Despite Lawsuit, Judge Won’t Drum Band Out of Practice Field

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 on a lawsuit filed by the parents of the school’s most famous graduate, Olympic champion swimmer Janet Evans, will be held.

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 their 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 looked forward to a full hearing Dec. 8--which is after the band’s daily practice season ends.

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 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.”

Practicing on the school’s lower field is not practical because the band needs to practice on a marked field in order to compete effectively, district spokeswoman Karen Bass said Wednesday.