Big fest calmer than last two years

Athens' annual Palmer Place student block party came and went this weekend without any riots or conflagrations, such as have marred the event in previous years.

Athens Police reported arresting 20 people in connection with the celebration Friday night/Saturday morning, then another 35 Saturday night/Sunday morning.

A release from Athens Assistant Service-Safety Director Ron Lucas Sunday morning described Palmer Fest 2011's main day, Saturday, as "relatively uneventful" despite featuring "a significant number of house parties" on Palmer Street.

In addition to arrests by city police, state liquor agents with the Ohio Investigative Unit reported arresting 116 people in connection with Palmer Fest and related parties over the weekend as well.

Predictably, the bulk of the arrests were alcohol-related.

On Saturday, according to the APD release, the partying started around 10:30 a.m. and lasted into Saturday night. Revelers never blocked off the street to traffic, as they sometimes have in the past.

"Officers utilized the City of Athens Noise Ordinance to shut down the parties along the street at midnight on (Saturday)," the release added. "A combination of inclement weather, increased officer presence and a significant messaging campaign can be attributed to the uneventful outcome of the day."

Darcy Warden, who rents a Palmer Street house, agreed that the rain put a damper on the festivities. "I think the rain made a lot of people head home earlier, which is good because I think it prevented any rioting or fires," she said.

Prior to the weekend, city and OU authorities had made an effort to communicate strongly to students the need to party responsibly during Palmer Fest.

Apparently it worked; overall, the street party was less rowdy and destructive than it has been in some past years. In 2010, for example, partiers set fire to furniture in the street and bombarded police and firefighters with bottles and cans, leading to the police breakup of the event before midnight Saturday.

That's not to say that things didn't occasionally get rowdy. At various points during the fest, partiers were in the street chanting "USA" at police officers.

One Ohio University student who was out and about at the street fest Saturday afternoon reported that the crowd seemed under control at that time. "It started pretty mellow and everyone is calm," said senior Andrew Burnett.

Another OU senior predicted that the party might veer toward rowdiness later in the evening. "It'll try to get out of hand because it has that stigma," guessed Brooke Arthur. "But I think Athens (authorities) will try to keep it under control."

Arthur, who lives on Court Street, described Palmer Fest as "one of my favorite fests of the year. I love going house to house and visiting my friends."

One out-of-town visitor said she was aware of the event's reputation for getting out of control.

"It's awesome here! I've never been here before," said Tasha Sandler, an alumna of Miami University in Ohio who attended the party with her fiance. "I heard there are fires and riots. My friends told me to keep it under control."

On Saturday, Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle reported that a large Friday-night celebration at Palmer Place apartments on Stimson Avenue had to be shut down early Saturday morning, after a request from the management for assistance around midnight.

According to a city police release for Friday's festivities, the department's 20 arrests included four for public urination; four for underage consumption of alcohol; seven for disorderly conduct by intoxication; two citations for excessive noise; one for marijuana possession; one for impaired driving; and one low-level felony charge for narcotics possession.

The 35 additional local-police arrests for Saturday's bash included 17 charges for underage consumption/intoxication; 10 for disorderly by intoxication; three for underage consumption; three for false ID; five for obstructing official business; two for disorderly by fighting; two for marijuana possession; and one for noise. (Some arrestees may have had multiple charges, adding up to more than 35 total offenses charged.)

Of the 35 arrestees processed through mass booking, 13 were OU students; four were from Ohio State; three from the University of Cincinnati; seven had no school affiliation; and one each came from other colleges in Ohio, or in one case, the University of Eastern Kentucky.

The Ohio Investigative Unit reported that it had made 42 arrests in connection with Palmer Fest the first day, and 74 more the second day.

Of the Saturday arrests, charges included 71 for underage consumption; 10 for fake ID; four for drug abuse; two for open container; one for furnishing alcohol to an underage person; one for drug paraphernalia; one for falsification; and one for obstructing official business.

State liquor agents inevitably come out in force for OU student fests. Agency records indicate that in the 18-county enforcement district it belongs to, Athens County accounted for nearly half of the arrests and citations made by liquor agents in 2010, despite having only about 8 percent of the district's population.

Of the 2010 Athens County arrests, more than 40 percent were made during the three weeks in May when Palmer Fest and two other big student block parties take place.

Sunday morning along Palmer Street, residents were already picking up trash, though some weren't able to police their yards early enough to avoid being cited by a city employee for violating the city's trash ordinance.