Pubdate: Sun, 06 Mar 2016
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2016 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-letters-to-the-editor-htmlstory.html
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Kate Jacobson

SUSPECTS ARE A SIGHT TO SEE AT MUSIC FEST

Val Camarillo reached into her bag of potato chips, looked out the 
open tent flap and watched as Okeechobee County Sheriff's deputies moved in.

Camarillo, 22, of Fort Myers, and her two friends David Wilson, 21, 
and Missy Salomon, 20, have been watching as people receive citations 
and get arrested at the Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival in Okeechobee.

Their tent, along with a slew of others', are located directly behind 
a makeshift substation for the Sheriff's Office-which has brought 
those nearby an endless supply of entertainment.

"It's dinner and a show," Wilson, of Naples, said as he grabbed another chip.

Themusic festival reports about 30,000 people are in attendance for 
its inaugural year. A private security firm and a slew of law 
enforcement agencies from the surrounding areas are charged with 
keeping people safe and confiscating drugs.

As of Friday afternoon, law enforcement officials recorded 36 arrests.

According to the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office - the leading 
agency - those cited with misdemeanors will not be arrested. Those 
with more serious charges can expect a trip to the on-site mobile jail.

But before they're transported, they have to sit with deputies at a 
small canopy located just after the festival entrance. And while they 
wait, the campers watch.

Camarillo and her crew counted off a list of what they saw since 
arriving on Friday. There was a young woman who was so hysterical, 
she calmed down only after deputies allowed her to have a cigarette. 
There was another group of people who were rounded up by deputies 
after the drug dog started barking. And then there was the guy who 
hid cocaine in a container of peanut butter.

"Every time we come back to the tent, there' s more people getting 
arrested ," Salomon said ."As soon as they get done with one person, 
they have someone new."

"Camping here is kind of depressing," Camarillo added.

A few tents down, Theresa Cooper, 38, was also watching. The 
Jacksonville resident recited her own list of things she had seen- 
including a guy hiding marijuana in a loaf of bread - but was less 
amused as her neighbors.

She understood why the deputies were there, and acknowledged they had 
a job to do, but she wished they would just quiet down.

"We anticipated the loudness; we anticipated the loud music," she 
said."We didn't anticipate this."

The deputies work around the clock, including theK-9deputieswhoare 
trained to bark. The barking drove Cooper crazy.

"This was not where we wanted to camp at night," she said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom