Councilwoman Barbara Van Auken is taking a beating in the press and on student internet forums over her confrontation with an allegedly noisy frat house. Journal Star columnist Phil Luciano ticks off the facts that are continuing to come out regarding the incident, then offers this advice:
I don’t know what she plans to do this weekend. But the next time she hears a crime complaint, perhaps she’d best put down the wine, leave her Superwoman outfit hanging in her closet and let the cops do their job.
And he’s right — if we were to cuss out a police officer and poke him in the shoulder while we had alcohol on our breath, you can bet we’d be sitting in the back of a squad car and taken to the pokey.
Meanwhile, Bradley University students are having a field day with this on a Bradley Basketball internet forum. Here are some of the more scathing comments:
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I was actually on the street that night, about a block away. I can assure you their music was inaudible from half a block away. Thankfully, I left before this crazy lady could make her way down the block. Even more thankful I didn’t see those teeth in person… WHY WASN’T SHE BREATHALYZED?????????? WHY WASN’T SHE TICKETED????? I guarantee I would have been, immediately. So were members of our bball team in the past.
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Van Auken = Bully
She should get raked over the coals. -
This woman has a few drinks and then decides to have a power trip in front of some important people in the neighboorhood. What does Illinois law allow when it comes to confronting trespassers? They should have taken out the hose out and sprayed her down till she left the steps.
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Typical politician – Thinking that the rules don’t apply to them. Drunkenness and belligerence is unacceptable…unless you’re the one partaking in it, right?
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From all accounts (except her own of course), it seems that Van Auken got a little tipsy and decided to use her ‘beer muscles’ to try and bully some college kids and impress her friends.
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I think that the fact that this may end of being a positive for the councilwoman is disgusting, and, in comparison if I were even to handle a situation after consuming even a sip of alcohol(which, from what I understand is MUCH less the VanAucken had) in my position as an RA I would be swiftly reprimanded, and find it disheartening that the expectation of a elected official is that much lower….
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I’m surprised she didn’t tell the police she has many leather-bound books and her apartment smells of rich mahogany after she informed them of who she was.
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And why doesn’t she go knock on the doors of some crack house (there are plenty in her district) with her ambulance buddy? Come on big hitter. Step up to the plate.
This ought to be a big embarrassment for Van Auken, the council, and the second district. But as has been stated by various commenters, this may actually be perceived by many in the second district as a positive thing. No doubt several residents see BVA as a hero, standing up to Bradley over noise violations. The more details that come out, though, the more I think that opinion will fade.
We’re all waiting with bated breath for the video to be put up on YouTube.
What could anyone possibly add to all this?
We all know how innocent the BU frats are…
I’m absolutely certain that the students are telling the whole truth, nothing but the truth….
It appears you’re implying that the students are all a bunch of liars. You base that on what? Your prejudice against fraternities or college students in general?
I regretfully base that upon what I am reading in the media about this incident.
I agree with CJ’s take on this. I am quite embarassed of our “esteemed” councilwoman. It’s sad when 20 year old fraternity men seem like the adults in the situation.
I agree also that the Councilwoman was less than professional but from what little I know about the matter, this has been a problem brewing for years and Bradley has not tried to help. Am I correct?
The only scandal I am convinced of so far is one derived from the last comment in CJs list.
The West Bluff the East Bluff .. all over the city we have a long list of problem residences. Neighbors are frustrated because neither the police, code enforcement, or the City Council seems willing or able to step up to the plate and really fix it. I don’t think the city council reps pay close enough attention to, and seem very averse to getting their hands dirty by going to the mat for the average constituent. The residents of this city piss n moan about the ineffectiveness of our government. The problems are left to fester. So now for some reason, alcohol perhaps, Van Auken decides to go to the mat for a constituent and she gets lambasted. The scandal is that she apparently will go to the mat for Rand and the original complainer (I hate that word but a better one escapes me) and why not so many of the others? I think Sandberg is the only other city council person with the cajones to do that, and he has been raked over the coals for it too. For Sandberg it helped boost his popularity to where he is the highest vote getter on the council.
I have said this before.. the police are hamstrung.. they do the best that they can with what they got, that includes the BUPD as well. If more council folk would get out there, face to face with the troublemakers, maybe they would see that the police need much more support and so to the constituents. Yeah I think the argument that the police aren’t doing their job is valid but that has to be qualified in that they are generally overburdened and have more important and pressing things to deal with on limited resources, law enforcement triage. That doesn’t excuse the need to deal with quality of life issues like that with Sigma Nu, crack houses, etc. We need more police pure n simple so that they can enforce the laws on the books effectively. The City Council isn’t going to see that unless they get into the trenches too.
the Council, embarrassed? That bunch is shameless. Which is why nobody has any respect for them. Not that many other govt. bodies are much better (think of Gov. Blago?). Until We the People stop excusing unacceptable behavior and start demanding our “leaders” do a better job, we will continue to be embarrassed by them.
This reminds me of when Sandburg got accused of scratching some ladies car downtown and the police got involved. I don’t think he was under the influence though. And then there was the time that Chuck Grayeb and his roommate got into it and the police were called. Any other councilpeople verses the law incidents anyone can think of?
