COURT RULING FAVORS RAVE ORGANIZER

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors cannot force
the organizers of a rave dance party Friday night to ban pacifiers, glow
sticks are other paraphernalia used to enhance the effects of the drug Ecstasy.

U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous's ruling blocks part of a plea
bargain between prosecutors and a company that puts on raves at the State
Palace Theater.

Prosecutors had indicted the company under federal laws aimed at shutting
down crack houses. They say raves are often hotbeds of drug abuse,
particularly involving Ecstasy.

Porteous blocked enforcement of the ban pending additional court
proceedings. The rave company still has the option of banning the items on
its own.

The plea bargain also contained a $100,000 fine and five years' probation
for the company, Barbecue of New Orleans Inc. Those provisions were not
challenged.

The judge's ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the American
Civil Liberties Union on behalf of rave participants.