Feds vs. Deadheads in Missouri "Schwagstock" Forfeiture Battle

Camp Zoe was a large part of many people's lives throughout the years. In 2010 (during Spookstock) the DEA raided the property and a week later began the process for asset forfeiture and account freezing due to the owner/operator of Camp Zoe, Jimmy Tebeau, allegedly being aware of and doing nothing to stop drug use and sales on his property over the past years. Below is a 2011 article which briefly lays out what took place...

(June 2011, Phillip Smith)
Since 2004, when veteran musician Jimmy Tebeau brought the 350-acre rural property in central Missouri and turned it a camping and concert venue, Camp Zoe has been Deadhead central in the Show Me State. A member of the Grateful Dead tribute band The Schwag, Tebeau has hosted numerous Schwagstock and Spookstock festivals, as well as other concerts and events, drawing nationally known acts and thousands of fans for weekends of outdoor fun in the sun.

Jimmy Tebeau (image via campzoe.com)

But the DEA and the Missouri Highway Patrol harshed Camp Zoe's mellow vibe last November, when they rolled into the venue early in the morning and searched the site. A week later, they announced that they were initiating federal civil asset forfeiture proceedings against the property because of alleged rampant drug use and Tebeau's failure to put a halt to it.

According to a complaint filed November 8 in the Eastern Missouri US District Court, the feds alleged that "over the past several years law enforcement agents have specifically observed the open sales of cocaine, marijuana, LSD (acid), ecstasy, psilocybin mushrooms, opium and marijuana-laced food products by individuals attending the music festival and made multiple undercover purchases of illegal drugs."

Tebeau and other Camp Zoe staff members "were in the immediate area" when drug deals were going down and "took no immediate action to prevent the activity," the complaint continued. It added that "undercover purchases have been made as recently as September 2010," when Schwagstock 45 was held, but noted that the investigation stretched back to 2006 and included evidence from "surveillance, undercover operations, source information, bank records, and interviews."

Most critically, the complaint alleges that Camp Zoe was "knowingly opened, rented, leased, used, or maintained for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing or using controlled substances." In other words, the feds are arguing that the purpose of Camp Zoe was not to be a concert venue, but a drug den, and it could thus be lawfully seized, along with nearly $200,000 in cash they seized from the site and various bank accounts.

good clean fun at Camp Zoe (image from campzoe.com)

The case pitting a local counterculture icon and his property against the power of the federal government has stirred considerable interest in Missouri, as well as among members of the peripatetic Deadhead set. (In fact, I had a conversation about the case with a dreadlocked young woman at a Northern California music festival last weekend.) It has also excited the attention of asset forfeiture reformers and critics of overweening governmental power.

But wait, it's even worse. The feds upped the ante further just a couple of weeks ago. After stalling the asset forfeiture proceedings for seven months -- leaving Camp Zoe silent and vacant and Tebeau without his primary source of income -- and seeing that Tebeau was not about to roll over for them, federal prosecutors last week sought and got a criminal indictment charging that Tebeau "knowingly and intentionally profited from and made available for use, with or without compensation, said place for the purpose of unlawfully storing, distributing, or using controlled substances."

"This is the sort of things Soviet thugs did and that continues to happen in Russia under Vladimir Putin," said Eapen Thampy, executive director of the Kansas City-based Americans for Forfeiture Reform. "They take a businessman, take his money, and take him to jail. I see this as an attempt by rich and powerful law enforcement agencies to acquire property or money they can turn into salaries or equipment."

fun and camping at Camp Zoe (image from campzoe.com)

"The Camp Zoe situation is really interesting," said Dave Roland, a St. Louis-based attorney who is director of litigation for the libertarian-leaning Missouri Freedom Center. "The federal government has recently come back and said they will charge him with maintaining the property for the purpose of facilitating drug transactions, but that seems like an after the fact justification for their attempt to seize the property. The more likely explanation is that the government was embarrassed by the fact people kept saying how can you take this property without alleging he's doing something illegal in the first place," he ventured.

