At around 2 p.m. on Nov.13, an AYSO soccer team, the Gators, completed their final game of the season at Congress Springs Park. The 12 Gator players, all 9-year-old boys, headed over to Kevin Moran Park with their parents for an end-of-the-season party. They ate pizza, drank soda and played on the field and in the playground at Kevin Moran Park that afternoon.

Rebecca Owens was at the park with her son, who plays for the Gators. She said all the players and parents were Saratoga residents. Their plan was to celebrate the end of the season before heading back to Congress Springs for a "sportsmanship award" ceremony.

"All of sudden up comes the police," Owens said. "Three police officers came up to us. They were very nice and weren't menacing but wanted to know what we were doing there. They said one of the neighbors called 911 several times and said that there was soccer being played in the park and that they should stop it."

Owens said a fourth officer arrived as the parents were talking to the first three officers. "They were embarrassed to come in and barge in on this little pizza party," she said. "All the little boys were upset that somebody would call the police because they were in the park. The parents were furious."

"A person called us," said Capt. John Hirokawa, of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department. He said Deputy Ryan Swank responded to the call. "The deputy went out to the park but didn't think there was any violation."

"The complainant was watching from her house," Hirokawa said. "The deputy explained to the complainant that he didn't think there was any violation."

"We're not going to take sides on this park," he said. "We enforce city ordinances and laws. If we get a call, we investigate to determine if there was a violation or not.

"We have to enforce the ordinance. Clearly, it doesn't come close to violating the ordinance."

Hirokawa said that calling 911 about a suspected non-compliance with city codes is perfectly acceptable. "We tell people to dial 911 for non-emergency calls, too," he said.

"Our code says if you are playing organized sports without a permit, that's a code violation," Mayor Kathleen King said. "As I understand our code, anyone can go in and play a game. But if you are routinely going to the park to play games, it's against our code."

Elaine Clabeaux, who represents the neighbors of the park on the Kevin Moran Park Task Force, said the incident on Nov. 13 was regrettable. "I hate to see community unrest over something that's not a problem," she said. "I heard that the parents are simply livid."

Clabeaux explained that Public Works director John Cherbone had told the park neighbors to call code enforcement if they saw organized soccer being played in the park. She said that when one of the neighbors saw children in soccer uniforms kicking a soccer ball in the park that afternoon, the neighbor thought an organized game was being played and called the police.

"This makes the neighbors look bad and like we do not want people in the park," she said. "But that's not true. I've always been for the park being used. That's what the park is for.

"The most important thing is that we do not want organized games at Kevin Moran Park."

A digital photograph supplied to the Saratoga News shows temporary soccer nets in the park that afternoon. According to Owen, the nets were not set up by anyone affiliated with AYSO. She said that a different group of people set up the nets when the Gators and their parents were leaving for Congress Springs Park long after the police had left.

"The code says you cannot have organized routine games in the park without a permit," King said. "If it's a pick-up game and they want to put up a net, as long as they are not damaging any property, they can do that according to code."