CHRISTEN DEFIANT AS HEMPSTOCK BEGINS

STARKS - On the eve of the 11th annual Hempstock festival, District
Attorney David Crook said he will enforce the town's mass-gathering
ordinance, even going so far as to pull the plug on bands who play past 10 p.m.

State and local law-enforcement agencies will also set up roadblocks on
highways around the festival site in an effort to curb drunken driving,
said Crook, top prosecutor in Kennebec and Somerset counties.

"There will be a very large law-enforcement presence in the area throughout
the entire Hempstock festival," Crook said.

Hempstock, sponsored by the pro-marijuana group Maine Vocals, will begin
Thursday and run through Sunday at Harry Brown's farm off state Route 43.

Thirty bands are booked, including The Southern Rock All Stars, who will
play Saturday and Sunday, Vocals founder Donald Christen, of Madison, said.
Day tickets cost $25; a four-day pass is $50.

Crook said drunken driving by Hempstockgoers has been a problem in the past
and neighbors complain of everything from people urinating in their yards
to illegal parking to excessive noise.

Starks' newly revised mass-gathering ordinance requires permits for
gatherings of 750 or more people for six or more hours.

And it sets maximum sound levels at 70 decibels from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and
45 decibels from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m.

Christen said he expects 3,000 to 4,000 people a day at Hempstock. Bands
are scheduled to play from the afternoon until 12:30 a.m. or 1 a.m. the
next day, except Sunday when the music is to stop earlier.

Christen has refused to apply for permits, saying the ordinance does not
apply because the event was established before the ordinance was adopted,
meaning Hempstock comes under the "grandfather" principle.

Crook said state troopers, Somerset County Sheriff's deputies, and agents
of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and state Bureau of Liquor Enforcement
will be manning roadblocks.

They will hand out flyers to those going into the concert warning that,
when they leave, they will be checked for intoxication.

In addition, monitors will use decibel meters to check sound levels and
law-enforcement officers will count people.

"And, at 10 p.m., noise will stop, bands will stop playing, unless it's a
string guitar with no amplifiers," Crook said.

He said his office would not normally take up enforcement of a town
ordinance, but his policy is to do so if it "parallels significantly a
state law" and "if there is a request from the selectmen."

Crook said Starks residents are frustrated and town selectmen feel
"outgunned and outfinanced" by the Vocals.

Christen, who said he has the proper state permits, on Wednesday lambasted
Crook, accusing him of overstepping his authority.

"This is still America and the DA's office is entering into a town's civil
litigation when it doesn't have to," an irate Christen said.

"The DA wants to turn into a Nazi, let him do it. The people will see this
... if he thinks he's goes to scare us, he's not."