POLICE ARREST 23 AT SLO PARTY

19- To 21-year-olds Used Drugs, Authorities Say

Twenty-three people were arrested in San Luis Obispo early Sunday on
suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance at what
police are calling a rave.

Police were investigating a noise complaint at the Los Verdes condominium
complex on Linda Way when they found approximately 50 people at a house
party. As officers approached, many party-goers fled the scene, including
one man who police say shattered the glass in a window and jumped out.

Police say the 23 people arrested had taken Ecstasy —
methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA — a synthetic amphetamine derivative
that produces feelings of euphoria and is widely known as the drug of
choice at raves.

Raves are underground parties with secret locations where enthusiasts dance
to music with fast, pulsating beats.

All of those arrested were between the ages of 19 and 21, and all but one
were local residents. Sgt. Bruce Lahargoue said they were transported to
the police department where they were cited and released.

Twenty-four-year-old Myra Petraeus, a resident of the complex, was
returning home from work around midnight and was met by "loud techno music"
and "whooping and hollering" from a condo nearby.

"I could hear the music clear as a bell," she said. "Some girl kept coming
outside screaming and laughing real loud."

When a family member could not sleep because of the noise, Petraeus' mother
called the police.

The residents of the condo where the party took place refused to comment on
the party or the arrests.

The arrests mark the fourth time this year an event believed to be a rave
has been broken up. In August, Morro Bay officers found underage drinkers
and people under the influence of Ecstasy at a dance party at Flippo's
Surfside Skate Harbor. The Morro Bay resident who rented the skating rink
for the party denies it was a rave.

Sheriff's deputies stopped a Pozo party before it ever got started in July,
turning away more than a hundred vehicles headed for the event. Deputies
found information about the party on a Web site. And in May, six people at
a supposed rave were found in possession of Ecstasy and arrested during an
undercover sting at The Forum on Marsh in San Luis Obispo.