Feature

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Riot

War-Torn Eugene struggles to achieve order amidst anarchy.

Twenty-one year-old Mayo Finch can tell you all about the amenities of the Lane County Jail. That's because he spent Halloween weekend there, unable to pay his bail after being charged with the crime of consuming alcohol on an unlicensed premises and resisting arrest. The night began like many others for Finch and his cousin, out looking for a party and some action, when they happened upon the last gasp of a riot. Seeing Eugene police cruisers, they decided to play it safe and leave. But before they had the chance to flee the area, police cars had pulled in front and behind them. Finch shortly found himself being cuffed by beleaguered and exhausted police, and when he politely asked what he was being detained for, the officers told him to be quiet. He then asked that his cuffs be loosened, only to find them being promptly tightened. That's when one of the officers slipped and fell in the post-melee mud, and according to Mayo, was the reason he was charged with resisting arrest and was dumped off at Lane County Corrections. "I was being completely docile," he said, saying that looking like a college student is probably what got him arrested.

Finch is just one of many student bystanders vilified because of the riots, as well as an example of how the West University neighborhood rioting has not only made everyone look bad, but ignited animosity between students, residents, the University, young people and police. The recent skirmishes between party-goers, street signs, and riot police have seen denunciations of student binge drinking and irresponsibility. It has also brought on a hail of eager gestures from city and University politicians, who see a golden opportunity to cash in on public sentiment. Whether coming down on the side of Law and Order or that of Student's Rights, both sides see an electoral goldmine in the role of community educator and peacemaker. Yet since situations like these often breed polemic rhetoric, local pols are also equally careful to avoid the political sinkhole these issues can become. This has all led to confusing, sometimes contradictory statements from the city. Local media coverage has picked up both the "zero-tolerance" spin as well as the "community solutions" routine coming form City Hall. With all the discussion surrounding causes and solutions, one wonders whether all the lip service and attempts to shuck the situation off on landlords or blame students will address the real causes or get at legitimate solutions.

One of the most high-profile propositions, which was put forth by Mayor Torrey - and one which critics say is the most misguided - is making landlords and property management companies responsible for damages which occur during out-of-control parties. Local property mangers and students alike feel that Torrey has proposed an idea which is superfluous and reactionary.

"I'm appalled that our mayor felt landlords should be responsible for the behavior of tenants," Joy Poust, a property management broker for Spyglass Associates, said. Poust says that if the city put into effect a ruling of this sort, it would be a "highly contested issue," sand probably wouldn't hold up. While she suggest student's parents would be the more obvious heir apparent for damage liability, she echoes the sentiments of many residents who feel that responsibility should ultimately lie with the students themselves, not the landlords. "If they want to pay for damages, they're picking the wrong people," she said. Asked if a likely outcome of such a ruling would be higher rent for students, Poust simply said raising rents for students would entail discrimination. Yet other landlords are more forthcoming about the proposal's effects.

"The liability insurance would go up [with the proposed rule], and I would definitely have to pass the cost on to the students and others living in the area," said Bill Miller, a property manager with a slew of rentals in the West University area.

"Any added expense always filters down to the renter," Miller said, adding that it is virtually impossible for landlords to notice a trouble spot before it is too late. Miller that if the city did anything, it should be better alcohol enforcement, but feels that the current state rental laws are adequate.

ASUO President Bill Miner believes another side-effect of the policy would be a skyrocketing of student evictions. "At the first fart you would get evicted," he said. As a landlord, Miller agreed. "It's justification to evict people. We would target people who have had several police calls and say "it's time to do something," he said.

However, Miller pointed out that students aren't the ones some landlords feel are the problem tenants, and he said local politicians are off-target concentrating their efforts on students. "In the [West University] housing community the biggest problem with alcohol is non-students who come to mooch beer. It's not really a University of Oregon problem per se," he says.

According to Miller, one reason for that is what he calls the "insatiable appetites for high-end housing" near campus that has left many less expensive properties vacant. "Construction of new housing is mostly high-end and that makes all the sleazy stuff available," he said, noting that he hasn't had this many vacancies since 1986. Miller has had to cut the price of some lower-end rentals near campus, with some cut almost 40 percent between quarters. "Non-students come from areas west of Jefferson to live near campus - and that's where most of he problems come from," he said, explaining that the police trouble he's seen has resulted from a mix he said isn't good. He added that dealing with troublesome non-student rentals can sometimes be "pure hell," as compared with the students who rent from him.

Elaine Green, Student Conduct Code Coordinator for the University, also felt party-seekers from out of the area or out of town are more to blame than students. At a neighborhood meeting that included residents, police, University officials and students, Green said that the West University area is the neighborhood that people come from all over the city looking for parties. "High-schoolers and young people come to from all over the city and state," she said. "Party crashers" come seeking free beer and "that level of excitement," according to green. Although it was pointed out to angry residents at the meeting that 75 percent of people arrested were not students, talk was of "herds of drunk students, 25 or 30 strong," wreaking havoc, as one horrified attendee characterized Halloween night.

