By Laura Nesbitt
Mountain View Telegraph
The party was over before it began for about 500 young people when two deputies showed up.
A special event permit that required two deputies and an ambulance to be on-site at an event in Chilili on Saturday was issued by the Torrance County Planning & Zoning Department. That permit led to the end of the illegal rave, said Art Faust, the department director.
“Because of the presence of the deputies they were able to identify it as a rave. The system worked great,” Faust said.
A rave is a party for underage youth and other young people with music, illegal drugs and alcohol, said Undersheriff Heath White.
“We had kids from out of state that came to New Mexico just for this party. We had DJs that came from California. It was a big production,” White said.
Deputies discovered marijuana, some alcohol and Ecstasy, a psychedelic street drug, White said.
According to the permit the county was expecting a type of outdoor music festival with no more than 200 people in attendance, Faust said.
Representatives from World of Knives requested the permit and handed out a flier calling the event “Natural Selection presents Magical the Gathering,” Faust said.
According to Faust, World of Knives is “a reputable company.”
“I arrived and could clearly see that it was not what they had for a knife show. We were expecting an older crowd in their 40s or 50s, a little get together, and that's what the permits were pulled for. When we arrived and observed what was going on” the deputies shut the whole thing down about an hour after it started, White said.
“We're still investigating who exactly was the main person there. We don't believe that there was just one main person. There are several groups that come into the state and put on these parties. They tell everyone that there's going to be a party next Saturday and won't tell them where it's at. One hour before the party, there's a number you call and there's an answering machine” that directs the caller to the address of the party, White said.
Single tickets were going for $20 before the show or $30 for day of the show, Faust said.
“They were expecting 4,000 kids at $30 per person,” Faust said.
A total of 10 deputies arrived on scene in the field enclosed with some hills south of Chilili, White said. There were also four deputies handling calls in other parts of the county.
“You wouldn't even know it was there,” White said.
When the deputies arrived, “there was no altercation. The kids ran and we just let them run. We're not going to chase after 400 to 500 kids. We set up a roadblock so every car that left the area was checked to see if the driver was intoxicated or drunk,” White said.
No one was injured.
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