Not only unfair, but incorrect as well.
OK, Diane, too broad. I have a lot of respect for Gary Sandburg, but I think he would agree that the council as a whole does not command the respect it should, and for good reason.
Aw c’mon Chris. We all know what angels college kids are.
deebie47: I’d answer “yes” and feel good about it.
How ’bout them Cubs?
Mahkno an Diane and all the other goody goody who think this incident is OK, you all have missed the point.
Who wouldn’t love it if their councilperson went to the mat for them, helped them solve a neighborhood problems, help them crusade against noise, trash and crime?
The point is, if you are a city representative, don’t get drunk, assault a police officer (poking him in the shoulder) all the while calling him and others fake cops, swear and yell and in effect, make the 20 yr old frat boys look like the sane adults. They were, after all, the ones who called the police, not BVA, and generally disrespect the police and every decent citizen in Peoria.
They are correct ways to handle problems in a civilized world and she didn’t handle this properly at all. She went off like an idiot would and she’s damn lucky she didn’t get arrested. What’s next? Maybe you guys and her can get some torches and hang a couple of loud students????
Unbelievable
Alas, ,besotted police batterers the city over will be citing the Van Auken precedent.
A poke on the shoulder? An assault? Please.
And Luciano left a detail out of his column defending Bradley University. He works for Bradley University. In other words, Bradley University puts money in his pocket.
In the interest of clarity and transparency, he ought to have mentioned that.
What does Luciano do at Bradley University?
Billy if you ever get a chance to watch the movie “The Princess and the Pea” do so. It is hilarious. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…
A poke on the should of a police officer is a felony. Maybe not on a princess Mrs. Vespa.
Luciano teaches “Journabalism” classes. (I just mistyped that word, but I really like it so I am not correcting it)
Draft Caleb Matheny for 2nd District City Council!!!
Sounds like he has a winning platform.
I’m sure the frat boys may have been loud and obnoxious, but they are college students. A drunken council member has no business confronting anyone on the street or in a home. That’s what police officers are for.
If anyone of us would do the same thing she did, we’d be cuffed and hauled away.
“but they are college students.”
They are adults.
Find me one neighbor that moved into this area before it was filled with drunken college students and I will side with the neighbors.
Raoul…
There are neighbors in my neighborhood that remember when Bradley kept most of its students on Campus. They remember the decisions where Bradley opted to significantly expand enrollment with no provision for housing them. Those upperclassmen were pushed out into the neighborhoods. In essence Bradley’s housing plan at the time was to encourage the creation of a slummy rental culture that exists to this day. They remember buying houses even as recent as 20 some years ago close to Main and having all their neighbors be permanent residents, only to have all those homes degenerate into rentals. They remember owner occupied homes on Main st. These people do exist.
Your logic is also flawed. Because a group of people are behaving badly we should expect and be permissive of them to continue behaving badly? That is ludicrous and BAD policy. If you are not vigilant, the problem CAN get a LOT worse. City officials in Macomb and Carbondale could shed some light on that. These students are adults. They should act like adults. A good many of them do. It is a shame that some spoil it not just for the residents but for the other students as well. Being a student isn’t a pass.
We got problem houses over here too that are not satisfactorily addressed. I would love to see more Council folk get involved. They need to see more clearly how ineffective efforts by code enforcement, the police, etc… are. Then maybe they will get serious about basic services.
So, because they are students it gives them the right to disturb the peace to the point that some tipsy councilwoman shows up and “calls” them on it? In other words, no disturbance at 12:30 am, no councilwoman and CJ would have to find something else to blog about 🙂
For a moment of dubious and irrelevant humor–I remember as a Bradley student in 1960 or so, a friend of mine and I decided we wanted to live in an apartment (we were both Peorians who lived at home). She and I were told that we would have to see Bradley’s dean to get permission. The Dean told us she could find us both homes near campus where we could work for our rent by doing housekeeping. I stayed at home until I graduated. Times have changed.
As for today’s problems, I think we should remember from very sad recent experience that Bradley students living off campus do not always make wise decisions about their behaviors–actions which can bring great harm to themselves. Besides calling attention to annoyances, neighbors’ complaints might well prevent tragedy.
I agree that the behavior of the students is unacceptable. I also think the behavior of a councilwoman going to “visit” them drunk is unacceptable.
If there was a loud party near my home, with a lot of people, I would call the police, not go myself.
Is battery to a police oficer part of the councilwoman’s duties?
From the City of Peoria website:
The Elected Officials of the City of Peoria exists only to serve its citizens. To that end the City will limit itself to providing, maintaining, and upgrading basic services consistent with a family-oriented community. These things will be accomplished through openness and prudent use of revenues. Every action taken by the Council or City employees on behalf of the citizens will be an example of impeccable personal integrity.
Was the councilwoman exhibiting impeccable personal integrity?
“I would call the police, not go myself.”
And if time and time again… the police, code enforcement etc failed to resolve the problem, wouldn’t you be calling your council person? Or would you just suck it up? Move maybe? Isn’t it reasonable at some point to get more people involved?