"There was no one engaging in violence at Camp Zoe, there were no allegations of harm or injury," Roland continued. "That the government is concentrating on these sorts of victimless crimes demonstrates misplaced priorities. Especially in light of the financial crunch, we ought to be reallocating resources to deal with real threats to the health and safety of the community and not these drug witch hunts."

But there's the rub. Missouri law enforcement agencies profit handsomely from asset forfeiture, especially when they do an end run around state asset forfeiture law and partner with the feds. Under a 2004 asset forfeiture reform law, funds seized by state and local law enforcement agencies are supposed to go to the state education fund, but that's not what happened.

The state auditor's reports on asset forfeiture activity show a quick learning curve by state and local law enforcement. While, after the 1994 reforms, schools got 27% of seized funds in 1996 and 1997, in 1998, that figure fell by half to 14%. There was no audit done in 1999, but in 2000 and every year since, schools have gotten 2%, with that figure dropping to 1% in 2008 and 2009. Meanwhile the Justice Department and state and local cops have raked in millions of dollars, gobbling up the vast majority of funds that were supposed to go to Missouri's schools.

"Asset forfeiture abuse is rampant all over the country," said Roland. "Here in Missouri, the state made an effort to improve its statutes a decade ago, but the problem is that law enforcement agencies find alternative ways to accomplish the same end. Now, you see state and local law enforcement handing cases over to federal agencies because they get a kickback from the asset forfeitures. There is an actual financial incentive to assist federal agencies in the unconstitutional use of asset forfeiture laws."

"Missouri has laws that say how asset forfeiture should be conducted and where the money should go, but they aren't being followed," said Thampy. "When you put this into that context, these abuses are way more serious," he said, adding that he believed 90% of Missouri counties were not in compliance with the law.

Neither Roland nor Thampy were impressed with the criminal charges now being brought against Tebeau. Nor were they aware of other cases of "maintaining a drug premise" being brought against other concert venues. That law is widely known as the "crack house" law.

"The government has a pretty steep hill to climb to prove that Tebeau was operating this camp so that people could buy illegal drugs," said Roland. "I'm very skeptical that the government is going to be able to carry its burden of proof."

"That charge is complete bullshit," Thampy responded bluntly. "If they wanted to charge him with drug trafficking or drug possession, those would be appropriate charges if they could prove them. But charging him with running a drug premise says that he got this land for the sole purpose of conducting drug transactions. It would be putting it mildly to say this is an abuse of prosecutorial power."

"To the best of my understanding, this is not a commonly used statute," said Roland. "I don't recall ever seeing it used in the context of a concert venue owner. They're alleging that the property is being used for the purpose of facilitating drug transactions simply because Tebeau didn't take some unspecified affirmative action."

Now facing criminal charges as well as the seizure of Camp Zoe, Tebeau is still refusing to roll over and cut a deal. With his income-producing property shut down and his bank accounts seized, Tebeau is at a real disadvantage, but thanks to his fans and followers and continuing gigs as a musician, he has so far been able to raise the funds to defend himself.

"A just outcome would be dropping the charges and dropping the attempted asset forfeiture," said Roland. "If we're not going to legalize drugs, the government needs to at least focus on the people and activities they're really worried about. Jimmy hasn't been charged with actually being involved, and it's unjust to target him for a criminal action because someone else was doing something illegal. That's manifestly unjust."
(Stop the Drug War.org, Drug War Chronicle, Issue #690, http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/jun/29/feds_vs_deadheads_missouri_schwa)

When Can the Police Search My Home or Car (in Illinois) - Part 1

The following information is provided by the folks at Illinois Legal Aid and is a great very basic introduction into the legality of searches in Illinois...

What is a warrant?

A warrant is an order, issued by a judge, instructing a police officer to search a certain place or to arrest a particular person. A judge has to decide if a warrant should be issued or not. Sometimes the police must get a warrant to conduct a search or make an arrest; other times they do not have to.

