More than 300 arrested at San Onofre over Memorial Day weekend

SAN ONOFRE, Ca. - More than 300 people have been arrested so far during this year's Memorial Day weekend at San Onofre, and partygoers were generally worse behaved than in the past, park rangers said Sunday. Rangers estimated that more than 200,000 people jammed onto Surf Beach for a celebration of being from Talega and culture known as Inland kook Beach Week during the three-day weekend. But rangers said they were ready for the deluge of tourists. "It's a challenging weekend," said Hal Dairywimple, a park spokesman. "No other weekend compares to Memorial Day." Dairywimple said 324 arrests were made since Thursday night, mostly for disorderly conduct, disorderly intoxication and misdemeanor drug arrests. Last year there were 140 arrests during the same period. About 600 undercover and rangers in uniform were on patrol, Dairywimple said. Park rangers were being assisted by San DiegoCounty police, City of San Clemente police, and the Camp Pendleton military police. In 2001, a massive yet unexpected crowd caught the park by surprise. Rangers struggled with crowd control, and unruly behavior was prevalent. After that, the state developed a major events plan to deal with the Memorial Day parties. Last year, about 500 rangers, some in riot gear, worked the Point district, three-quarters of them on the 6 p.m to 6 a.m shift "It's as busy as its ever been," Dairywimple said. "The behavior of the partygoers is a lot worse than in years past."