NATO

Tell that to the authorities...Im pissed beyond belief! This is OUR music, OUR parties, OUR friends and fellow ravers. We can not tolerate this sort of thing, email your local news stations, email major media, send this world wide. Im taking my stand against the government and the entire "rave act".

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NATO :: Minneapolis/St. Paul

Maximum Choonage


skatezilla10@yahoo.com
natohardcore.com

astralkid

I guess raving is more of a crime/ sin than marrying 20 women... Joseph Smith must be proud.

hauptma2

by fat probably the most unconstitutional thing i've ever seen in my life

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-cory
Living Life @ 160 BPM

rize

that shit is waaaaay fucked up. i just hope the promoters had their shit as straight as they say they do.

Hoppapotamus

yes, it defenatly would be against their advantage if they didnt really have the permits, and i think Frolics promoting advice was right, especially since he has experiance

However, it was still really fucked up. They couldve shut this party down with a few cops. No need for the fuckin army, and especially no need for beating the shit out of people peacefully leaving. The accounts and the video are horrifying...

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Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior.

AznAstronaut

The Salt Lake Tribune has a truly one-sided piece of journalism ready for ya:

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2961967

Hit up Google News ( http://news.google.com/ ) and search for "Utah Rave" for more mainstream coverage. Pretty fucked up.

Busta

I like the last line of that article

Police want parents of teenagers to know the dangers of illegal, clandestine rave parties. Gilbert said that in addition to heavy drug use, raves attract sexual assaults, violence, theft and promote unsafe driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

I almost emailed the editor, but blah, what good does it do...

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Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of hits we take from the bong

F1SH3 RAVER

Wow, I guess there is a way to promote SAFE driving under the influence of drugs?? (I never would have guessed that one...)

NATO

THERE ARE JUST AS MANY DRUGS AT A ROCK OR RAP CONCERT! I dont get why these assholes can't see that. They need to send some undercover pig to go check out a rock concert...but oh yeah, the government makes money off of the record sales and all of the alcohol consumed and sold at a rock concert...amazing

heatheraloo

Yeah, not like they give a rats ass about about a bunch of teenagers they're just pissed they're not gettin tax on all the drug sales...

anabolic frolic

Well, we shouldn't be surprised by the local media since they're just reporting what the police tell them. There's no investigation by local reporters. It happens everywhere, and the only way that can change is if the locals were to hire a media relations firm to get their side out.

The same would be true of a nursing home fire or something. If the nursing home doesn't want to get buried, they have to mobilize and play the game. That's a real example. A friend of mine worked in media relations and they were getting calls at 5am to be ready to come into work and make a move on behalf of the nursing home.

If you recall in my recent interview about Hulla ending with the Toronto Star I even spoke about what an eye opener it was to see the media slant of a story you're involved in.

If I lived down there, I'd "create" some news by starting a lawsuit against the police immediately (not just talk about it) for what happened, and then have a media relations firm send out press releases about your case. But it costs big money to play this game of course. I don't know anything about these promoters, but I'd suspect in this day and age no one is making the kind of money off the scene anymore to finance something like this.

anabolic frolic

local newspaper article:

anabolic frolic

Those security guards are dumb, or greedy. Putting confiscated drugs in your back pocket, how exactly would you expect the police to interpert that?

This article confirms that the promoter didn't have all the correct permits. Unfortunately ignorance of the law has never been a defense for anything.

F1SH3 RAVER

Yes, I agree the security guards were dumb for holding the "contraband"... but if there was no police force present at the time, should they just have just thrown it in the trash?

Just kinda curious

anabolic frolic

A suitable solution is a bucket of water and everything gets tossed in there, ruined. That, or alternatively barring entry into the event of anyone caught with anything, but not confiscating it and telling them to leave.

anabolic frolic

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600157877,00.html

Police heavy-handed, party organizers say By Sara Israelsen
Deseret Morning News

OREM — Organizers of a music and dance party in Spanish Fork Canyon that was raided by police late Saturday say officers used unnecessary force with the crowd when they shut down the event.

"We've had shows get shut down, but . . . (police) don't need to come in and beat people up," said Brandon Fullmer, manager of Uprok Records, the music store in Salt Lake City that sponsored the CD-release party. "What they did was wrong."

Fullmer said he is mulling a lawsuit against the officers.

After monitoring the party for a few hours, some 90 officers from the Utah County Metro and Provo SWAT teams, Department of Public Safety and Utah Department of Corrections decided to raid the event at 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Officers, who called the party a rave, said they saw drug usage, drug sales and other illegal activities. Drugs and drug paraphernalia were also found littering the ground after partygoers left.

Police said they were only doing their jobs — to help prevent future problems and protect those who were there.

"I don't believe it was too much force," said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon. "We try in what we do to only escalate to the level necessary to gain control of the situation or the people causing a problem."

Sixty people were arrested for investigation of drug possession, illegal underage consumption of alcohol, distribution, assault on a police officer, as well as disorderly conduct.

"We went in because it was an illegal gathering," Cannon said. "They need a permit for 250-plus people — they didn't have that permit. Illegal drug activity was discovered secondary to closing down the large gathering."

However, whatever the reason, Fullmer says officers broke up the party with far too much force.

"Permit or not, the way they handled it was unjustifiable," he said. "There was no reason for this. People should not have been hurt. They could have come in and been civil with us. We're a business, we're not out there to do anything illegal."