How do I know if a warrant is valid?

In order for the police to use a warrant, it must particularly describe the:

• Place to be searched, and
• Person or thing to be seized

Do the police need a warrant to search my home?

In most cases, police officers cannot enter your home without a warrant. The type of warrant the police have can affect their rights to search certain parts of your home.

• With a search warrant, the police may search any of the areas described in the warrant, including any containers large enough to hold the evidence or contraband they are looking for.
• With an arrest warrant, they can search the person named in the arrest warrant, as well as the area immediately surrounding that person.

Law enforcement officers can only enter your home without a warrant if:

• You give them consent to enter, or
• There is an emergency (for example, if the police are in "hot pursuit" of someone who just committed a serious crime)

Do the police need a warrant to search my car?

Usually, the police do not need a warrant to search a car. The rules for entering or searching a car are very different from the rules for searching your home. In order to legally search a car, the police need either:

• "Probable cause"- this means the police must have a reasonable belief that evidence or contraband will be found in the car; or
• If the driver or a passenger in the car has been arrested, police can search the inside of the car (where the driver and passenger usually sit). They cannot search the trunk.

What is Consent?

"Consent" means permission. If you tell the police that it is okay to enter your house or car, you are giving them consent.
In some cases, the police may ask for your consent to search something. You have a right to say "no" to a search! If you give the police consent to search, they do not need a warrant, even if they otherwise would have needed one.

What should I do if I think the police are searching my house or car illegally?

If you think a search is taking place illegally, you can voice your concerns by saying "No" or "I do not consent". However, do not physically try to stop law enforcement officers from entering or searching your home or car.
As soon as possible after the search, write down all of the details that you can remember, including the:

• Time and place where the incident took place
• Names, badge numbers, and/or physical descriptions of the officers involved
• Type of clothing the officers were wearing (i.e., uniformed, shirt and tie, etc.), and the
• Type of car the officers were driving (marked or unmarked)

You should then contact a lawyer to discuss the situation. Search the "Helpful Organizations" section below to find free legal help.

What can I do if my property was damaged during a search?

Contact your city or county to file a damage claim.
The City of Chicago's Damage Claims Department can be contacted at 312.744.6870.

(http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dsp_content&contentID=5402_)

Stigma and the Inappropriately Stereotyped: The Deadhead Professional

If you feel like making yourself feel smart than read the following. This is the entire text of an academic paper published through the University of North Carolina. It is in fact quite interesting and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who one day would like to work as a "professional" _(insert career of choice)_ one day or who would consider themselves a "professional" now ... or anyone who ever thought "deadhead" and "professional" didn't belong in the same sentence...


(Spring 2003, Rebecca G. Adams)
     The Grateful Dead, a North American rock band that stopped performing in 1995 after thirty years together, was as well known for its fans as it was for its music. Deadheads, as these fans are called, traveled from venue to venue to hear the band play, sometimes staying "on tour" with them for extended periods of time. Although there is still a large concentration of Deadheads in the San Francisco Bay area where the band originally performed, there are now Deadheads everywhere in the United States and in many foreign countries as well.
       The community claims at least a half million members (Adams & Rosen-Grandon, 2002). It is not only remarkable among music communities because of the length of time it has survived, how geographically dispersed it is, and how large it is, it is also noteworthy because of the length and intensity of involvement of individual fans. When the band stopped playing together as the Grateful Dead, the average Deadhead had been attending their concerts for 10 or 11 years, and more than half of them had traveled at least 800 miles to attend a show (Adams, 1998b). In 2003, almost eight years after the death of Jerry Garcia, the band's lead guitarist, Deadheads remain loyal to the community and continue to attend concerts given by surviving members.
      During the Grateful Dead's heyday, the media generally depicted Deadheads as lazy, unwashed throwbacks to the 60's who used illegal drugs, dressed unconventionally, and valued collective experiences more than material success. Paterline (2000) found that there were variations in how the media depicted Deadheads in the 40 American cities where the Dead played in 1989 and 1990, but the coverage almost everywhere was more negative than positive. As a result, the cultural mainstream stereotyped and stigmatized these fans. This paper discusses the type of stigma that is applied to Deadheads, documents that not all Deadheads fit the stereotype that served as the basis of this stigmata, and describes the consequences of stigma for Deadheads who do not fit the stereotype.

