Strange Daze: day 2

[DAMON CAPEHART]

On Tue, 2 Sep 1997 23:32:33 EST cjohnson <cjohnson at HPSC.HISD.HARRIS.COM>
wrote:

>SCATTERED THOTS:
>
>The entire festival went off on-schedule, with all bands starting
>and stopping close to the published time.  There was absolutely
>no police or security presence at the fest, just a lot of well-
>behaved hippies having a tripping good time.

Correction for Mr. Johnson:
There was a definite security presence at the festival, as I had a detailed
conversation with one of the security guys on Sunday morning.  As of that
time, three minor drug busts had occurred.  More in a moment.  The philosophy
of the security personnel was simple:  If you bring your own drugs and use
them in the privacy of your own tent, that's none of their business.  But
once you try to sell them, distribute to minors, or become a potential danger
to others, they give you the choice of leaving the festival in your own car
or in the state troopers' - they highly suggest you accept the former offer.
:-)

Anyway, the three drug busts as of Sunday morning were as follows:

1) A bunch of guys drove up to the gate and immediately started advertising
their wares.  As it turns out, their first offer was to one of the security
guys, who immediately indicated their choice of exit.  As it turns out, these
guys were as stupid as they were wasted, since they were caught speeding
about 20 miles east (around Allegany) by the State troopers, who not only
arrested them for what they found in the car, but also for what the
passengers had tried to throw into a ditch.  Even stupider, it seems that at
least half of their drugs were fake anyway.  I don't know about their entire
inventory, but apparently they were trying to sell some dried portabello
shrooms and pass them off as the "other stuff".  Yeesh.

2) A couple of guys had brought in a tank full of nitrous, and were
distributing blue (or red?) balloons around.  They were thrown out, but the
security guys forgot to remove their "I've already paid" wristbands.  When
the shift changed, they passed right on in and did it again.  Once again they
were caught, and this time security was more thorough.

3) Someone was caught selling some hash.

Anyone else possessing/using drugs (about 90% of the people there) was
apparently discreet enough not to cause a hassle.  S'there.

Damon