STALKING HEMPSTOCK

Authorities Begin Crackdown On Festival

STARKS - Flashing blue lights and a road block greeted visitors to the
annual Hempstock festival Thursday as police and prosecutors followed
through on a promise of stepped-up enforcement.

Visitors were handed flyers warning them not to drive under the influence
and a probation officer checked the identity of people passing through at
the roadblock on Route 43, a few hundred yards from the dirt road leading
to Harry Brown's farm.

Hempstock is organized by the Maine Vocals, a group that advocates the
legalization of marijuana.

About an hour before the first show of the four-day event, police drove
down a dirt road past signs reading "Everybody Get Stoned," and "Let My
People Grow" and served organizers with a search warrant, warning them that
Harry Brown's field may be visited by police at any time this weekend.

"You might want to relate to the band we are going to be more aggressive
this year," said State Police Lt. Dale Lancaster, in reference to noise
complaints.

"People who live in Starks have a right to a good night's sleep," said
Kennebec and Somerset County District Attorney David Crook.

Members of security at Hempstock assured Lancaster and Crook that the music
would end at 10 p.m.

The visit and search warrant were vivid reminders of the increasing
pressure the pro-marijuana rock festival is under from both law enforcement
and the town of Starks, which passed a more restrictive mass gathering
ordinance last year, apparently targeted at the event.

Reached Thursday night, Crook said the road blocks were meant to keep
people safe. He said two hours after the roadblock was set up, police
arrested an irate man who had struck a state trooper with his car.

"I don't think he meant to run him over but that is exactly the kind of
reckless behavior that will not be tolerated," he said.

The man's name was not immediately available. The trooper was not seriously
injured and continued to man the roadblock, Crook said.

Anyone on probation who attends the concert may have to take blood or urine
tests, depending on the conditions of their probation, he said.

At last year's Hempstock, a large percentage of those people present were
under age.

That is a particular concern, he said, because hard drugs as well as
marijuana and alcohol were present.

Shortly before the 6 p.m. concert, about 100 people, those who had bought
weekend camping passes, were in the grassy field - far fewer than the 650
people organizers had planned for.

Half or more of the crowd appeared to be in their late teens or early 20s.
Some appeared even younger.

An 18-year-old New Hampshire woman who declined to give her name said this
was her second year at Hempstock.

She came "because there is good music and a lot of people," she said. She
said last year's attendance was heavier.

Her companion, also 18 and from New Hampshire, agreed.

"It is more free. You meet lot of new people. It is just nice to gather
people and be outside and hear music," he said. He also declined to give
his name.

"I don't smoke pot, but I support people's right to smoke pot," he said.

He said marijuana is less hazardous to society and less hazardous to people
than alcohol.

Near the gate of the concert, Harvey Starkey, a senior member of the
security staff, said the heavy police presence amounted to discrimination.

Wearing a red, white and blue bandanna, a sleeveless shirt that exposed his
tattooed arms and the word "security" on the front of the shirt with a
green marijuana leaf on the back, Starkey said the festival was "political
action."

"We are trying to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. The state of
Maine voted on it and the state of Maine approved it," he said.

A Navy veteran who served during the Vietnam war, Starkey said he is
allergic to all the medications for his muscle spasms.

"But I smoke a joint and it goes away," he said.

He said security has always tried to work with police and said the heavy
presence by law enforcement this year was harassment. He estimated that 15
cruisers were working the concert as well as many unmarked cars.

About a half-mile away, on Route 43, Carolyn Sours came out on her front
porch off Route 43 to say that she does not mind the music wafting down
from the hillside.

"I don't care what they do up there as long as they leave us alone," she said.

Her son, Shane, said alcohol and cigarettes were both illegal once.

"I think this is excessive," he said, referring to the police presence on
his road.

His mother replied that if the police were not there, Hempstock might not
be such a benign presence.

About 100 yards away, Ann Marie Simone said that two years ago during
Hempstock, someone urinated on her front lawn and last year a domestic
violence incident occurred about 20 feet from her front door.

She said she thought it was "great" that police were present.

"I wish more could be done," she said.