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Students feel impact of city ordinances

Seniors Steve O'Connell and Chaz Nichols play beer pong at their Church Street residence. If they leave the table outside the students could face a $250 fine.
Seniors Steve O'Connell and Chaz Nichols play beer pong at their Church Street residence. If they leave the table outside the students could face a $250 fine.

Allison Cole and Christopher Washington

Seniors Steve O'Connell and Chaz Nichols play beer pong at their Church Street residence. If they leave the table outside the students could face a $250 fine.

With the new noise, litter and furniture ordinances passed in the spring, the Oxford Police Department (OPD) saw a relatively calm summer with virtually no citations issued.

According to Sgt. Jim Squance of the OPD, summer was very quiet with a very low volume of tickets written.

"I don't think we wrote any citations for (the noise, litter and furniture) ordinances," Squance said. "If the students didn't pick up their beer pong tables, the landlords picked them up and moved them inside or threw them out."

Likewise, the weekend of Aug. 18 saw similar behavior being the first weekend of the school year for incoming and returning students. Squance said although more tickets were issued, students understand the importance of the three ordinances.

"This past weekend, we wrote seven citations for furniture outside," Squance said. "For noise, we wrote about four noise citations the first weekend. I think everybody gets the message."

However, Miami University senior Brian Ulrich said he received his first citation when officers approached his house about a beer pong table supposedly being outdoors and not in use around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18. He said the table was outdoors at the time, but that he had been told earlier that day that it would be acceptable to leave it outside while moving into his home.

Ulrich noted that he saw an increased officer presence that weekend, but that his house had every intention of keeping their beer pong table indoors once moved into the home.

"(The ordinance) is ridiculous," Ulrich said. "Who is to say that our table wasn't manufactured for outdoor use?"

According to Squance, a first offense for violating the ordinance is considered a fourth degree misdemeanor with a $250 fine and court appearance, including an $80 court fee. A second offense and on escalates to a third degree misdemeanor with a $500 fine, court appearance and $80 court cost.

In agreement with Squance, Vice Mayor Prue Dana said the ordinances appear to be effective within the city. However, she said the slightly higher increase in citations over the weekend originated from the higher amount of officers that were on duty.

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"There were no serious arrests, a third of which were underage drinking," Dana said. "There was an increase in arrests made, but on the whole the level of noise and other disturbances was less because of all the police being there."

Dana said as a result of the three new ordinances, students have become more aware of the rules of Oxford.

While Squance feels most students are obeying the ban on outdoor furniture, he also recognizes that some students have been forgetful.

He said that the half a dozen citations is a relatively high number for a three-day period, but said that with the beginning of school and all students have going on, the ban could have easily slipped their minds.

According to Squance, OPD is working closely with city code enforcement, which monitors all codes for Oxford. He said if city code enforcement sees a violation of outdoor furniture, OPD will go to the location and issue a citation.

In addition to code enforcement being on the look out for violations, Squance said officers are vigorously looking for them and citizens are calling in to report offenses.

Squance is hopeful that with the amount of people noticing violations, as the year goes on OPD will not have to enforce the ban as much. For now, he urges students to take the ban seriously.

"If you're not taking (the ban) seriously, be prepared to pay the fine," Squance said.