Sergeant Poppe of the Eugene Police Department said the large number of student-age people living in the area who are "not employed, not in school, but still enjoying it all" are a mystery to the EPD.

So, with all these facts, why is talk still centering around "student binge drinking" as the cause of the riots? For one thing, the population who prefer the law and order stance carry a good amount of political capital. The line coming out of city hal ljust after the Halloween riot was a call for "zero tolerance." Council member Bobby Lee said that there are groups in Eugene which are "pro-pro police," and that senior citizens are especially supportive of strong police action, a surprising number of which live in the West University area. An older man present at the Nov. 13 meeting demanded loudly that "the students that wer [at the riots] point out those students [responsible for the damage] and make them pay the price." Brian Terrett, Public Information Director for the city played into the out-of-control student hysteria, telling the Oregon Daily Emerald that "anytime [the Eugene police] see a party, they'll respond and start issuing citations to people under 21, no matter what. Zero tolerance means just that - zero tolerance. If people have parties and this is the result, then people shouldn't have parties." Torrey, a traditional strong supporter of Eugene police, apparently back the "zero tolerance" theme, telling the Emerald he was going to "put a lid on this" situation.

Miner, however, wasted little time in coming out against the "zero tolerance" approach. Miner met with Torrey to voice his concerns about the proposals and the zero tolerance stance towards student parties. According to Miner, Torrey's hard line was just a bluff and Torrey told him as much at their Nov. 5 meeting.

"[Torrey] assured me it was just to get people's attention," Miner said, explaining that the ideas such as landlord responsibility were currently "off the table." Miner's response is predictable in light of his University constituency that is rightfully worried about the effects of a zero tolerance policy would have.

Lee, on the other hand, who represents the West Eugene Neighborhood, is caught between weary residents in the area, weary police, and defensive students. Lee wrapped up the neighborhood meeting with a proclamation for the benefit of non-student area residents.

"The upcoming Ducks and Beavers game makes me nervous. If we have another riot, the laws are going to change in this town," he declared. Yet in an interview afterward, knowing he was speaking to a student audience, he colored his stance differently.

"I'm not there yet," he said, referring to the proposed ideas including extending student conduct code jurisdiction. "I think it will create more problems than solutions," he said. Later, he again characterized the idea of property damage as a "foreign concept to students." Lee refused to realize what the feelings of other council members were, but as of yet none have come out with any statements.

At the same meeting, Eugene police representatives displayed stiff faces while confronted with student accusationsn of helping escalates the party into a riot. The day after the riot, Ryan Nelson told the Emerald that the police used "general bullying" and an "abuse of power" to control the situation. "I think it could have been handled a hell of a lot better," he said. Lee said that while the EPD has contributed somewhat to tensions with certain population segments, he also sympathizes with the predicament faced by Police Chief Brown.

"I can't tell my officer when he gets his first thrown to just drive off and not say anything to anyone," Brown said.

Questions of culpability aside, some within the police community question the wisdom of officers spending large quantities of money and large parts of their nights patrolling and breaking up parties. Sergeant Dave Poppe, the EPD's campus area supervisor, said that the cost of party calls, especially out-of-controls ones, is enormous.

The cost of riot gear, callback time, overtime and mutual aid from other departments can easily run upwards of $10,000 dollars for a night like the last riot, according to Poppe. Lee agrees. "The cost to the taxpayer is huge," he said.

Poppe said that costs like this can only be absorbed by the department for so long. Some cities have guidelines which charge the person having the party by the hour when a third patrol car is called to the same location. "It's a pretty heavy charge," he said, explaining that Springfield has an ordinance which deals with the expense of chronic calls by way of a civil procedure which allows police to collect damage from the person having the party.

The 200 alcohol-related arrests this year have highlighted the cost that students can occur when the police get called. Urinating in public, the cheapest offense, is only 40. But get into Minor Possessing Alcohol and Disorderly Conduct, and you're into the hundreds of dollars. Possessing an invalid drivers license can run you $640, and noise violations run from $350 for the first offense to $750 for the second. Standard bail for a DUI is nearly $6,000.

So, is there any real workable solutions being suggested. Not yet, it seems. Miner has suggested things like more alcohol-free events and concerts, such as opening Mac Court at night and bringing big-name bands to town. But these will fail to address the same number of people who are causing the problems. Miner also suggested that the University buy the West University neighborhood and turn it into a co-op to rent to students for cheap prices. Although this would solve the problem of non-students and families clashing with students, it could also turn the area into a student ghetto. To his credit, Miner has canvassed the area talking with residents and opening lines of communication between the groups, hoping to solve the problem without making pariahs for students who party pariahs. Sergeant Poppe isn't sure a solution will be found. "I don't know if we'll ever get to the few people who are causing the problem," he said.

Chris Kenning, a Senior majoring in Journalism, is a staff writer for the Oregon Commentator