My son’s arrest at the infamous 1990 Poly Royal weekend in San Luis Obispo

I had always been pro-law and order until the day disorder came knocking on my door.

“Mom, I’m in jail,” my son, Jason, said.

The year was 1990, and Jason was a freshman at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

One of the first things Jason did when he was getting settled in SLO was to affiliate himself with a congregation of the Church of Christ and their college-age youth group. This he did totally on his own, no nagging required. He had always enjoyed the activities and friendships fostered in the youth group at the church he grew up in, so I was delighted when he made this a part of his new, more independent life at college.

Then, on a routine morning in October, came that shocking phone call.

“Poly Royal” was homecoming weekend at Cal Poly. It had always been a city-wide celebration of everything good, brag-worthy and enduring about the university.

That year, however, it seems that a statewide “y’all come” had gone out, and the town was inundated by hundreds of kids looking for a fun weekend free-for-all of unlimited high jinks and trouble — and there was plenty of that. Windows were broken, businesses were looted, fires blazed and emergency responders were quickly overwhelmed and completely outnumbered.

Over 100,000 visitors came to SLO, and the event was so chaotic — resulting in 127 arrests and over 100 injuries — that it caused then-President Warren J. Baker to indefinitely cancel Poly Royal.

The next morning, San Luis Obispo looked like a war zone. The town had been totally trashed. And Jason was arrested for felony assault on a police officer.

I immediately talked to our attorney in Salinas, and he recommended a bail bondsman to facilitate Jason’s release from jail. When I met with my son later that morning in SLO, we got a burrito and sat on a bench in the sunshine and talked. How had this happened? Jason told me he was in his apartment, smart enough to stay away from the rampant lawlessness, when a young police officer came into his room, looked at him, pointed and said, “He’s the one.”

What do we do now? I had received a recommendation from our attorney for a criminal lawyer in SLO. We hired him that afternoon to represent Jason, and after a fact-finding discussion, he was ready to begin his investigation into the allegations against him.

He told us that one thing we could do was begin to solicit character references from people who knew Jason and were willing to attest to his integrity. Within a week, we had 105 letters from family, friends, business colleagues and political representatives, including the sheriff of Monterey County, our state assemblyman, the principal of Jason’s high school and the minister of his church.

Because Jason had been preparing to go on a mission trip to a foreign country before he was charged, time was of the essence. We were working against the clock and the calendar because, of course, he would not be allowed to leave the country if he had a felony charge open against him.

When we obtained a copy of the police report, the description of the assailant did not match Jason’s appearance at all. The police refused to discuss this.

However, Jason was sure that the girl he was with would provide his alibi because they were together in her apartment watching television when the assault took place. She refused. We never knew why, but Jason felt it was because her boyfriend did match the description of the assailant.

Jason’s attorney hypothesized that the police wanted to make an example of an individual charged with a felony in the midst of this chaos, so they were playing hard ball with him and with us. We asked what we could do that might change the tide of circumstances that were accruing against Jason. He suggested hiring a polygrapher, so we did.

The polygrapher, a former FBI agent, reported that Jason tested completely non-deceptive. The attitude of the police was, “Of course, because his mother hired the guy.”

Our attorney intervened with the police and a deal was offered: Jason would be tested by their polygrapher. If he tested non-deceptive there, charges would be dismissed. If he tested deceptive, the results of the polygraph could be used in a court of law when Jason was tried.

Jason readily agreed. He knew he had nothing to hide. When he left the police polygrapher, he was crying.

“Mom, the room was tiny, the air conditioning was going full blast, I was freezing and he obviously didn’t like me. When I left, he said, ‘This one didn’t turn out like the one your mommy bought for you,’” Jason told me.

We were heartsick. But a few hours later, Jason called: “I passed!”

I drove to San Luis Obispo, and we celebrated with another burrito.

Jason went on his mission trip. He graduated in 1996, with a Bachelor of Science in construction management. We never looked back.

Bunny Stevens lives in Modesto, her hometown, and has served on The Modesto Bee Community Advisory Board. She is the opening courtesy clerk at the Safeway supermarket on McHenry Avenue and an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church. Reach her at BunnyinModesto@gmail.com