A BONNAROO IN '05?

MANCHESTER, Tenn. -- The three-day party in the cow pasture,
officially known as Bonnaroo 2004, is over.

As crews on Friday continued to haul away a mountain of trash created
by 90,000 visitors, Coffee County residents had begun sorting through
a mountain of concerns about the annual event.

With two deaths of patrons, the first in the event's history, many
have said the festival is no longer just a weekend of good vibes and
good fun. Some Coffee Countians have said the honeymoon with Bonnaroo
is over. They have raised questions about security with such a large
crowd and what they think is a "wink and nod" attitude toward drug
use.

Others note that organizers have been good corporate citizens on their
way to making Bonnaroo one of the top music events in the world and
making Manchester a destination spot for tourism.

To many Coffee Countians, however, the Bonnaroo organizers' greatest
accomplishment is making good on their promise to improve traffic flow.

There's a lot to debate before the Roonies return in 2005. Below are
talking points that probably will be fodder for debate in the months
ahead.

Traffic Flow

Since the first Bonnaroo, when waiting times to enter the compound
stretched past 24 hours, the event has become synonymous with long
lines and traffic bottlenecks. Can it become a friendlier event to
locals?

Improvements Still Needed

"We've got issues," Sheriff Steve Graves said.

He said not all of Bonnaroo's entrance booths were operating. The
festival had promised 60 booths, double what had been available in
2003.

If all of the booths had been manned, "we think that would have cut
down on the time to get them in," said Graves.

As it turned out, law enforcement was on traffic alert 24 hours a day,
from Wednesday into Friday, as Bonnaroo fans arrived in waves.

"After about 26 hours we thought we had everybody in, then another
influx came, boom. It was almost 56 hours before we got every person
in," Graves said.

Some fans, such as Francesca Womack of Redmond, Wash., never made it
inside because of a six-hour wait in traffic.

On opening night, while Bob Dylan -- one of the acts she wanted to see
- -- was performing, Womack was stuck in traffic on Highway 55 with
hundreds of others.

"I've waited in long lines before, but after about six hours you
wonder what am I paying money for. I can do this anywhere," she said.

Instead, she and a friend headed to Nashville and attended the CMA
Music Festival. Since her return home, she's made an official
complaint against Bonnaroo to Tennessee's tourism commission.

Better Than Last Year

Rick Farman, Bonnaroo spokesman, said traffic and the weather are two
components of the organization's planning that can only be predicted
up to a certain point.

He said he does not have an answer yet for Sheriff Graves about the
entrance booths used.

"The whole logistics of the parking situation is rather complicated.
I'm still reviewing with my staff what actually happened. If we don't
feel that it's at the efficiency that it should have been, we'll make
adjustments to make it more efficient," Farman said.

The spokesman said Bonnaroo can and will improve on the traffic
situation.

"Each year as we experience different patterns in traffic and get
experience on what adjustment can be made to improve the situation,
then we're learning more," he said.

"From what I've heard both from our patrons and people in the
community, traffic was better."

Alma Gibbs, who lives in the Hillsboro community of Coffee County,
said she agreed.

"It seems every year they are learning how better to route people and
what to look for," she said while putting groceries into her car at
Wal-Mart.

"The only problem I have ever had with Bonnaroo is the traffic. If you
live in a certain area or if you needed to get to a certain area, you
might as well just hang it up and wait.

"It was better this year."

The Drug Question

Bonnaroo and other outdoor music events have a reputation among fans
for being drug-friendly. Last weekend's event was no exception.

On-site medical teams treated numerous overdoses, and two deaths have
been tentatively linked to drug use.

Authorities made 27 arrests and issued 132 citations, the majority for
drug violations. Officers seized all kinds of prohibited items,
including mushrooms, Ecstasy, LSD, marijuana and 78 tanks of nitrous
oxide, which supposedly produces a very quick high and is popular at
outdoor concerts.

Many more cases could have been made, according to law enforcement
officers.

Suzie Sain is the part-time manager of Calamity Jane, a variety store
near downtown Manchester. She wondered why more arrests weren't made.

"How can it be legal? They won't tolerate drugs in Coffee County. It's
the Number One concern, to clean up the drugs, yet all these come in
June and it's allowed," Sain said.

"Why is that?"

Drug Answer -- the Law

It's not a question that Sheriff Graves, who called last weekend "a
drug fest," hasn't heard before.

"It bothers us, it really does, but it's not something we can really
stop."

He doesn't have the manpower, Graves explained.

"The most we could summon up at one time was 150. One hundred and
fifty people would be useless, but we did the best we could."

Bonnaroo's security could do a better job, he added. Searches of
vehicles as they enter the premises could be more thorough, even
though Graves understood that would take more time and would mean more
of a backup on the highways.

It's not that the officers couldn't enter Bonnaroo's gates, the
sheriff added. "We've got every right to go inside that venue, but we
don't have enough officers and can't summon enough officers," Graves
said.

