For the past three years, the traditional Halloween party has been overshadowed by violence and destruction. Riots have erupted each year, resulting in personal injury and property damage.

This year hopefully will be different.

The Halloween Planning Team has done a spectacular job of creating an effective plan to reduce the possibility of riotous behavior. To account for potential flaws with the plan, cooperation from partiers is imperative.

The plan for Halloween 2005 — recently unveiled by the City of Madison — is good for businesses, residents and, most importantly, students. The Tavern League has been asked to voluntarily stop serving alcohol at 2 a.m. standard time Sunday, Oct. 30. Although closing at 2 a.m. will cause bar owners to lose the extra hour of business afforded them by daylight-saving time, they will remain open, allowing patrons to finish their drinks and leave establishments as they please. The intent of this plan is to prevent the typical weekend traffic jams that occur on State Street at bar time.

In the past, crowds leaving at bar time clogged State Street and aided in the ensuing mayhem. By giving revelers an hour to leave the bars, not only will they sober up, but also, theoretically, they won't all leave at the same time.

However, the past riots can't be entirely chalked up to bar time. Last year, incidents began at 1:30 a.m., well before the bars closed. This was also well before the scheduled curfew. These aren't the problem. If we want this to be a good Halloween, it will be — regardless of timing issues.

The solution is responsibility. Students and citizens need to take responsibility for their own actions and for the actions of their guests, while police need to be responsible for their own behavior as well. If people are vigilant and smart about their choices, there's no problem with getting hammered and dressing up like a Teletubby.

There doesn't need to be a riot to culminate the evening. Although there's nothing quite like the smell of pepper spray on your clothes when you get home and crash, people need to realize they should go home when they're tired or intoxicated. The goal of Halloween should be to go out, toss back a few beers (if you wish), check out the crowd on State Street and have a good time with your friends. There is absolutely no need to see how many bottles of Jack you can loot from Madison's Happiest Corner.

This is supposed to be a party and should look and feel like a party, not Orwell's "1984." There are, however, obvious reasons for increased police numbers and the use of some barricades, but police brutality in any form will not be tolerated.

Residents trying to pin the responsibility of Halloween solely on the student population are simply being absurd. Only 13 percent of the arrests made last year were students from the University of Wisconsin. Some Madisonians need not point their fingers, but rather take a long look in the mirror to see where their tax dollars are going. A large percentage of revelers are not UW students and the $498,000 spent on police last Halloween cannot entirely be attributed to us.

There will be a public listening session with representatives from the Office of the Dean of Students, the Madison Police Department, the City of Madison and ASM held later this month. All students are invited to attend to voice their opinion and provide suggestions.

The mayor has issued the ultimatum that if riots happen this year, there will be no Halloween next year.

Our job is clear: go out, party in true UW style and make sure everyone gets home safely at the end of the night. Waking up Sunday morning with a hangover and worrying about next Halloween is something I don't want to have to do.

Eric Varney ([email protected]) is chair of the Associated Students of Madison and a senior majoring in finance, marketing and history.