Pubdate: Mon, 29 Apr 2002
Source: Birmingham News, The (AL)
Copyright: 2002 The Birmingham News
Contact:  http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/45
Author: Adam Goldman, News staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)

CONCERT DRUG NET SNARES 200 ARRESTS

Fan Dies At 3-Day Widespread Panic Event At Oak Mountain

James Clemmons sat Indian-style, hands cuffed and a cigarette dangling from 
his mouth.

The 24-year-old St. Clair County Correctional Facility guard was charged 
with possession of drug paraphernalia and arrested at the Widespread Panic 
concerts this weekend at the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre.

"Can I call my warden?" Clemmons asked from the asphalt.

Operation Don't Panic, staged by the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control 
Board and Pelham Police Department, involved thousands of dollars, hundreds 
of worker hours and dozens of uniformed and plainclothes officers. It was 
one of the biggest ABC operations in recent memory.

The ABC saturated the amphitheater parking lots with undercover agents to 
crack down on drugs and underage drinking. Late Sunday authorities said 
they had arrested approximately 200 people during the three-day concert, 
and half of those arrests were felony drug cases. Most of the others 
arrested were for misdemeanor drug charges and underage drinking. Their 
prey ranged from Mountain Brook High School seniors to a U.S. Department of 
Energy employee. Agents found fans carrying everything from cocaine to 
OxyContin. Several overdosed. Police said one woman died Saturday night of 
an apparent overdose after she took Ecstasy.

"This is a terrible price to pay," said ABC agent Mike Reese.

Widespread Panic is the new Grateful Dead: Their followers travel with the 
band all over the country. The group sold out Oak Mountain Amphitheatre 
Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights to more than 30,000 fans. Police 
believed many would be bringing drugs. Widespread has a reputation for this.

About 4:30 p.m. Friday, ABC Lt. Andy Hardy, who was running the operation, 
set Don't Panic in motion. Teams of undercover agents, usually groups of 
three or four men, would meander through the crowds. Agents in their 20s 
headed out, backed by middle-aged police.

Behind the amphitheater's stage, Hardy had a mobile command center to 
process offenders. A Department of Corrections bus served as a temporary jail.

Fans had alerts when undercovers were roaming. They crowed "6-Up" a line 
from Charlie's Angels or yelled "narc." Many stared at the command center 
hoping to memorize faces.

The first visitor, at 5 p.m. Friday: Jason Jones.

The 28-year-old Arkansan, charged with one misdemeanor count of marijuana 
possession, sat on a wall at the command center across from an ABC agent 
named Vance.

"It's just weed," Jones said.

"It's illegal in the state of Alabama," Vance responded.

"There's a lot worse stuff out there," Jones said. "Believe me."

Agents do have a sense of proportion. One agent, Flash, made a fan caught 
with a single pot bud and a pipe toss the drugs into a creek. Then he let 
him go.

Michael Mann, 21, a University of Alabama criminal justice major and 
aspiring lawyer, wasn't so lucky. Flash arrested him about 10:30 p.m.

"Please sir, I beg you. I don't need to go to jail,' said Mann, who was 
charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. 'You don't have it in 
your heart to let me go?"

"One freebie a night," Flash said.

An hour later, authorities broke down the command center. Officers with the 
Pelham and Hoover police departments were tired. The Shelby County 
sheriff's deputies who ferried the prisoners to the jail were also ready to 
go home.

Officers regroup:

On Saturday, the ABC agents and police regrouped about 3 p.m. There was no 
rain so the lots filled quickly. Hardy was ready.

"It's time to hit it," he said.

A couple of hours later, thousands had streamed into the amphitheater 
vicinity. Parts of Oak Mountain looked like a refugee camp, what with lost 
dogs wandering and the smell of the Port-O-Johns. Revelers stumbled. One 
girl could barely stand. Pot was thick in the air.

ABC agent Adam and his team fanned out about 8 p.m. He took a confiscated 
ticket to trade for dope.

He spotted 21-year-old Daniel Roosa with a backpack. Roosa and three 
undercover agents went behind a car. Adam took an Ecstasy pill from Roosa 
and said he was with the state police.

Roosa was told to act as though he was old friends with Adam. "We're going 
back to the command center," Adam said. "Be cool."

Roosa was until he started yelling "police" a few minutes later. Adam threw 
him to the ground and cuffed him. He had Ecstasy, cocaine, $1,600 and a 
scale in the pack, police said.

Roosa, from Kentucky, was charged with drug possession and distribution. 
The command center was overflowing. Police were confiscating large 
quantities of Ecstasy, OxyContin, liquid acid, ketamine and a variety of 
prescription pills. Stoned young men and women stumbled around in flex 
cuffs. At times the command center better resembled a day care.

Carol and Kenneth Hudson of Gadsden watched in disbelief.

Their 21-year-old son Anthony died on Christmas Day 2000 of an OxyContin 
overdose. He had toured with Widespread Panic. This was the parents' first 
show they wanted to see how their son had lived.

"We just had to see what was going on," Carol Hudson said.

"I can't believe this," her husband said. "It's unreal."

Jason Bartlett of Colorado, charged Friday with misdemeanor possession of 
marijuana, said the scene is harmless. He spent 20 hours in jail before a 
friend paid $100 to bail him out.

"What they did to me was totally uncool," Bartlett, 30, a self-proclaimed 
ski bum, said Saturday. He said the authorities were ruining the concert.

"We don't want to lose our scene," he said. "We are trying not to lose our 
vibe, but we are definitely scared."

The hordes outside the amphitheater dissipated as the band started playing. 
Everybody was inside listening to the music, including 29-year-old Erica 
Robins Young of Chattanooga, who had come with friends.

About 10 p.m. Young collapsed and began shaking, her skin ashen. People 
danced around her. Her friends struggled to help her, trying to find 
security guards. Finally she was dragged from the stands. Young got 
cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

"It didn't look good," said Pelham Capt. E.A. Thomas Jr.

An hour later, Young was dead. Police said she apparently bought some 
powdered Ecstasy for $20. Her dazed friends struggled to fill out police 
reports. They didn't know Young was dead.

Operation Don't Panic ended about midnight. Pelham police worked the 
concert alone Sunday. The drugs, and the arrests, kept coming.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager