It’s been a rough summer for a lot of people involved with Bay Area Teen Idol.

Both at the competition’s weekly events and in comments posted by readers on The World’s Web site, insults and accusations have been hurled in every direction: at contestants, judges, parents, organizers and bystanders.

What adults have said to each other is part of the drama, but what’s most troubling, the various parties agree, is the way some of those adults have treated the young contestants.

“There’s been rudeness going on between some of the contestants and their families,” said Gary Brink, a member of the Teen Idol board whose responsibilities include handling the contests’ thorny issues. “It’s common when there’s any kind of competing. Everyone wants their family member to win. People go beyond reason sometimes.”

The contest is intended to provide drug-, alcohol- and tobacco-free activities and a positive environment for teenagers in Coos County during the summer. This year there were 17 contestants, almost all of whom are between 13 and 15 years old.

Though Brink said he didn’t think the problems this year were much different from previous years, others have noticed an uptick.

“It’s been more emotional than I remember it,” said Judy McMakin, a Teen Idol board member representing the Coos County Commission on Children and Families, one of the contest sponsors.

The Teen Idol board met individually with the four finalists and their parents last week to discuss those issues ahead of Saturday’s final.

“I was really encouraged by the positive attitude they had about the final,” Brink said. “We’re not anticipating any need for security.”

While organizers are hopeful the peace they’ve achieved will hold, the stakes will be higher in the final when a winner will be declared. The acrimony started the first week of the competition in mid-July. Nothing was at stake besides a weekly score, but the problems intensified as the contest went on.

Brink and others involved with Teen Idol tend to use vague terms that avoid placing blame, though he acknowledged the conflict has involved the two leading contestants, Alyssa Birrer and Star Moralez, and their mothers, Lisa Boyle and Tammi Hancock, as well as Star’s grandparents.

But spreading the blame equally is unfair, Boyle contends, when some are more to blame than others.

“The truth is that Alyssa has been heckled, insulted, called names, (some vulgar), and otherwise tormented by another contestant’s parents since the first day of the competition and probably before,” Boyle wrote in an e-mail last month.

Around the same time, Moralez also complained in an interview: “I felt some things weren’t fair and some people were really rude.”

Without witnessing each incident, organizers have had a hard time sorting it out.

One incident is not subject to dispute. On Aug. 7, Hancock heckled Birrer during a performance with remarks caught on tape by contest videographer Dennis Guevara. After giving what was widely considered her best performance ever, Birrer left the stage in tears.

The following week contest officials announced the presence of security personnel at the Egyptian Theatre and warned the audience anyone found heckling would be removed.

Hancock could not be reached for comment, and Moralez said her mother didn’t want to be interviewed.

Hancock has since apologized — at least to organizers at the recent meeting, Brink said.

“We have tried our best to address the issues that have been raised,” Brink said.

But because the board’s meetings with the families were separate, there was no direct contact between them.

“They haven’t apologized to us,” Boyle said Wednesday, though she added that she is eager for the issue to drop. “I just want all the girls to do well.”

For her part, Moralez said she’s never understood why there was any bad blood between her and Birrer or their families.

“I hate that they think that I hate them, because I don’t,” she said.

Moralez said she’s occasionally made efforts to be friendly to Birrer but they haven’t worked out, and eventually she gave up.

“I think the best way to prevent any confrontation is to avoid it,” Boyle said.

The conflict has not escaped the attention of the judges.

“This has been such a dramatic year,” judge Kim Handsaker said. ... “I’ve been accused of favoring people on both sides.

“It’s awful when the parents get involved,” she added. “It’s not like they’re competing for a million dollars.”

Judge Barbara Bates said that from her seat in the front row of the theater, she can’t hear a lot of what goes on behind her, but she hears about it later.

“I think it’s sad we can’t focus on the kids and how they’re doing,” Bates said.

Despite the problems, Brink said he doesn’t think the contest has fallen short of its goals.

“This year every single contestant has stuck around and continued to be a part of it after they were eliminated — that speaks to how they feel about it,” he said. “I think if we polled the community, 99 percent would feel it’s one of the most positive things going on, not just in summer, but year-round. It’s a small group that makes issues on the blogs.”

Brink said he quit reading the blogs because it bothered him to see such negative comments directed at 13-, 14- and 15-year-old kids.

Boyle agreed that the overall impact of the contest has been positive, at least for her daughter.

Despite his optimistic outlook, Brink said the board plans to take a more proactive stance next year, holding regular meetings with contestants and parents to prevent problems from developing.

As for this year’s final, Brink said board members would be on hand at the Bay Area Fun Festival to make sure things are running smoothly.

One thing is certain, Handsaker said: “Whoever wins, we’re gonna hear it was the wrong decision.”