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Lubbock
Avalanche Journal
[Wednesday
p.m., March 25, 1970]
POLICE NICE,
THOUGH
Wind 'Blows Mind'
For Rock Devotees
By W. EUGENE
W. SMITH
Avalanche Journal Staff
The police have been kind and the natives distant so far, but
Old Mother Nature welcomed 1970's first "rock music festival"
in a good old fashioned unkind West Texas way today - with blowing
dirt.
The vanguard of expected tens of thousands of young music devotees
huddled around campfires and in cars on the Floyd Reynolds property
southeast of Woodrow.
Their faces grimy from the dust, stringy hair of male and female
alike whipped by the wind, the youngsters, most of them from
West Texas so far, awaited the Thursday morning opening of the
three-day event.
The curious were far more plentiful than the involved, as Farm
to Market Road 41, running adjacent to the festival site's north
side, was crowded with slowly moving cars.
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) patrolmen were observed
issuing two traffic citations, both to very ordinary looking
West Texans.
"We opened up our tent last night ," ventured one long-haired
youth, "and it just inflated and blew away."
A wind clocked by the Lubbock Weather Bureau at more than 40
miles per hour whipped winter-plowed cotton fields and over the
site, and the passage of hundreds of car tires and highway department
machinery working on roads in the area added to the dirt.
Tents Dot Area
Tents dotted the former farmland, and some of the youths helped
with building concession stands and other makeshift structures
needed for the festival.
The music is set to begin blaring at 10:00 a.m. Thursday.
The early arrivals, exhibiting license plates from such places
as Dallas, Midland, Kansas, North Dakota, Florida, and Mississippi,
said they expected no trouble. Some ventured that the DPS patrolmen,
235 of which are being brought in especially for the event, are
"nice cats."
Those expecting trouble said they feel it will come from local
residents if it comes.
"Everyone seems to think we should be standing by the door
with a gun," declared Mrs. Bernard Rogers, who, with her
husband, runs the only business, a liquor store, within walking
distance.
"The ones that have come in here so far have been very polite
and nice," she said.
The Rogers' store is on the…
(remainder
of article not available).
[Thursday
a.m., March 26, 1970]
FACILITIES RUSHED
Rock
'Festival' Set For Debut Today
By JACK
GOLDING
Avalanche Journal Staff
HUNDREDS of pop music lovers were pouring into the Lubbock area
late Wednesday night as workmen rushed to complete facilities
on a dusty, wind-swept field near Woodrow, site of West Texas'
first rock music festival.
DPS Crews Busy
Except for the steady hum of busy work, there were no reported
incidents connected with the festival Wednesday. The site is
nine miles south of the Tahoka Traffic Circle and one mile east
of U.S. 87 on Farm Road 41.
Spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which has moved
235 men from across the state to help control the crowd, said
the only hint of a problem Wednesday was the steady stream, of
bumper-to-bumper traffic bypassing the cropland which is being
converted to a tent city.
The DPS has established a command post just across Farm Road
41, and spent several hours Wednesday scanning the festival site
from three helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, spokesmen pointed
out.
Law Lineup Set
Maj. Charles Bell of Lubbock, DPS regional commander, said 160
officers, including Texas Rangers, will be stationed in shifts
on the festival grounds and the rest of the 235-man force will
work with traffic, communications and other duties. Briefing
sessions were held there Wednesday. The force included game management
officers from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department who were
at the scene Wednesday. State narcotics officers also are on
hand here.
The sheriff's office here has canceled all days off, chief sheriff's
deputy Albert Smith said. Seven deputies will be...
See ROCK MUSIC
page 15
Workmen Still
Busy
Rock
Music 'Festival'
Set for Debut Today
FROM PAGE ONE
assigned to the festival at all times and six other officers
will patrol southern Lubbock Country.
Lubbock Police Chief J.T. Alley said 15 members of his force,
including communications and identification officers, have been
assigned to help at the affair.
A spokesman for Pinkerton's, Inc., a private security service,
said it had reinforced its guard numbers at some Lubbock businesses.
Additional personnel were summoned from throughout the state
to beef up local security.
During the day Wednesday festival workers, without the aid of
electrical service, constructed a foundation for a stage just
off Farm Road 41, sank poles for a fence around the staging area
and began moving in portable chemical toilets and concessions.
No Bathing Facilities
Brad Hardy, co-owner of Atlantis Productions, booking agency
for the festival, said there will be 15 food and drink concessions,
plus several others selling posters and clothing.
Hardy said the number of portable toilets on the site "depends
on how many we get moved in there," but said he hopes to
have 150 available.