The Data
      The background data were collected as part of the Deadhead Community Project (Adams, 1998a) and include observational notes from 91 Grateful Dead shows and nine Jerry Garcia Band concerts (Jerry Garcia also had his own band) between 1989 and 1995; notes from Deadhead social gatherings and concerts at which survivors of the Grateful Dead, jam bands, and Dead cover bands performed between 1995 and 2003; and reports of 21 students on each of four Dead shows during the summer of 1989. Also available are interviews with key members of the Deadhead community and of the Grateful Dead organization. When Jerry Garcia died, approximately 150 Deadheads wrote letters and email messages about their experience mourning for him. All of these data, both observational reports and interview transcripts, have been processed, coded, and analyzed using Ethnograph 5.0 text analysis software (Seidel, 1998). In addition, the available data include a file drawer of letters and more than 21 megabytes of electronic correspondence from Deadheads; downloaded online conversations among Deadheads from rec.music.gdead, an electronic discussion list, for 13 years beginning with the summer of 1989; and artifacts, photos, video tapes, audio tapes, Deadhead media, and mainstream media about Deadheads.
      Although a scientifically-correct survey of the Deadhead community has not been conducted, researchers, magazine editors, and book authors have asked volunteers to fill out questionnaires and participate in interviews on the topic.The results of these surveys are fairly consistent, and make it possible to describe the characteristics of the Deadhead community with some degree of confidence. The surveys conducted as part of this project include three mail questionnaires with open-ended questions (total N=177) between 1990 and 1996; 77 open-ended interviews conducted by students during the summer of 1989; and a questionnaire with closed-ended questions students distributed in the parking lots of Dead shows during the summer of 1987 (N=286). In addition, these data are supplemented results of a survey distributed by Grateful Dead Productions in 22 cities during Furthur Festival, a series of concerts at which surviving members of the band performed as the Other Ones during the summer of 1998 (N=6020), findings from a survey sponsored by TDK of the readers of Relix magazine (Dobbin/Bolgia Associates, 1994), which started out as a tape-trading newsletter and became a fanzine (N=600), and information from several surveys of the readers of Deadbase, a book which was published annually beginning in 1987 and includes song lists for each show and reviews of many. Results reported here include some from the 1988 Deadbase III Questionnaire (N=359), the 1989 Deadbase IV Questionnaire (N=185), the 1990 Deadbase V Feedback (N=129), the 1991 Deadbase VI Survey (N=229), and the 1992 Deadbase VII Survey (N=229).
Stigma       As Goffman (1963) observed, a stigma has its origins in a discrepancy between opinions about the way people should live their lives and perceptions of the way they do. Some people are stigmatized because of physical deformities or because of character flaws (Goffman, 1963). Regardless of their own individual characteristics, others are assigned what Goffman called a "tribal stigma." In other words, expectations regarding individual behavior and evaluations of a person's moral worth are extrapolated from impressions of the larger group to which the individual belongs.
      The cultural mainstream applies a tribal stigma to Deadheads because they do not appear to be what they should be. The majority of Deadheads have opportunities to occupy privileged positions in our society. Observations at shows reveal that they tend to be Caucasian men from middle and upper-middle class backgrounds. Surveys results show that between 63% and 91% of Deadheads were male, and that the vast majority of Deadheads had at least one parent who was a professional or held a white collar job.        
     Given these demographic characteristics, outsiders were justified in expecting Deadheads to be successful, well-groomed, law-abiding citizens rather than unemployed, lazy, drug-users as they were depicted in the press.
As with all stereotypes, there is some truth to the way Deadheads were portrayed in the media. They sometimes wear subcultural dress such as tie-dyed shirts, Guatemalan pants, home-sewn calico jumpers and halters, and Indian gauze skirts. When they are "on tour," they do not always bathe. Many Deadheads use marijuana and other psychedelic drugs or accept their use by others. The cultural mainstream interprets these behaviors of some Deadheads as signs that they reject the Protestant work ethic, a major North American value (Williams, 1951).
     The irony is, however, that most Deadheads are successful and hardworking by mainstream standards. Rather than reject the mainstream value of individual material success, they supplement it with an appreciation of collective experientialism. Although their hippie forebears are often described as members of a "counterculture," Deadheads comprise a "subculture" (Hall, et al., 1976). The vast majority of Deadheads eventually obtain college degrees, and many of them finish graduate school (see Table 1). Although some employed Deadheads are pink or blue collar workers, most of them are professionals or fill white collar positions (see Table 2). Their level of income varies, but between 15% and 20% of samples including student Deadheads earned $50,000 or more per year (see Table 3). Even the young "tourheads" who made their living selling food and hand-crafted items in the parking lot worked hard to support themselves and their "show families" (Sheptoski, 2000). Despite these facts, the negative stereotype of Deadheads prevails.

