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Parties
'The kids haven’t calmed down,
they just found another house'
Non-student neighbors to the parties
say the noise has been unbearable, with
crowds of hundreds keeping them up
until early hours of the mornings and
leaving the streets covered in broken
glass and trash.
Misty Nored, 46, who lives with her
67-year-old mother Brenda Keener a
block away from the Ferry Street Moth-
er's Day party, said May 19 that house
has been quiet since the police re-
sponse. However, the night of May 18
she was kept up until 4 a.m. with stu-
dents gathering in her front yard.
"It was a nightmare," Nored said,
pointing to the footprints in her garden
where she said people were running
through. “The kids haven’t calmed
down, they just found another house, I
think. ” The mother and daughter said
there has been an increase in police offi-
cers, but both were skeptical it would
make a noticeable change in partying
behavior, or the drunk students congre-
gating and urinating in her front yard.
“They can party inside their own
houses. They don’t have to use my front
yard," Keener said. "Quit peeing in my
bushes.”
'Response is out of control and
totally excessive'
Some students, however, say officers
are going too far and ticketing compliant
students who shouldn't be the focus.
UO junior Eric Wasserman, 21, went
to the front of his house at about 10:40
p.m. May 14 to check on the police re-
sponding to a noise complaint about a
20-person birthday party in his back-
yard, and said he was shocked to count
Spill
Continued from Page 1A
11, 2020 and a sheen was visible on the
river for over three months.
The river is home to species of
salmon, which are listed on the Endan-
gered Species Act.
The water from the river is used for
drinking water for cities including Sa-
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2022
|
3A
“calibrating expectations” of students
throwing and attending parties to not
disturb the neighborhood.
“Not every college town has parties
devolve into riots or major public disor-
der problems,” he said.
The increased off-campus police
presence is expected to last through the
rest of the school year, Mozan said.
Continued from Page 1A
commit two of the following violations:
breaking laws related to alcohol such as
minors possessing alcohol, assault,
menacing, harassment, public urina-
tion or defecation, littering, the use of il-
legal fireworks, or using legal fireworks
outside of the permitted times of Dec. 31
to Jan. 1, and June 23 to July 6. On the
weekend of May 14, four party hosts
were cited for an unruly gathering,
which carries a base fine of $375. Along
with tenants, the property owners can
be fined if there are multiple violations
of the ordinance. So far, no property
owners have been cited, but at least two
have been sent letters because their ten-
ants violated the unruly gathering ordi-
nance or came close, according to Lt.
Billy Halvorson.
Since 2013 there have been at least 28
incidents where hosts were cited for un-
ruly gatherings. The years of 2013 and
2016 saw the most citations, with seven
each, according to McLaughlin. At least
six have been cited with the ordinance
so far in 2022, with two from the May 7
Ferry Street party and four the following
weekend, according to Lt. Doug Mozan.
The alleged behavior has also gotten
the attention of the property owners
whose tenants are throwing the parties.
Adam Schulz, an attorney represent-
ing the owners of a house at the corner
of 19th Avenue and Hilyard Street where
tenants were given citations for prohib-
ited noise the past two weekends, called
the alleged behavior at recent parties
"wholly unacceptable." He said the al-
leged behavior appeared to break the
lease agreement.
"Community safety and respect are
the most important thing to my client,"
Schulz said.
Schulz did not say whether tenants
could be evicted because of the behav-
ior, but he said it is a process, and that
the owner, listed as Tracktown Holdings
LLC, is considering options and is talk-
ing with the UO, the tenants and Eugene
Police Department to determine the
next steps.
Attempts to reach the house's ten-
ants for comment were unsuccessful.
Darren Stone, a co-owner of the Jen-
nings Group that manages student
housing, said its tenants can have their
leases terminated if they violate the
prohibited noise ordinance twice in a
six-month period, noting tenants are
sent a written notice after the first vio-
lation. He said the Jennings Group has
not had houses that are part of the re-
cent conflicts, but he said Jennings has
terminated leases in the past following
parties.
"It's the neighborhood we're trying to
protect and do right by when we give
termination letters to tenants who are
behaving badly," Stone said.
The office of William Syrios, an own-
er of the Ferry Street party house, de-
clined to comment on the subject.
|
UO trying to 'better understand
the issue'
The neighborhood west of the University of Oregon on E. 16th Ave. where a large
party occurred in April that spilled into the street. CHRIS PIETSCH/THE REGISTER-GUARD
seven Eugene police cars and a prisoner
transport van that responded. “That re-
sponse is out of control and totally ex-
cessive,” Wasserman told The Register-
Guard.
Wasserman and his roommates were
given $375 citations for excessive
noise,, he said. Wasserman said it came
off as punishing all students for the bad
behavior by a few.
“You can't treat every student as a
criminal because of the actions a few
students took in prior weeks,” he said.
