One might be to send uniformed and undercover officers to the rave to protect public safety and arrest people who sell or consume illegal drugs, carry weapons or commit sexual assaults.

Or, the authorities could take the Utah County approach: Raid the place just before midnight with 90 officers, some of them in full battle gear and carrying automatic weapons. Bring in dogs and a helicopter. Scream at the frightened partiers that if they do not leave immediately they will be arrested.

That last strategy strikes us as excessive. Not only because panicked people might injure themselves or others in the confusion, but because innocent people who are not doing drugs or committing other crimes, who are just having a good time dancing under the stars, are herded off a mountain in the middle of the night at gunpoint, scared silly. That strikes us as unjust, unfair and unconstitutional.

Yet that is what happened Aug. 20 on the private Childs Ranch in Spanish Fork Canyon. Sheriff James O. Tracy Jr. rounded up officers from across Utah County and raided a rave with massive force, shut it down, cited at least 60 people for drug, alcohol and status offenses, arrested 30, and pretty much showed everyone who was in charge.

It looks as though Utah County officials, who are frustrated by raves in their county, decided to put the fear of God in anyone who might think about going to one of these events in the future.

Either that, or the county's mass gathering ordinance is hopelessly flawed. If this is the only way officials can figure out to enforce it, something is wrong.

The sheriff claims that the organizers lacked a permit under the mass gathering ordinance. Organizers got a different permit from the health department, but claim they did not need a mass-gathering permit because the event was not planned to last more than 12 hours. The organizers have sued county officials in federal court, claiming the ordinance is vague and confusing. If it leaves promoters without reasonable notice of whether the permit is required or not, it is defective.

A rave is synonymous with illegal drug use, but so is a Rolling Stones concert. That doesn't mean all partiers break the law, however, and using a flawed ordinance as a pretext to punish the innocent is wrong.