Party near UO ends with 23 arrests

Eugene police wish the city’s new social host ordinance were already in effect.

Residents of the Campbell Club, a University of Oregon student housing cooperative, wish the police would just go away and mind their own business.

In a familiar story, 23 people were arrested at the student-owned cooperative at 1670 Alder St. early Saturday morning in the latest incident of what police say is out-of-control partying among UO students and other college-age people.

This time, though, police say one officer was “grabbed from behind” and other officers were surrounded by residents during the incident that was first reported at 11:15 p.m. Friday by a neighbor and that police first responded to about an hour later.

“That’s a major, major safety issue,” Eugene police Sgt. David Natt said Saturday afternoon. “Particularly for the officers but also for the people who are participating in that kind of activity.”

This is the second time in recent years that officers have responded to a disturbance at the Campbell Club and made multiple arrests. On Nov. 22, 2008, about a dozen officers responded to a loud party at the house amid suspicions that illegal kegs of beer were on the premises. As was also the case this time, residents refused to allow officers entry to the residence.

During the 2008 party, police obtained a search warrant and found five kegs of beer in violation of state liquor laws. They also found minors hiding in various rooms. Fifteen people were cited as minors in possession of alcohol, 21 for noise disturbance and 11 for furnishing alcohol to minors. Four people were placed in the Lane County Jail on charges that included interfering with a police officer.

The numbers this time?

Of the 23 people arrested Saturday, 14 were confined in the Lane County Jail on charges ranging from noise violations to interfering with police to resisting arrest. Also, eight were cited for minor in possession of alcohol.

On Saturday, at least 15 officers and “numerous supervisors” responded, Natt said.

“Typically, in a situation like this … our goal is to speak to the residents of the location and advise them why we are there and what the circumstances are in an effort to gain our compliance and get the situation resolved,” he said. But residents refused to open the door, said Natt, who was not one of the responding police personnel. “It’s been described to me as the door was barricaded from within,” he said.

Police estimated that 200 to 250 people were at the party.

Campbell Club resident Lee Andres disputed that on Saturday, saying no more than 125 people were at the party.

“This was our smallest and quietest party of the term and possibly the school year,” said Andres, 21, a former UO student who said he is a dishwasher and musician.

Andres said the party was a benefit for a gay and lesbian organization. He described the officers’ actions as “excessive” and said “14 of my house renters were arrested for what none of us can see is any good reason.”

Just like in November 2008, Andres said, police knocked down doors of individual rooms.

“Some doors were kicked down or completely destroyed,” he said. One resident “was grabbed from his room and basically shoved downstairs.”

Police also confiscated residents’ personal belongings, Andres said, including a stereo system, two monitors, at least one computer and a video projector “which is in no way, shape or form sound equipment.”

Natt said the Campbell Club is “a common and ongoing location for us in that neighborhood for many years.” He added that the city’s new social host ordinance, unanimously passed by the City Council on Jan. 28, would have been a nice tool to use in this case. But the ordinance doesn’t go into effect until March 2, and police will not begin enforcing it until April 2 after a month of using it as an education tool.

The ordinance covers parties where alcohol is served and five or more people are present and two or more offenses are taking place, such as excessive noise, drinking in public, disorderly conduct or public urination.

The ordinance was one of 14 recommendations that emerged from the deliberations of a Neighborhood Livability Working Group. The 28-member committee of residents, city and university officials, property owners and students met for more than a year, studying drinking-related problems in the university area.

Residents who are cited a second and subsequent times for having unruly parties will be subject to increasing penalties that include residents having to pay for the cost of the police response.

“This is kind of a prime example of why that ordinance is going to be enforced,” Natt said. “It had all the predicate offenses that are listed in that ordinance. It would have been an important tool for us to be able to apply that ordinance here.”

Contacted Saturday, City Councilor Alan Zelenka, whose district includes the UO, said: “In this case … the response cost would have been huge.”

According to its website, the Campbell Club is part of the Students’ Cooperative Association, a nonprofit, student-owned and -governed housing cooperative with about 25 to 30 residents.

“It’s totally inappropriate,” Zelenka said, referring to alcohol-fueled parties that lead to confrontations with the police. “I don’t know exactly what happened here, but it doesn’t sound very good.”

The social host ordinance is a “direct result” of the campus area neighborhood trying to deal with “party houses that do this over and over,” he said. “There’s no silver bullet to solve the problem … and what we’re trying to do is deal with it in a bunch of different ways. And this is one way.”

Mayor Kitty Piercy said Saturday that solving the problem of campus area parties has “got to be a combined effort” between the city and the UO.

As for what happened at the Campbell Club on Friday night and early Saturday morning, Piercy said: “I have to assume that our officers were doing what is their duty. But I would need to talk to Chief (Pete) Kerns before I opine.”

During its crafting of the social host ordinance, the working group suggested that the UO change its student conduct code so the university could punish students if they are convicted or cited for off-campus alcohol-related offenses.

On Saturday, UO spokesman Phil Weiler said he didn’t know enough about this latest incident to make an appropriate response, but he said: “Students need to understand that they are members of a community, and they have responsibilities to their neighbors.”