JURY SIDES WITH BARTER FAIR

County officials discriminated against
organizers of a counter-culture festival formerly held in Ruch, a
federal jury decided Wednesday.

The jury of five men and three women sided with promoters of the
Southern Oregon Barter Fair in their lawsuit against Jackson County.
Jurors awarded $60,000 in damages while agreeing that county
commissioners and retired Sheriff Robert Kennedy acted in an
"arbitrary and discriminatory" manner in dealing with Barter Fair
representatives. Those actions "chilled" promoters' rights, jurors
said.

"This is a big success for civil rights," said Brian Michaels,
attorney for the Barter Fair. "It means that people of all lifestyles
have the right to First Amendment rights."

The decision affirmed organizer Alan Venet's faith in the American
judicial system, he said.

"It's worth standing up for your rights. If you don't use it, you lose
it."

The county may file an appeal in the case, but if the $60,000
judgement stands, it would be paid out of the county's general fund,
said Mike Jewett, county counsel. Jurors awarded $35,000 in economic
damages and $25,000 in punitive damages, all of which would be paid by
the county.

Jurors, who deliberated for more than 10 hours, declined to discuss
their verdict.

The Barter Fair's lawsuit - pending since 1996 - alleged that
excessive fees, unreasonable delays and an invasion of sheriff's
deputies contributed to the annual event's demise. After attendance
dropped dramatically in 1996 - the last year of the fair - organizers
were left with $25,000 in debts, they said.

Their court victory will allow Barter Fair organizers to pay off debts
with several thousand dollars left over to put on another event, Venet
said. However, the next event - held the second weekend in October -
likely won't take place until 2004, provided that the fair finds a
suitable site, he said.

In addition to asking for $50,000 in economic damages, the Barter Fair
sought $100,000 in punitive damages against each of the four
defendants - Kennedy, county commissioners Jack Walker, Sue Kupillas
and former Commissioner Ric Holt. However, the court ruled that jurors
could only award punitive damages against Kennedy.

"We don't have the ability to charge him (Kennedy) with a crime, and
evidently, these eight citizens felt he deserved to be punished,"
Michaels said.

Kennedy testified that in 1996 he assigned nearly 100 deputies to work
the three-day Barter Fair, located on a 140-acre farm off Upper
Applegate Road. Corrections deputies stood by with vans from Jackson
and Josephine counties to transport fairgoers in the event of "mass
arrests," he said. An incident command post was set up at nearby
Cantrall-Buckley Park. Three deputies were left on duty in other parts
of the county during the Barter Fair weekend, according to court exhibits.

Laid out in an 18-page document, the law enforcement strategy for the
1996 Barter Fair cost the county $90,000. Ten arrests were made over
the fair's three days. Attendance at the Barter Fair in 1996 was about
half that of 1995, organizers said.

Kennedy said his plans were in response to neighbors' complaints about
noise, litter, vandalism, traffic jams, drug use and sex during
previous years' fairs. However, Kennedy urged commissioners to reject
the Barter Fair's permit to hold a mass gathering because he believed
the event served no purpose.

Citing the advice of the county counsel, commissioners tried to impose
an $18,000 permit fee for the 1996 event although state law only
allowed them to charge as much as $5,000. After months of waiting for
the county to schedule public hearings, the Barter Fair received their
permit in 1996 after U.S. District Magistrate John P. Cooney struck
down the $18,000 fee. Cooney also presided over the trial, which ran
for six days in Medford's U.S. District Court.