JACKSONVILLE HEMP FEST MARRED BY POLICE VIOLENCE

Warrant Issued for Organizer for Obstructing (In)Justice

Scott Bledsoe is staying out of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, for the
time being. That's because Bledsoe is a wanted man in the tiny
northeast Florida community. His offense? Telling the crowd at the
Jacksonville Hemp Fest Memorial Day weekend that undercover narcs were
among them and pointing out who the narcs were. That was enough for
the Jacksonville Beach Police Department to charge Bledsoe with a
misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice. Fortunately for Bledsoe,
no law enforcement agency anywhere outside Jacksonville Beach gives
two hoots about a misdemeanor warrant, so he continues to walk free
until he goes in to face the music -- an opportunity he says he will
relish.

This isn't the first time Bledsoe and the Jacksonville Cannabis Action
Network have tangled with local authorities over their hemp fests --
festival organizers won lawsuits over permit and free speech issues
against Jacksonville Beach in 1998 and Jacksonville in 2001 -- but it
has been several years since police have been so aggressive, according
to organizers and eyewitnesses. And it is with police aggressiveness
that the problems that marred an otherwise mellow and peaceable event
on Jacksonville Beach began.

"The police were there to intimidate and harass, and they did their
job well," said Bledsoe. "Undercover cops were circulating in the
crowd, and, as usual, they made a handful of arrests, a couple for
open container, one for a guy smoking a doobie, but they really seemed
more interested in harassing the vendors and speakers," he told DRCNet.

But thing began going south for the narcs when one of their most
gung-ho members, Jacksonville Beach police officer Jerry Dearing,
sicced a pair of uniformed officers on waiting fest speaker Rev.
Roland A. Duby (also known as Marijuana Man, nee Ronnie Williams of
Kentucky). According to Duby's account, as well as those of other
witnesses, the uniformed police approached him and asked to search a
tobacco tin he was holding. He refused, citing his right to be free of
unwarranted searches, and dumped the contents of the tin in a nearby
trash can. At that point, according to eyewitnesses, the cops flipped
out. They bum-rushed Duby, threw him to the ground, injuring his knee
in the process, handcuffed him, then, as he lay moaning in cuffs,
lifted up his eyeglasses and sprayed mace in his eyes.

Officer Jerry Dearing of the Jacksonville Police Department has been
accused of police brutality by event organizers. Christopher Largen,
coauthor of the soon-to-be-published "Prescription Pot" and caregiver
for federal medical marijuana patient George McMahon saw the whole
thing. Once Duby tossed the tin, said Largen, "two uniformed officers
push in on Roland without stating that he's under arrest. Roland backs
up and the cops tackle him from behind using a chokehold. He sputters
as he tries to pull the choking arm away from his neck and restore his
airflow," Largen told DRCNet. "He is thrown to the ground and begins
screaming, "You've broken my leg." The tattooed bald undercover
officer [Jerry Dearing] steps forward and reaches in front of Roland's
face and sprays him with mace. Roland's glasses block a direct shot
and he's squeezing his eyes shut, so the bald guy lifts his glasses
and directly blasts his eyes with mace."

[For Jacksonville residents and others who want a better sense of how
scary Duby's attacker and other Jacksonville narcs are, visit the
Jacksonville Hemp Fest web site -- http://www.jaxhempfest.com -- which
has posted pictures of them.]

Not surprisingly, the violence perpetrated against an event speaker by
the Jacksonville Beach police did not play well with the crowd or with
Bledsoe. The crowd swarmed toward Duby's tent, where the police had
him under guard, yelling "Shame, shame," "Nazis," "Pigs," and
generally expressing their disapproval. "People were very angry and
yelling at the cops, but there was no violence, there was nothing
thrown. Still, the cops were freaking out," said Bledsoe.

Bledsoe added to their worries by ascending to the stage, telling the
crowd what was happening, and notifying them that there were narcs in
their midst. "I told the crowd there were four narcs out there, that
they had arrested Duby because he refused an illegal search, and that
one of them was a bald-headed guy wearing earrings. I told the crowd
to watch out for those people, to stay away from them. I did not
incite violence," he emphasized, adding that the entire oration, as
well as Duby's arrest, had been captured on videotape.

Jacksonville Beach police told local media that "the crowd became a
problem, and we could no longer conduct our operation," arguing that
Bledsoe's identification of Dearing endangered the narc and prevented
him from doing his job, thus meriting a charge of obstruction of
justice against Bledsoe.

"It was the police conduct that incited the crowd, not anything I
said," Bledsoe retorted. While Bledsoe is not exactly thrilled at
having to deal with the warrant -- it will cost time and money, he
said -- he is eager to once again skewer the local gendarmerie in
court, and it looks like he's got a very good case. Florida legal
precedent is on his side. In a handful of cases, the most recent only
three years ago, Florida appeals courts have ruled that "a person
whose speech identifies an undercover police officer and frustrates
the officers' attempt to make a drug buy is not guilty of obstructing
the officer in the lawful performance of a legal duty."

"I don't know what's wrong with these people, why they want to start
this crap up again," said Bledsoe. "We already sued both Jacksonville
and Jacksonville Beach over ordinances they wrote to try to block us
- -- and won -- and now they're sending in the police to disrupt a
peaceful festival. There was no violence, no drunkenness, not even any
cursing on stage. We run a class act, a family-oriented event. After
all, we are out here not only to celebrate our culture but also to
educate the public. And this arrest warrant is a big joke. It's just
harassment, but I'm not worried, I have the law on my side."

Bledsoe will give himself up for arraignment at an appropriate time,
he told DRCNet. "Sometime in the next week or two, once we get the
media lined up and can make a real show of it," he said. "The cops
could have avoided all this controversy if they had just left us in
peace. Now we will get more publicity, they will get more scrutiny,
and the taxpayers of Jacksonville Beach will pay. They'll pay because
I fully intend to sue the city for violating my First Amendment rights
with this warrant."

As for the Rev. Duby, he is reportedly recuperating back home in
Kentucky after friends posted a $15,000 bond for him. He is charged
with resisting arrest. "I thanked God for my eventual release into
blessed America and asked him to forgive my kidnappers, for they know
not what they are doing," said Duby.

The Jacksonville Beach Police Department did not respond to repeated
calls from DRCNet.

As for next year's Jacksonville Hemp Fest? "We'll be there," said
Bledsoe. "Count on it."