Another Durham neighborhood disrupted by Duke student parties hopes for solution

For nearly a year, Kim Kreem has not been able to escape the rowdy weekend parties held beside her home and business along Rougemont Road in northern Durham County, she said.

After eight separate events on 30 acres next to her property, her ears would ring from hours of loud music that reverberated well into the night, and she would brace herself when she saw people setting up for the next event.

“Unfortunately, for all of us, it’s uprooted our lives,” Kreem said in an interview. “[The owners] say, ‘It’s 30 acres, so we shouldn’t be bothering anybody,’ but it’s a full-blown rager, and the stage is 300 feet from my bedroom window.”

For the past 21 years, Kreem has lived in her home and operated Laila’s Legacy & HOPE Animal Refuge in Rougemont. Disruptions were rare and her animals and the neighbors were largely undisturbed until college students began holding parties at 11202 Rougemont Road in Bahama. The property is owned by Edna De Luna and Angel Gustavo, small business owners in Durham.

“The kids have wandered over here drunken. They urinate on our property, they defecate, they vomit over here,” Kreem said. “They come into my animal enclosure.”

The animals at Kreem’s sanctuary include over 20 pigs, two alpacas, and several dogs and cats that have been rescued, are old or have special needs. Because of the noise from the parties, she has had to sedate some of the animals to get them through the night.

Kreem said neighbors know the property owners and have often seen Duke fraternity logos outside. The partygoers come by the bus load, ride share or drive themselves, she said. Video footage from neighbors obtained by WRAL, which first reported this story, shows large crowds and U-Hauls full of alcohol. WRAL reported that the owners rent the property to the students who organize the events and make money.

“We had 10 buses come out here one night with at least 40 to 50 on a bus,” Kreem said, adding the parties can begin at 8 p.m. and last until midnight. “When they come to set up from the day before or earlier that day, the music starts and it’s all day long.”

For months, residents have raised concerns to the Durham County Sheriff’s Office and other local officials. The News & Observer left phone messages for the property owners but hasn’t received a response.

‘I’m sorry Duke students’

Laura and John Hays live nearby and worked with Kreem to seek help from Durham officials with noise and underage drinking at the parties. They are also worried about the safety of the students.

“Ubers drop them off in the road, there’s no lighting out there. The road is dark and they’re wandering around,” Laura Hays said in an interview. “If they can’t get cell service, they can’t get an Uber to pick them up.”

John Hays added that people who drive to the parties also park on residents’ private property. He described seeing partygoers urinating in their yard and said deputies have not stopped the parties until hours after they had begun.

“It’s a really uncomfortable situation at best,” he said.

Kreem said she believes the parties would be handled differently if the students were partying in town.

“There shouldn’t be a double standard out here in a rural area,” she said.

In a statement sent to The N&O, the Sheriff’s Office said the county noise ordinance sets “no time limits or decibel level for whether a ‘noise is unreasonably loud or disturbing.’”

Durham County’s noise ordinance defines disturbing noise as interrupting “the normal peace and calm” of an area and says that proximity to homes should be considered.

“We will continue to respond to any request for assistance from residents for this or any other concern in the area,” said AnnMarie Breen, a spokesperson for the office.

Laura Hays said residents finally got some action from the City-County Planning Department, which served Gustavo and De Luna with a notice saying they had violated the zoning ordinance. Their property is zoned for residential use, not commercial use, and they need a permit to host the large parties.

Getting a permit can cost thousands of dollars and require improvements to a property such as lighting and parking. Then the request goes before the Zoning Board, where residents can give input.

For now, with the property owners notified, the department has told the neighbors the parties won’t continue. Laura Hays said she wants students to know they have violated the rules and that the events endanger everyone.

“Go find a commercial place. … You’re violating the laws, it’s plain and simple. You’re not 21, you don’t have a liquor license,” she said. “I’m sorry Duke students, you either have to have smaller parties or be 21. I don’t know what else to say.”

A recurring issue

The college parties in Durham County neighborhoods are a perennial issue going back over 20 years.

In the early 2000s residents in the Trinity Park and Trinity Heights neighborhoods at the edge of Duke’s East Campus, constantly raised concerns about safety and property damage. Students would rent houses in the area to throw the parties.

In a 2003 letter to residents, Larry Moneta, Duke’s then-vice president for student affairs, said the university was “very disturbed” about the parties and was trying to work with police to enforce laws against underage drinking.

In 2022, residents in the Tuscaloosa-Lakewood neighborhood reported the fraternity parties had hurt their quality of life.

Several incidents involving fraternities at Duke have prompted the school to remove all on-campus fraternity houses, which led the groups to host even more off-campus parties. According to social media videos on Instagram and TikTok, fraternities will rent properties in rural areas and charge students to attend them paying for transportation, wrist bands and other items. Some videos show students dancing to loud music, bands playing live music, and inflatables around the field.

The N&O contacted Duke’s Student Affairs department and got a reply from from Clay Adams, the assistant vice president of student affairs. He said the school is aware that students organize and attend parties but did not comment directly on the the situation in Bahama.

“We encourage students to host events on campus and offer programs to support that effort,” Adams said. “Students can co-host events in reserved spaces on West Campus, and on Central Campus for larger gatherings. Duke’s alcohol policy allows students of legal drinking age to consume alcohol at registered on-campus events hosted by students or student organizations.”

NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com

This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 10:18 AM.

Kristen Johnson

The News & Observer

919-829-4532

Kristen Johnson is a local government reporter covering Durham for The News & Observer. She previously covered Cary and western Wake County. Prior to coming home to the Triangle, she reported for The Fayetteville Observer and spent time covering politics and culture in Washington, D.C. She is an alumna of UNC at Charlotte and American University.