---

Table 1

Educational Attainment of Deadheads

x

Level of Education	1987 UNCG Survey (N=292)	1992 Deadbase VII Survey (N=239)	1994 TDK Survey (N=615)
% < High school	8	0	1
% High school graduate	26	17	13
% Some College/ Trade School	64	1	20
% College degree	19	60	47
% Graduate degree	10	22	19

---

Table 2
Percentage of Deadheads in Each Occupational Category

Study	Professional	White Collar	Blue or Pink Collar	Student	Unemployed or Retired or Homemaker
1988 Deadbase III Questionnaire (N=359)	15	46	1	23	6
1989 Summer Tour Survey (N=78)	8	16	14	53	9
1989 Deadbase IV Questionnaire (N=185)	20	44	12	21	3
1990 Deadbase V Feedback (N=129)	17	41	16	25	2
1990 Open-Ended Survey (N=51)	26	40	11	23	0
1991 Open-Ended Survey (N=51)	21	58	8	13	0
1991 Deadbase VI Survey (N=229)	18	39	17	21	5
1992 Deadbase VII Survey (N=239)	18	34	26	18	2
1994 TDK Survey (N=615)	42	26	25	2	5
1995 Open-Ended Survey (N=56)	17	56	12	12	4

---

Table 3
Income of Deadheads

Level of Income	1991 Deadbase VI Survey (N=229)	1992 Deadbase VII Survey (N=239)	1994 TDK Survey (N=615)
% < $20,000	25	38	13
% $20-29,999	23	21	24
% $30-39,999	21	18	18
% $40-49,999	6	6	17
% $50-59,999	8	6	14
% >$60,000	7	10	14

