CARBONDALE - A tradition of Halloween havoc in Carbondale has faded in recent years as limits set on bars and beer keg sales have turned the once tumultuous holiday into one of the city's calmer times of year.

Tuesday will mark the sixth consecutive Halloween since the Carbondale City Council passed an ordinance forcing bars on "the Strip" - a popular section of Illinois Avenue just south of downtown - to close on Halloween as well as on the weekend nearest to the holiday if it falls on a weekday.

The move came after a brutal Halloween in 2000, the first year since 1995 when bars along the Strip were allowed to stay open. That year extensive property damage and a melee between police and a crowd of Halloween partiers resulted in dozens of arrests.

Some say several years of Halloween calm and a turnover of students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has opened the door to lifting the restrictions.

Others argue that reopening the Strip on the holiday could set off a new round of hysteria that plagued past celebrations.

Mayor Brad Cole said he has asked City Manager Jeff Doherty to compile a report after this year's Halloween that will include recommendations about whether any changes should be made.

"This will be a comprehensive report including what happened in the past and input from the police department," Cole said.

As a member of the City Council, Cole made the motion to reinstate the city's policy after the 2000 Halloween, a move he says was "absolutely necessary at the time."

"It was absolutely critical that we change the culture of Halloween (in Carbondale)," Cole said. "I think that has happened."

Carbondale Interim Police Chief Bob Ledbetter says the city's Halloween policy has made it one of the safer times of year.

"We haven't had any major damage to property (on Halloween weekend since the ban) or anything associated with the activities from previous Halloween weekends," he said.

The council also placed a ban on beer keg sales. This year kegs cannot be purchased or be in the possession of anyone in Carbondale from Oct. 27 through Nov. 2.

Even just transporting a beer keg through the city is prohibited, Ledbetter said.

"All those people who say, 'Well, I didn't buy it in Carbondale,' are still in violation if they have it in Carbondale," Ledbetter said. "We've had people drive around on the back county roads so they wouldn't come through Carbondale with a keg."

What once started as a simple Halloween celebration on the Strip grew over the years into an uncontrollable situation, Ledbetter said.

"It really got huge," he said. "The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce tried to put some controls on it, and that was a good idea. But once the sanctioned events were over � it became a spontaneous street party with crowds just invading the streets � One year, there was a sporting event that drew extra people. After that, it just grew exponentially."

Nowadays, the weekend is more or less business as usual for police. Compliance with the rules is fairly good, Ledbetter said.

"For us, Halloween is 4 to 8 p.m.," he said.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale officials applaud the city's policy toward Halloween and reject calls for easing the controls.

SIUC Chancellor Walter Wendler, who made ending the campus' Halloween debacle his first priority when he arrived in 2001, adamantly contends relaxing any restrictions would be a mistake.

"I think it would be an egregious error to do that and would demonstrate a patent disregard to the health, safety and welfare of our students," Wendler said. "It's only a matter of time before somebody gets hurt if anything started like we used to have."

Talk of bringing Halloween back to the Strip in any form, he said, represents "a kind of civic irresponsibility that I could never be party to myself."

"There is no redeeming value to do anything other than what we are doing right now," he added. "From my point of view…Halloween did not do one thing to add to the quality of what we do at the university."

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Larry Dietz said while he has not personally heard anyone suggest the restrictions in place to prevent Halloween riots should be lifted, he echoed the chancellor's position on the idea.

"My sense is we've got a good thing going," Dietz said. "I would argue we shouldn't mess with success by reducing any of the restrictions."

After last year's Halloween, Sally Carter, co-owner of Hangar 9 at 511 S. Illinois Ave., one of the bars forced to close, asked the City Council to consider lifting the restrictions. Nothing came of it.

Carter continues to argue the culture that surrounded past Halloweens has dwindled away.

"The current students have only heard of past Halloweens, they have not participated in them," Carter said.

Clubs like Hangar 9 and others on the Strip endure a "substantial" loss of revenue, she said, while others, such as the watering hole complex that includes Pinch Penny Pub, Copper Dragon, Club SIN and Callahan's, reap big crowds and remain exempt from the city's Halloween lockdown.

Carter said last year was "a terrible loss" as bars on the Strip were closed from Friday through Monday.

"Our income was lost, but operating costs still were present," she said, adding that nearby restaurants also suffer from a drop in foot traffic.

"The bars in downtown Carbondale are like the anchor stores," she said. "When we are closed, it affects neighboring businesses as well."

Those who work at the bars also go a few days without pay.

"For bartenders, waitresses and doormen to lose a weekend is a huge economic loss to them, which has to trickle down to local businesses," she said.

Councilwoman Sheila Simon, an SIUC law professor who in the April 2007 election plans to run for mayor of Carbondale, agrees that limits imposed on Halloween have been successful in curbing the rowdiness that surrounded the holiday for years.

But she also says she wants city officials to consider loosening the restraints for next year's Halloween.

"I think the restrictions from the city and from the university have had exactly the desired impact," Simon said. "Halloween is not the violent drunk-fest it was before."

Simon suggests the city explore establishing a "probationary period" to allow bars on the Strip to stay open for next year's holiday.

"I think we should at least look at slowly moving toward less regulation," Simon said.

jason.lee@thesouthern.com

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caleb.hale@thesouthern.com

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andrea.hahn@thesouthern.com

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