There are no ponds or streams for bathing at the site, Hardy
said, but a well pumping 400 gallons per minute will supply drinking
water.
Medical Tent Set Up
Festival sponsors say they will have a medical tent manned by
a Fort Worth physician who volunteered his services.
Dr. David M. Gowgill, director of Lubbock's City-County Health
Unit, said four inspectors were at the location Wednesday checking
water, food and sanitation facilities.
Bill Casey, president of Southwest Festivals, Wednesday predicted
attendance of 25,000 to 30,000 daily.
Eight Bands on Slate
Producer Toby Roberts still is working on the schedule but today's
performers tentatively include Freddie King, Heaven and Earth,
The Frock, Bloodrock, Frantic, Delaney and Bonnie and friends,
Bangor Flying Circus and the Canned Heat.
He said gates will open at 1:30 p.m. and the show should start
at 3 p.m., barring complications.
A Dickens County court injunction Monday banned the festival
from a location near the county seat and the show was moved to
Lubbock Tuesday, in an eleventh hour maneuvers.
By late Wednesday, only one isolated incident had been connected
to the festival. Officers stopped a mini-skirted girl driving
from Oklahoma City to the festival at 91 mph in a 70-mph zone.
She pleaded guilty before Justice of the Peace F.H. Bolen and
was fined $20.
Lawmen and Dist. Aty. Blair Cherry…
(remainder
of article not available).
[Friday
a.m., March 27, 1970 ("Good Friday")]
INADEQUATE POWER
'Festival'
Delayed; Turnout Is Small
By JACK
GOLDING
Avalanche Journal Staff
PLAGUED by power failures, blowing dust and biting winds, promoters
of the Southwest '70 rock festival canceled the first day's performances
on Thursday.
The production had been geared for a 3 p.m. opening but five
hours later, when only car lights and flickering campfires illuminated
the 160-acre site, promoters said trouble with portable table
generators had forced them to postpone the show until noon today.
Crowd Estimates Vary
The announcement sent hundreds in the audience, estimated by
the Texas Department of Public Safety at 2,300, and by promoters
at 5,000, scurrying off the site, located nine miles south of
the Tahoka Traffic Circle and one mile east of U.S. 87 on Farm
Road 41.
The mass exodus caused traffic, swelled by carloads of the curious,
to slow to a snail's pace on the winding farm road. A newsman
covering the show said he watched the stream of vehicles leaving
the gates and said cars "were bumper to bumper and they
were four or five fuzzy heads in every one of them."
Continues Through Sunday
Festival officials said the show, originally scheduled to end
Saturday night, would now continue through Easter Sunday and
Thursday's ticket stubs would be honored.
The crowd, a far cry from the "25,000 to 30,000" sponsors
had predicted daily, had paid $5 each Thursday to brave blinding
dust carried by cold winds gusting to 26 miles per hour.
Brenda Rowe, 18, blonde and...
See FESTIVAL
page 10
"OPENER'
PLAGUED BY PROBLEMS
Festival
Turnout Small Here
FROM PAGE
ONE
wrapped in a blanket, appeared at a DPS facility at midafternoon
Thursday and said she was "miserable, cold, dusty, and I
want to get back home to Clovis as fast as I can." She said
she had driven to the festival with friends but they had been
separated.
Jeff Nichols, 20, who said he was a Vietnam veteran and recipient
of the Purple Heart, showed up in the windswept barley field
and told reporters he had hitchhiked from Garden Grove, Calif.,
where he had worked as a census taker until Tuesday.
Nichols stayed at the scene awhile, then hitchhiked back to Lubbock
to "catch a flick, see what the town's made of and find
me a place to sleep."
The Floyd L. Reynolds farm, scene of West Texas' first rock festival,
was almost without incident Thursday. There were unconfirmed
reports of one youth who got high on drugs and fell into a fire.
At least two youths, called "freaks" by their cohorts,
collapsed on the grounds Thursday, possibly victims of "bad
trips."
Reporters watched as a youth about 20 fell to the ground, kicking
and yelling "No, No, No, No." He appeared unconscious
several minutes, before comrades whisked him away to a blanket
unfolded against a terrace.
Six Persons Jailed
Tom Richards, an assistant district attorney, said he watched
a similar incident. Richards aid a youth collapsed and another
took a syringe from him and ran.
Lubbock deputy Jim Neal said a 16-year old girl who went to the
festival with her brother was sent to Reese AFB Hospital shortly
after midnight Wednesday to undergo treatment for a drug injection.
The deputy said a physician diagnosed the drug as a diet pill
diluted with water.