---

Discussion
      Tribal stigmata generally apply to people who share ethnic origin (Goffman, 1963). Race and nationality, which could each form the basis for a tribal stigma, are generally ascribed characteristics. In contrast, membership in the Deadhead community is "achieved" or voluntary. Research shows that reactions to voluntary membership in a stigmatized group is likely to evoke a more negative reaction from outsiders than membership in a group in which membership is not voluntary (Rush, 1998; Weiner, Perry, & Magnusson, 1988). When participation and identity is voluntary, as with the Deadhead community, the idea is that people who do not want to experience stigma can simply end or hide their affiliation. It is thus fair to expect that the stigma assigned to Deadheads who choose to make their membership in the community known to others is relatively potent.
      The stigma was particularly salient for older Deadheads who "should have grown up" and "gotten lives" (Adams & Rosen-Grandon, 2002). The stereotypical rock music fan is college aged, but this is not so with Deadheads. According to the Terrapin Station survey, which was conducted in 1998, two and a half years after the Dead stopped playing together, Deadheads' average age was about 32 years and most of them were in mid-life. Only a small percentage of Deadheads were younger than 22 years old (15.7%). Almost a quarter of them were more than 40 years of age (24.4%).
      Goffman distinguished between the "discredited" (those whose community membership is known) and the "discreditable" (those for whom exposure is a possibility). For the "out" Deadhead, tribal stigma can result in actual discrimination. For example, police profiles for cars to stop without reason include those with Dead stickers on them (Eagan, 1990). Professional Deadheads dressed to attend shows have reported such incidents as being refused seats in restaurants, having guns trained on them while shopping in convenience stores, and not being allowed to take guests to their rooms in expensive hotels.
      For the "closeted" Deadhead the issue is concealment and "passing." Of course, Deadheads might be "out" in one context and "closeted" in another. The issue is whether "[t]o display or not to display; to tell or not to tell; to let on or not to let on; to lie or not to lie; and in each case, to whom, how, when, and where" (Goffman, 1963, p. 42). Another approach could be to "cover" how intensely involved the Deadhead is in the community. In both cases, whether entirely closeted or partially out, the need for concealment diminishes the identity of the Deadhead and limits how free they feel to be themselves. For example, when Jerry Garcia died, many closeted Deadheads reported depression resulting from fear of mourning publically (Adams, 1995).
      The Deadhead community is not the only stigmatized community in which many participants are hardworking, law-abiding, professionals (e.g., bikers). Furthermore, many of the problems Deadheads reported are similar to problems reported by members of ascribed stigmatized groups (e.g., ethnic groups). This case study of Deadheads demonstrates that individual achievement is not a sufficient anecdote to tribal stigma. Even for people successful by mainstream standards, the potential consequences of membership in a stigmatized community include discrimination and the diminishment of identity.
(Sociation Today, The Official Journal of The North Carolina Sociological Association: A Refereed Web-Based Publication, ISSN 1542-6300, http://www.ncsociology.org/sociationtoday/deadhead.htm)

The Law is for the Protection of the People

Found this and thought it was interesting. I wouldn't doubt this being the case in more places than New Jersey...

(May 2009, Deadheads United)

Hey Now Kidz,

Did you know that there is a law on the books in New Jersey that if a car is bearing a Grateful Dead or Grateful Dead type sticker you can be pulled over and searched, The probable cause being Grateful Dead fans are known drug users.

This is just one example of police profiling. Profiling actually comes in many forms and often goes with trends, ie; racial, sexual orientation,clothing choice (droopy pants, tie~dyes), multiracial couples/buddies, older vehicle, rear view mirror attachments,bumper stickers and actually anything they may not like and can use as an excuse to stop and search you.

Tell your representative to sponsor and/or support legislation against police profiling.

http://deadheadsunited.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/police-profiling/

