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‘Disco takeover9 lures thousands and policeBy DAVID FUSAROA “disco takeover promotion by a Chicago radio station Sunday night drew an estimated 3.000 fans, 110 police officers, media from Illinois and Indiana and a whole lot of no toriety for the tiny village of Lynwood.Police officers from 20 departments in Illinois and Indi ana rushed to the Pointe Fast discotheque, at the intersection of U.S. 30 and Illinois 83 near the Indiana border, to quell what was reported to be a riotPolice from as far away as Frankfort. III., and Crown Point. Ind , found in the park ing lot a crowd of about 1,200 rock ’n’ roll fans who came from even farther points — Kenosha. Wis., and Valparaiso, Ind . — “to be a part of his tory, as one fan put itTHE HISTORICAL signifi-cance was the first disco takeover by the Insane Coho Lips, an army of disco-hating rock fans who were assembled by WLLP-FM disc jockey Steve Dahl.Apparently, no one knew what to expect in this first venture, as twice as many young people arrived as the club could hold.Problems developed when people who had driven 100 miles or more were told they could not get in to see the show : a combined rock concert and rallv for fans of Dahl.Can you blame them? one sympathetic Cook county sheriff’s police deputy saidIf 1 had driven from Wisconsin and not gotten in. I would have been pretty mad too.THE POINTE East man agement said an orderly line was established as earlv as 4wp m for the 8 p.m show But residents from a trailer park across Route 30 said a few cars were in the parking lot as early as 2 p.mWhen the doors were opened just before 7 p m , a line 15 to 20 persons wide wound around three sides of the large enter tainment complex The place was filled in less than half an hour and the throng remaining outside was told to go homeThey refused to budge, how ever, and groups made several attempts to force their way into the club At one point a door was taken off its hinges and a sea of bodies poured into the already crowded clubWhen a Lynwood police officer was unable to disperse the crowd shortly after 8 p m., three more Lynwood officers appeared It bee a rut obvious to the officers that they were outnumbered, so a general call for assistance was sound edSOMEHOW the radio mes sage was interpreted to mean a riot, Cook county deputies at the scene said, causing the far-flung departments to arrive in full riot gear. Some officers wore riot helmets and some carried three foot clubs and reportedly one police van was filled with gas masks and protective vestsThere were sporadic incidents of rock and bottle throwing and name calling, but statistically little happened: There were no arrests, no in juries to police or the crowd, and no damage reported There really weren’t that many problems, said Lynwood Police Chief Peter be Maio, who ordered the clubclosed at 10:15 p m I don’t think most of the kids were looking for trouble, althoughthere are alwavs a few in a•*crowd.Police walked 15 to 20 abreast through the parking lot forcing those in the crowd to head for the highways or their cars. It took more than two hours to fullv clear theWtwo arteries of traffic, but things were back to normal by midnight Dahl’s immediate response was that police overreacted in typical cop fashion. although he later tempered his remarks when he heard of the crowd’s reaction outside 1 think we can still pull another one off.” he later promised “It may take White Sox park to accommodate all the people, but we re going to doit.Owners of the club and Lynwood village officials commended the response and restraint” of all the police departments involvedI don't think it was as bad as it sounds, although 1 understand things got pretty violent outside.” said Rudy Saleher. mayor of the village of 3,000 For better or worse, it certainly put us on the map .”
Newspaper Details
Park Forest Star
Park Forest, Illinois, US
Thu, Jun 07, 1979
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Augustana C.
IL, USA 10 Sep 2022
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