DAILY KENT STATER Friday, October 29, 2010 • The independent student newspaper of Kent State University • Weather: Partly cloudy HI 49, LO 36
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Police ready for another Halloween celebration Every officer and SWAT will be on duty, foresee mostly alcohol-related offences HALLOWEEN
Ryan Young
ryoung28@kent.edu
2010
Daniel Moore
dmoore63@kent.edu Daily Kent Stater Each Halloween, hundreds of Kent State students and local residents line the streets downtown, determined to have a festive Saturday evening. This year, the entire 42-officer Kent police force and a SWAT team will attempt to keep partygoers safe. The SWAT team is comprised of departments from Summit and Portage counties, including the Kent Police Department. The team will provide “additional manpower to provide for officer safety and crowd safety,” Lt. Jayme Cole said. “Typically, all officers are assigned to wear utility uniforms on Halloween Saturday for safety reasons, so some people may perceive there are ‘SWAT teams’ roaming around, but the reality is that all the officers patrolling on foot are functioning as regular, normal foot patrols,” he said. Kent State Police Chief John Peach said the university police are ready to assist the city police if needed. “If there is a disruption in off-campus housing and they need backup, we will be ready to provide that,” Peach said. “That is, if we’re not too busy ourselves.” Kent State Police don’t expect this Halloween weekend to be any different than last year’s or the year before that. Lt. Bill Buckbee said although the department does not allocate any money
specifically for Halloween, it will have more officers working and more police on bike and foot. That’s why the department also knows what criminal behavior to look for, Buckbee said “Alcohol-related offenses are most common,” Buckbee said. Underage consumption, open containers and disorderly conduct are among the most common. “Fortunately, the crimes tend to be lowto-middle-level disorder, and seldom more serious such as assaults.” Topping the list of charges for the evening was underage drinking, with 38 arrests during the celebrations and 36 on Halloween. Usually, there is a weekend court to accommodate the arrests made during the festivities, but Judge Kevin Poland has decided that it is not necessary this year. During last year’s Kent Halloween celebration, there were 88 calls to the police department and 68 arrests. On Halloween day, there were 98 calls and 78 arrests. That’s almost double the calls for an average Saturday night in October, estimated at around 45, and almost seven times the average of 10 arrests. Despite the expected crime, Buckbee emphasized the importance of the holiday as a fun way for students to enjoy the town. “Downtown is the place to be,” he said. “It’s the center of entertainment for the night.”
Sorority members volunteer to clean mess left by hundreds of partiers downtown Mariana Silva
msilva1@kent.edu
HOW TO STAY SAFE AND OUT OF THE BLOTTER
Daily Kent Stater
n Don’t
drive downtown, and if you have to, keep valuables out of sight and doors locked.
The City of Kent and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority have partnered for what may be the first time students participate in Halloween cleanup. “We figured why not move outside the campus and do something that can involve the entire city, especially in a time that — Halloween is such a big deal — it can get kind of rowdy,” said Alascia Jones, president of the sorority. “People are all over the place and when everybody goes to sleep, you find craziness.” Kent Service Director Eugene Roberts said this is the first time he can recall students volunteering to clean the city after Halloween. He said the job is normally left to the city, business owners, residents and Kent State. “This year sounds like Kent State students have stepped up and are willing to
n If
you’re going downtown, it’s best to walk, use public transportation or get a cab.
n Try
FILE PHOTO BY TESSA BARGAINNIER | DAILY KENT STATER
Pac-Man eats one of his ghoulish friends outside The Works on Main Street in downtown Kent during Halloween in 2009.
to choose a costume that is visible to drivers.
n Don’t
bring any costume-related accessories that could be used as a weapon. For example, “If you’re masquerading as Fred Flintstone, you can’t carry a real or realistic-looking club,” Kent police Lt. Jayme Cole said.
Source: Kent Police Department
KENTWIRED.COM When you go downtown, so will our reporters. Follow @KentWired and use #kwhalloween on Twitter. Look for Stater photographers to get your photos taken in costume. Then check online Sunday afternoon to see continuing coverage.
