The Common Council of the city of Oswego recently passed a law that allows the city to hold those who host parties in their homes accountable for any illegal underage drinking or drug consumption that occurs.

The law, brought to the council by Kevin Hill, the common councilor for the third ward of Oswego, is meant to address the large parties that cause disturbances in residential neighborhoods across the city.

“What this law does is it brings accountability to the host of a large party. If they’re knowing providing anyone under the age of 21 to consume alcohol or take drugs in their house or in their residence, it holds them liable and accountable,” said Billy Barlow, mayor of the city of Oswego.

Barlow said the law is meant to address the issue of large disruptive parties, rather than small individual gatherings of friends, especially in situations where homes are overfilled with people or when hosts of these parties are charging for entrance or alcohol inside the residence.

Barlow spoke of one particular party that he believes was the lynchpin for the council’s decision to address the issue.

“I think that the point of this law is, Counselor Hill and the police department encountered three or four different situations where there were these large parties,” Barlow said.  “I know that the most obvious example, the one that was referred to consistently during this debate, was a party where the police, I think Councilor Hill actually called in the party, and the police actually broke up a party where there were 255 kids in one house.”

Those large parties, Barlow said, are disruptive to the neighborhoods around the host’s home due to noise and large amounts of people coming and going throughout the night.

Many Oswego State students, especially those who live off campus, said that they feel this law unfairly targets them and prevents them from hosting the parties they wish to hold in their homes. They also spoke up at the Downtown Town Hall hosted at the McCrobie Civic Center in the city of Oswego on Tuesday.

The town hall was attended by Barlow and Oswego State President Deborah Stanley.

“I have seen that parties have been diminishing over the years,” a senior in attendance said. “I feel like when I first came here in 2015…the parties were more enjoyable. I never saw or felt any tension in the community, and it was great. I loved it.”

Barlow said that the bill is not intended to target college students specifically.

“I know, I certainly, during this debate, I said that this isn’t a target on the college community. It isn’t a target on college students; it just applies to any individual who’s charging to get in a residence or who’s supplying alcohol to partygoers and it gets called in,” Barlow said.

In fact, the mayor specifically complemented Hill and the Oswego City Common Council for writing the bill in such a way that it did not specifically target college students.

“I said, ‘For far too long we’ve had common councilors and city legislators who have tried to target the college community or tried to isolate and blame the college community for these problems,’ but this law doesn’t do that. It specifically targets those who host these large parties,” Barlow said. 

Barlow said that this law is intended more to affect those who host these parties, rather than those who may be consuming alcohol while underage at the parties. The law has no wording that allows it to be used to punish those who simply attend parties, only those who host the parties themselves.

“What we found is that this law isn’t so much geared towards the person consuming the alcohol. It’s geared towards trying to discourage massive parties from happening in neighborhoods,” Barlow said.

City police deputy Chief Zachary Misztal echoed the mayor’s sentiments, saying the law is intended to combat negative behaviors of full-time city residents and college students alike. Barlow mentioned at the town hall meeting that some of the more dangerous large parties he has seen in recent years have occurred on the east side of the city, an area with a significantly smaller number of college students.

Tyler Ahart, the Oswego County Prevention Coalition coordinator, spoke in support of the law at the common council meeting. He saw its unanimous vote into law and has continued to support it since it was passed on Oct. 22.

“It addresses underage consumption of alcohol and consumption of illegal substances,” Ahart said.

According to Ahart, the prevention coalition is dedicated to preventing the underage consumption of alcohol and the use of illegal drugs by any individual. He said that the law is specifically tailored to addressing issues related to parties, underage drinking and illegal drug use.

Ahart said that he thinks there should be more focus on the illegal drug aspects of the law and that he believes there is a lack of understanding about the specifics of the law and how it will be enacted and enforced.

In fact, the social host law is a local ordinance that only applies to the city of Oswego, while the campus is in the town of Oswego. That distinction means that most on-campus students, with the exception of those living in Mackin Complex, are not affected by this law.

University Police Lieutenant Matthew Barbeau said that University Police will not be giving citations for violations under the social host law, as its jurisdiction does not include residential city addresses. University Police only goes into the city on official business when the city police department requests assistance, and when that happens, UP officers do not make arrests or file reports, but rather operate in an assistance position.

Barbeau said that in the research he has done on the law, he feels it is in line with current New York state laws, which actually make providing alcohol to those under the age of 21 an arrestable crime. 

“That’s a New York state penal law charge called Unlawfully Dealing with a Child, where you provide alcohol to someone under the age of 21, and that is an arrestable offence. I believe it’s an ‘A’ Misdemeanor,” Barbeau said.

New York state law also punishes those who consume alcohol under the age of 21, but that is only a ticketable offense and not considered a crime, but a violation.

The social host law has only recently been passed, and so statistics on its effectiveness have yet to be determined. However, Barlow said that a big part of the law is that it allows those who may be in violation of the law to address the situation, rather than be charged right when the complaints by neighbors are investigated.

Graphic by Samantha Flavell | The Oswegonian