NEWS

The New Hampshire

SOX

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phrase that has become so engrained
in the minds of citizens, was being
celebrated along with the love for
baseball. Ninety-five years after the
Red Sox last won the Worlds Series
at Fenway, fans across the region
had reason to celebrate, and students
at UNH were not about to call it an
early night.
As students congregated on
Main Street, it sounded like a small
army had marched its way into
downtown Durham. An estimated
1,000 people gathered downtown
upon the third World Series Championship win for the Red Sox in 10
years, quickly gaining another 2,000
people, as reported in the press release.
It wasnt long after the crowd
of then about 3,000 had formed that
blue- flashing lights could be seen
racing over the hill towards Main
Street, surrounding the students on
both sides. Students loudly chanted, Lets go Red Sox, Yankees
suck, and other popular cheers of
victory.
Fireworks exploded in the air
periodically some seeming to
come from the middle of the group
gathered in front of Durham House
of Pizza followed by the thunderous approval of the crowd below.
Champagne could be seen spraying
out of the mass, soaking the cheering fans and the sound of glass shattering on the pavement could be
heard.
The scene started getting out of
hand and evolved past mere celebration when students began climbing
street lamps and trees and jumping
on top of a car parked outside of
Durham House of Pizza.
As the energy grew to higher intensity, more blue-flashing lights appeared on both ends of Main Street.
A group of police officers lined up
across Main Street just before the
Main Street and Madbury Road intersection. The officers, dressed in
riot uniforms, shields raised, waited
a few minutes before slowly advancing toward the loud crowd.
Students were reportedly first
asked to disperse before police approached. The press release said
that, police verbally requested multiple times that the crowd disperse in
order for the street to reopen.
When students did not react
to that request, police used pepper
Police lined
up and
approached
the crowd
of students
after multiple
warnings
to disperse.
Officers
dispensed
pepper balls
and pepper
spray at the
crowd in an
attempt to
break up
the large
gathering
blocking Main
Street.
CAmeron johnson/
staff

spray and pepper balls to break up

the gatherings. Students could be
seen coughing and running away
from the crowds once the police began using these tactics.
In addition to UNH and Durham police, officers from Laconia,
Dover, the Strafford County Sheriffs Office, New Hampshire State
Police, and the state Liquor Commission were also present.
Students had mixed reactions
to the nights events, some feeling
as though the police acted inappropriately towards what was supposed
to be a harmless celebration.
Their objective was understandable but their means of accomplishing it might have been unnecessary, senior Travis Nason said. I
feel like the crowd quickly switched
from being a reason to celebrate the
Sox to an excuse to be rowdy on
Main Street.
I find it interesting that on
homecoming there is a large, contained area where kids are drinking
and partying loudly, and cops are
chill about it. It should have been
the same with Main Street, junior
Shema Rubdi said. It feels like
there is a lack of respect, or trust
(for the students.)
According to the press release,
Students were warned prior to the
game that any student arrested during a time where there was a crowd
gathered would be suspended on an
interim basis and be subject to the
court and UNH conduct systems.
The five students arrested
Wednesday were: Michael J. McGillicuddy, 20, of Rockport, Mass.;
Marisa A. Hardy, 21, of Nashua;
Evan R. Orlando, 22, of Mansfield,
Mass.; Justin Pimentel, 18, of Pelham; and Robert Lougee, 18, of
Bow.
A letter was distributed by Anne
Lawing, dean of students, David
Kurz, chief of the town of Durham
Police Department, and Paul Dean,
executive director of public safety/
UNH Police chief after the Red Sox
won the American League Championship on Oct. 19, sending the team
to the World Series. The letter urged
students to be safe if celebrating
Halloween or a World Series win,
adding, As the Series winds down
and Halloween approaches, you will
notice an increased police presence
on campus and in Durham.
Some students felt as though
the media has been overly dramatic
in describing the events that took
place on Main Street in Durham on

Wednesday.
It wasnt as bad as some other
New Hampshire schools, senior
Cassie Stever said.
However, the events of
Wednesday night that carried into
Thursday morning were reminiscent
of past years when UNH had issues
with student rioters.
According to an article on
Boston.com from Oct. 29, 2007,
Several thousand students gathered on Durhams Main Street
many waving brooms and chanting sweep, sweep, sweep, after
the Sox beat the Colorado Rockies.
The site also states, In 2003, about
2,500 people rushed onto Durhams
streets after the Red Sox lost a playoff game to the Yankees. Students
and others aimed bottles, rocks
and paintball guns at police. Seven
people, including six students, were
arrested.
An article published in The
New Hampshire on Oct. 30, 2007
following the last Red Sox World
Series win cited that a group of
about 3,000 students gathered in
downtown Durham, resulting in no
arrests and two reported dumpster
fires.
In 2012, UNH Assistant Director of Housing Michael Saputo
issued a statement addressed to
residents of Babcock Hall, Adams
Tower, and the Gables and Woodside apartments regarding student
celebration after the Super Bowl
game between the Patriots and the
Giants. According to the Feb. 3,
2012 issue of The New Hampshire,
Saputo requested that students
stay at their respective residences
and away from the Main Street area.
Students will not be permitted to
gather downtown, he added.
More recently, a similar situation unfolded on campus in the
spring. A party of about 500 people
drew attention, and police responded with pepper balls and pepper
spray, as reported in the April 30,
2013 issue of The New Hampshire.
An officer was reportedly hit in the
head with a bottle.
This years letter from Lawing,
Kurz, and Dean expressed a similar
message to Saputos 2012 message:
At no time will crowds be allowed
to congregate in public roads or on
public sidewalks.
The University of New Hampshire police department did not
immediately respond to requests
for comment on Thursday about
Wednesday nights events.

