BUST PULLS PLUG ON PLANS FOR RAVE

JuJuBeats 2001 is canceled after L.A. deputies halt work at the intended
party site

A locally organized rave party - slated to be one of the biggest of the
summer - has been canceled and has left some ravers wondering about the
future of the movement in Southern California.

B3Cande, a Huntington Beach-based promoter, had planned its JuJuBeats 2001
gathering for Aug. 18 at a desert location in northern Los Angeles County.

The company had sold 6,000 tickets for $25 to $35 each and was expecting to
attract 25,000 people.

Raves typically are all-night parties featuring electronic and dance music.
Their locations usually are kept secret until shortly before the event.
Authorities say the use of illegal drugs such as Ecstasy is common at raves.

B3Cande canceled the event after Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies
Thursday arrested Stanley Edward McCullum of Quartz Hill, who was
landscaping the site for the rave. McCullum, 42, was charged with one count
of felony vandalism after he started installing sod, irrigation and parking
areas on the 100-acre site, much of it state-protected conservation land
and home to rare species such as the desert tortoise.

Deputies said McCullum did not have permission from the landowners, an
84-year-old Southern California woman and her son, Robert Powelson, who
lives in Oregon. They also said organizers had not obtained permits for the
annual party.

"This was going to be illegally done," Deputy Dan Burdick said. "What we
have now is several acres that are totally stripped."

Brian Alper of Huntington Beach, one of three founders of B3Cande, said he
believed he had obtained proper permits and thought McCullum had bought the
land, with escrow closing Friday.

"What I assume happened is that the sheriff found out it was going to be a
rave and pressured the property owner in Oregon, who pulled out of the
escrow, so McCullum no longer had the right to be on the property," said
Alper, 27. "In all likelihood, this has everything to do with this being a
rave."

Deputy Steve Harbeson acknowledged that the owner was in the process of
selling the property to McCullum, with escrow due to close five days after
the rave.

"The landowner gave permission to McCullum to survey, and only survey, the
location," Harbeson said.

Jeff Overton, manager at the Huntington Beach music store Higher Source,
said the shutdown of this rave, and another sponsored by a group called
Nation, have been blows to the area rave scene.

"There hasn't been a big party this summer," he said. "It's kind of been
going that way. ... Maybe everything's moving into clubs and indoors,
rather than outdoor events. There's just been lots of problems in the last
year or two."

Alper said officials have been cracking down, especially since summer 1999,
when five teen-agers were killed in a car accident as they were leaving a
JuJuBeats party in the San Gabriel Mountains.

"It's definitely having a negative impact," he said. "The authorities are
definitely paying more attention."

Amanda Wilson, a 19- year-old from Huntington Beach who has attended raves
in the past, agreed that the events are feeling the heat.

"I think they're cracking down more because of the drugs," Wilson said. "It
kind of stinks for ... people who do go just to enjoy the music, not to do
drugs. Everybody else is kind of ruining it."

B3Cande has spent $90,000 on the site and expects to lose $200,000
altogether, Alper said. All tickets will be refunded at the point of
purchase, he said. Details were to be posted on the company's Web site,
b3cande.com

But confusion reigned Friday, as word spread that the event was canceled
and ticket-holders inquired about getting their money back.

"Refunds? We're having a problem with that, because we're a corporate
company, so we take credit cards for tickets," said Tim Mann, assistant
manager at Music X in Costa Mesa. "How do we know if people bought their
tickets here? We'll decide by Monday what we're going to do." Still, local
rave enthusiasts seemed to hold B3Cande in high esteem.

"They're the only guys that are reputable, as far as I'm concerned," Higher
Source's Overton said. "They're the most professional, most organized
people around."

McCullum was held at the Lancaster station jail on $10,000 bail Friday. He
also had an outstanding warrant for violation of court order and was held
on $15,000 bail for that charge.

Register staff writer Stephen Lynch contributed to this report.