Many of those at the site apparently decided to go to Mackenzie
State Park, to motels or with friends in Lubbock to spend the
night and traffic was bumper to bumper for a time on the Tahoka
highway, both going and coming.
At dusk, the Department of Public Safety reported making 21 routine
traffic arrests, apprehending five minors who were drinking and
one youth charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The ranks of officers policing the festival site swelled to 357
Thursday.
Maj. Charles W. Bell, DPS regional commander, said a state police
force of 323 men had been moved in from the four corners of Texas.
Bell said 160 uniformed patrolmen were policing the festival
grounds, 73 were on road and highway patrol, and that 60 plain
clothes officers, including Texas Rangers, undercover narcotics
agents and intelligence experts were on duty.
Asked if he had any estimates on how much it costs the state
to police such an event, Maj. Bell said the cost would be "monumental."
Lubbock police beefed up their forces to handle the influx into
the Hub City late Thursday.
A spot check of license plates at the festival Thursday indicated
many states represented, including New York, New Jersey, Nebraska,
Wisconsin, New Mexico, Colorado, Louisiana and others.
The close dragnet of law enforcement units laid around the festival
appeared to be protecting adjoining farm lands from vehicle ruts
and tramping feet.
[lacuna]…(makeshift tent-)town on the Reynolds farm spent
much of Thursday scrounging for firewood. The searches usually
yielded a scant piece of tree limb or a few cotton stalks.
They sought shelter inside flapping tents or blankets while a
handful of others waited around a stage amid the taping of hammers
as a crew fought high winds to put up light poles and sound equipment.
Huddled groups of teeth chattering festival attendants tried
to start fires to keep warm after they were told to "come
back tomorrow."
Where it was intended that psychedelic lights would be played
over the scene Thursday night, only the flickering lights of
small campfires pierced the night.
* * *
Festival Arrests
Varied, DPS Says
The Department of Public Safety reported 33 arrests and 44 traffic
violations connected with the rock music festival south of here
at a late hour Thursday, including four for possession of marijuana.
The total included arrests made from 5 p.m. Wednesday to 11 p.m.
Thursday.
No charges had been filed in the marijuana cases late Thursday,
but officers said the four suspects had been apprehended in a
pickup truck parked near the festival.
The arrests also included an assortment of misdemeanor charges,
including contributing to the delinquency of a minor, minors
in violation of Texas liquor laws, driving while intoxicated,
carrying a prohibited weapons and the 44 routine traffic violations
charges, authorities reported.
Lubbock police said they had reports of 71 runaways from at least
three dozen Texas towns. Officers here were asked to locate the
youths at the festival.
[end of
article]
[Saturday
a.m., March 28, 1970]
CONTINUES TODAY
Weather
Low Blow
Cools Off Festival
By JACK GOLDING
Avalanche Journal Staff
THE SOUTHWEST '70 rock festival finally got underway Friday,
but the trouble plagued show lost another round to a typical
West Texas pre-Easter weather blow.
Heavy rain, cold winds, and a tornado alert routed a crowd of
fans, estimated by the Department of Public Safety at 4,000.
The pre-Easter storm moving in from the north pushed through
the 160-acre site about 7:15 p.m., forcing bands to chuck their
guitars and the fans to seek shelter. A steady stream of cars
and some hitchhikers headed toward Lubbock as rains and strong
winds struck.
Dig In For Night
The crowd had braved dry, blustery winds and biting sand since
Thursday to hear once-famous Barry McGuire, Dallas' Bloodrock
and a couple of other local groups.
More hearty revelers dug in for the night in the soggy barley
field while others scurried elsewhere.
Phil Brummett, a lawyer for festival promoters, squelched a rumor
that the show had been cancelled at its spot 10 miles south of
here on the Floyd L. Reynolds farm and moved to Mackenzie State
Park in Lubbock.
Robert Gamble, a partner in Atlantis, Inc., booking agency for
the ill-fated show, said the performances will be resumed today,
weather permitting.
Festival "Success"
"Everything came together when the music started,"
said McGuire, 35, the only shorn entertainer who took the stage
Friday. McGuire held his audience almost spellbound with "Green,
Green," a hit he penned while he worked with the New Christy
Minstrels in 1962.
McGuire's partner was red-haired Eric Hurd, former lead guitarist
for the Mamas and Papas…
(remainder
of article not available).
[Easter
Sunday a.m., March 29, 1970]
42 Face Dope Counts
EASTER
SERVICES ON TAP
Curtain Goes
Down On Rock Music Festival
By TANNER LAINE
Avalanche Journal Staff
SUNDOWN today will mark the end of the trouble-plagued Southwest
'70 Festival south of Lubbock, a rock music experiment that has
taken just about everything the weather could throw at it.
