A night out on the town

Bob Ryan, the director of public services for the city of College Park, stands outside city hall at midnight on Halloween, waiting.

Earlier in the week, Ryan said the drinking age should be lowered to 18. He said allowing college students to drink in a legal environment would mitigate many of the unsafe practices found at house parties. He invited anyone to see the parties for themselves and ride along with him on Halloween. No one showed up.

"I'd love to have [university] President [Dan] Mote and [vice president for student affairs] Dr. [Linda] Clement come down with me during the first couple weeks of school," Ryan said.

12:21 a.m. - Corner of Calvert Road and Hopkins Road

A drunken fight breaks out as four police officers and two city code enforcement officers approach a mid-sized house with costume-clad students running about.

The police pull the two young men away from each other. One has blood trickling from his nose as the police try to calm him down. He storms off into the night, still bleeding, as the police start to shut down the party.

The fight, apparently sparked by a dispute over a girl, is not uncommon for big nights, Ryan said.

12:32 a.m. - BERWYN ROAD AND 48TH AVENUE

Doors slam, windows darken and students scatter as Prince George's County Police pull up to a house nearly obscured by more than 20 cars in the street and driveway. A student leans against the side of the house, throwing up, with a red plastic cup in hand. Around the back of the house, a student tries to flee by jumping out a second floor window, only to fall at the feet of the police. He is given a warning and told to go back inside.

"You need to take care of him," Cpl. Andrea Dube told residents. "He can't go home alone."

A refrigerator was found leaning against the back door, blocking the exit and creating a fire hazard. Ryan said in a college environment, standard safety procedures are often overlooked at parties.

"The drinking age has forced dangerous drinking into the least protective environment," Ryan said. "You don't have bouncers in these houses, and even though [College Park] is one of the best policed areas in the county, you can't have an officer in the backyards with the kegs."

1:14 a.m. - NORWICH ROAD AND GIRARD AVENUE

Police and code enforcement officers approach yet another locked, quiet house that was teeming with activity moments before.

"They lock the doors and turn off the lights and pretend that no one is here; it's standard procedure," Ryan said. "And if there's no noise by the time we get here, really, there's nothing we can do."

But the students weren't fast enough this time. Red cups - or as Ryan calls them, "the flower of College Park" - litter the front lawn. Two students open the door and are told to clear out of the house.

One student called out to the officers to plead their case.

"We're all over 21 here," he said.

An officer replied: "We don't care if you're all 30 or 40, you're still in violation of the noise ordinance."

1:25 a.m. - COLLEGE AND RHODE ISLAND AVENUES

The house is quiet as police approach, despite being in the middle of the city's biggest "problem area."

"Without exaggeration, there are literally thousands of kids wandering the streets during the first three weeks of school looking for a party down here," said city Code Enforcement Officer Derek Daves. "We've got our work cut out for us then - it's like the Night of the Living Dead."

Down the street, bars teemed with activity.

"It might be helpful if we had more bars in the city," Ryan said. "Then you wouldn't be limited to four or so places at one intersection, and forced into looking to house parties for something else to do."

1:50 a.m. - METZEROTT ROAD AND 34TH AVENUE

The Crystal Springs neighborhood of College Park has had party mishaps in the past, Ryan said.

"There was a party in one of these houses a few years ago that had so many people, the deck collapsed," he added.

As more than 100 students began filing out of the house, Ryan said the night's events were not unusual.

"As an institution, the university can't really condone breaking the law," Ryan said. "But one of the unintended consequences is that [the legal drinking age] has pushed inexperienced, underage drinkers off campus into unsafe situations. I hope the political pressure isn't too much to prevent the university from making a real recommendation and stop dancing around the issue."

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