Des Moines Register
04-02-07
Veishea hopes to vanquish history of violence, vandalism
Changes made in 2006 to curb problems will be integrated into this year's
festivities, organizers say.
By LISA ROSSI
REGISTER AMES BUREAU
Ames, Ia. — Two Veishea celebrations stick in Harry "Bud" Samms' mind: At
one, drunk young people threw stuff at anyone with a police badge; at another,
they mobbed officers "like rock stars."
Samms, with the Ames Police Department, is pondering the Iowa State
University student-run celebration as this year's event approaches. Veishea
will be April 16 through 22 and will be held in conjunction with the kickoff of ISU's
sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary of the start of the university.
This is the second year Veishea is being held after being canceled in 2005 for
the first time, following a booze-fueled riot the year before.
Students and Veishea organizers are hopeful that the celebration is coming
closer to burying its history of violence and vandalism.
Law enforcement officers have battled Veishea violence five times since 1988.
Veishea's past is also colored by the stabbing death in 1997 of a 19-year-old
man outside a fraternity house.
"This is going to be incredibly cheesy - and this isn't just the department line - last
year we really turned it around," said Samms, a community resource officer.
He said student attitudes towards police officers changed during the student
celebration last year, when "people up there were yelling for T-shirts (that police
were giving away), rather than throwing stuff."
A night of rioting during Veishea in 2004 resulted in 38 arrests, more than
$100,000 in property damage and the first cancellation of a Veishea celebration
since the event began in 1922.
Memories of the past still inspire caution. Veishea organizers have hired
professional security officers to staff music events this year, rather than the
student security that served last year, said Gene Deisinger with ISU Public
Safety.
"We just want that to be more stable, to be staffed with more people, and more
people with more training and experience with crowd management," he said.
Organizers of this year's festivities also integrated key changes designed to
reduce violence that were inspired by the 2004 riots.
Last year's Veishea events were moved to the ISU campus, away from
Campustown, the retail neighborhood populated with bars, restaurants and
shops immediately adjacent to campus. The celebration also included late-night,
nonalcoholic activities. Both of those innovations are part of this year's plans.
Ames police officers also changed how they approach students in response to
Veishea 2004, when students criticized them after the fact for being too
aggressive.
Members of the department's "party response team" started circulating last
weekend and will continue their job during Veishea, said Ames Police Cmdr. Jim
Robinson. That team was created in response to the riot of 2004.
Alyson Peeler, a 19-year-old ISU sophomore from Omaha, said she hopes a new
class of freshmen will not tend toward the excessive partying and violence of the
past.
"The freshman here don't know about riots," she said. "I'd hope kids young at the
time are now over that."
Reporter Lisa Rossi can be reached at (515) 232-2383 or lrossi@dmreg.com