By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With warm weather setting in and the events of last year still fresh in the mind of many Whitewater residents, city officials are taking steps aimed at ensuring gatherings this year are safe and enjoyable.
The Common Council on April 6 approved a draft post card that will be mailed to all households throughout the city. The document touches on legal conduct at house parties, telephone numbers to call if incidents arise and where to find city ordinances on the issue.
The overture on the city’s part, expected to cost up to $1,071, comes on the heels of last year’s collegiate festivities that took place the same evening as the private Spring Splash event.
During last year’s Spring Splash, the city’s police department was overtaxed, and single-family residents living near some of the ancillary house parties reported a range of disorderly conduct incidents.
Although Spring Splash will not return this year — a move the event organizer initiated — City Manager Cameron Clapper said private gatherings are still expected as the school year begins winding down.
“An increase in house gatherings, celebrations and similar events is anticipated as the weather improves,” Clapper said.
There had been talk of sending a formal letter on city letterhead, conveying the same information, but that format has since been scrapped.
“These postcards will be distributed in lieu of sending similar information via formal letter, as had previously been proposed,” Clapper said.
He added, “These postcard would cost much less than the formal letters and may ultimately be more effective in delivering the intended message to a larger number of community members.”
The content in the postcard is expected to mimic, in a scaled-down fashion, much of what is already included in a brochure, “People Make it Happen,” which the Whitewater Police Department distributes.
The department’s brochure addresses suggested protocol for parties and special events, including a suggestion to visit with surrounding neighbors beforehand and communicate the planned gathering.
In an effort to ensure gatherings are safe and orderly, local police also suggest organizers only invite known persons so a party is less likely to become rowdy and out of control.
Alcohol is also a common theme interspersed in the “People Make it Happen,” and it likely will make its way over to the city’s postcard.
In addition to outlining the fines for serving alcohol to persons under age 21, the department offers tips for ensuring people are not overly intoxicated at private house gatherings.
One passage in the brochure, for example, reads, “Serve food as an alcohol absorbent. Serve the food prior to and in conjunction with the service of alcohol.”
Another statement firmly reads, “Do not sell alcohol. It is illegal to have an unlicensed cash bar. It is also illegal to sell cups, have a cover charge or charge for a band or other entertainment and give away the alcohol. Doing so constitutes a crime.”
In addition to the postcards, Clapper said the city will harness social media as a means of encouraging safe protocol for private parties this spring.