Despite a numbing cold and wet grounds, Saturday's sunshine brought
out the peak attendance at the four-day event - 3,500 at 7:30
p.m. by Dept. of Public Safety count.
Arrests jumped sharply Saturday afternoon with the larger crowd
and the arrival of more ticket buyers, according to promoters.
Drug arrests, particularly for possession of marijuana, jumped
sharply in a roundup Saturday afternoon. Traffic violations and
other misdemeanor cases also increased, law enforcement officers
said.
The show will go on today, according to Minor Pounds, Lubbock
attorney for the festival promoters. Downbeat time, he said,
would be 2:00 p.m. "We will close out the show about 6 p.m."
Name bands on stage
See FESTIVAL
page 10
AND COSTLY
Festival
Due Finale Near Here Today
FROM PAGE ONE
this afternoon will include "Bangor Flying Circus,"
"Truth," and "The Byrds."
Ill fortune plaguing the festival also struck a blow to the Campus
Crusade for Christ team of 75 college and university students
who planned an Easter sunrise service this morning.
Waylon Ward, CCFC director for West Texas, said a scheduled speaker
for the sunrise service had to cancel out and so did a religious
musical group.
However, an Easter service will be held at 10 a.m. today at the
Campus Crusade for Christ tent, which is located in the camping
area near the Red Cross first aid station. The public is invited,
a CCFC spokesman said.
Then, in the afternoon, when the rock music rolls out, CCFC representatives
wil have short spots for speakers or religious music.
The damp, cold ground and icy winds began to take a toll late
Saturday afternoon. The Red Cross first aid station, which had
treated 220 persons since Thursday morning, reported a sharp
increase in colds and persons suffering influenza symptoms, and
ARC representative said.
Saturday night was the first after-dark performance at the festival.
The night crowd had dwindled from the peak late afternoon attendance
to an estimated 1,500 to 2,000.
* * *
(back to
front page)
Agents Put 'Heat'
on Marijuana
Majority of Suspects
From Out Of City
By MIKE COX
Avalanche Journal Staff
MASS ARRESTS Saturday for drug violations at the Southwest '70
rock festival site crammed Lubbock County Jail and kept law officers
working at an exhausting rate.
Late Saturday, 30 persons had been named in felony complaints
alleging possession or sale of marijuana and at least 12 more
persons were arrested for possession of "grass" but
had not been charged at a late hour. Officers said more were
expected.
Sets Records Here
Arrests for other offenses - drunkenness, minor in possession
of alcoholic beverages, and carrying prohibited weapons - were
made by the dozens.
According to officials, the arrests Saturday broke every arrest
record for Lubbock County.
Most felony arrests in one day.
Most drug violations in one day.
Most people in county jail in one day.
164 In Jail
Late Saturday night, according to Chief Deputy Sheriff Albert
Smith, 164 persons were in county jail and more were being booked.
The maximum capacity for the jail, he said, is 316.
"I've been here 14 years and this is the largest figure
I've ever seen," Smith said.
He said on an average day there are usually 110 persons in the
jail at one time.
Others "Picked Up"
Saturday's count of 164 prisoners, however, does not represent
the total number of persons booked during the day. Many were
in jail only long enough for a bondsman to get them out.
Smith said over 120 arrests of varying types, including the dope
crackdown, had been made between 8 a.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday
- all of those coming from the festival site or "the southern
portion of Lubbock County."
City police "paddy wagons" were being used to shuttle
those arrested from the site to the county jail. Sometimes as
many as 14 persons were brought in at a time.
Those From Lubbock
The District Attorney's office opened shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday
and filed a total of 32 complaints during the day, all but two
of them stemming from the festival. (The other two were for murder
with malice and driving while intoxicated, second offense.)
Tom Richards, an assistant district attorney, said no more complaints
would be filed until Monday, however. The district ...
See NEW RECORDS
page 10
DRUG ARRESTS
Officers
Set New Record At Festival
attorney's office disclosed names of those charged.
Officials said the Saturday arrests were the result of undercover
activities by state narcotics agents the first two days of the
festival.
Three Lubbock residents were named in the felony complaints Saturday,
all charged with possession of marijuana. They included: Deborah
Acree, 19, of 308 Gates; Steve Carpenter, 19,of 4815 18th Street
and Claire Cotter, 19, of 5222 17th Street.
Bond was set by Justice of the Peace Charles Smith at $1,000
each. Miss Cotter and Carpenter had posted bond late Saturday,
officials said.
