Rodman’s Major Ruckus

Revisiting all-too familiar territory, police Saturday shut down a raucous 40th birthday party for former pro basketball star Dennis Rodman at his Newport Beach home, featuring an allegedly illegal helicopter landing on the sand and a rock concert loud enough to turn surfers’ heads.

“The band on the stage [told police], ‘We’re going to do what we want,’ ” police spokesman Mike McDermott said.

Rodman ignored a reporter’s questions.

After heated negotiations between Rodman and police, Rodman agreed to move the party to Josh Slocums, a restaurant he partly owns on East Coast Highway. No arrests were made.

About 300 people attended the gathering. Two-thirds of them simply showed up uninvited on the beach outside Rodman’s pink stucco beach house on Seashore Drive in west Newport Beach.

Others milled in the street or stood outside their homes watching the parade of people coming in and out of Rodman’s house.

The incident was the latest in a series of confrontations with neighbors and police since Rodman moved to the beachfront neighborhood several years ago. This one, McDermott said, began Friday when Rodman, preparing for the party, erected a temporary chain-link fence around the public beach in front of his home. Rodman, whose birthday is today, had even set up portable toilets in the front yard to accommodate the crowd.

“We told him to take it down because it was encroaching on public property,” McDermott said, “and he said, ‘You do your job and I’ll do what I have to do.’ ”

About 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Rodman made a dramatic entrance in a helicopter that circled his house several times before making what police say was an illegal landing on the beach.

Kevin Bradley, 24, of Newport Beach, an invited guest, said the landing was “like a Navy Seal mission. It was an awesome party.”

A concert on his patio by bands Live and AGROKULCHER and by a disc jockey blasted onto the beach, prompted 50 complaints from irate neighbors, police said. “They have to have permits to have live music, and they indicated they were not going to comply,” McDermott said.

By late afternoon about 30 police officers, some wearing riot gear, had gathered near the house.

Rodman’s lawyers negotiated with the Orange County district attorney’s office while the former Chicago Bull forward argued heatedly with police outside his house.

“We were trying to get him to obey the law without an unfortunate confrontation,” said Newport Beach police Lt. R.T. Long. “The dramatics and the antics were a bit much. This was clearly going to spiral out of control.”

“This requires lots of extra manpower,” McDermott added. “It’s costing us lots of money to baby-sit this guy today. It could get quite expensive.”

A crew from Fox Sportsnet was filming the party, led by Jack Haley, a former teammate of Rodman’s in both Chicago and San Antonio. Rodman was sporting a red baseball cap, white shirt with orange sleeves and baggy yellow velvet shorts as well as multiple piercings. His hair, often multicolored, was his natural brown.

After being threatened with arrest, Rodman jumped into a black stretch limousine and moved the party to Josh Slocums Restaurant, an establishment he partly owns on East Coast Highway about two miles from his house.

Once Rodman arrived at around 5:30 p.m., the restaurant quickly filled, and a long line of celebrants waited to get in.

From the time he first appeared at his house until he left for the restaurant in his lino, Rodman engaged in almost constant bickering with police while his friends tried to calm him down.

“He’s going to get himself arrested,” Long predicted. “It’s pathetic.”

Previous Rodman gatherings have resulted in more than 70 police appearances and more than $3,000 in fines for violating local noise ordinances, a local record, according to city officials.

His parties have also produced their share of serious police complaints--including a stolen cell phone, stolen Rolex watch and a 9mm pistol brandished during an argument between two guests. In 1999 a woman accused Rodman of drugging and raping her at his house, but prosecutors declined to file charges, citing lack of evidence.

Not everyone in the neighborhood was upset. “It’s just one day,” said Kevin Carretta, 27, who was visiting a neighbor’s home down the street. “It’s his birthday. I don’t think there was a problem.”

Said Dan Cox, owner of a Las Vegas sports nutrition company: “It was no different than if you or I had a party with 50 of our closest friends, but 200 people on the outside wanted to see you and those friends.”