OU's Parents Weekend: Police shut down couch fire, parties on Oak Street

Usually when the parents of Ohio University students are in town for Parents Weekend, local police can expect a fairly calm weekend, for obvious reasons.

This year, however, Athens Police reported that they had to concentrate on one potentially volatile situation in the Oak Street student neighborhood late Saturday night, with an estimated 200-300 people gathered around a "œcouch fire."

Though no parents who were actually present during the event could be found who were willing to comment, students interviewed afterwards by The Athens NEWS confirmed that many of the house parties during the block party known informally as "œOaktober Fest" included parents of OU students.

The students interviewed by The NEWS also claimed that police "maced" partiers, though this was not mentioned in police reports.

With masses of partiers expected in town for the big Halloween block party this coming Saturday, police probably weren't thrilled about having to respond to a street fire and potential disturbance during the supposedly calm Parents Weekend.

At 11:23 p.m. Saturday, police reported that they received a report of a couch fire on Oak Street. They called in the Athens Fire Department, which extinguished the blaze. Athens Police officers and one OUPD officer assigned to a joint patrol with the APD began clearing the street and yards of revelers, the report said.

OU student Kristie Fogarty of 18 Oak St. recalled that the couch fire was "really tall. We went on our roof to see it better, because there were about 600 people on the street."

When the street was cleared of onlookers, the report continued, police officers went door to door and shut down each party. Every house on the street was hosting a large party, the report said, and an additional 200 to 300 people were ordered to leave the area.

By 12:14 a.m. Sunday, each party was cleared and at least one resident of each home had been advised of the "consequences" if police had to return. This is apparently a reference to the city's nuisance-party law.

Police reported that they only made one arrest during the operation. Thomas Saffell, 20, an OU student living on Palmer Street, was charged with persistent disorderly conduct, underage consumption of alcohol, and possession of a false identification, the report said, though it gave no further details.

The report said that the APD expected no additional arrests in connection with the couch fire, street clearing and party shutdown.

Students said that many OU students had been committed to not starting any fires this year. Fogarty noted that at her house's party, someone had tried to light a couch on fire around 10:30 p.m., and "everybody else picked up the couch and moved it" to keep this from happening.

"We talked to our whole street (ahead of time) and we all decided not to burn a couch," she said, adding that she believes the fire was not set by an Oak Street resident.

Morad confirmed that "before everyone was drunk, we had all got together and said there was no lighting couches on fire this year. Everyone agreed on it, but then, like, 11:30, I don't know "“ couches came out."

Students differed in their takes on the police handling of the situation, with some saying officers showed restraint and others suggesting they were heavy-handed.

"They're a lot nicer out here than they are at Kent," said Freddy Heberling, a Kent State University student who was visiting. "I would be in jail (if this were Kent)."

OU junior Kyle Brown complained of the police that "one, they maced people, and ran around on their horses being general assholes to people... Two, they ran into people's houses."

Brown said he's talked to some OU parents who agreed that "the police were out of hand and handled the situation really immaturely... Like, the fire, granted, was wrong, but as far as how they handled the situation, going into people's houses, that was unacceptable."

Fogarty, however, reported that in her view "the parents knew that the cops were just doing what they had to do. The police even came in and helped us clean up." - Editor's note: Athens NEWS Editor Terry Smith contributed to this report.