Attempting to discourage Halloween parties in Carbondale this year, the city has adopted tougher policies regarding Halloween weekend, city officials say.

Sharon Hammer, city attorney, said the policies are not altogether new, but will be strictly enforced over Halloween weekend.

The laws were passed by the city council in the fall, Hammer said. There is the boundary law that extends from Walnut Street to Grand Avenue and University Avenue to the railroad tracks, Hammer said. In this area, businesses won’t be able to sell alcohol from Friday, Oct. 27 until Sunday, Oct. 29. This applies to all liquor licensees.

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Under the law, all bars and liquor stores in the area known as the strip will be closed from Friday until Sunday during SIUC’s Halloween break, and all restaurants in the area will be open, but unable to sell alcohol, Hammer said.

There is also the provision that anything larger than two gallons containing an alcoholic beverage cannot be sold or possessed except by licensed individuals, Hammer said. This will begin at 2 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26 and end on Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 2 a.m. The maximum fine on both provisions is $500.

Obviously, the problems in the past have been on South Illinois Avenue, and that is where we are concentrating, Doherty said. This year there is a certain unknown with the University closing and some people leaving and some staying.

The city expects it to be a normal weekend for the students remaining, Doherty said.

We’ll treat all those people who are staying like it’s a normal weekend, Doherty said. Those who are reasonable won’t be visited (by the police). Those who are being unreasonable and rowdy will be visited. I hope people will be reasonable that weekend.

The bottom line for Halloween weekend is the strip will be closed down in hopes of discouraging any partiers from causing problems as they have in the past, Doherty said.

What all of this means is Thursday night the bars and liquor stores will close and will not and cannot open again until 8 a.m. on Sunday, but they can’t sell alcohol until 1 p.m. like normal, Doherty said.

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University classes will be closed over the break, but campus dorms will remain open. SIUC completely closing down for the weekend would be for the best, Doherty said.

I would have preferred to see Housing closed that weekend, Doherty said. People coming into Carbondale have had an impact on what has happened in the past, but last year it was University students causing a lot of the problems. The person who overturned the car last year was a student.

The city hopes the new laws will discourage problems that have happened in the past from happening again, and all of these laws will be in effect for the next five years to prevent problems from reoccurring, Doherty said.

I hope everybody understands what the community is trying to do by putting this party behind us, Doherty said. It’s not a good image to have and is a determent to anyone from SIU and Carbondale and we shouldn’t have a bad reflection because of one weekend.