Sunday, November 25, 2007
Editorial: When revelry turns ugly in Blacksburg
Some bar patrons have gotten out of control.
From the RoundTable blog
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Visitors to downtown Blacksburg after bar-closing time enter a different world. Young adults, many of them intoxicated, overrun the dark streets, especially Draper Road. Residents and business owners are rightly worried.
Some of the complaints are typical of college towns. Full-time residents enjoy all of the amenities but hate the bars, drunken students, late-night noise and revelry. Such is the price of living alongside thousands of students.
What has been going on in Blacksburg lately, though, is beyond typical friction. Several people have reported assaults, and the Draper area has become a site of barely contained chaos when the bars close on the weekends. Overheated hormones fueled by alcohol have already erupted in several fights.
Police response is hampered by limited resources. On a weekend night, a couple of officers might patrol the downtown while a couple more must deal with problems in the rest of the town. They converge in an emergency, but they cannot be everywhere.
The department is about the same size it was more than a decade ago even though the town has enjoyed modest growth. As a start to tackling the problems, the town council in its upcoming budget discussions might consider devoting more resources to the department.
People, even young people, have a right to go to bars. It is the troublemaking that runs afoul of the law.
Many of the revelers, police report, are not even Tech students. They come to Blacksburg clubs from Roanoke, Radford and beyond. Yet they, too, have a right to be there. Additional drunken driving checkpoints could help control those visitors, but again manpower becomes a problem.
Improving safety will require more than just throwing additional uniformed officers on downtown streets.
Club owners, especially those who own focal points like Oge-Chi's, must continue to work with police and to beef up their own security. Given the number of weapons confiscated downtown, some establishments might consider metal detectors at the doors.
Virginia Tech also must step up its role. Campus parking lots at the downtown interface, for example, should remain clear of crowds late at night. The school could also study the effectiveness of its judicial system and on-campus enforcement.
Short of violating the rights of individuals and businesses, Blacksburg will find no easy solution to the creatures of the night. It must start with cooperation among police, businesses and the university.
