Disorderly house citation issue should stay out of SR Borough mayoral election
Issue date: 10/23/09 Section: Opinion
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Frank Monteleone Jr., a landlord who owns 30 student rental properties in the area, according to his Web site, views the law as unconstitutional and feels that our rights, as students to party are being violated by the borough police.While it's nice to see a mayoral candidate approach the Student Government Association and other student organizations to see what issues concern them, changing the disorderly house conduct will hurt students more than it will help them.
Monteleone is a property owner in the borough and has been attending borough meetings since the 1960s.
The ordinance was passed 29 years ago.
Why wait until now to raise a ruckus about the issue?
The motivation for Monteleone bringing the issue up is because he's running for mayor.
To be in violation of a disorderly house, a person could be cited "anywhere where people gather or abide and where the owner, lessee or person in charge permits, encourages or tends to encourage drunkenness, illegal consumption, boisterous conduct, unseemly noise, fighting or other conduct which disturbs the public peace or decorum, or promotes disorder and lessens the dignity of the community."
The arresting officer makes the decision of whether to cite people for disorderly house offenses.
There have been claims from Monteleone that the ordinance is unconstitutional. But is the ordinance really unconstitutional?
Monteleone never gave a reason as to why it's unconstitutional, instead stating in a flyer that " I view it as unconstitutional, because the Webster definition of party is a social gathering for fun and excitement, and students shouldn't be penalized for just being students!"
The issue of the constitutionality of the ordinance is one tht may need to be addressed, but to offer no explanation for why it's illegal, is a weak platform to run on.
By trying to eliminate the disorderly house, a major source of revenue for the borough police would be removed.
Without the SRPD, the borough would be forced to rely on state police for protection.
And if the state police have to come in and respond to a party that has been out of control, they'll be writing underage citations and distributing alcohol to minors citation, which are crimes under the Pennsylvania State Criminal Code.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 45
Frank Monteleone SR Boro Mayor Cand.
posted 10/22/09 @ 10:39 PM EST
The disorderly house opinion article failed to mention that I told the opinion writer that Slippery Rock Boro is the only university town in western PA out of all of the state owned schools that has a Disorderly House ordinance. (Continued…)
Zack
posted 10/22/09 @ 11:07 PM EST
When saying the writer 'does not drink unlike most college students of age', it should be taken into consideration that the writer is not 'of age', meaning he follows the law by not drinking. (Continued…)
Benny
posted 10/22/09 @ 11:36 PM EST
Who is this 'he' that the first poster on here refers to? Don't the weekly op-eds appear under something to the affect of 'Our View'....meaning it's something like a staff opinion or editorial? Maybe it is a guy (the editor), but the fact that there's no byline means he's calling out someone who may or may not have even actually penned the piece. (Continued…)
Craig
posted 10/23/09 @ 8:24 AM EST
As a former IUP student I would like to say that the statement:
"Then the tenant splits the fine with everyone who pays $1.00-2.00 each"
is far from the truth. (Continued…)
Mark SRU 94
posted 10/23/09 @ 10:03 AM EST
I remember living in one of Frank's houses in 93-94 when we got a disorderly house citation for a small party. Frank threatened to evict us because having the 30 people at the party in one of his houses could dirty up his carpets. (Continued…)
Mark SRU 94
posted 10/23/09 @ 10:10 AM EST
I remember living in one of Frank's houses back in 93-94 when we got popped with a disorderly house citation. He was pretty livid with us not the police or the borough. (Continued…)
Kenneth Harris, Mayor, Slippery Rock Borough
posted 10/23/09 @ 11:42 AM EST
Plain Talk About the Constitutional Right to Party
My opponent's claim that the Borough is abusing students' constitutional rights to party is absurd and I suspect he knows it. (Continued…)
Lance
posted 10/23/09 @ 10:17 PM EST
I was at a party in a off campus appartment at indiana pa university it got busted by there boro police.
There was only 1 fine wrote to the guy who rented the place in the amount of $300. (Continued…)
Steven
posted 10/24/09 @ 10:28 PM EST
Regardless of what fine we pay for a Disorderly House, it beats a Underage and the loss of license, criminal history and either our car insurance or parents car insurance going up. (Continued…)
Frank Monteleone SR Boro mayor cand.
posted 10/25/09 @ 7:15 AM EST
I talked to several SRU students yesterday saturday october 24th. They are most all in agreement that this is all about the money. They believe my proposal for a fact finding meeting on Disorderly House is a excellent start. (Continued…)
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