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SLO Mardi Gras Celebration Provokes Riot
By Matt Dozier - Staff Writer
Monday, February 23, 2004

Three UCSB students were arrested during a Mardi Gras celebration in San Luis Obispo that deteriorated into a riot Saturday night.

Rob Bryn, spokesman for the San Luis Obispo Police Dept., said all three were arrested on charges of public drunkenness at separate times Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Bryn was unable to give names for the three students, but he said they were the only UCSB students out of the 130 people arrested over the weekend as of 6 a .m. Sunday morning.

The night's festivities took a violent turn after police shut down two large parties near the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo campus at the Mustang Village apartment complex. Partygoers upset by the intervention threw bottles, rocks, beads and other assorted objects at police officers, who responded by firing non-lethal ammunition and tear gas at the rioters. Several dozen police officers and sheriff's deputies dispersed a crowd of nearly 5,000 revelers at the scene of the disturbance.

Police enlisted the help of a helicopter equipped with a spotlight in their efforts to keep visitors out of the Cedar Creek apartment complex, another traditional hotspot for Mardi Gras parties. Officers also erected numerous roadblocks, blocking off at least one major intersection to car and foot traffic from all directions.

At one point, more than 100 partygoers rushed across the train tracks near Cedar Creek - despite police protests - because the roadblocks had cut off all other nearby crossings.

- The Associated Press also contributed to this report

San Luis Obispo: Mardi Gras turns violent, 155 arrested

posted by Collin Sick on Monday February 23 2004 @ 06:11PM PST

2/23/04 Six officers from the San Luis Obispo Police Department were slightly injured over the weekend after the community's annual Mardi Gras festivities turned violent.

More than 200 officers from several area agencies -- including 10 from the Santa Maria Police Department and several from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department -- were deployed Saturday night and early Sunday morning to an out-of-control situation at a busy intersection near Cal Poly, said San Luis Police spokesman Rob Bryn.

Officers in full riot gear responded by firing nonlethal beanbags and tear gas into the 5,000-person crowd at the Mustang Village apartment complex near the intersection of California and Foothill boulevards.

"Quite frankly the attitude of the crowd was much different," Bryn said. "They were looking to cause a problem."

By Sunday night, more than 155 people -- most college-age -- had been arrested for charges stemming from parties associated with Mardi Gras. Many of those arrested were from out of town, some from as far away as Florida and New Jersey , Bryn said.

Attendance at Sunday's parade, however, was lower than the previous year, partly because many out-of-town party-goers were already heading home, he said. About 25 people were arrested after the parade Sunday night, compared to the roughly 130 arrested Saturday night, Bryn added.

No major injuries were reported, but six officers suffered minor injuries from rocks and bottles thrown by rowdy party-goers Saturday night.

Party-goers also smashed the windshields of five police cruisers, Bryn said.

Officers from the Ventura and Santa Barbara sheriffs departments and California Highway Patrol also responded to the party, said San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Sgt. John Giese.

The other agencies responded as part of a mutual-aid agreement that provides additional officers when those from one agency can no longer control a crowd, he said.

"It was a serious situation, serious enough to where our resources were pretty depleted," Giese said.

Despite the high number of arrests, the San Luis Obispo County Jail remained below capacity, as many of those arrested on suspicion of being drunk in public were released after four to five hours, he said.

Giese said the situation at the jail was no worse than a spike in arrests seen during the popular Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles.

"We're prepared at the jail," he said. "It's not like we've got them standing in the halls."

San Luis Police officers prepared for an increase in arrests over the weekend, but had not prepared for the vicious nature of the crowd, Bryn said.

This year was the most violent in recent history, he said.

"We've seen similar but not as violent," Bryn said. "It was very ugly."

Bryn said he did not know what this year's events may mean for the future of the event, which was scaled back in previous years, adding that any decisions about future Mardi Gras festivities will be left to the independent San Luis Obispo Mardi Gras committee.

Posted on Mon, Feb. 23, 2004                                                                          

Calm prevails on Sunday afternoon
Rainy weather mellows the scene
Michaela Baltasar
The Tribune

SAN LUIS OBISPO - The only things thrown at the Mardi Gras parade Sunday afternoon were brightly colored beads and shiny plastic doubloons.

It was a sharp contrast to the previous night's riot, where drunken crowds hurled bottles and rocks at police, who returned fire with nonlethal weapons and tear gas.

Roughly 10,000 people went to the parade, wielding umbrellas against the rain and clutching coffee cups to stay warm.

Police said attendance was down 25,000 people from last year. As a result, some paradegoers called the atmosphere "more mellow."

"It's the weather," said Jessica Joseph, a 22-year-old Cal Poly graduate who huddled beneath a store awning near Garden Street . "Everyone's in town. I just don't know where they are right now."

Despite the smaller crowd, revelers in masks, fairy wings and jester's hats celebrated along Marsh Street while watching the parade, which started at 2:03 p.m.

