have ranged from 15,000 to 35,000 over the past 10 years.

According to Pfeiffer’s release, Southeast Ohio Emergency Medical Services (SEOEMS) “did note an increase in calls from last year.” As of 3:30 a.m. Sunday, they had responded to 53 calls with 45 persons transported to O’Bleness Memorial Hospital.

Most of the EMS calls were alcohol related or non-serious injuries, the release said.

“Of concern to law enforcement,” Pfeiffer’s release continued, “was a large fight that broke out in a rowdy crowd outside (the 19 South nightclub) at 2:55 a.m.

Between 9 a.m. Saturday and 3:30 a.m. Sunday, according to the release, police handled seven calls for disorderly conduct incidents, eight fights, nine assaults, four burglaries, two noise complaints, one sexual offense and one threat.

Arrests included one for possession of cocaine, three for possession of marijuana, two for open container, eight for underage intoxication, two for obstructing police officers, one for resisting arrest, 1 for disorderly by intoxication, one for assault, one for gross sexual imposition, one for fake ID, and two for misconduct.

These arrests don’t include street-issued citations or citations by other agencies such as the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s liquor enforcement department. State liquor agents reported making 51 arrests on Friday night and 61 on Saturday night.

Pfeiffer said that mounted and most other police units were allowed to go home at about 3 a.m., though many Athens Police officers stayed on duty to assist the night shift in dealing with sporadic problems.

The weather Saturday night was a good deal cooler than Friday evening, though it wasn’t frigid and didn’t seem to stop many people from wearing skimpy costumes.

Friday night, however, was positively balmy.

In his report Saturday morning, Athens Police Lt. Anthony Fish said, “The warm weather (Friday night) brought out a fairly large crowd. For the most part, the revelers were cooperative and non-confrontational.”

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