After half a season of allowing alcohol sales in Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville police have not seen any increase in arrests or disruptive behavior at football games.
At the SEC spring meetings last May, the SEC’s 14 presidents and 14 athletic directors voted to approve the sale of alcohol at SEC games. SEC schools were given the go-ahead to choose whether they would permit the purchase of booze at their events. Arkansas was the third SEC school to lift its ban on alcohol sales. Alcohol sales are limited to beer and wine that must be sold at designated locations, and cannot be sold by vendors in seating areas. Alcohol will not be allowed in the student section. Alcohol has been available since 2014 at Arkansas football games, but only in suites and private club areas. The conference also enforced rules on when alcohol sales will stop during events. The time limits include halting sales at the end of the third quarter during football games, the conclusion of the 7th inning at baseball games, and the second-half TV timeout in basketball games. “As far as the Fayetteville Police Department is concerned, we haven’t seen an uptick in any of that kind of stuff,” Fayetteville Police Sgt. Anthony Murphy said. “I don’t think we have seen any kind of uptick in public intoxication or DWI or anything like that.”
UAPD Capt. Gary Crain said that there were no discernable issues so far, and cited the mere eight arrests that UA police made over the first three football games.
Of the eight arrests, there were four charges of public intoxication, two charges of minor in possession, and one charge for driving while intoxicated. Athletics director Hunter Yurachek has said in interviews that the university will be on the lookout for a possible increase of alcohol-related incidents. Even with the addition of HogTown, a street festival that takes place just outside of Razorback Stadium, the beer garden and live music have not increased arrests. “When I first heard that they were going to be selling alcohol at the football games, it made me think that people would be drinking there, and by the time the game was over they would want to go home and go to bed,” Murphy said. The university is yet to experience the effects of alcohol at basketball and baseball games, but the attendance at both sporting events pales in comparison to that of a football game. Baum-Walker Stadium hosted an average of 8,719 fans a game last year, and Bud Walton Arena has brought in 16,003 people a game since its inception in 1994, but Arkansas football games have drawn in an average of 57,565 fans so far in 2019, according to attendance reported by the athletics department. “None of those sporting events are a huge issue for us,” Murphy said. “We’re so used to working special events and dealing with crowds that have been drinking that it’s just old hat to us, we know how to deal with it.”
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Once I figured it out, I found the Text Over Video story to be much easier than I thought it would be. They are easy to use, edit and add music, so I can see why this type of video is so popular. It took me little bit of time, but since I had all of my clips from the other video, it was easy to nail them all down and throw some text and music over them. I struggled a little bit until I figured out how to trim the videos properly, but after that it was smooth sailing.
By Parker Tillson
The Razorback Reporter After a car collided with a bicyclist on campus and a pedestrian was hit by a car on College Avenue within a week in late September, Fayetteville police Sgt. Anthony Murphy warned drivers and pedestrians to stay off of their phones when driving and walking across the street. The 95 crosswalks on campus can get crowded with the more than 27,600 students enrolled at the UofA. With so many people using the crosswalks, it’s important that pedestrians and drivers pay attention at all times, Murphy and others in safety enforcement said. About 85% of college students own smartphones, according to a 2015 study by Pearson. Precisely 94% of teen drivers acknowledged the dangers of texting and driving, even though 35% of them admitted to doing it anyway, according to AAA. “University initiatives can only promote safe practices,” UA Police Capt. Gary Crain said. “It is up to individuals to actually embrace and enact safe practices.” Almost 3,200 people were killed by distracted drivers in 2017, according to the United States Department of Transportation. Cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million car crashes a year – one of every four car accidents in the United States – according to the National Safety Council. “People need to take their personal safety into account and get off their phones,” Murphy said. “Whether they’re in the car or they’re walking.” Drivers under age 20 have the highest incidence of distraction-related fatal crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A UA freshman student was hit by a car in February 2019 on Garland Avenue, outside of the Northwest Quad dorms. The 18-year-old sustained injuries that led to her death in the hospital two days later. “After seeing that, that’s when I really knew that we had to do something,” said Lexi Robertson, ASG director of Student Safety. “We should always be proactive instead of reactive.”
The driver, a 17-year-old girl who was visiting the campus, was on her phone when she collided with the student. She received two citations: failure to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk, and use of a handheld device while driving.
“It’s just an awful thing,” Murphy said. “A young lady and a young person that was driving the car, it’s just a tragedy on both sides and totally preventable accidents every time.” In Arkansas, it is illegal to use a cell phone in a school zone unless using hands-free technology or reporting an emergency and the driver must be older than 21. The same law should apply on college campuses, Robertson said. “I think we should always be adamant about not being on our phones while we’re driving,” Robertson said. “And I will preach that until the end of days.” Distracted driving is a deadly issue, but what may not be talked about as much is cell phone use while walking. Pedestrians who cross a busy street with their heads buried in a phone put themselves at the mercy of drivers. “It’s like a perfect storm.” Murphy said. “Two things line up; the person walking isn’t paying attention and the person driving isn’t paying attention.” All of the crosswalks at the UofA require drivers to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. The pedestrians have the right-of-way, but students can sometimes abuse this privilege. “I know on the UofA campus I see people walk out in front of cars all the time.” Murphy said. “They don’t even wait for the car to stop. They just expect them to stop.” The UofA participated in its 16th annual Crosswalk Safety Awareness Day on Oct. 9, when volunteers were stationed at busy crosswalks around campus to instill safe practices for drivers and pedestrians. Volunteers stressed that drivers should always stop for pedestrians, but pedestrians also should look up from their phones and make eye-contact with drivers before crossing the street. Despite national efforts to encourage safe driving, almost 6,000 pedestrians were killed by cars in both 2016 and 2017, according to the Governors’ Highway Safety Association. “We’re going to have accidents if we don’t make solid change happen,” Robertson said.
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AuthorSenior journalism student at the University of Arkansas with the aim to be a sports reporter. Archives
December 2019
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