GARDEN GROVE : City Cracks Down on Large ‘Flyer’ Parties

The City Council tentatively approved an ordinance this week that gives police more authority to break up parties where an admission fee is charged.

The parties, which are usually advertised in flyers, are mostly held in residential neighborhoods and can attract several hundred young people, Chief Stanley L. Knee said.

Party guests pay an admission fee of perhaps $5 to the events where alcohol is often served to minors, he said.

Party-goers frequently disrupt the peace, and police must deploy many officers to disperse the crowds, Knee said.

The ordinance specifically prohibits charging admission to parties in a residential zone.

Currently, police are not allowed to respond to parties until they receive a complaint of noise or other disturbance. Armed with the new law, they will be able to break up the parties before they can get out of hand, Knee said.

Urging tough action, Yorba Linda resident Jodi Stout told City Council members that her 23-year-old son was killed “in cold blood” two years ago at a so-called flyer party.

The young man had jokingly asked for a free drink, and an argument broke out with a gang member, who was acting as a bouncer at the party in Yorba Linda, Stout said. The gang member stabbed her son who died in the arms of his brother, she said.

The assailant was convicted of second-degree murder and is serving 15 years to life in prison, she said.

Stout and her husband, Robert R. Ward, have also appeared before city councils in Fullerton, Yorba Linda and Placentia to urge a ban on the flyer parties.

The City Council is scheduled to give second reading to the ordinance in two weeks. It will take effect 30 days later.