(The following story by Peter Schelden appeared on The Orange County Register website on July 16.)
SANTA ANA, Calif. — About 9,000 partygoers peacefully drove off after Saturday’s 29th annual Mooning of Amtrak was shut down by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. About 50 police officers from four departments used riot gear, shotguns and a helicopter to ensure the crowd would leave peacefully.
Sheriff’s Department representative Jim Amormino explained the extra equipment kept the crowd from mobbing,
“Part of the crowd was unruly,” Amormino said. “We just didn’t want it to get out of hand.”
Amormino said police didn’t want to repeat the 1986 Huntington Beach riots, in which 12 people were arrested and several vehicles were burned at a surfing competition.
Citizens and businesspeople complained of total nudity and sex acts “performed in public view,” during the train mooning event, Amormino said.
“It’s one thing to have fun, and another thing to be lewd,” he said.
Once some members of the crowd crossed the line from mooning to public nudity, police decided to send everyone home.
One partygoer questioned the police decision to tell drunks to go home, since many of them could wind up violating drunk driving laws.
“Why don’t you just cite the nudists instead of having 6,000 drunk people drive home?” Lake Forest resident Shane Jones asked.
Amormino responded that while there were certainly drunk people present at the mooning event, “hopefully they had a designated driver.”
Some were concerned the event would be cancelled before its thirtieth anniversary next year, but Amormino predicted the annual Mooning of Amtrak would continue.
“I don’t think it is going to stop,” he said. “It’s been going on for years. As long as people behave themselves and obey the law, there won’t be a problem.”