“
Kent State students have stepped up and are willing to say, ‘OK, we were part of the party the night before, and now we are going to help clean up our party leftovers.’ Eugene Roberts Kent Service Director
say ‘OK, we were part of the party the night before, and now we are going to help clean up our party leftovers,’” Roberts said. Jones said more than 150 people, including other organizations on campus and individuals, registered for the event. She said
she is still hearing from people who want to participate even though the deadline for registration was Monday. Jones said individuals and groups are still encouraged to register, but people are also welcome to tag along for the cleanup. “We are just glad we had such a good response and that people actually want to help. We didn’t really know what was going to happen,” Jones said. “This is the first time we ever did anything like this. So we are just happy we had a good response.” The students will meet from 11 a.m. to about 2 p.m. Sunday at the Spirit Rock near front campus. After that, Jones said students will be divided up into groups to clean the streets between River Street and Midway Drive Judy Smith, a Lincoln Street resident who has lived in Kent for six decades, said it’s about time students clean after themselves. She added that she doesn’t think Kent State students are the only ones to blame. See CLEANUP, Page 6
Trick-or-treating comes early for children in Stark Issac Profitt
iprofitt@kent.edu Daily Kent Stater Vampires, goblins and fairies all found their way from children’s books to Kent State Stark Campus for the third annual Boo U. It is a fall celebration for parents to bring their little monsters to trick-or-treat and enjoy storytelling, games and a swamp walk. The children got a complete Halloween experience thanks to all of the trick-or-treat tables, each of which was decorated by a different student organization. Stark Campus Dean Walter Wagor posed a competition where the group with best-decorated table won a monetary prize. Beverly Potch of North Canton brought
her daughter who was dressed as Pebbles from the Flintstones cartoon. “She’s a great artist so she’s looking forward to the art contest and coloring,” Potch said. “I love seeing these kids’ faces. It’s such a good time.” The event has been a success since it was launched, bringing in more than 1,000 people every year. The night’s highlight was the spooky storytelling in the Campus Center building, where children gathered for interactive book reading and a science experiment. Rachel Figueroa, marketing coordinator for the Stark campus, assisted in organizing the fun-night. “This is a real community event because several organizations came together to make this happen,” Figueroa said. “There were even fliers being passed around in
ALTERNATE PARTY ISSUES Constitution Party
Gay Rights
Marriage is defined by God as a union between a man and a woman, and the Constitution should not be amended to alter this definition.
Libertarian Party Government has no right to define or restrict personal relationships or lifestyle choices.
Green Party All discrimination, including gender-based, is wrong, and all citizens should receive the same treatment and benefits as everybody else.
local schools so the kids are excited well before the event.” Boo U is a joint effort by Stark’s Ohio Collegiate Music Education Association and the Kent Stark Music Club. Beth Recob, junior music education major, was the stunning princess who was passing out candy. This is her third year working on Boo U. “It’s a great way to get the kids exposed to college early,” Recob said. “It sends the message that yes we’re a small college, but still a fun college.” Lauren Miller, sophomore education major, instructs Jessie Carpenter, 3, of North Canton, during an activity at Boo U at the Kent State Stark Campus.
Third-party candidates offer choices beyond Democrats and Republicans Plead their case before Tuesday election Kate Sheafer
Health Care
Marijuana Legalization
ksheafer@kent.edu Not discussed
All health care should be placed in the hands of the individuals to ensure that individuals have complete choice of coverage without government involvement.
Marijuana should be completely legalized, and adults should be allowed to use the drug responsibly without fear of punishment.
Victimless crimes, such as possession of small amounts of marijuana, should be decriminalized, and medical marijuana should be an option for those seeking alternative medicine.
Free market health care is best. Ideally, health-care expenditures would be 100 percent tax deductible, and the industry would be deregulated.
All individuals should be guaranteed health care that is administered by the state and funded by private and public funds already committed to the health-care system.
ANTHONY VENCE | DAILY KENT STATER
Daily Kent Stater With Election Day less than a week away, most races are focused around the main political parties. But candidate options extend beyond the Democrats and Republicans. Though there is no doubt that these two parties regularly control the polls, third party candidates can collect a significant percentage of votes as well. This year, the Green, Constitution and Libertarian parties have all put forth candidates in some of the top races of the election. Constitution Party Think back to elementary school history class. Remember all those old documents
written by the founding fathers? Think of those as the party guidelines. Robert Owens, the Constitution Party’s candidate for attorney general, follows the party values because he feels federal government has grown too large and has taken on too many roles. “Government at the federal level is limited to the enumerated powers of Article 1 Section 8 (of The Constitution),” Owens said. “We really need to keep things local and accountable.” That section of the Constitution lists each specific power the federal government holds. Owens said government regulations have caused some of the problems with the job market today, leaving students with fewer job options upon graduation. “The government is getting involved in things that they should not be involved in,” Owens said. “What we seek to do is to limit the role of the federal government so that pri-
vate industry can actually flourish and create jobs and business opportunities for college graduates to enjoy.” Green Party
While Constitution Party members campaign for less government involvement, Green Party members see a need for more government help. Though the party generally places a very strong focus on environmental issues, which is reflected in its “green” name, another major issue supported by gubernatorial candidate Dennis Spisak is the need for a better education system. “We’re a big proponent of supporting and looking for more government support of primary, secondary and higher education,” Spisak said. “We believe that the state has not done a very good job of funding education in general in Ohio.” Particularly relevant to Kent State students, Spisak said, is the state’s recent cut in See ALTERNATE, Page 6