YORBA LINDA : City Seeks Ways to Keep Lid on Parties

Because of a recent fatal stabbing at a rowdy party, the City Council called on police and city staff to suggest ways to prevent such parties from getting out of control.

The council’s action Tuesday came in response to the death of Ty Aaron Stout, 23, who died of stab wounds on Dec. 8 after a fight broke out at a party in the 4900 block of Via del Cerro. A second stabbing victim, Steve Nicholas Lindsay, 17, of Yorba Linda, was treated at a hospital for a wound to his arm.

Last week Richard Velasco, 19, of Anaheim was arrested on suspicion of stabbing the two men. Dennis Scott Kidd, 22, of Anaheim was arrested later on suspicion of aiding, concealing and harboring the murder suspect.

City Council members had suggested an ordinance similar to one in Los Alamitos, which prohibits charging admission to parties in residential areas. But City Atty. Leonard Hampel said that ground is already covered by state laws.

Police said hundreds of people showed up at the Via del Cerro party, which had been advertised through flyers at several high schools in the area. One principal in the district handed over a flyer to the police several days before the party, school officials said. But police said they were unable to determine much about the party because the flyers gave no exact date, time or place.

“It was very difficult to pin it down when it happens,” said Lt. Cliff Trimble, adding that even parents can be unaware of a party.

“We’ve had cases where there have been parents putting suitcases in the car and not knowing there was going to be a party.”

Bill Kielty, a trustee of the Placentia Unified School District board, said he will pursue a policy of expelling students who hand out flyers advertising parties where alcohol is to be served.

Duane Liable, a Yorba Linda resident and a member of the city’s Traffic Commission, said that neighbors should get in the habit of calling authorities about such signs as excess cars on the street or high school students taking alcoholic beverages into a house. Police can be stationed outside the party to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand, he said.

“Don’t wait until someone is knifed or stabbed,” Liable said. “You call the police when it’s building up. . . . Let’s not wait until the beer bottles start flying.”