RAVERS APPEAR IN COURT

RACINE -- A month ago, Ashley Hurkmans, 18, and three friends drove six
hours from Escanaba, Mich., to go to a rave party in Racine. She was one of
440 people the Racine Police Department cited for being at the alleged drug
party.

On Monday, Hurkmans and her dad, Tony, made the same six-hour drive to
fight the ticket.

"That's all I need, a drug charge on my record," Ashley Hurkmans said.

She was one of 166 people who appeared Monday in Racine Municipal Court
because of the citations issued at the Nov. 2 party. When given the choice
by Municipal Court Judge Rob Weber, most chose to fight the citations
instead of pleading no contest -- essentially the same as pleading guilty
- -- for a reduced fine.

In all, 147 pleaded innocent to being a patron at a disorderly house. They
were given trial dates of Jan. 24 and Jan. 30. Only 19 people took the
city's offer of a no-contest plea.

The disorderly house citations originally carried fines of $968 each, but
the city lowered that to $100 for those who plead guilty or no contest to
the citations.

Forty people didn't show up for their court hearing on the citations. They
will be fined between $250 and $300.

People who fight their tickets and lose could be subject to the full amount
of the original fine.

Monday's session in Municipal Court was the first of three scheduled for
people cited at the party. People cited also will appear Dec. 9 and 16.

The Uptown Theater Group said the party was a fund-raiser for the
organization. Police said it was a rave -- a techno dance party commonly
associated with "club drugs" like Ecstasy and Ketamine.

In the hallway at City Hall Annex, 800 Center St., people lined up at the
clerk of municipal court's window to plead innocent. Attorneys from the
American Civil Liberties Union, who are helping to defend the people cited,
were also there.

Joshua Haupt, 20, of Milwaukee, approached lawyer Erik Guenther in the hall
outside municipal court.

"Do you have any idea how you want to plead?" Guenther asked.

"Not guilty," Haupt said. "Because I'm not guilty of anything."

Haupt, who is a student at Milwaukee School of Engineering, said he's
fighting the ticket because he doesn't want a conviction to jeopardize his
financial aid.

As for what he could have to pay if he loses: "I think that's a risk I'm
willing to take."

James Werdeniek, 22, from Evergreen Park, Ill., also said he was willing to
take that risk.

Werdeniek volunteers for a group called Dance Safe, which bills itself on
its Web site as a national drug education program which promotes "health
and safety within the rave and nightclub community." The Web site also
states that "our information and services are directed primarily towards
non-addicted, recreational drug users."

Werdeniek said he didn't see or use any drugs there. That he and so many
others were cited, he said, is wrong.

"This is something that never should have happened to begin with,"
Werdeniek said. "And why should I put up with something on my record,
something that's going to hurt me in the future, that I never should have
been charged with?"

Several people who were in court Monday said they did not use any drugs at
the party, nor did they see anybody else using them. Police arrested only
three people on drug charges, leading some to question the fairness of
citing so many people because of the actions of a few.

Police Chief Dave Spenner said police saw and found more evidence of drugs
than just those three people arrested. Among the items police confiscated
were pipes, marijuana and numerous pills and tablets. Police also found
candy, air filtration masks, pacifiers and Vicks Vapo-Rub -- seemingly
innocuous items that are popular at rave parties and common companions to
the club drugs.

Spenner said drugs were obvious enough that anybody at that party should
have known they were present.

"We were on-scene for about two hours. The passage and drug usage was
widespread," Spenner said. "Clearly, of 440 people ... they opted to stay
there.

"They were there for many hours. Many of them were glassy-eyed."

Guenther, who volunteers for the ACLU, said the police raid of the party
and the citations violated partygoers' rights to freedom of speech and
freedom of assembly.

"Freedom of speech includes freedom to dance, freedom of association,"
Guenther said. "None of the people here have been charged with doing drugs,
transferring drugs. They had no way to know they'd be doing something wrong
by going to this party."

Not everyone decided to fight the tickets.

"I can't afford to come up here a couple more times for it to be
continued," said Gary Gehrke, 19, of Chicago. "See, I figure I already
missed a day of work. That's $100."

Gehrke's friend, Josh Bjarnarson, 18, also of Chicago, agreed. But he said
by pleading no contest, he was not admitting he did anything wrong.

"If I lived around here, I'd fight it in a second," Bjarnarson said. "I
just can't afford the trips up here."

Tony Hurkmans, however, said he plans to fight his daughter Ashley's ticket
as long as it takes.

"It's a big fiasco," Tony Hurkmans said. "I think it was originally
intended to generate money for the city from the people who would just call
it quits soon" and take the deal, he said.