Wild, wacky and worrisome Halloween

<p>With barricades set up and crowds streaming beneath a full moon, Santa Rosa's McDonald Avenue had the feel of a giant neighborhood block party Saturday night.</p><p>However, those crowding the avenue came from around the city, if not from around Sonoma County.</p><p>Halloween 2009 once more brought hundreds to visit the city's stately residential street, a backdrop for such iconic but dissimilar films as Disney's “Pollyanna” and Wes Craven's “Scream.”</p><p>The sweet and the scary were well represented Tuesday, with princesses and ghouls aplenty.</p><p>But what made the scene surreal were the homes. Some had themes, such as one dubbed “In-N-Out Boo-ger,” with a menu featuring the “Booburger” and the “Oozy Burger.” Three lighted jack-o'-lanterns featured the letters “In,” “N” “Out.”</p><p>Across the street rock music throbbed from a home featuring lasers, strobe lights and a smoke machine. Two Mini Coopers and a sleek sports car sat parked on the lawn, near a sign that read “Highway to Hell.”</p><p>The weather was mild, and the trick or treaters got an early start.</p><p>“We've been here since 5:30,” said Noreen Carvolth, sitting on the front porch handing out candy with her masked husband, Rick.</p><p>Carvolth, a former Santa Rosa school board member, had started the night with 1,950 pieces of candy, “and we will run out.”</p><p>By 9 p.m. Santa Rosa police and other agencies reported that the night had progressed without major incident.</p><p>Earlier in the day, Halloween went to the dogs at the Humane Society of Sonoma County when owners showed their creativity in costuming their favorite pets.</p><p>Halloween didn't pass without controversy, however. A free haunted house sponsored by Potters House Christian Fellowship Church on Cleveland Avenue drew objections for showing a graphic abortion video.</p><p>The video, viewed by almost 270 on Thursday and Friday nights, “shows the body parts,” acknowledged Bob Hernandez, the church's pastor.</p><p>But he said the church had alerted visitors — and warned parents with children — that the haunted house at a small set of offices on Cleveland Avenue included unsettling scenes.</p><p>Hernandez justified the presentation by calling it “hard truth” that included depictions of suicide, depression and gang violence.</p><p>“The scenes are disturbing because that is a disturbing issue,” he said of abortion.</p>