ORGANIZER: 'I AIN'T GONNA LET 'EM STOP HEMP FEST'

But He Says It Will Move

Despite the disturbance that landed him in jail and led to 30 other
arrests, the Rock Island man who organized last weekend's Hemp Fest at
Credit Island Park says he has no plans to discontinue the semiannual event
and will move it to private property next time.

"I ain't gonna let 'em stop Hemp Past," Robert Moldenhauer said Monday.

Moldenhauer, 41, faces numerous charges, including criminal trespassing and
marijuana possession, in the wake of the melee that broke out when police
and fest-goers clashed Saturday afternoon. The event, promoted last week
with fliers that included a hand-drawn map directing participants to
Davenport's Credit Island, attracted as many as 400 people from across the
Midwest. Davenport police said.

Moldenhauer does not dispute police reports that list him as the event's
organizer. He said he reserved a park shelter by paying $20, and then paid
a $150 damage deposit at the request of the city of Davenport's legal
department.

During the past six years, he has arranged numerous other Hemp Fests in the
Quad-Cities, he said. Some of the twice-a-year events have resulted in
disturbances not unlike the one Saturday.

But instead of bouncing around from one city park to another and being
"hassled" by police, Moldenhauer says he intends to move future Hemp Fests
to private property. If police try to intervene, they will be trespassing,
he warned.

"And we'll deal with trespassers the way trespassers should be dealt with,"
he said, declining to elaborate.

He denied that the purpose of Saturday's event was to promote illegal drug
use, even though the fliers intercepted last week by police suggested
otherwise. The leaflets advised participants to "remember to bring a bud,"
a reference to marijuana cigarettes.

Moldenhauer argues the fests are designed only to promote the benefits of
hemp -- the plant from which marijuana is derived and to educate people
about the government. He said police quashed Saturday's fest, not because
of its hemp theme, but because they wanted to censor his views.

"They intended to shut it down primarily to silence me," he said.

"The government doesn't like to hear what I have to say because it exposes
them as extortionists."

Police, who had a command center set up across the street from the park,
said they were there only to monitor the situation and enforce the law.

They moved in after observing four people share a marijuana cigarette.

The problems began when the crowd lashed out against the arresting officers.

Some fest-goers formed a circle around officers, yelled obscenities and
threw bottles at them.

One officer suffered a broken leg while trying to restrain one of the
participants.

The 36-year-old officer was recovering Monday at a Davenport hospital after
he underwent surgery Saturday afternoon.