Such a permit should have been obtained through the Utah County Commission. County code says applicants should submit a request — along with a $100 fee — to the commission 30 days prior to the event, said Utah County Commissioner Jerry Grover.
The commission reviews the application and can issue a "large gathering license." Groups must also get another mass-gathering permit through the county health department, which outlines specifics about portable bathrooms, water and trash facilities. Although Uprok had a health department permit and emergency medical personnel, Grover said they never came to the commission for a license.

"The problem is, no one is going to come in and permit it as a rave," Grover said. "So we have to handle everyone equally under the law. If they came in, we'd look at their application, we have criteria — it doesn't mean we condone selling drugs. There's a lot of problems they could face if they are selling drugs."

But Fullmer insists his event was not a front for the illegal sale of drugs. He said he hired a licensed security guard who hired 11 others responsible to search individuals and their cars for illegal substances before they entered the park.

The guards gathered drugs and were holding them to turn in to law enforcement at the end of the night, Fullmer said. However, when police broke up the party, those security guards who had confiscated drugs were arrested for investigation of possession of the controlled substances.

"Once they get the materials, beyond holding it while they wait for law enforcement to come . . . the scope of their ability to be within the bounds of the law is pretty much expired," Cannon said.

If they had called police immediately, he said, there wouldn't have been a problem.

This is the second time landowner Trudy Childs has had to deal with a party fiasco. During a concert in July, Childs said police came in, broke up a concert and roughed up some of the partygoers.

Childs leased out part of her 350 acres for this weekend's party but didn't attend. She was hunting on another part of her land — but went to the site when she saw there was a problem. That's when she was cuffed and taken to jail for allegedly contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The land has been in Childs' family for almost 80 years, and she said she is continuing her plans for an outdoor amphitheater, for future concerts and shows.

The large gathering was the summer's third party of "extraordinary size," said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Darren Gilbert.

"It's not just a mass gathering, there's illicit use of drugs, distribution of drugs," Gilbert said. "There was a lot of criminal activity just going on at the party itself."

Two county-labeled rave parties were both on Childs' land in Spanish Fork Canyon, and both drew more than 300 people. The second party was on the west side of Utah Lake in an area called Little Moab and grew to almost 3,000 people.

Officials didn't have sufficient manpower to break-up that party, officials said, and wanted to be sure that didn't happen again Saturday night.



E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com

Phlux

That's a very ignorant comment.

anabolic frolic

Some comments I have regarding that article above:

According to it, there was a single licensed security guard who got some extra people to do security. That is a complete nightmare. If they're not licensed they're just "some guys" and they're not accountable for anything. That's certainly not going to help your image with the outside authorities. And a total of 12 security for an event of 3000+ located outdoors is under staffed.

I'm going to make an assumption here and say that the missing permit in question probably would never be granted for anything resembling a rave. That being the case, I can understand if a promoter wouldn't have bothered applying for it, BUT that means you also roll the dice. and in this case they lost.

The cops were still heavy handed though. The appropriate first step would have been to kill the music and tell people to leave. Any party I've been at that had been busted up, that was the case. Even the one Hulla at the opera house that got shut early a few years ago. There was probably 20 cops standing outside, in case they were needed, but otherwise everyone was told to leave and Kwik got on the mic and asked everyone to cooperate so we wouldn't get screwed in the future. And that was the case.

F1SH3 RAVER

Fair enough...

This really sucks!
On one hand, the promoters didn't secure the proper legal rights to have the party (no Mass Gathering permit... ) and ultimately the party got busted... But on the other hand, the way that the police dealt with the situation was way wrong imo.

I saw the video, and I'd like to see more... perhaps some will surface, and give a clearer picture of how the police were handling the situation.

If people were resisting, or not coherent enough to say "yes officer, I'll move along now." then any action taken by the police to restrain them, would be deemed necessary (tasers, handcuffs, zipties, etc)... but if this happened to the people who were being orderly, then hell no, it was uncalled for. The video that I have seen is not entirely clear on a few things.

Raves/Parties should be just like a rock concert. In all aspects. Legal Venues, pulling permits, the whole nine yards... Ya can't do "renegades" very well anymore.... they know what we are trying to do.

So why not go legit... sure it'll cost a little more to throw a party, but i'm sure the benefits outweigh the costs... (Not having to replace confiscated decks, and sound equipment, not to mention the hard to find vinyl, lawyers, court costs, etc...) Could lead to some bad assed parties... (comparable to Hulla...)

::Sidenote - Chris, can ya just throw 1 more?? that way those of us who have only been to 1 can say that we went to 2? Pleeeeeeease?!?!?!)

kylefabulous

well.. i am just glad i don't live in utah...

i feel so bad for the people who have lost in this event... good luck to you all in the future...

Frolic u are just so smart about this stuff.. i know you've been doing it forever... but really.. it's a talent.. u should start consulting to promoters... event planning advice...

i'd pay for it...

=)

anabolic frolic

ha, well, I thought about "Mentoring". Not sure how I'd go about that. Maybe a pay per minute phone consultation or something .

My book, whenever thats done, will have a lot of "nuts & bolts" stuff in it that people will hopefully learn from.

Hoppapotamus

Did anyone hear the radio broadcast on this issue on Freetalklive.com?

astralkid

Phlux, go look up the word humour in the dictionary...

About the whole situation: if they got permit , than they probably have a case.

anabolic frolic

Now that the dust is settling on this a bit more, and some of the exagerated claims are being disproven (they weren't soldiers, the permit wasn't taken away by the cops and ripped up, we haven't exactly seen a lot of evidence of "beatings") this is seeming to me like more of a non-story. Parties get busted up all the time, and in this case the police apparently had grounds for it.

Dunno, I guess with all my years I've been trying to read between the lines on this whole thing and it's not as cut & dry as it first appeared.