By MATT LINDSEY and CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON -- The chief of the village’s police department says that the house that hosted a party with 300 students over the weekend has been on the department’s radar for at least three years.

At the request of the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, Canton police went early Sunday to break up a large party outside the village limits at 1938 Old DeKalb Road, just behind Coakley’s Hardware, a house that Chief Lori McDougal says has been the source of complaints “for at least three years.”

It took Canton police officers, with help from SUNY Canton Police and St. Lawrence University Police, “over an hour to escort the crowd of primarily SUNY Canton students back to campus” after the sheriff’s office received a complaint about a party at the house.

While acknowledging that this group was large, “it’s not uncommon” for members of her department to herd students back to campus after bar closing time on Fridays and Saturdays.

“We break up these parties, not every weekend, but they do occur and we do the best we can to get the students quietly back to campus, but it’s hard to control a large group like that,” McDougal said.

Authorities attempted to break up the party and get students headed back to campus, and while some students did head right back to campus, many others split off and proceeded through parts of the village.

Attempts by police to control the crowd were unsuccessful as the group continued to loiter on West Main Street while police drove down the street using their horns and told individuals to get off the street. Police were reportedly met by comments such as “suck my ass,” according to a police report.

No arrests were reported in this latest incident.

A neighbor, who does not wish to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said he has made calls to police authorities before about parties at this house, although he was not who complained about last weekend’s party.

“The mass of students proceeded to Main Street, where they shut down traffic, continuously yelled vulgarities at law officers, and terrorized Canton in a march through the village,” the neighbor said.

St. Lawrence County Sheriff Kevin Wells said his deputies did not respond to this incident because his patrols where spread out around the county attending to other incidents.

“When someone calls 911, whoever gets sent is who’s available,” Wells said.