City manager Jeff Doherty said Carbondale enacted the most strict set of Halloween rules in the event’s history this year. The long-range goal of tightening restrctions is to completely disassociate the holiday with Carbondale and SIUC, he said.

We want to get to a point where we’re not concerned about Halloween, he said.

A riot broke out on the strip last year that led to the shattering of business windows, the flipping of cars and the macing of people.

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Taking last year’s ban on keg sales in Carbondale further, city officials made it illegal to posess a keg within the city. The rule went into effect Thursday and ends Oct. 31 at 2 a.m. Anyone caught with a keg in Carbondale during this time is subject to a $500 fine.

Bars and liquor stores on the Strip will be closed all day Friday and Saturday. Restaurants on the Strip can open but will not be allowed to sell alcohol on Friday and Saturday.

Any business located between University Avenue and the railroad tracks and Walnut Street and Grand Avenue falls under these restrictions.

Doherty said the three-day fall break is also a crucial part of the plan to end Halloween. He said having people go home for the weekend reduces the number of partiers not only by having students away but also by preventing many out-of-town partiers from coming to Carbondale because their friends may be gone for the weekend.

The laws are the product of reccomendations made by the Mayoral/ Presidential Task Force on Halloween. The task force, formed by Mayor Nell Dillard and SIUC President John Guyon, was made up of city and University officials, students and community members.

Doherty said the elimination approach toward Halloween is the result of failed attempts in the past to make something positive of the street party.

He said some students on the task force wondered why something positive could not be done with Halloween. After showing them a written history of the event, Doherty said the students agreed that Halloween was a black eye for the University and city and that it should be ended.

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Carbondale police chief Don Strom said the work done by the task force showed that nobody, students included, wants a repeat of last years Halloween.

Strom said the police department is preparing for Halloween by anticipating possible situations that might occur over the weekend, and preparing appropriate responses.

Strom said extra officers will be on duty over the weekend and on Halloween.

There will be a police presence, Strom said.

Strom said the police will deal with house parties the same as they would any other weekend.

As for kegs, Strom said somebody would have to go out of their way to get a keg right now, which illustrates a conscious decision to violate the law.

If somebody is in obvious violation of the law they will be held accountable, Strom said.

Lt. Andrew Smith said the University police will also have extra officers on duty, but he said the University police are downsizing from last year.

We are not using the same amount of man power as we did last year, Smith said.

The student’s departure from campus will give the University Police a chance to increase building security, and said officers will be checking doors, windows and other security measures over the break, Smith said.

In other words we will be making sure that those doors that are locked when people leave are still locked when they bet back, Smith said.

Strom said the Carbondale police will be doing burglary patrols over the break in the student off-campus housing areas.