DRUGS MAKE "RAVE" A BAD WORD TO SHERIFF

July 11, 2000 - There's a newly minted four-letter word in Larimer County:
rave. Rave parties, all-night dance sessions fueled by swirling light
shows, pounding techno music and, for some, illicit drugs, might become
less frequent there.

Sheriff Jim Alderden, through a court order, shut down a rave scheduled for
last Friday night at the Mishawaka Amphitheatre in Poudre Canyon. And he
will probably ask a judge to do it again, unless the organizers of the
underground events submit to above-ground scheduling and ticketing
practices, he said. In general, a rave's location is quietly released via
Web sites, phone chains or fliers. Alderden said those and other practices
contribute to a lawless atmosphere.

"The message we're trying to send is, "If you're going to have parties, and
drug use is part of that atmosphere, you're not welcome here,'" Alderden
said Monday. "The whole idea of these raves is that they're wrought with
drugs."

He said he secured the injunction canceling the event after becoming
convinced the Mishawaka management was not doing enough to reduce the
rave's potential for drug use and trafficking.

"We're not opposed to having all-night DJ parties where the kids can go and
dance and socialize," he said. "What I'm opposed to is these parties where
there is such an emphasis on illicit drugs, which is typical of rave
parties. I don't think there were enough safeguards in place to ensure it
would be drug free."

But Mishawaka owner Robin Jones, who said the closure cost him a $2,500
rental fee and bottled-water proceeds - water is a big seller at the hot,
all-night dance marathons - said Alderden is overestimating the prevalence
of drugs at the events.

"I went to the sheriff's department and told them I'd been doing (raves)
since last summer and that I've had 9,000 kids up here and one drug
incident," he said. "We had one incident out of 9,000. But the sheriff does
not like the word "rave.' He associates raves with drugs."

Sharpening the sting of Alderden's court order, he said, was the use of two
state highway department signs on Interstate 25 advertising the cancellation.

"How can you shut down a business and put my name on I-25 that the
Mishawaka rave is canceled?" he asked. "I had to close down at 9 that night
because no one came up for dinner. So yeah, I feel picked on."

He said that raves are a big part of today's music business and that he
needs to be able to host them. "The raves are not going to leave. This is
what the younger generation wants to listen to," he said. "They want to
dance and they want to stay up all night."

On the Web, where rave enthusiasts often trade information, arrange for
ride sharing, and discuss issues in their community, Colorado ravers Monday
were discussing how they might be able to overcome anti-rave officials like
Alderden.

"Have the ideas of Thoreau, M.L.K. Jr. and the like been tossed to the
side?" asked someone posting under the name "one voice" at ColoradoRave.com.

"Even though most of us don't vote, for the obvious reasons that no one
represents our issues .why should we lose our First Amendment rights every
Saturday night? Is there nothing we can do? Do we sit back idly and watch
as venue after venue is denied for us to gather at?"

Another apparent raver, posting under the name "tankgirl13," had a
suggestion of what to do. "We should all be more responsible with the way
we handle ourselves and the way we treat others at parties," that person
wrote. "Too many kids are going home (messed) up off drugs, too many
parents are freaking out, too little people are around JUST FOR THE MUSIC!"

Alderden and Jones each said they would work together to avoid a similar
fate for rave parties scheduled at Mishawaka later this summer.