Wasserman wrote in an email to The
Register-Guard and other media outlets
that he plans to fight the citation in
court. He said the partiers turned down
the volume on their portable speaker
prior to 10 p.m. to align with the city's
noise ordinance. It states it's a violation
if the sound is "plainly audible" from in-
side other dwelling units between 10
p.m. and 7 a.m.
Davis Bruton, another 21-year-old ju-
nior at UO who was at the Ferry Street
Mother’s Day party, said he thinks offi-
cers have been instigating conflicts with
students at parties, and more so than
before the pandemic.
"It's like, why are you guys coming to
a house and pushing moms away, telling
them 'If you don't stop talking, I'm going
to take you in, too'?" Bruton said.
'When I see their parents with
them, it hits different'
Bruton and Wasserman questioned
Eugene Police Department's decision to
increase the amount of resources ded-
icated to party response instead of us-
ing the resources for more serious
crimes or issues like addressing home-
lessness. While walking through the
West University area May 13, Bruton
said he saw numerous groups of stu-
dents being cited for open containers
and minors possessing alcohol.
“It was just absurd, like almost every
corner there were flashing lights and
kids sitting on the ground getting writ-
ten up,” Bruton said. “It feels like fresh-
man year and like, the RAs are walking
around the halls trying to write people
up for having alcohol.”
Gillian Zekos, a 38-year-old who lives
on 19th Avenue near a party house at the
intersection of Hilyard Street, felt differ-
ently about the open container enforce-
ment.
She said it has bothered her in the
past to see students with open contain-
ers walking past the university's police
station — sometimes with parents —
without getting ticketed. Zekos said it
evoked a sense of privilege she believes
students have.
“When I see their parents with them,
it hits different,” she said. “It’s like,
‘What makes you think that’s OK?’”
Zekos, who recently graduated from
UO, thinks the Hilyard Street party
house noise nearby hasn't been any
worse lately than it has been in the past.
But the noise still bothers Zekos, to the
point she often has to turn her own ster-
eo up to drown it out.
'We have to say enough’s enough'
lem, Stayton, Turner, Gates and Albany.
The EPA said the spill did not impact
drinking water.
Space Age started cleanup activities
including soil excavation, pumping and
water quality monitoring on the day of
the spill.
Statesman Journal reporter Zach Ur-
ness contributed to this report.
Bill Poehler covers Marion County for
the Statesman Journal. Contact him at
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com
Eugene Lt. Doug Mozan met with re-
porters outside police headquarters
May 15 to discuss the tensions between
police and partiers, and said the depart-
ment hopes more strict enforcement
will adjust the partiers' behavior and
keep it from escalating.
“Our game is always trying to get vol-
untary compliance, but at some point
we have to say enough’s enough,” Mozan
said.
The alleged violent behavior against
police, including punching an officer
and throwing bottles at others, was one
reason the department decided to ramp
up its enforcement, according to Mozan.
When officers get hurt during a re-
sponse, "they're interested in doubling
down on public safety," Mozan said.
In nearly 30 years as an officer, Mo-
zan said, there have been stretches
where police never got involved with
parties and they didn’t cause problems
for neighbors. He said it’s a matter of
Following the first two weekends Eu-
gene Police Department issued press re-
leases about the parties, staff at UO par-
ticipated in ride-alongs to “better un-
derstand the issue,” according to Kay
Jarvis, the school’s director of public af-
fairs issues management.
“We understand and share the com-
munity’s concern regarding parties as-
sociated with college-aged individuals,
some of whom are associated with the
university,” Jarvis said.
Other steps included “educational
outreach” to student groups about un-
ruly parties, and the school’s Office of
Student Conduct and Community Stan-
dards following up directly with stu-
dents who were cited, Jarvis said.
Jarvis noted that the parties are hap-
pening off-campus and therefore are
outside of the University of Oregon Po-
lice Department’s jurisdiction, and that
staff and university police are partner-
ing with Eugene police and plan to visit
tenants at houses with repeat citations
for noise complaints.
Halvorson said the university has in-
formed Eugene police that on May 20
university police, the office of student
conduct and neighbor relations went to
some party houses to have conversa-
tions about behavior and party manage-
ment. If the school’s staff determine a
student violated UO’s code of conduct,
it could lead to “educational sanctions,
disciplinary probation or suspension
depending on the egregiousness” of the
behavior.
The university declined to say
whether any students had been disci-
plined due to the recent parties, citing
privacy laws.
Mozan did not directly answer when
asked if he puts any culpability on the
university, but he confirmed the
school’s dean of students was on a ride-
along and said the university was “very
interested” in the increased police pres-
ence and observing party behavior.
Louis Krauss covers breaking news
for The Register-Guard. Contact him at
lkrauss@registerguard.com, and follow
him on Twitter @LouisKraussNews.