Beating Sends Shock Waves Through Laguna

One day after a man was severely beaten in what police are calling a hate crime against gays, shock and anger swept this coastal city known for its tolerance of homosexual lifestyles.

In bars downtown and in gay bars farther south, patrons expressed either amazement that such a vicious attack could occur or anger that what has become routine harassment of gays could explode into such savagery.

A waiter at the Little Shrimp, a gay bar one block from the scene of the attack, said that 30 to 40 obscene calls come into the bar each day. The bar has also received bomb threats, he said.

“When it gets serious, people start getting physically hurt, it’s no longer something we take lightly,” said the waiter, who identified himself only as Rusty. “I don’t think people are afraid so much, but they’re angry.”

Some residents blamed out-of-towners for crimes such as the beating early Saturday that has left a still-unidentified, middle-aged man comatose and in critical condition.

“Generally in the city here you don’t hear gay-bashing conversation in bars,” said David Elstad, bartender at The Saloon, a popular watering hole for locals that is not known as a gathering place for gays. “The sense of humor in bars is pretty dark, but I notice no one is making a joke out of this.”

Elstad said patrons who discussed the incident Sunday afternoon generally were “disappointed and amazed.”

Resident Lee Ricker, who sat at the bar nearby, called the crime a “shocking thing,” but said she still sees Laguna Beach as a city of tolerance.

“People who live here are more tolerant,” she said. “Otherwise they wouldn’t live here.”

A few blocks away at the Marine Room Tavern, another bar not known as a gay hangout, patrons shook their heads in wonder that such a crime would occur in their community, the only city in Orange County that has an anti-discrimination ordinance in place to protect homosexuals.

“This is Laguna Beach,” resident Paul Price said. “Things like that don’t happen here.”

But at the Little Shrimp, residents said they suffer harassment regularly.

“We’re tired of this crap the parents are teaching their kids,” said one man who asked not to be identified. “They figure the gay community’s weak. This town’s gonna revolt.”

The man, who said he was a World War II veteran, said he was once in the bar when someone tossed a cherry bomb in the door.

“They threw it in and lobbed it right under my feet,” he said. “I blew up. I couldn’t hear for an hour and they think it’s cute.”

Police have arrested 18-year-old Jeff Michael Raines of San Juan Capistrano. He is being held on suspicion of attempted murder. Police said Sunday they will also ask prosecutors to file a hate crime charge against the San Clemente High School senior.

On Sunday, Police Chief Neil J. Purcell said one of the youths who had been with the suspect told police that Raines said: “Let’s go down to Mountain Street to get some fags.”

It was not known whether the victim, who was beaten so severely that his race could not be determined, is gay.

A former doorman at the Little Shrimp agreed that harassment and attacks are commonplace near the bar.

“It’s an ongoing problem, it’s not an isolated incident,” said the man, who asked not to be identified. “I got hit one night almost right in my eye with a paint bomb.”

Sean DeWine, an Irvine resident who was walking to the beach near where the attack occurred the previous morning, said: “Basically, everybody’s a little uptight about the attack.

“I don’t think it’s going to stop me from going out and leading my social life . . . ,” DeWine said.