Violence by UH fans at stadium must stop

THE ISSUE Aloha Stadium officials will increase security following violent behavior among fans at the Hawaii-Fresno State football game.

An account of verbal and physical attacks against Fresno State football fans at last weekend's game against the University of Hawaii should shame Warrior fans. Aloha Stadium officials are responding appropriately with increased security when Boise State comes to town next Friday.

Fresno film producer Chris Housepian wrote in his detailed, 1,500-word account that he had "never seen visiting fans treated like we were on Saturday night." Housepian published the disturbingly credible report on the BarkBoard, a Fresno State fan link that he administers on the Scout.com Web site.

Fans seated in the Fresno State section were deluged with full water bottles and other debris throughout the game, Housepian wrote. Early in the game, two Hawaii fans threw punches at Fresno fans, and security officers took seven or eight minutes to reach the section and another 10 minutes "to try to figure out what had happened," he wrote, finally escorting out a Fresno fan who had been a victim.

The deplorable behavior escalated as the game progressed, as "Hawaii fans descended from the upper rows, most trying to get a fight going by swinging at Fresno fans in the immediate vicinity," Housepian wrote. "The incompetent police officers spent the next five minutes trying to figure out how to get into our section and ended up scaling a wall."

Limitation of beer sales to individual customers at the stadium several years ago was intended to eliminate drunken behavior, but violence obviously remains a problem. Housepian is right in asserting, "This is a serious situation that needs to be remedied before someone gets seriously hurt."