Autumn officially begins today. To celebrate, I’m taking the day off from blogging. 🙂 Feel free to use this post as an open thread to talk about whatever is on your mind.
If you can’t think of anything to say, here’s an idea: the $700 billion bailout. I keep hearing how this bailout is absolutely critical, and that the alternative would be worse. But I can’t find a report that specifically, in layman’s terms, explains “the alternative.” What specifically would happen to the economy if taxpayers didn’t bail out Wall Street? (Catch phrases like “economy would grind to a halt” don’t count.) Can anyone explain it to me or give me a link?
That’s the lamest excuse for a day off I’ve ever heard 😉
More on expensive oil.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/15/news/economy/500dollaroil_okeefe.fortune/index.htm
Trees are changing colors already…I don’t recall it happening this soon before.
I could explain it to you, but that much work on the first day of autumn would be sacrilege.
CJ: Great question — exactly what would happen? In all fairness — the court should just refigure everyone’s mortgage — those who are paying on time and the duffers (as my grandma would say) —- sheesh — where does it end? Rewarding inappropriate behavior and someone made lots of $ somewhere in this chain of events. I will never believe that people did not know they couldn’t afford the house that they were purchasing. Where is this entitlement / lack of personal responsibility and accountability going to end?
DEAR GOD!!
Van Auken, BU spar on noise
Councilwoman, fraternity leader, Peoria and university police converge during disagreement
Photos
Andrew Rand (left) and Barbara Van Auken.
By Leslie Fark and Erinn Deshinsky
of the Journal Star
Posted Sep 22, 2008 @ 10:08 PM
PEORIA —
Bradley University fraternity called the police on Councilwoman Barbara Van Auken over the weekend while she was investigating a constituent’s complaint about noise in her district.
Van Auken, who represents the city’s 2nd District, which includes the school and surrounding neighborhoods, was attending a friend’s dinner party Friday night near fraternity row when she learned a nearby resident was having problems with a loud gathering at Sigma Nu.
The resident complained that yelling and laughter coming from the fraternity house, 1300 W. Fredonia Ave., had awakened her three children and that she had twice tried to get Bradley officers to handle the situation, to no avail.
Sigma Nu president Caleb Matheny, 21, said the gathering involved no more than 15 people. Matheny said Bradley officers had responded earlier in the night, and per request of a neighbor, the group moved to the front yard, closer to campus and away from the offended neighbors.
Though it was about 12:30 a.m. Saturday and she admittedly had drank “two glasses of wine and a couple of sips of an after-dinner drink,” Van Auken, with neighborhood resident Andrew Rand, who is the executive director of AMT, and an unidentified man went to confront the party-goers.
“This is every weekend, every weekend,” Van Auken said Monday of similar complaints she receives. “These neighbors are the most tolerant residents. They know they live next to a university. They are not whiners (but) they are totally fed up with it. I wanted to hear it for myself.”
Van Auken said as she approached Barker Avenue and Duryea Place she could hear the noise coming from the fraternity house. She climbed the steps to the house and announced who she was and why she was there.
Van Auken said they “immediately became belligerent” with her. But that’s not how Matheny remembers it.
Van Auken “seemed to be inebriated,” he said Monday. “It seemed her suspected intoxicated state made her very outspoken, slightly confrontational and totally unwilling to work things out.”
Fraternity members, including Matheny, asked at least three times for the trio to leave and take up their problems with the university.
They ignored the request, continuing what he called their “tirade,” so he called police.
According to a Bradley police report, a responding officer shared the same views of Van Auken’s behavior.
Bradley officer William Merritt wrote Van Auken “seemed to be very lethargic, some slurring in her speech and some of her actions seemed to be over-exaggerated. All signs of intoxication.”
Before Peoria police arrived, Merritt said he overheard Van Auken talking to another Bradley officer and say, “We are going to get the real police up here since Bradley doesn’t think there is an issue here.”
