Is College Drive becoming a Fraternity Row? For years, some residents of the historic district of Gaffney say they have been trying to live in peace with the young neighbors who come and go while attending Limestone College.

But some now say enough is enough.

A growing sense of frustration was more than evident in a letter sent to the Gaffney City Administrator, the City Council and Police Department and the college on Monday, which demanded a crack down on off-campus student housing.

"Property owners and taxpayers have worked hard for their investments in the city and deserve the respect and support of all authorities and administrations involved to gain control of the handful of irresponsible students who apparently have no respect for the rights of others," College Drive resident Ronald Garner wrote. (Garner's letter is printed in its entirety on Page 11A).

Residents have consistently complained about loud parties, underage drinking and vandalism and some say the problems have only gotten worse as more homes are converted from single-family residences into offcampus housing for students.

Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner and Limestone College President Dr. Walt Griffin both assured on Tuesday that the complaints are not falling on deaf ears.

Turner had a sit-down with Griffin and other college officials, such as the college's athletic director, on Monday, even before Garner's letter reached City Hall.

Turner said the meeting was sought in the wake of numerous problems that occurred

over the past weekend, with several reports of vandalism and loud parties.

"We discussed the rising problems we're having in that area with off-campus residents from the college," Turner said. "I advised them (the college officials) of our needs and what we're in the process of doing. They came up with some ideas. We came up with some ideas. It was a very productive meeting."

The college will be meeting with students and passing out information about the ramifications of violating city noise ordinances or other laws. The college's security staff also will be working more closely with the city police force.

The city, in turn, will be dedicating several officers to monitor the neighborhood and tackle any problems, according to Turner.

In addition, Turner said the city will notify the college of any Limestone students who are arrested or cited, so the college can decide if it wants to take any additional action against the student.

"The whole question is how do you control student behavior off campus," Griffin said.

"We're working a lot through the (athletic) coaches, though not everybody involved is a student athlete," Griffin said. "We're trying to be proactive and send the fear of God out there so they make wise decisions."

The college is trying to address some of the problems through the coaching staff since playing time and scholarships can be impacted by offcampus trouble.

"We're working on (the problem) on several fronts," Griffin said. "We're aware of it and certainly apologetic the folks in those neighborhoods are subjected to it."

Griffin added that the college is trying to address one possible part of the problem, a lack of student housing on campus. Due to record enrollment and a lack of space, the college has been allowing more students under 21 to live off-campus.

Increasing residency on campus wouldn't necessarily solve all of the problems, however. "There's not an iron wall around the campus," Griffin said.

Chief Turner said the problems with off-campus students have been ongoing for a while and he's noticed additional housing turned into offcampus housing just since last year.

"We have, in the past couple of weeks, been issuing citations for noise and other things," he said. "We've seen that's not been effective."

During the past weekend, police received several reports of vandalism to lawn decorations, a broken light post and a torn banner at the CHAPS museum. Police also received reports of several large gatherings at some off-campus student housing locations and groups of people walking up and down College Drive.

In addition to assigning officers to tackle the problems, Turner said the city also is looking at its zoning ordinances to enforce zoning violations.

City zoning ordinances place caps on the number of unrelated people living in homes in singlefamily districts.

One area resident said she was happy the city and college would be looking at the problems.

"We don't want our property values to go down," she said. "We have a right to live in a peaceful neighborhood without having to worry about people trashing our houses."

Garner, who wrote the letter to the city, was hopeful the situation would be addressed.

"I have no reason to believe the problem cannot be resolved with the cooperation of the city, the college and the residents of the area," he said.

Garner said he mostly wants people to speak up when they see problems occurring.

"The problem has been one that's basically been tolerated," he said. "But we don't have to tolerate this kind of treatment."

Garner said he's proud of having Limestone College in Gaffney and says numerous family members are graduates. But more residents than just him are tired of the problems caused by off-campus parties.

"We don't want to live on frat(ernity) row or sorority row," he said. "It's a single family district by law."