DEATH AT RAVE SPARKS CONCERN

AUSTIN - A rave party that drew thousands of people over the weekend from
across the country ended with one man dead and Travis County officials
puzzling over how to better control a wild night-life scene.

Thousands of young adults poured into a makeshift dance hall Saturday night
in southeast Travis County, turned the lights down and started a dance
party that lasted until sunrise.

They came from as far away as Oklahoma, Louisiana and New York, the Austin
American-Statesman reported Monday.

"It looked like there was some kind of major concert, instead of the more
usual parties," said Shirley Williams, who lives next door.

By the time the music ended Sunday, 22-year-old Jason Scheiring, a one-time
Fort Hood soldier now living in Corpus Christi, was dead, apparently of an
overdose of the drug Ecstasy, officials said.

A formal ruling on the cause of death will be made after toxicology results
are in, according to the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office.

Scheiring began having seizures during the party and was taken to
Brackenridge Hospital, where he died just before 4 a.m. Sunday, said Roger
Wade, a spokesman for the Travis County Sheriff's Department.

The rave took place at Asylum, a warehouselike venue known for hosting
parties nearly every weekend. Two numbers listed for Asylum's promoter,
Dustin Markson, were disconnected, and he could not be reached to comment.

Other promoters familiar with the event said the rave was hastily organized
to capitalize on the cancellation of another rave, the Electric Daisy
Carnival, originally scheduled for the same day.

Thousands of partygoers had arrived in town last week to attend the
Electric Daisy Carnival at the Travis County Exposition Center. The rave
was supposed to feature carnival rides and techno musicians on four stages.

But on Tuesday, Travis County commissioners voided the promoter's contract,
saying he did not show proof of liability insurance and that the rave's
marketing literature implied that it would have tents set up outside and
run the rave past midnight, in violation of county regulations.