71 Arrested at Miami, Florida's Ultra Music Festival

Did you hear about the Madonna/Deadmou5 thing, with the Ultra Music Festival? Well, here's some other things that were going on in the area while Madonna was making herself look silly...
(April 2012, Sibler Criminal Law Firm)
71 were arrested at Miami, Florida's Ultra Music Festival this year, sources indicate. 45 of the arrests, according to Miami police, were for narcotic distribution or possession. The names and ages of those arrested at the festival are not immediately available. It is not clear if any of the defendants have retained private criminal defense attorneys.
The arrests came as a part of "Operation Perseverance," a three-week sting operation by the Miami-Dade County Police Department that targeted drug use and sales, prostitution, and gambling. The sting yielded a total of 115 arrests. Those not made at the Ultra Music Festival were made in the Liberty Square housing area, which is notorious for illicit activity. In all during the sting, 10 arrested were made for prostitution, 14 were made for gambling, and 83 were made on drug-related charges. Officials also reportedly confiscated four firearms.
At the music festival, aside from the narcotics charges, 9 trespassing charges, 5 disorderly conduct charges, 5 conducting business without a license charges, 2 robbery charges, 2 obstruction charges, 2 miscellaneous charges and a battery charge were served to 66 adults and 5 juveniles. Since the festival drew electronic music fans from all over the globe, it is not clear how some of the cases will be handled.
Police officers reportedly confiscated drugs such as marijuana and ecstasy from concert-goers, and paramedics were standing by with drug overdose antidotes throughout the festivities. Several of the arrested parties were reportedly naked for no apparent reason during their arrests.
One such example was 23-year-old Evan Oberfelder from Texas, who was the recipient of the one battery charge of the festival. Oberfelder, who was apparently under the influence of an unknown substance during the altercation, was hit by a taxi outside of festival premises in a hit-and-run car accident in the1800 block of North Bayshore Drive. The incident reportedly took place at around 5:40 a.m.
After Oberfelder was struck and the taxi took off, leaving him bleeding, a bystander apparently called police, then approached Oberfelder to try to help. Oberfelder allegedly said, "You called the police? I hate the police!" to the would-be helper before getting into a scuffle with the man. The scuffle reportedly ended when Oberfelder kicked the man in the crotch.
It took 11 police officers to subdue Oberfelder, who apparently jumped on top of police cars, threatened and attacked officers, and even took a police officer's baton and hit her with it. He was eventually subdued, but 10 officers had to be treated for injuries and blood exposure. It was not clear why Oberfelder was unclothed during the altercation.
Oberfelder was charged with felony battery, aggravated battery on a police officer, resisting arrest with violence and criminal mischief, and false imprisonment. He remains incarcerated at the Miami-Dade County Jail. It is not clear whether he has retained a private criminal defense attorney.
Police are still searching for the yellow taxi cab that hit Oberfelder and have asked the public to come forward with any relevant information. There were apparently passengers in the vehicle at the time of the incident, and police are hoping that they will come forward.
http://www.miami-criminal-defense-lawyers.com/2012/04/71-arrested-at-miami-floridas.html

Who May Be at Fault for All Good Music Festival Accident Which Resulted in Death and Catastrophic Injury of Concertgoers?

Did you wonder why All Good Music Festival was moved from West Virginia to Ohio? Well, this may have been part of the reason...
(July 2011, Beasley Reitt Law Group)
The All Good Music Festival was winding down on Sunday July 17th when tragedy struck. Nicole Paris Miller, 20, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., and two friends Elizabeth Rose Doran, 20, and Yen Tom, 21, were sleeping peacefully in their tent when a pickup truck came sliding down a hillside, striking cars, and tents, and finally the three women. Emergency crews worked quickly to free the trapped women from beneath the truck as onlookers watched in horror. Miller was pronounced dead at the scene, and the other two women were taken to a local hospital by helicopter in serious condition.
The All Good Music Festival is a four-day festival where people camp out at and see dozens of bands play live. The festival is held annually at Marvin's Mountaintops campground in Masontown West Virginia. The music festival site includes an RV site, a campsite for tents, parking area, and separate area for the music stages.
According to general festival information posted on the "All Good" website, certain sections of the campground are rugged and hilly, so there would be designated areas for vehicles, and separate areas for people camping in tents to set up. The website states, "There are hills and cars cannot safely park with tents in a crowd." However, several festival attendees reported that staff directed cars to park on steep slopes near the tent campsites. One witness was told to "gun it" up the steep hill by staff to park, but she opted to park in a different area, feeling that the way vehicles were parked seemed dangerous.
The driver of the pickup truck that struck Miller, Doran, and Tom had apparently been navigating around cars and tents on one such hill when the he lost control and slid down the slope running over the tent and all three women below. Police are currently putting together an accident reconstruction team to investigate the accident, although it seems pretty evident to this writer that cars should not have been parked on the hill only feet from campers. Drugs and alcohol have already been ruled out as factors contributing to the accident.
On Friday July 15th a similar accident occurred when a man driving a GMC truck also lost control and slid down the same hill a few hundred feet from where Nicole Miller was killed. Luckily no one was injured during Friday's incident. Several concert attendees have also reported that vehicles had accidentally slipped down the hillside during last year's All Good Music Festival and questioned the safety of parking vertically on a hillside so close to tents and campers.
The organizers of the All Good Music Festival could possibly be held responsible for the tragic death of Miller, and the serious injuries suffered by Doran and Tom if the investigation reveals any negligence on their part. Because there were at least three instances and prior notice of cars sliding down the hillside at the festival, our experienced catstrophic injury and wrongful death lawyers believe the organizers and staff had a duty to warn festival-goers of the potential of this type of accident occurring, and to keep guests reasonably safe from injury. This devastating accident could have easily been prevented if the festival organizers and staff followed their own rules and kept vehicles parked away from tents and campsites.
http://www.pennsylvaniaproductliabilitylawyerblog.com/2011/07/who-may-be-at-fault-for-all-go.html

