By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
In his suit and tie, Gordon Burns looked like he wanted to be anywhere else on Thursday evening. But instead, as part of his deal with the city prosecutor, he sat in the center of neighbors he had offended.
He apologized to the group – people at least twice his age – for his loud party. Burns, a BGSU student, said he wasn’t aware he was causing distress to his neighbors.
“From here on out, I’ll be more aware of my neighbors,” he said to the group that listened quietly.
Burns, who rents a home on South Summit Street, avoided paying a $100 nuisance party fine by working six hours of community services and agreeing to stand up in front of the East Side Neighborhood Association and confess his crime.
Rose Hess, head of the East Side group, told Burns that his neighbors would hold him to his statement.
“Gordon, we are your neighbors,” Hess said in a motherly tone. “We look forward to a better rest of the year.”
Then she gave the student another opportunity to prove his new-found self. She suggested that Burns join others in the Common Good organization and pick up litter in the neighborhood on some Saturdays.
If the police blotter is any indication, the East Side neighbors may be hearing a lot of student apologies this school year.
So far this year, from mid-August to Oct. 2, there have been 16 nuisance party complaints filed on the East Side of the city. That compares to 11 and 12 for the previous two years during the same time period.
One resident in the area of Clough and South Summit streets said the students seemed “unusually rowdy” this year.
Bowling Green Police Chief Tony Hetrick concurred. “I would agree with that. We’re out there enforcing it, trying to keep peace in the neighborhoods.”
“I would encourage you to call if you have problems with your neighbors,” Hetrick told the residents.
A resident of Manville said the problem there is the “roving drunks” coming home in the early morning hours, yelling and banging on her door.
Hess encouraged citizens to not just report problems to the city police, but also with the BGSU Dean of Students. The university code of conduct extends into the neighborhoods, she said.
Hetrick said officers patrol the East Side early on Saturdays and Sundays to make students pick up trash in their yards after parties.
“We wake people up” and make them clean up their front yards, he said.
“I give you guys kudos on that,” one neighbor responded.
But another neighbor, Russ Veitch, asked if the public apologies and community service work are as effective as paying a $100 fine, given the fact that complaints are on the rise.
“Are we being enablers by listening to students say, ‘Gee, I’m sorry,’” Veitch asked.
City Prosecutor Matt Reger said his office tries to be creative with consequences. “We’d rather educate someone rather than just fine them,” he said.
East Sider Eniko Szentkiralyi agreed that students should be given a chance to prove themselves. She has had planters pushed off her porch and chairs taken, but she continues to bake cookies for neighboring students, she said.
“We’ve got to remember to be good neighbors ourselves,” she said. “We need to cut them some slack. They’re not all stupid maniac jerks.”
Hess said there’s a new batch of students to educate every year about being good neighbors. “It’s constant education. I wish we could get the landlords to do as much as we do.”
Reger agreed the students need re-education each year, and said his office sends letters to landlords to let them know of nuisance party problems at their properties.
Another topic discussed at the East Side meeting was the new garbage bin ordinance. A Clough Street resident said she was pleased that bins no longer sit out in front of homes.
But Szentkiralyi voiced a complaint about getting a notice from the city saying “it has come to our attention” that she put trash in her recycling bin. She denied doing that and didn’t appreciate the tone of the letter. “I took great umbrage,” she said.
Szentkiralyi said she goes to the effort to wash her trash containers and puts Bounce dryer sheets in them so they don’t smell foul.
