Band Can Keep Practicing Till Hearing on Suit, Judge Rules Courts: Olympic swimmer Janet Evans’ parents, who live near El Dorado High School, say morning noise has become unbearable.

The band can play it again.

A judge has cleared the way for the El Dorado High School marching band to continue its early-morning practices at least until Dec. 8, when a hearing will be held on a lawsuit filed by the parents of the school’s most famous graduate, Olympic champion swimmer Janet Evans.

Judge Leonard Goldstein on Wednesday denied a request by the Evanses’ attorneys to suspend a city ordinance that makes it legal for the marching band to begin its practices at 7 a.m.

Paul and Barbara Evans, who have lived in a home that abuts the school’s football field since 1971, maintain that recent drum playing during the rehearsals has made their lives miserable, rattling their nerves and forcing them to stay in a hotel on occasion. (Janet Evans graduated in 1989 and no longer lives at home.)

“I’m pleased on behalf of the young people who will be able to continue with their practices,” said David Larsen, an attorney for the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. “They will now be able to complete their season.”

William B. Hanley, an attorney for the Evanses, called the judge’s decision fair and said he looks forward to a full hearing on the case Dec. 8.

The Evanses are suing the school, the school district, the city, the band director and the band’s booster club. They would like to see the band’s practices moved to a lower field, farther away from the homes on their street.

Although the award-winning band has been practicing on the field for more than 20 years, the Evanses said in a lawsuit filed last week that the situation has become unbearable with the addition of the drum corps, which they say had previously practiced in other parts of the school.

Hanley alleged that after the school was exempted from the city’s noise ordinance last year, the practices got louder.

The Evanses have complained in the past and have had several meetings with school officials this fall. Paul Evans said this week that they decided to file the lawsuit once they felt the school was turning a deaf ear on their complaints.

“The Evanses are not interested in terminating band practice,” Hanley said. “They would just like to see it moved to a lower field, away from the houses.”

District officials said Wednesday that practicing on the school’s lower field is not practical because the band and its performance units need to continue practicing on a marked field in order to effectively compete, said district spokeswoman Karen Bass.

The parents of several band members expressed outrage Wednesday over the lawsuit, saying that it’s unfair to the 189 students who participate in performance competitions throughout the state.

“It’s irritating to see kids who are attempting to do good things be cast in a light as if they are doing something bad,” said Lindsay Thompson, who has two children in the band and played in it himself in the early 1970s.

“These kids are willing to give up their time and get to school that early to practice,” Thompson added. “The lawsuit is attempting to suppress the efforts of those kids.”

Parent Susie Kershaw said the students have no alternative but to practice on the field during the early-morning hours.

“I’m very shocked that people would try and stop kids from doing something like this,” Kershaw said. “This is an award-winning band, a great group of kids that has a lot of community support behind them. We’d like to see the Evanses accept that this is the only option the school has.”

The parents also defended band director Richard Watson, who the Evanses accuse of defiantly stationing the band’s drum corps directly behind their house in order to rankle them.

They also allege that Watson has led a campaign among the band’s booster club members to no longer patronize Paul Evans’ Placentia veterinary clinic.

Kershaw said that while some parents have written letters to Paul Evans stating they would be boycotting his business and urging others to do so, they were acting independently and were not encouraged by band boosters.

On Wednesday, Watson filed a declaration in Orange County Superior Court stating that in his 21 years as the school’s band director, the only complaints he has ever received about noise have been from the Evanses.

“Over the years, we have attempted various alterations to our practice sessions in order to minimize the sound impact, but their complaints have continued,” Watson stated. “We have also tried moving to a lower field, which includes part of a baseball diamond that cannot be striped like a football field and does not provide the same level area necessary for a marching band and its performance units.”

Watson also stated that over the past three years, the couple have attempted to disrupt the practice sessions by blasting their stereo system. Several parents interviewed Wednesday said they witnessed such an incident in early October.

Hanley said that Barbara Evans on one occasion had blasted the stereo during the practice in frustration but ceased doing so after meetings with school officials were set up.