HEMP FEST MAY MOVE TO PRIVATE LAND

DAVENPORT -- Hemp Fest organizer Bob Moldenhauer said Monday he may move
next year's event to private property after the mass arrests at Saturday's
festival -- arrests he says were intended solely to silence him.

This is a vendetta against me -- it's not about the Hemp Fest anymore," he
said. "What happened Saturday afternoon was a well-orchestrated effort,
pre-planned by the Davenport Police Department."

Not true, police Lt. Dave Struckman said Monday. Officers made arrests and
closed Credit Island Park only because some participants blatantly were
breaking laws and inciting riot, he said.

A melee began after police tried to arrest four people allegedly smoking a
marijuana cigarette, according to reports. Others in the crowd began
throwing bottles and rocks at police and using loudspeakers to encourage
people to resist arrest, police said. Mr. Moldenhauer said police arrested
him and the others to keep him and others from talking to the crowd about
Libertarian philosophies and decriminalization of marijuana.

"They wanted to silence me, to keep me from telling people that government
does not really exist," he said. "It's just a private corporation that
takes our money, and that's it."

Nobody silenced Mr. Moldenhauer, Lt. Struckman said.

"We gave him a forum," he said. "He had an hour and a half to exercise his
right to free speech. He could talk about anti-government, pro-marijuana or
whatever. But we had told these folks that we would not sit back and let
them violate the law."

Some fest-goers openly were smoking marijuana, even though police were
nearby and had supplied an "amnesty barrel" in which the public could dump
their marijuana as they entered, Lt. Struckman said.

"Our officers would have loved to have been there and not had to do a
damned thing," he said, "but it was too blatant to overlook."

Police estimate 300 to 400 people attended the event. Thirty-three were
arrested on charges ranging from possession of controlled substances to
assault. During the melee, a 36-year-old Davenport police officer had his
leg broken when Christopher Rice, 28, of Rock Island allegedly fought being
arrested, according to police reports.

Michael Winterlin, 21, of Bettendorf was charged with assault on a police
officer, disorderly conduct and interference with official acts after he
allegedly taunted police, chanted obscenities against the police, spit in
the face of one officer and punched another in the chest, according to
police reports.

"That's inciting a riot," Lt. Struckman said.

Officers employed a chemical spray to subdue the crowd, but Mr. Moldenhauer
said reports of its use were exaggerated.

"I only saw one (officer) using it, and I was standing right downwind from
him," he said. "If he'd been using a lot of it, I'd have known. It was just
an intimidation tactic."

Jennifer Cooper of Moline said police handled festival-goers too roughly.

"People who weren't moving fast enough got kicked around and roughed up,"
she said. "One guy was still getting kicked after he was cuffed and on the
ground."

Lt. Struckman said the police department has received no complaints about
officer's deportment during Saturday's arrests.

Fest organizers rented a city park shelter under an individual's name
instead of trying to get a permit for the fest from the city, according to
Scott County Sheriff Mike Bladel, whose deputies assisted city police at
the park.

"We weren't told we needed a permit," Mr. Moldenhauer said. "The city
wanted things to occur just as they did. I think next year we might move
the fest to private property. Then the police won't have any excuses for
this kind of thing."

That wouldn't stop police from making drug arrests, Lt. Struckman said.
"Even on private property, there are things called 'laws,'" he said. "It
may be private property, but if you open the event to the general public,
it becomes sort of public domain. Police could still be there under-cover."

In Mr. Moldenhauer's view, marijuana use is not prohibited by law in Iowa.

"Under Iowa law, a person is defined as a legal entity," he said. "But
according to Black's legal dictionary, a legal entity is not a natural
person. So you can have all the pot you want because you're not a person."