Judge Wants More Details on Summer Camp (2011) Arrests

When driving to Summer Camp from the Chicagoland area, many will pass through Putnam County on their way to Chillicothe. Putnam county is one of the smallest counties in the state of Illinois. That being said, it makes sense (at least economically) for them to put on one of these operations described below as it is probably one of the best ways for the county to make money all year. Read on and see what I mean...
(Jan. 2011, Chillicothe Times Bulletin)
Hennepin, Ill. —

A defense attorney in several Putnam County drug-related cases has raised the issue of possible entrapment of people passing through the area last May on their way to a popular music festival in Chillicothe.
The issue was discussed during evidence-suppression hearings last week in Putnam County court.
According to testimony, in many traffic stops along Illinois Route 29, two police officers taking part in a multi-agency effort were positioned on opposite shoulders of that highway and about 100 yards apart. One vehicle, containing a drug-detecting dog and handler, would have the emergency lights flashing.
If motorists driving by that vehicle did not pull entirely into the left lane, the officer down the road would promptly pull them over for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. Then the K-9 officer would quickly drive up and approach the stopped vehicle with the dog.
Those tactics led to a number of arrests of people on their way to the Summer Camp event on May 26 and 27. At least six of them were among the 28 defendants local attorney Roger Bolin is representing in efforts to get the charges thrown out.
“Why was that (K-9 unit) there?” Bolin asked during one hearing. “Was he there to entrap people into this particular charge?”
Marseilles Officer Jacob Callahan had made that stop and many others as part of an 11-agency effort that produced about 140 drug arrests, but has been described by officials as a “traffic safety detail.” Callahan repeatedly insisted he had no idea why dog-handler Mike Hammen had been parked there with his lights flashing at many times during a two-day period.
“We don’t entrap people,” Callahan replied.
Possible entrapment is one of the issues Circuit Judge Stuart Borden directed Bolin and State’s Attorney James Mack to address in written arguments after the hearings concluded Thursday. Others include whether the officers from outside agencies were properly deputized, and whether the numerous stops at two command posts were really aimed at traffic safety.
“I want you to argue whether this was drug interdiction or traffic safety,” Borden told the lawyers.
Bolin has alleged illegal search and seizure through “an unconstitutional drug interdiction program.” Mack has acknowledged there were no specific grounds for suspicion of drug-possession, but defended Sheriff Kevin Doyle’s assertion the underlying effort was to promote traffic safety.
“The traffic detail was instituted to protect the lives and property of those traveling Putnam County highways on these unusually high traffic days,” Mack argued in court documents. The deputization issue has two prongs. One is whether about 24 outside officers from a three-county drug task force called TRI-DENT were properly appointed as county deputies that weekend. The other stems from a 1992 County Board resolution limiting the number of county deputies to a total of four.
Borden told Bolin and Mack to address that issue and also the possible consequences. “If they were not (properly deputized),” he asked them, “what’s the sanction?” For instance, he asked, should evidence be suppressed, or should other steps be taken.
Borden threw out one case because of no probable cause for the traffic stop. He said he will rule on all others after a Feb. 23 deadline on all written arguments.“There’s a lot of issues involved here,” Borden said. “Some cases have more issues than others.”

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