TELLURIDE FESTIVAL MAY SUE OVER 'DRUG CHECKPOINT'

Jan. 1, 2001 - The organizers of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival are
threatening to sue several southwestern Colorado law enforcement groups and
the state of Colorado over what they call an unconstitutional drug
checkpoint conducted outside of Telluride on the weekend of their festival
last summer.

Planet Bluegrass on Dec. 12 notified the agencies and the state of its
intent to sue. Under state law, the agencies now have until mid-April to
respond or a civil-rights lawsuit will be filed on behalf of festivalgoers
whose cars were allegedly searched and sniffed with drug dogs, said the
Lyons company's Boulder attorney, Jason Spillman.

Officials in Dolores County, refusing to talk about the possible lawsuit,
have said before that the roadblock was only there to catch traffic-law
violators. Planet Bluegrass officials say people who complained to them
about being stopped described it as a drug checkpoint.

Planet Bluegrass's Craig Ferguson said he believes officers are guilty of
profiling his customers, some of whom have long hair and drive beatup cars.

"We feel that driving to a music festival, you know, shouldn't be cause to
have your car pulled over and drug-sniffed," he said. "Some people said
they did nothing wrong, and they were pulled over and sniffed."

The notice of complaint lists as possible defendants in the case officials
in Montezuma, La Plata and Dolores counties, Durango and Cortez, and
Attorney General Ken Salazar, as well as the Colorado Bureau of
Investigation, Spillman said. Planet Bluegrass officials believe those
agencies, each belonging to the Southwest Drug Task Force, worked together
that weekend, he said.

The notice alleges that a roadblock was set up in Dolores County just south
of the border of San Miguel County - Telluride is the seat of San Miguel -
and that a sign reading "Narcotics Checkpoint Ahead" was posted in the
middle of the highway, Spillman said. A recent Supreme Court ruling
declared that kind of checkpoint unconstitutional, reiterating existing law
stating that checkpoints may only be used to target drunken drivers and to
intercept illegal immigrants on American highways near the Mexican border.

Last week, officials with Montezuma and Dolores counties said they weren't
worried about the lawsuit and would likely organize another checkpoint when
the Telluride Bluegrass Festival rolls around again next Memorial Day
weekend, according to the Cortez Journal.

"The sheriff told me everything was done by the book, and I believe him,"
Dolores County Commissioner Leroy Gore told that newspaper. "If they are
comfortable with doing it next year, then I support them."