Police have been called, but found no problems.
By: Lea Kahn
Ask Linda Simmins and Carol Dickson what they want, and they’ll say, "A good night’s sleep."
But sleep doesn’t always come and not because they are insomniacs. Rather, they claim they cannot get eight straight hours of shut-eye because of their neighbors at 24 Ontario Way, off Brunswick Pike.
Those neighbors happen to be a group of Rider University students who rented the four-bedroom house beginning last June, and who Ms. Simmins and Ms. Dickson say often hold boisterous parties and entertain friends into the wee hours of the morning.
While they do have visitors who sometimes drop in unexpectedly, "we are not bad people," said Rider University junior Adria Love, one of the seven students who rent the house from property owner Christ C. Georgiou of Hamilton Township.
Ms. Simmins and Ms. Dickson, who live at 21 Ontario Way and 22 Ontario Way, respectively, have called the police numerous times to complain. While police have been unable to find evidence of misbehavior, they have spoken to the students about the neighbors’ complaints, said Chief of Police Daniel Posluszny.
Meanwhile, the two women have become so frustrated that they signed a complaint against one of the students Ms. Love. The complaint, which was filed in April, is slated to be heard June 10 in Lawrence Township Municipal Court.
"It is horrendous," Ms. Simmins said of the situation in the house across the street. "I fall asleep in meetings when they have been bad. It has been a nightmare. I have to get up at 5 or 5:30 a.m. to be at work in Jersey City.
"I’ll be sound asleep and then, ‘boom’ there is noise outside," she said. "I’m just about to fall back asleep and then there is more noise. It’s just awful. It’s like clockwork. At 3 a.m. or 3:15 a.m., (their guests) get in their cars and take off. And the thing is, they do it on different nights of the week. I would just like to sleep through the night."
Ms. Dickson, who lives next door to the house rented by the students, said she, too, would like to be able to sleep uninterrupted from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. She said that she may be able to get a full night’s sleep one or two nights a week.
"I have had people throw up in my yard because they were so drunk," Ms. Dickson said. "The issue is, there is constant traffic. They wake you up, you call the police and by the time the police get here, they are gone. The entire block is being tortured."
Ms. Love said she is at a loss to explain why the neighbors are upset with them. She said that she was the first one to move into the house last June, and she walked over to the neighbors and introduced herself.
"They seemed very nice," she said. "I don’t know what happened. Every single move we make, they are on top of us. It’s almost like harassment. We are not bad people. At times we have been loud, yes. We come in late. But it’s not like we are (always) having loud parties."
Ms. Love said students have been renting the house at 24 Ontario Way for several years. She said a group of boys previously rented the house and then a group of girls rented it. She said that she and her housemates rented the house in June 2002 and they have renewed the lease for another year.
"We get called if we close the car door too loud," Ms. Love said. "The neighbors got sick of (the other student renters) and we are getting the worst of it. We were looking for a house to fit all of us. We didn’t know about the past troubles with college students.
"There are seven of us and it creates noise when we come home at night," she said. "Visitors make it a larger problem. But this is America and we are allowed to live here and we are allowed to have visitors. It is unfair to pay to live here and we can’t have our friends come over."
Ms. Love said that she and her housemates have told their visitors to be quiet when they come to the house. She said that they understand that their neighbors want quiet.
Chief Posluszny said a couple of neighbors have called the Police Department to complain about the students’ behavior. They claim the students stand outside the house, smoking cigarettes and speaking in loud voices, he said. They claim there is loud music, the slamming of car doors and drivers speeding in the neighborhood, he added.
In response to residents’ complaints, Chief Posluszny said, patrolmen have been monitoring the neighborhood since August. Police Department records show that patrols have cruised through the area 76 times between 11:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. and each time, it has been quiet.
Several times, police have been called to the house to investigate loud noise, Chief Posluszny said. But when they arrived, there was minimal noise or no noise at all. On a couple of occasions when police arrived and there was noise, the patrolman spoke to one of the students and advised her of the neighbors’ complaints, he said.
"One of the difficulties is that the noise has to affect the neighbors," Chief Posluszny said. "It has to be annoying and affect them negatively in some way. We will sign a complaint if a police officer goes there and it is an obvious annoyance.
"But many times, a police officer goes there and nothing has happened," he said. "If there is a complaint that people are talking loud and when the police officer gets there and nothing is happening, he has no cause to sign a complaint for a violation (of the nuisance ordinance)."
The township’s nuisance ordinance defines a nuisance as "any matter, thing, condition or act which is or may become an annoyance, or interfere with the comfort or general well-being of the inhabitants of the municipality." Violators may be fined an amount ranging from $50 to $1,000.
"When you have these incidents, it is important for the neighbors to sign a complaint or be a witness," he said. "It bolsters our case to have a neighbor come in and testify (in Municipal Court). It is imperative for a successful prosecution for them to come into court."
The situation at 24 Ontario Way is not the norm for Lawrence Township, Chief Posluszny said. It has been an on-going problem, and it has been a perplexing one, he said. Overall, rowdy college students living in houses or apartments off-campus are not a "big" problem in Lawrence, he added. For starters, Rider University is a residential school and not a commuter school.
Many times, the calls for excessive noise are generated by the actions of young adults not necessarily college students who live in rental units at Lawrence Square Village or Avalon Run, he said. The police respond to those calls and explain the situation to the offenders, and it is resolved.
"You get a few (noise) complaints on weekends," he said. "It’s an even split between college students and young adults. It is a concern and we are aware of it. Many times, it’s an isolated incident. We issue five or 10 summonses a year. The majority of people stop if they are advised by a police officer."
Anthony Campbell, the dean of students at Rider University, said his office "very rarely" receives complaints of student misbehavior. When he does receive a complaint, he speaks to the student in an effort to resolve the issue.
Students are told that if they are convicted of a municipal ordinance violation, Rider University’s code of student conduct allows the school to subject them to sanctions ranging from suspension to performing community restitution, or community service, he said.
Dean Campbell said he has spoken to the girls who live at 24 Ontario Way. He said he has explained to the students that they must be respectful of the community in which they live. In addition, some of their teachers and athletic coaches have spoken to them, he said.
"We have less control because they live off campus," he said. "They are not under our supervision. If they live off campus, they are no different from any other renter, but we will follow up on them. If they lived on campus, we could terminate our (housing) contract with them, but they live off campus and we have no authority."

