By Mike Finney

CAMDEN — Brecknock and Tidbury parks were the locations of massive unauthorized gatherings of young adults Saturday and Sunday, and county officials say they resulted in piles of trash and damage.

Several observers connected the parties to students at Delaware State University, and Delaware State Police arrived both nights to bring the parties to their ends.

Carlos Holmes, a spokesperson for DSU, said, upon hearing from Kent County park officials Monday, the school just “has some things that we need to look into with this.”

He said university officials will examine what transpired, so they can get a better understanding of what took place and to what degree students were involved.

“First and foremost, the events that allegedly took place at Tidbury Park and Brecknock Park were not university-sanctioned or -sponsored events,” Mr. Holmes said. “The university didn’t have anything to do with those in terms of the university organizing those events or even knowing about them.

“But, as such, having found out about this (Monday), the university is looking into what happened at these events and trying to determine if these were indeed Delaware State University students or (if they) were they a mix of people from DSU and from outside of DSU, that type of thing.”

Jeff Hastings, who lives in the Old Mill I development across South State Street from Tidbury Park, said there was a parade of individuals who parked in his neighborhood Sunday and made their way to the park.

“There were at least 300-400 people,” he said. “They’re Delaware State students. I think they are associated with an off-campus fraternity.

“I really can’t find out very much except that (Kent) County is very scared to do anything. The state police did go out (Sunday) and disperse them, and they apparently did the same at Brecknock the night before.”

He added that it was the fourth time there had been a large unauthorized party at Tidbury.

Added Mr. Hastings, “It’s 300-400 people in a group without any authority, leadership or anybody in charge. There’s no supervision.”

Meantime, Steve Hart wrote on Kent County Park and Recreation’s Facebook page that he was at Tidbury Park enjoying a day of fishing when the partygoers arrived.

“I was at Tidbury Park fishing with my son (Sunday) when large groups of people wearing their fraternity/sorority/DSU gear started gathering/drinking at the picnic tables by the play set,” he posted. “As we were leaving, the parking lot was full of people bringing in large amounts of alcohol and drinking in the parking area.

“I told my son it looks like that was our last time fishing Tidbury. I feel awful for whoever has to clean up and/or repair whatever was damaged. Really sad to see people treating our parks this way.”

Signs at Tidbury Park specifically state that alcoholic beverages and littering are prohibited.

Parks and Rec staff spent several hours Monday tidying up both Tidbury and Brecknock parks, starting at 7:30 a.m.

Jeremy Sheppard, the agency’s director, was troubled by the incidents.

“We have these problems in the community,” he said. “Young adults find a place where they think they can just go hang out and do what they want to do.

“Unfortunately, in the wake, we have a ton of trash, broken bottles and damage to the facilities. In the parking lot (at Brecknock), there were fast-food bags of trash just thrown out there. It’s just insane.”

Mr. Sheppard said he was told that Delaware State University police became aware of the planned off-campus festivities and called the state police to warn troopers of potential problems.

“So, I got the heads-up, and there wasn’t much (the police) could do, and I didn’t want it to be a situation where there’s 30-to-1 officers to potential issues,” Mr. Sheppard added.

“They were at Brecknock (on Saturday), and I hadn’t heard about that one, so I headed over to Brecknock, and there was trash everywhere and damage to the fences. It was just like, ‘Oh, my gosh. That’s awful.’”

He went on to say that he and his department cannot possibly control what goes on at all its parks and facilities at all times.

“I don’t know what other ideas we have except get our own police force or a park rangers force and have them out there 24/7,” he said. “It’s impossible for us to be able to police our own parks. It’s just not possible. I wish things were different, but they aren’t.

“Sometimes, there’s no rhyme or reason for this stuff.”

Mr. Sheppard noted that his staff is frustrated because anything they attempt to keep troublesome elements out of the parks, people find a way around.

“Other than just locking up the parks this time of year, (but) that’s not fair to the public,” he said. “I guess what frustrates me is, given that people want to go to the parks — clearly that’s what they’re there for — people have to understand that there’s rules to being in a public area. You just can’t go do whatever you want.”