Van Auken flatly denied making that statement Monday. She said either Rand or the other man, who she refused to identify, made the comment.
The two-hour fracas ended with six to eight Peoria police officers arriving, including Bradley Police Chief Dave Baer.
Peoria police cited Sigma Nu for a noise violation, although Bradley officers originally decided not to do so. Matheny, in turn, filed a complaint with police, wanting to know why Van Auken, Rand and the other man were not ticketed for criminal trespass and disorderly conduct because of their actions and refusal to leave the property.
The police report was forwarded to the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office. No charges are expected to be levied against the trio. Matheny planned to contact the fraternity’s legal counsel to seek trespassing charges, adding security cameras on the property captured Saturday’s event on tape. He said a low-grade audio and video recording caught some of the conversation as well.
Bradley University spokesman Shelley Epstein said, “We believe the Bradley University police acted appropriately in a difficult situation, and we regret that this incident occurred.”
For months, the university has been lecturing its students on being respectable neighbors. Matheny claimed the university had asked Rand not to approach fraternity members, but to go to officials with any complaints, “to avoid this sort of confrontation altogether.”
Though Epstein couldn’t confirm Rand was told that, he said officials have told him “that we would be happy to work together with him to solve whatever problems the neighborhood association has with the campus community.”
Van Auken and other city officials have met with university officials to discuss the problem and how to solve it.
Van Auken said she has no regrets from the weekend’s confrontation.
“In my opinion, I did nothing improper,” she said Monday.
Hmm… maybe a link would be a little more appropriate? Interesting story though, sounds like Van Auken should think twice about acting in an official capacity after she’s boozed it up.
I’m guessing that C.J. isn’t taking the day off to celebrate the neopagan sabbat of Mabon. 😉
“Interesting story though, sounds like Van Auken should think twice about acting in an official capacity after she’s boozed it up.”
Sounds like just another council meeting to me.
I think Van Auken just won more votes in Moss-Bradley, the Arbors, and the Uplands with that confrontation. Getting the University to take noise (often derived from alcohol) seriously has been a problem for years. The University has never given it the seriousness that the surrounding neighborhoods feel that it deserves. President Glasser has shaken things up by taking a much firmer stand on student behavior. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Caleb Matheny may be in for a rude surprise about whether the university has his back or not. I think this incident will be a defining one for Moss-Bradley residents on whether Glasser is serious about student behavior or not.
Do these people buy these houses next to fraternity row sight unseen?
Clayton,
Is it unreasonable to expect your neighbor to quiet down after 10p? Being in college or a fraternity is no excuse for acting like a boor.
Andy and Barbie should have just grabbed a big ol’ plastic cup, and joined in the festivities.
I’m betting it would be a lot more fun than the Twister party they were just at.
It’s not? Lol. I remember my old college days… or most of them anyway.
“Is it unreasonable to expect your neighbor to quiet down after 10p? Being in college or a fraternity is no excuse for acting like a boor.”
Oh please! Have some common sense. It’s college – 10pm is when they START partying! No surprises when you live next to a fraternity.
How can you not walk through a house that you are thinking about buying and see a bunch of frat houses as your future neighbors and not see a potential problem? The frats aren’t spread out.
We get complaints from our neighbors where I work. The dumb@@@es built some houses less than a 50 yards away from our loading docks. They complain about the trucks coming in at all hours of the night.
Clayton, et. al. — I’m just curious, is there any threshold over which you consider noise excessive, even for a fraternity? Or does anything go for fraternities, in your opinion?
I’m just saying that it is not a real bright idea to buy a house next to a frat house if noise bothers you. If you have some teenage girls, do you buy a house in a neighborhood filled with registered sex offenders, even if you got a great deal?
If I read it correctly, the campus police didn’t not believe the party crossed a threshold.
Loud music would probably cross the threshold. But when one of the offending noises is laughter, I don’t have too much sympathy.