Students and permanent residents packed the meeting room and trickled into the hallway of the State College Municipal Building last night to offer their suggestions to the State College Borough Council on how to prevent more riots from happening downtown.

State College resident Hubert Sharpe showed the council and attendees of the meeting what consequences a riot can have and how people can easily get injured.

He had to have surgery on his two knees after being pushed down during the March 24th riot.

However, he was thankful to the "sober" students that helped him after his accident, Sharpe said.

When you are in a riotous situation you fear for your own existence, he added.

People at the meeting called for plain-clothed police, student peacekeepers, plexi-glassed balconies, use of fire hoses, police on horses, expulsion of students who participated in the riot and even banning students from renting apartments in "Beaver Canyon."

"We should take these three high-rise apartments and condemn them," borough resident Stephen Fink said.

He even suggested using permanent dye in the hoses rather than water and squirting the participants with the fire hoses.

"Then we could go on a door-knocking campaign," he said.

Many believed that the riots were a societal problem that could only be combated by the students and permanents residents coming together and creating a sense of community.

"There's a lot of hateful feelings that are happening between the people that live here and the students," student Mark Charran said.

Not only did students and residents speak of strained relations between them, but they also spoke of the student-police relationship.

"We need to build a relationship between students and police," Justin Leto of the Student Party said.

This idea was not met without skepticism.

"The policemen don't worry about being your friend but want your respect," resident Regis Kingera said.

Although there have been rumors that the council has been pondering a curfew for students, council President Janet Knauer said that the idea has not even been discussed.

Residents had no sympathy for students that claimed they were "innocent bystanders" and believed that if they were there then they were just as much a part of the riot as anyone else.

"There should be the consequence of expulsion for any student convicted of any crime, even the innocent bystander," William Kunkle of Port Matilda said.

Balconies play a crucial role in riots and with many apartments banning kegs, students now have bottles to throw off balconies, Leto said.

Resident H.W. Bernard said he will not walk down Beaver Avenue anymore because of the objects thrown off balconies.

"Even when somebody throws a bottle at a police officer, he throws it at all of us," Bernard said.

He added that he feels the riots are a result of "the dark side of the legacy of Eric Walker (former Penn State President)."

Bernard concluded that when Walker decided to double the student population at Penn State he failed to give them anywhere to live, causing them to turn to apartments in the downtown area.

Most people at the meeting agreed that alcohol was one of the major causes of the riots and hope that the community can come together to solve the recurring problem.

State College police Chief Tom King said although the students do not like the way the police handled the problem, the police had no other choice.

"We had to do what we did," King said.