Football Tailgating at the Fairgrounds Lot — It’s Time for a Change

RALEIGH — When a tailgate turns into a murder scene, something is wrong with the party. Such is the case with the Fairgrounds lot on Trinity Road in Raleigh, a longtime tailgate spot for nearby Carter-Finley Stadium.

Two men were murdered on the lot Saturday as North Carolina State University’s Wolfpack kicked off against the Spiders of the University of Richmond. This tragedy was in part the result of a tailgating area that, for some time, has been less a celebration of Wolfpack football than a gathering of the drunk, the rowdy, and the trashy.

The trashy, literally and figuratively: Heaps of garbage litter the lot after games; before them, Wolfpack and opposing fans alike are harassed by drunks. The Fairgrounds lot leaves an image of the university that couldn’t be more embarrassing — even on days when people don’t get shot.

As an alumnus, I admit both to tailgating and drinking while I do it. But even as a student, I didn’t harass opposing fans. I didn’t speed through crowded parking lots or strut around bare-chested and looking for a fight. And I didn’t beat, shoot, or kill anyone. Yet each of those things occurred in the Fairgrounds lot September 4.

True, rowdy fans and irresponsible drinking don’t necessarily add up to murder. But it doesn’t take much to connect the dots here: The alcohol-fueled Fairgrounds lot, which these days attracts persons with no interest in anything but a free party, was an accident waiting to happen. Last Saturday, one did.

What’s to be done? Three changes would reduce the risk of another game-day tragedy.

First, admit no one to the lot without a game ticket. Yes, some people like to purchase tickets at the game, but look: If one can find a date, buy beer, and purchase a Tailgate Special from Bojangles, one can get a game ticket. The Aggie-Eagle Classic instituted a “no ticket, no tailgate” rule this year, and it makes good sense. This restriction is perfectly legal even on “public” land; nowhere does the state constitution state that, “It being fundamental to ordered liberty, the right to be an obnoxious, truculent, trash-throwing drunk must be preserved.”

A second step: charge a modest parking fee. This would help pay for cleaning up the place, and, like the $1 cover charge at the Boar’s Nest on the “Dukes of Hazzard” TV show, might help “keep out the riffraff” — those showing up looking for trouble, not football.

Finally, increased police presence is a must. Officers needn’t scour the aisles in Barney Fife fashion, harassing everyone with beer in hand. Rather, they should act, emphatically, against those causing the problems. Leave piles of trash? Get a littering ticket — and a court appearance. Be a truculent drunk? Get thrown out, with a summons for disorderly conduct. Block traffic or drive dangerously through the lot? Same result.

How will this last step help prevent another shooting? Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani helped turn New York City around by cracking down on “public order” crimes like those in the Fairgrounds lot. Complaints that the NYPD had “better things to do” than stop turnstile-jumping and disorderly conduct quieted when such arrests encouraged the law-abiding and disheartened the criminal element — resulting in decreased crime and better living conditions. A similar approach would benefit the Fairgrounds lot.

Of perhaps equal importance is what not to do. Saturday’s tragedy may prompt calls for banning alcohol and other “solutions” that punish the many for the sins of the comparative few — most tailgaters around Carter-Finley drink responsibly. The same holds true for convoluted “alcohol rules” seen elsewhere — no glass and the like — which confuse lawful fans and are ignored by the lawless. No, the proper action is against what’s causing the problem, which isn’t Budweiser or Coors. It’s irresponsible and stupid people acting irresponsible and stupid — and they, not the law-abiding majority, are whom the authorities should target.

Could Saturday’s tragedy repeat itself in a tailgate area where slobs and drunks are controlled? Certainly, but it’s much less likely. As in the New York example, an environment where this behavior is checked is less likely to erupt in serious crime than one where drunks and thugs set the tone. If authorities act to control the lawless atmosphere of the Fairgrounds lot, it may save the university the shame of again making the national front page — not for victory, but for murder.

Michael Byrne is a 1991 N.C. State alumnus who lives in Raleigh.