Weedstock planner ready to fight for land

Lyn Jerde

FERRYVILLE, Wis. The planner of Weedstock vows there will be a fight
if Crawford County authorities try to seize the land where the marijuana
and rock festival was held Memorial Day weekend.

No one, said Ben Masel, has ever tried to take the land where previous
Weedstocks were held.

"If they try it, they'll have to ask the governor to call out the
National Guard," said Masel, of Madison.

"A First Amendmentprotected activity is not a basis for forfeiture," he
added.

In Crawford County, papers haven't been filed in court yet making the
seizure, for now, only a threat.

Arnold Jay Harris, a Ferryville flower farmer, leased his land (which
lies mostly within in the city limits of Ferryville, population 150) for
Weedstock.

Crawford County Corporation Counsel Mark Peterson said he wrote to
Harris and Masel before the event expressing his intent to take the land
if Weedstock were held there.

Wednesday, he said he intends to follow through with the seizure first
in Crawford County Circuit Court, and if necessary, in federal court.

Seizure laws allow authorities to take property that has been used for
illegal drugs, even if the owner has not been convicted of a
drugrelated crime.

As evidence, Peterson said he plans to cite the drugrelated arrests
that took place during the weekend of Weedstock.

But Masel countered that the law, as he understands it, would require
Crawford County officials to prove that drugs were sold on the land
rather than just used and that they must also prove landowner Harris
knowingly allowed or encouraged drug sales.

"People smoke (marijuana) at Packer games," Masel said. "Does that mean
they can seize Lambeau Field?"

Peterson has said he also plans to seek fines of up to $4,000 from Masel
for refusing to acquire a countyrequired permit for large gatherings.

"If the county had enacted a constitutional ordinance that wasn't unduly
restrictive," Masel said, "we wouldn't have ignored it."

Masel said there will be another Weedstock next year.

Though Weedstock has been held at several different Wisconsin locations
in the past, Harris has already offered his land for next year's event
as have landowners in three other Wisconsin counties (none in the
tristate area).

"If they proceed with the forfeiture," Masel said, "we'll have Weedstock
at Jay's place all summer, to defend it."

Copyright 1997 Telegraph Herald