They danced to music from bands in the parade and cheered as their favorite floats went by.

Jeff Russell, 15, of San Luis Obispo , leapt into the air numerous times to catch strand after metallic strand of Mardi Gras baubles.

"I'm not really into the parties É I just like the beads," said Jeff, a sophomore at San Luis Obispo High.

Susan Snyder, 22, of Atascadero , was one of many parents with children at the event.

"I'm having a blast," Snyder said as her 7-month-old son played with a string of purple beads in his stroller.

Snyder added she wasn't afraid for his safety.

"I was more worried about people being rude to me and telling me I shouldn't bring a baby here," she said.

While some relaxed during the parade, others used it to relay a message.

Representatives from the Cal Poly College Republicans handed out beads with a "College Students 4 Mike Ryan County Supervisor" tag attached.

Still others used the parade to protest police action.

Jesse Churchill, a 19-year-old Cal Poly student, carried a cardboard sign that read "Kisses and Hugs, Not Cops Being Thugs."

Churchill said he was partying near the university Saturday night and said police "instigated" the problems.

"When people are drunk, they don't like to see cops standing around in riot gear," Churchill said.

Staff writer Cynthia Neff contributed to this report.

Posted on Wed, Apr. 14, 2004

Pressure builds to end SLO's Mardi Gras

Council is asked to put a stop to 'party that's gotten out of control'
Laurie Phillips and Julie Lynem
The Tribune

SAN LUIS OBISPO - San Luis Obispo 's police chief and city administrator have asked the City Council to call for an end to all public Mardi Gras events -- including the parade -- so they can begin taming the excessive drinking and damage that cost taxpayers almost $500,000 this year.

Police Chief Deborah Linden and City Administrative Officer Ken Hampian have presented the ideas in a nine-page report to the council, which will take a stance on the future of Mardi Gras at its meeting next Tuesday.

More than 100 police officers were summoned late Feb. 21 when the city issued a mutual-aid call to calm and disperse a riot of 5,000 people gathered in the area of California and Foothill boulevards. Some in the crowd hurled rocks, bottles and chunks of concrete at police when they tried to temporarily close the intersection.

"This is a party that's gotten out of control," Linden said. "Even if public events are canceled, this is going to take us a couple years to knock it down. And it will take much more expensive and extraordinary measures to keep it from happening again."

Jay Mueller of Los Osos, president of Mardi Gras of San Luis Obispo, said he and other organizers will be present at next week's council meeting. Within three weeks, he said, Mardi Gras leaders expect to issue a statement about their intentions for future events.

He was not surprised by what he read in the report.

"They've shown their hand already in statements they've made and conversations we've had," Mueller said of city officials. Of the public sentiment against Mardi Gras, he said: "It's very understandable. Half a million dollars is a lot to spend."

Allen Root, this year's Mardi Gras king, said ending the parade won't keep hordes of people intent on partying from descending on the city.

"The Mardi Gras community cares about this community as much as anyone else," he said. "And we cannot tolerate that behavior revisiting us next year. We're all in agreement on that."

City officials acknowledge that organizers didn't intend for the out-of-control behavior, but point out it still happened.

The five-day Mardi Gras weekend cost taxpayers $483,600, according to the report -- $133,200 for the city of San Luis Obispo and $350,400 for the help of allied police agencies.

The money spent by San Luis Obispo on the event far exceeded what was budgeted, Linden said, despite the city's attempt to be as fiscally responsible as possible.

She expects the number to rise as city officials continue totaling the costs. The numbers in the staff report do not include thousands of hours of staff time devoted to preparing for Mardi Gras or prosecution of those arrested. They include more than $15,000 spent to repair damage done to police vehicles by rioters.

The city cannot stop Mardi Gras organizers from holding the parade. City officials denied organizers a parade permit in 2002, prompting a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU argued the city's special events policy violated the First Amendment, and a federal court agreed.

While Hampian acknowledges that merely stopping the parade will not immediately halt the rabble-rousing, he said the message of city staff is clear.

"We all agree that the end of the parade will not instantly end the excessive behavior over Mardi Gras weekend," he said. "But at least it signals a beginning of the end ... we hope."

Linden hoped the organizers would bow to public pressure, noting that Cuesta College and Cal Poly have taken strong stances against Mardi Gras.

If organizers say they plan to keep the public events, she said, "I think you'll see a really strong negative reaction from the community."

Mayor Dave Romero wants to give Mardi Gras organizers an opportunity to reply to the city.

"We want them to decide whether they want to defy the request of the City Council and the community," he said. "If they defy our request and say no to the city, we will have to look at what other means we have. Other cities have done things to stop parades."

City Attorney Jonathan Lowell is in the process of exploring legal options.

"After the ACLU suit of a couple of years ago, it's clear that it's difficult for the city to prohibit the parade from proceeding," Lowell said. "However, there still may be legal avenues available."