Author: jplucas

For the fourth year in a row, the Halloween festivities on State Street in Madison ended with confrontation, the police clearing the street with pepper spray. This is also one of the biggest local stories of the year, with what is certain to be a lengthly and contentious debate about the causes of and solutions to the city’s continuing Halloween problems yet to come.

Police Chief Breaks Down Halloween Numbers
The tally is in….468 people got in trouble with the law over Halloween weekend….and police chief Noble Wray says they’re recommending a total of 700 different charges.

Workers at the Campus Inn …a hotel that sits only a block from State street … were no more busy last week, than they were any other weekend out of the year.

Hotel manager Bill Wellman say higher room rates … and the fact that they were already booked with business travelers and other vacationers, meant the Campus didn’t host very many Halloween partiers.

In the end, Halloween on State Street may have cost taxpayers upwards of $700,000 dollars. Halloween on state street has ended the same way for four years. Madison Police Chief Noble Wray defended his department’s year long planning process from critics who argue it wasn’t enough.

MADISON, Wis. — Some downtown business owners aren’t crazy about the mayor’s idea of shutting down State Street during Halloween next year.

The owners of Larry B’s, which has been open since February, said they did three times the normal business because of the added Halloween traffic.

MADISON, Wis. – A 19-year-old man remained hospitalized in critical condition Monday after falling down stairs at an apartment building during Madison’s annual Halloween Party over the weekend, authorities said

MADISON, Wis. — A weekend death has been linked to the Halloween festivities, and another man is in critical condition.

Although Madison police won’t tie the death to the State Street revelry yet, a source close to the investigation says it is.
News 3 learned a 22-year-old man was in town for the Halloween party.

MADISON, Wis. — Madison’s mayor is indicating he would be willing to impose a local version of martial law next Halloween ââ?¬â?? and shut down the party for good.

The mayor is questioning whether this is really an event the citizens of Madison want to sponsor.
Police Chief Noble Wray said he believes the party needs to be changed substantially or be put down.

For the fourth year in a row, the State Street Halloween celebrations end with MPD enforcement action that includes chemical weapons.

As state support for higher education diminishes in Wisconsin, public universities are turning to students to make up the difference. And not just through tuition.

Police in Madison, Wis., declared the crowds of Halloween partiers along a pedestrian mall an unlawful gathering early Sunday and used pepper spray to break up the revelers about 2 a.m.

There was far less pepper spray this year than last year. That from Madison’s Downtown Alderman Mike Verveer…commenting on this year’s Halloween Celebration on State Street.

The clean up from Halloween ’05 was swift.
By the time many bar managers left early Sunday morning, no remnants remained from Saturday night’s revelry.

The word of the night is density, as in managing crowd density here in the 500 block of State Street. Police have set up these pedestrian roadblocks to prevent people from gaining access to the area where the trouble usually starts.

MADISON, Wis. — Among the non-locals there were dozens of UW students ticketed for different violations.

Now the UW must interview troublemakers to decide whether or not to discipline them.

They filled State Street to see a parade of costumes. “It’s like Mardi Gras it’s a good time, people here have fun,” said Josh Thompson of Manitowoc, dressed in blue dress and white apro

In the wake of a record attendance at Madison’s annual halloween party, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz sang a familiar tune — “If it were in my power to cancel it – I certainly would.” Cieslewicz repeated what he’s said in previous years: that he’d prefer the end of Halloween on State St.

The Madison Police Department says, after a year of planning, they met two of their four goals to bring a safe end to the Halloween event on State Street. In a release sent five hours after the event ended in a cloud of pepper spray, the department and the city now believes there should be serious discussion as to the future of Halloween in Madison.

Northwestern students celebrating Halloween at the University of Wisconsin will not be allowed to stay in university housing, Wisconsin administrators announced last week in a letter to Big Ten schools. Wisconsin administrators will also contact the universities of visiting students who are arrested at the Halloween hotspot.

Even though college studentsââ?¬â?¢ trick-or-treating days are long gone, the urge to dress up in ridiculous costumes is too great to just spend Halloween at home. This year, instead of bemoaning their ââ?¬Å?uninvitationââ?¬Â to Badgerland, University students should not hesitate to let loose. They donââ?¬â?¢t need to go far.