RAVES AT CITY-OWNED AUDITORIUM DIVIDE SPRINGS OFFICIALS

Monday, June 11, 2001 - COLORADO SPRINGS - Erik Skinner was 14 years old
the first time he went to a rave in Colorado Springs. He immediately
took a liking to the earsplitting, pulsing, electronic music and
freewheeling, friendly hordes of kids.

"I thought it was awesome," said Skinner, now 16. "It was really
interesting."

Back then, kids could attend raves at several locations in and around
Colorado Springs, but the number of rave venues has dwindled to one
primary location - the City Auditorium, which is owned and operated by
the city of Colorado Springs.

Security officers are posted inside and outside the auditorium during
raves, Skinner said, but he's seen people selling drugs to kids waiting
in the massive lines outside. And even though kids are frisked at the
door, Skinner said, "if you hide it well enough, you can get it in.

"I've seen a lot of (drugs)," he said.

That doesn't go over very well with the police department. Deputy Chief
Luis Velez said police officials have met with the Parks and Recreation
Department to air their concerns.

"We've given them our perspective on raves and the kind of activities
that go on during the course of a rave," Velez said. "Personally, I
would prefer that we as a city don't have raves."

Detective Cil Shutz educates the community about the dangers of club
drugs and raves. She tells parents, educators and kids that 90 percent
of people who attend raves use drugs.

"A lot of steps have been taken by our department to get them to
understand that this is not in the best interest of our community,"
Shutz said. She said other venues have stopped having raves because of
accompanying problems and "now the city building is having them. How
does that look?"

But Bob Wade, who manages the City Auditorium, said he's been at every
one of the raves held in his building - about four raves per year for
the past couple of years - and they are not the wild, out-of-control,
drug-infested parties people expect.

"Raves are very, very overrated in terms of what they're about," Wade
said. "It's just a bunch of kids getting together and dancing and
wearing themselves out."

He said he has far more problems with other types of rock concerts,
especially those that attract drunken adults. He likens the perception
of raves to that of rock 'n' roll when he was young.

"When I was a kid growing up, we had the same problem with rock 'n' roll
dances: Anyone going to a rock 'n' roll dance was headed straight to
hell," Wade said. "Kids want to do things differently. They don't want
to kowtow to what the standards are for music or dance. They want to
create their own. It's gone on forever."

He acknowledges that some of the youths at the raves have used drugs,
and sometimes succeed in sneaking drugs in. If drugs are found, Wade
said, they're thrown away, unless it's a large quantity apparently
intended for sale. Then the police are called. But, Wade said, kids are
going to use drugs whether they go to a rave or not.

If the raves weren't held at the auditorium, they'd just be held
somewhere else, Wade said, and probably not be as tightly controlled.