By Signe K. Skinion

Despite 14 arrests Tuesday night when party-goers took the Strip, one city official said the overall Halloween weekend was a success for the city’s attempts to control the party tradition.

City Manager Jeff Doherty said the crowd taking the Strip over after the bars closed at 2 a.m. was nothing unusual and felt the efforts of a joint city and University Halloween task force were effective.

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I was pleased with the ways the task force handled the situation, Doherty said. In total context, I think the measures taken worked. There was only one major incident involving a canister of tear gas being thrown by a member of the crowd at the police, but there was one person taken into custody in relation to that situation. We had no reason to use any tear gas Tuesday night. The police had mace available, but that wasn’t really used except in rare incidents.

At 1:55 a.m., bar patrons began filing out to the Strip, chanting SIU, SIU . . . In response, the police lined up on the streets in front of the crowd of about 500 people, spacing at about one police officer to every 20 people. At 2 a.m. the crowd moved onto the street, disregarding the police warnings to stay on the sidewalk. For the next few minutes people stayed on the street, screaming and yelling that the city couldn’t take away Halloween.

Jay Grugvwski, SIUC junior business management major, said, This feels great. This is how it should always be.

Gregg Goodhart, music teacher’s assistant at SIUC and classical guitar major and a member of the crowd taking the Strip, said it should be taken because it is the only way to get city and school officials to listen.

I’ve been here a long time and everyone knew they (the crowd) were going to take the Strip, Goodhart said. The real reason behind this is not that Southern Illinois is trying to shed the party image, it is that Southern Illinois is not loyal to its constituents. The reputation SIU has gotten is we don’t care what you student’s want, we’re going to vote the way we want to.’ The administration doesn’t reflect the views of the students that’s the problem. They completely ignore the students and that’s the reputation SIU has gotten unfortunately. And that’s the B.S.

At 2:10 a.m., the police began moving partiers back to the sidewalks, where the crowd shouted at the police.

One group of partiers in front of Sam’s Cafe at 521 S. Illinois Ave. began dancing the Hokey Pokey in front of some of the officers. Others tried to start a wave.

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Almost all of the14 people were arrested at this time and 11 are confirmed SIUC students, according to police officials. Several people were arrested for mob action and for obstructing roadways.

There were also people setting off MacGyver bombs, Doherty said.

A MacGuyver bomb is basically a chemical reaction that causes a small explosion, Doherty said. They are very dangerous. There were suspects fleeing from the site when the second one went off. However, no one was apprehended.

At 3 a.m., the police cleared the area declaring mob action and threatened arrest for those who did not move away from the Strip. Some of the crowd members, like Brett Wilcoxen, SIUC junior in radio and television from Freeburg and a Halloween party-goer, began expressing their discontent at the police action.

I think it’s completely ridiculous the way they handled the situation, Wilcoxen said. Halloween is just a chance for SIU to have a lot of camaraderie, and they’re busting it up. The saddest thing is the students let them. Now I’m looking for the nearest non-Communist country.

On Friday and Saturday night all establishments that sell alcohol were closed down or restricted from selling alcohol. On Sunday and Monday nights, business was slow throughout the Strip with very few people out generating no activity.

A roadside safety check was set up by the state police at the corner of Illinois Route 13 and Giant City Road on Friday and Tuesday night. State Police Patrol Commander, Lt. Charles L. Mays, said there were 46 arrests and 64 written warnings on Tuesday night and 43 arrests and 60 written warnings on Friday night ranging from seat belt tickets to driving under the influence charges. He said traffic both nights was very light compared to other nights when the police do safety checks.

It (the safety check) was longer in the past activity-wise, Mays said. We classified both nights as light traffic, compared to medium or heavy traffic. The traffic on Friday night was a lot lighter than Tuesday night, especially after 11 p.m.

Mays said there were some state police also on the Strip Tuesday night, but they were only there to observe and did not participate in crowd control.

Overall the Halloween weekend was quiet, especially compared to years past, and it is believed that the new restrictions deterred a lot of the past problems, Doherty said.

We need to remember that this is a five year effort, Doherty said. I think people realize this and I’m very pleased with how the weekend turned out. There was nothing this weekend, and the neighborhoods were quiet. I think everything was handled without any major confrontations, and that’s the bottom line.

University officials were unavailable for comment on Wednesday.