"Now we did go in when we would get information where a certain dealer
would be and work with Bonnaroo's security to get them extracted. It
worked out pretty well, but we did not want to go in there in a police
force and start a riot.

"Frankly, we don't have enough people to handle it if it did
start."

Drug Discussion -- a Festival Fan

Matthew Heckaman, 23, of South Bend, Ind., attended his second
Bonnaroo last weekend. He said there was a marked difference in the
number of available drugs there from 2003 to 2004.

"Any street you walked down inside of Bonnaroo, you could find
anything you want. People even walked by our campsite the first day
trying to sell Ecstasy, mushrooms, Molly, whatever," Heckaman said.
Molly and Ecstasy are slang names for MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine).

Heckaman was one of several festival attendees who complained about
this year's Bonnaroo via e-mail. He was later contacted by phone.

"The hard drugs were way more abundant this year," Heckaman said,
noting that the weekend was spoiled for him by a couple with a baby
who camped next to his group.

"They had, like, a 1-year-old and they were shooting up heroin in
front of the child," the young man said.

"I don't know what you can do to improve security. You're always going
to have drugs at something like that," he said.

"The harder the drug is, the better they are going to hide it when
they come in."

Drug Response -- Bonnaroo

Festival spokesman Farman said there were two security checks. First,
every car that entered the campground was searched for prohibited
items such as weapons and drugs, but Farman also acknowledged that
that search was not thorough.

"That search is one that looks for items that one can search for in
the amount of time you have and in a car that's packed up, but we do
take that search very seriously," Farman said.

"Secondly, we search the bags of patrons coming into the concert
venue, just like you would in a stadium or amphitheater. That's what
we do and we feel that's on par or exceeds what most concert
facilities or events do," he added.

Farman noted that there were no significant acts of violence. In fact,
Sheriff Graves said there were few assaults and credited Bonnaroo's
security for doing a better job of crowd control.

"For 90,000 people in four days, I think you'd be hard pressed to find
somebody who can match that, be it a city or an event," Farman said.

But there were two deaths.

Again, the spokesman said the organizers would review polices and
procedures. He reiterated Bonnaroo's official anti-drug position.
"It's very clear. Anyone who is doing anything illegal, they are
responsible for their actions," he said.

Hidden Costs of a Good Time

Bonnaroo is run by private companies that don't have to reveal their
profit margins, but with 90,000 tickets sold at $164.50, the gross on
ticket sales is nearly $15 million.

True, their overhead is enormous. Organizers have to create a
mini-city and a first-rate concert venue out of a cow pasture.

But locals question, what's in it for us?

Rueing the Roo

County Mayor Ray Johnson admits he probably sounds like "an old fogey,
someone who's forgotten how to have a good time."

He said that description is not true, but said it's time for Bonnaroo
to pay more for the inconveniences caused by the annual festival.

"A lot of people go away for the weekend. They don't go shopping in
town because they don't want to be caught in traffic. There are
several businesses that make money on Bonnaroo, but there are many
that don't," he said.

The county loses money on the event, Johnson speculated.

"It does cost the county money in ways they don't even think about,"
he said, mentioning in particular the training for law enforcement
officers and the loss of sales-tax revenue because of a reduction in
sales at local stores.

"They would have been better off if they hadn't fought the tax," said
the county mayor, referring to a failed initiative earlier this year
to levy a $7 surcharge on each ticket.

This year, for the first time, the county demanded that each Bonnaroo
vendor purchase a business permit so the county could collect sales
taxes.

"It still too early to know if that helped. We'll have to wait and
see," he said.

Meanwhile, the county mayor said the two deaths at Bonnaroo have
changed the dynamics of the relationship between the festival and its
host community.

"People say Bonnaroo has put Manchester on the map. Well, it did. But
do we want to be on the map for that? That's the question we have to
ask ourselves."

Roo Response

According to Bonnaroo's Farman, the promoters will pay an estimated
$1.4 million in taxes and have already helped local charities raise
$180,000. Other donations to charities are forthcoming, he promised.

"We are here to help the community," Farman said during a news
conference before this year's festival.

Ed Holland, a local real estate agent and one of four major landowners
who rented property to the festival, said he is nothing but impressed
with the organization's corporate philosophy and skills.

"The military could take some lessons from those people, how they
organize. Safety is utmost in their mind," said Holland, who rents 90
acres for camping.

"It's an asset to this area. Granted there's some people who are
inconvenienced because of the traffic, I understand that. But the
Titans inconvenience people. A Vanderbilt football game inconveniences
people. Life is that way," he said.

The deaths at Bonnaroo were "tragic, but it happens," said Coffee
County resident Mike Carter.

"Percentage-wise if they had two people die in Tennessee over Memorial
Day weekend, they'd be tickled to death. It's just people not using
good judgment. Personally, I'd rather them not use good judgment out
there than on the interstate when I'm on it," he said.