Friday, November 1, 2013

SPOOKY

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candy hunt.
Though its now a class requirement for Carol Fishers students to attend Spooky Stories,
Fisher, a theater and dance department professor, said it didnt start
that way.
It started from my puppetry
class, Fisher said, and my class
wanted to share their puppets that
were Halloween-based.
Fisher started Spooky Stories
in 2003. Ten years later, it is not
just her puppetry class that participates, but also her storytelling
class and her creative drama class.
About 20 of her students participated this year, and over 15 families came to partake in the fun.
We do a lot for children and
youth because we have these youth
drama programs, Nancy Pearson,
director of marketing and communications for UNHs theater and
dance program, said. We try to,
as much as possible, open it up to
the community.
And open it they did.

It started from my
puppetry class and
my class wanted to
share their puppets
that were Halloween-based.

Carol Fisher

Professor

Some children waddled

around the theater in their Winnie
the Pooh costumes while others
bounded with see-through fairy
wings into their parents waiting
embrace. Small fingers groped
game stations for candy and prizes, and UNH students seemed to
smile through it all.
I think its really awesome,
UNH junior Hannah Whalen said.
Whalen sat at a fortuneteller game
station wearing gold jewelry, a
bandana over her hair and a patterned shawl covering her shoulders.
Whalen studies environmental conservation and international
affairs but participated in the event
as a requirement for Fishers creative drama class. She saw the
assignment as an enjoyable way
to interact with the Durham community.
Its fun to see all the kids in
the community coming, Whalen
said, smiling as another child left
her station with a prize clutched in
his hands.
At Whalens station, children
picked their fortunes from a pile
of handmade cards and drawn images. Whalen drew the image they
chose, perhaps a black cat, on their
hand with washable marker and let
them reach into an orange bucket
for prize-picking.
I think we need more [community interaction], Whalen said.
Thats what I miss most about being home, I think.
Meanwhile, Molly McGovern sat with her hands in a box of
leaves. She wore a flannel shirt,
rain boots, a straw hat and had
her hair braided for her scarecrow
character. The UNH sophomore

did it for her creative drama class

without any outward resentment
towards the requirement.
Its awesome, McGovern said, her eyes on the toddlers
reaching into the box of leaves to
pull out prizes.
Whenever a child drew close
to McGoverns station, one could
hear her say, I need help harvesting my crop, with the same enthusiastic inflection for each child,
no matter how many times shed
already repeated the phrase.
After the game stations were
cleared off the stage, Fisher invited children to sit on the stage for
storytelling and puppetry. Twentytwo sat as close as they could without sitting on Fishers feet.
Spooky Stories was set up so
that puppet shows and storytelling
alternated. The third pair of UNH
storytelling students made an effort to involve the children in their
story. To do so, they inserted the
childrens costumes into the story
lines. One of them was a unicorn.
Four timid ghosts in a haunted house, and a witch moved in
and wanted them out, one of
the storytellers said, clad in her
witchs hat and dark clothing.
One [timid ghost] saw a unicorn and was as scared as could
be, the other storyteller said.
One flew to the woods, and then
there were three.
Some children were initially
distracted during storytelling, busy
with crumpled candy bags and
running to parents.
However, the Ten Pumpkins
puppet show arrested their attention with background music, narration via microphone and shadow
puppets that included a skeleton, a
ship and a ghost that came to take
pumpkins. The following puppet
shows had a similar mesmerizing
effect on the children, demonstrating that the students creative efforts did not go to waste.
While the storytelling, puppetry and creative drama students
presented the evenings entertainment, other students had to serve
as ushers on the sidelines. However, even those students who were
not directly involved with the children found enjoyment in their interactions with the community.
UNH junior Samantha Gertz
was receiving Introduction to Theater class credit for being one of
the ushers.
I think its good for the college students to interact with people other than college students,
Gertz said as she watched a family
come down the stairs towards the
Hennessy. Good UNH promotion.
Emma Hansen, a UNH freshman, didnt seem to mind giving
up part of her Monday night to
take tickets, either.
I think its adorable, Hansen said. I think its a good thing
for parents. I dont know, when I
was little I wish I had a college to
go to for something like this.

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