Springtime Revelers Find Cruisin’ Route Straight and Narrow

Determined to prevent a repeat of last year’s Easter vacation melee, police were ticketing youths for the slightest infraction--even stepping off the curb--as the annual onslaught of student vacationers entered its peak period this weekend.

By Saturday night, the traditional whoops of carousing had been joined by another equally audible sound--widespread grumbling about police tactics that many youths regarded as repressive.

Backed up by reinforcements of Riverside County sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers, local police handed out 74 citations and made 52 arrests--most for public drunkenness--between 7 a.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday, said Fred Donnell, spokesman for the Palm Springs Police Department.

“That fits right in with our game plan, which is to start with a high profile and maintain that high profile,” Donnell said.

Revelers who cruised into town with stereos blaring and passengers hanging out car windows were pulled over and ticketed for noise violations and unsafe driving despite bumper-to-bumper traffic on Palm Canyon Drive, the main drag through town.

Young men and women on foot who ate fast food, guzzled beer and ogled each other could not walk more than a few dozen steps without encountering uniformed patrol officers. The officers were polite, but firm, as they enforced the letter of the law.

“We are not here to deter them,” Donnell said. “This town depends on tourism.”

The no-nonsense strategy was developed in response to last year’s disturbances, in which some of the 15,000 vacationing students dumped water on passing motorists, ripped clothes off women and threw rocks and bottles at police.

Authorities made more than 530 arrests during last year’s celebrations, which cost the city $100,000 in overtime salaries and $40,000 in property damage.

This year’s crackdown, which will cost the city twice as much in additional police salaries, brought complaints of heavy-handedness from many of the hooting celebrants.

“I stepped off the curb and I am getting a ticket--I swear to God,” complained Beth Stoudt, 18, of Hemet, as she waited for an officer to finish writing a citation he said was for being “a pedestrian in a roadway.”

“They have police out on every corner,” said Stoudt, glaring at the officer and chewing hard on her gum. “There’s no rights here!”

It seemed that way to Mike Vistaunet, 21, of El Toro, who was given a ticket for not having a license plate on the front of his car, a compact covered with imitation leopard fur.

“This is ridiculous,” Vistaunet said. “Just psycho.”

In addition to the arrests for drunkenness, 55 youths were picked up for curfew violation and at least 20 cars were towed away Friday night and early Saturday for violating a temporary restriction on parking downtown after 7 p.m., Donnell said.

But the show of strength hardly dampened the spirits of most people here.

Command Performance

“Everybody’s got to do the cruise once,” said Ian Cuzubkoff, 28, tapping a rock ‘n’ roll beat on the dash of his bright red 1955 Cadillac convertible as it inched forward in the traffic snarl.

“Whoa! Hey girl, what’s up?” he shouted to a young woman in a miniskirt who pretended she did not hear the catcall.

“One time a year you get to come out and be a kid again,” Cuzubkoff said to a passenger in the back seat. “Besides, how many times have you done this since high school?”

Some visitors came for other reasons.

“People, listen to me,” a young woman implored through a microphone connected to a miniature amplifier strapped to her waist. “If Jesus wasn’t real, I would be partying too--you know that, don’t you?”

“Ooooh- weee , par- teee ,” responded a chorus of voices in the crowd.

The carnival atmosphere is part of the attraction in what is a boon and bane for local residents and business owners.

On one hand, some small businesses and restaurants depend on receipts from the student invasion. But some residents and large hotels resent the youths for their rowdy behavior, which keeps older people and bigger spenders away.