Pubdate: Tue, 20 Jun 2000
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190
Fax: (408) 271-3792
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Betty Barnacle

S.J. PARTIES RACE OUT OF CONTROL

Officers Forced To Shut Down Events Marked By Drugs, Vandalism

A weekend rave party at the Santa Clara County fairgrounds that was
sponsored by an out-of-town promoter had too many kids, too few
deputies and a rash of drug overdoses, deputies said.

In another party Sunday night in downtown San Jose, a crowd of 500
turned on police, smashed windows and later trashed a mini-mart.

At one point during the party at the fairgrounds Saturday night --
where 22,000 young people turned up instead of the 10,000 to 12,000
sheriff's deputies expected -- the county's emergency medical incident
plan was activated, alerting all local emergency services to be on
standby for possible multiple cases.

Two people were stabbed on the dance floor. A 27-year-old San Jose man
was wounded in the abdomen, and a 26-year-old Milpitas man was slashed
on the left hand. Sheriff's Sgt. John Hirokawa said both were treated
at local hospitals and released. Others were taken by ambulances to
area hospitals for treatment of overdoses of nitrous oxide or laughing
gas, the drug ecstasy, PCP and LSD.

Jim McPherson, operations manager for county Emergency Medical
Services, said 11 patients were transported by ambulance and taken to
four hospitals. He could not say how many might have been taken to
hospitals by friends.

``It was a busier Saturday night than usual,'' McPherson said. ``But
it was nothing that we couldn't handle. And no one in the city had any
long waits because of it.''

The emergency plan, he said, was activated in case the situation
became bigger than officials were prepared to handle.

Chris Yuen, of Coolworld, the Alameda producers of the event, said
Coolworld already has scheduled shows at the fairgrounds on July 1 and
22. He said the company promotes a well-staffed, safe environment,
good music and dancing.

``We do not condone drugs,'' said Yuen, accusing the media of blowing
the situation out of proportion and stressing the use of ecstasy, an
amphetamine derivative that produces feelings of euphoria.

Hirokawa said Coolworld also produced an April event at the
fairgrounds where 3,500 people were expected, but 10,000 attended.
Deputies were concerned because they were not able to see what was
going on inside the tents that were set up in the middle of the
fairgrounds.

At 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Hirokawa said, the fire marshal issued an order
to stop selling tickets at the gate.

``There were 600 to 700 at the entrance then,'' Hirokawa said, ``and
they tried to jump fences or cut holes in them to get inside. One of
the private security men provided for the event got injured trying to
stop them. We finally closed the place at 6 a.m.''

Although deputies reported seeing drug use among the crowd of 22,000,
he said, there was the little 22 officers could do that wouldn't have
started a riot.

Deputies arrested David William Brown, 30, of Sacramento and booked
him into Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of possession of
controlled substances for sale.

Hirokawa said Brown allegedly had cocaine, 400 tablets of ecstasy,
canisters of nitrous oxide and an assortment of white and yellow
capsules that have yet to be analyzed.

In an unrelated event Sunday night, San Jose police were called to a
dance and performance party at Parkside Hall, next to the Tech Museum
in downtown San Jose. Things became hectic at 12:30 a.m. Monday when a
crowd of 1,000 started fleeing from what they apparently thought was
gunfire, officer Rubens Dalaison said.

While the crowd milled outside in the street, police searched the
premises and found no one injured, no bullet holes and determined the
noise apparently had been made by firecrackers.

``We shut everything down at about 1 a.m.,'' he said, ``and
approximately 500 of the people left. But the remaining 500 stayed,
and a handful of them threw rocks and bottles at the officers.''

A window of a nearby bank was cracked as were the windows of three or
four parked cars, Dalaison said.

Police called for reinforcements and by the time the ruckus died down,
he said, 51 officers were at the scene.

At 1:50 a.m., police were dispatched to Coleman Avenue and Hedding
Street to investigate a report of vandalism at a mini-mart.

Dalaison said about 50 youths allegedly turned away from the downtown
party had smashed windows and broken into the convenience store, where
they snatched candy and took the cash register.

Six youths from the East Bay were taken into custody on suspicion of
burglary.

``We are looking for other suspects who may have been photographed by
the store's security camera,'' Dalaison said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek