Pleasant Hills police haven't decided whether to file charges against the father of a 16-year-old boy who held a raucous, unsupervised New Year's Eve party at which his friends fired guns in the street and more than three dozen teenagers and young adults were arrested and hauled away in a bus.

		Map: Location of New Year's Eve party

All those arrested, whose ages range from 13 to 22, were charged with underage drinking or disorderly conduct after being transported from the party at 217 Congress Drive to the Pleasant Hills police station in a Port Authority bus.

Now, the police say they are investigating whether the host's father, Howard C. Gunter, 38, knew his son was planning a party when he chose to spend the night at a nearby hotel.

"I'm not very pleased about the parents' actions -- or lack of action," said Pleasant Hills Police Chief Floyd Nevling. "You don't go off and leave your 16-year-old son at home on New Year's Eve."

The party, Nevling said, was the largest underage drinking bust his department has made in his 13 years as chief. Police also were told that a 17-year-old girl had been raped by multiple youths during the party, but she later claimed the contact was voluntary, according to Nevling.

The party wasn't the first time Pleasant Hills police have visited Gunter's home, they said.

In November 2003, Pleasant Hills police arrested Gunter for assaulting his domestic partner; the woman refused to testify and charges were dropped, Nevling said. In April 2004, he said, police responded to a report that a young woman was assaulted at the home, but no charges were filed.

That month, police found a missing juvenile at the home and in June, they responded to neighbors' complaints of screaming and yelling by the 16-year-old and his friends late one night, according to Nevling.

Gunter couldn't be reached for comment about the party yesterday.

Neighbors who declined to be identified said yesterday they like Gunter and his partner, whom they believe to be his wife, but that his son has troublesome friends. Two said they were collecting signatures on a petition to have the family evicted by their landlord.

On New Year's Eve, police said, the first complaint from neighbors came in at 1 a.m. with a report that a large group of youths had gathered in the area of Congress Drive, Nevling said. Four minutes later, county emergency dispatchers reported shots had been fired on the street.

Officers who responded to the home, a plain but well-maintained brick home on a quiet street of similar homes, found seven spent shells in the street, along with several girls outside the house, Nevling said. The shells were of three different calibers, indicating they were from three different weapons.

When officers knocked, none of the occupants would open the door at first, but officers could hear and see people moving around inside.

The officers finally were allowed in, where they found the floor and furniture littered with empty beer cans and bottles of liquor, according to Officer Bryan Frankenfield, who helped break up the party.

In all, 37 teenagers and young adults -- of whom nearly half were 18 or older -- were arrested, handcuffed in pairs and transported to the police station.

Police believe about 50 youths attended the party, but that some fled the house before officers arrived.

With a few exceptions, most of the youths who were arrested submitted without complaint, according to Frankenfield. Some of the youngest party-goers had a "deer-in-the-headlights" look when police told them they would be arrested, taken to the police station and have their parents called, he said.

But many of the older teenagers and young adults not only weren't embarrassed to be caught drinking with 13-year-olds and arrested, but joked with each other about getting caught.

"It was just kind of a carefree attitude about the whole thing and when they were on the bus and here waiting to be processed, it was not taken too seriously by most of them," Frankenfield said.

Shortly after officers arrived at the Congress Drive house, they also received a report of a girl lying in a front yard in the 200 block of East Bruceton Drive, where she had been let out of a car. The 17-year-old girl had attended the party, where she allegedly was raped by several different young men, according to Nevling.

After she was taken to Mercy Hospital and the Allegheny County rape unit was called in, however, she claimed she had agreed to the sexual contact, Nevlin said.

"From what we have learned, it seemed there were multiple incidents involving her," Nevling said. "At this point, everything is consensual, but it does illustrate the kind of activity going on in that house."

When arrested, the girl's clothes were in disarray, she was semi-conscious and her blood alcohol level was 0.29, according to Pleasant Hills police. In Pennsylvania, as in most states, drinkers of proper age who are driving and have a level of 0.08 are considered legally intoxicated.

After being taken to the police station and charged, the youths' parents -- and in some cases, their older siblings -- were called to come pick them up.