Others named in felony complaints charging possession of marijuana
include:
[27 various names,
ages ranging from ages 17 to 22, from locations across the U.S
- from Portland, Maine to Riverside, California ]
[end
of article]
[Monday
a.m., March 30, 1970]
LIKE NORTHER,
MAN
Rocky
Music Fete Exits On Blue Note
By BOB BAKER
Avalanche Journal Staff
ABOUT 1,000 TIRED, windblown and discouraged young people scattered
for their cars, obsolete buses, and broken-down trucks shortly
after 5 p.m. Sunday as a steady rain moved in to put the lid
on the Southwest '70 rock festival.
The mass exodus southeast of Lubbock was about 45 minutes ahead
of schedule as weather once again took the upper hand over the
'hard rock' beat of festival performers. Sunday afternoon's climax
of the three-day festival was right in line with what had gone
before.
Chilly, windy weather which plagued the festival from its opening
hours continued to hover over the terraced barley field throughout
Sunday afternoon, and light rainfall that began about 5 p.m.
finished off the few hundred spectators that remained faithful
to the last.
Short Of Expectations
The Gathering, which promoters had hoped would draw as many as
100,000 spectators in three days, dwindled to about ,000 by mid-afternoon
Sunday, making the total festival headcount something in the
neighborhood of 13,000.
Festival promoters estimated the maximum Sunday afternoon crowd
at 2,000 persons, but Department of Public Safety officers placed
the figure at a more conservative 750. Newsmen counted a midafternoon
crowd of about 1,000.
Although most of the $5-per-day spectators were disappointed
to learn that top-name bands had cancelled appearances, music
from lesser-known bands began to blare...
See ROCK page
6
ATTENDANCE
SLIM
Rock Music
Festival's End Hastened By Rain
FROM PAGE ONE
from the stage about noon Sunday.
Huddled under blankets, Army field jackets and bedrolls, the
Easter Day spectators listened intently to the deafening roar
until the surrounding clouds began to close in.
By 6 p.m., all exits from the site were clogged as more than
300 Department of Public Safety officers attempted to control
the crowd and make last minute trips to Lubbock County Jail with
offenders of various types.
Slick roads led to several minor traffic mishaps, but the army
of law enforcement officers appeared to have the situation well
under control.
Sunday afternoon's crowd was surprisingly quiet and apathetic,
apparently suffering from the effects of freezing weather, blowing
dust and moisture which marred the festival throughout the weekend.
Blames "Attitude"
A poll of about 30 spectators revealed varied opinions as to
why the festival failed to draw the massive crowd anticipated
by promoters.
"It's not the weather," said a young man from Taos,
N.M. "it's the attitude of the people in West Texas that
held down this festival - a repressive attitude toward anything
young people want to do."
Another participant from New Orleans, who was holding his nine-month
old daughter in his arms, blamed the activities of law enforcement
personnel as the cause for slim crowds. "When word got out
that they were arresting everybody for minor traffic violations,
they stopped coming," he said. The young father said one
of his friends had been arrested for attempting to open a can
of beans with a Bowie knife.
The most rousing response from the Sunday afternoon crowd came
about 4:15 p.m. with the performing band cut loose with "Jesus
Is Just Alright." The band's emcee proclaimed that the tune
was being played in observance of Easter Sunday and in honor
of "The Byrds," one of the leading bands which cancelled
a Saturday appearance due to inclement weather. "The Byrds"
made the "rock spiritual" famous several months ago.
Lubbock Red Cross volunteers who manned a first aid station throughout
the weekend said Sunday afternoon more than 200 spectators had
been treated at the station, mostly for cold symptoms. Scores
of the spectators spent Friday and Saturday nights around campfires
as rain, snow flurries and dust made life miserable.
* * *
209 Jailed
624 Arrests
Linked to Music Fete
By JACK GOLDING
Avalanche Journal Staff
As West Texas' first rock music festival left town on the heels
of a spring storm Sunday, law officers put the heat on related
crime suspects.
By dusk, 58 persons had been charged with either possessing or
selling narcotics, mainly marijuana, since Saturday.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, which kept a count of
incidents from 5 p.m. Wednesday through 6 p.m. Sunday, recorded
a whopping total of 624 arrests related to the trouble-plagued
music show.
209 In Jail
Traffic arrests numbered 502,, the DPS said, and there were 124
arrests on the festival grounds, a 160-acre portion of the Floyd
L. Reynolds farm near Woodrow.
Albert Smith, Lubbock County's chief deputy, said 209 persons
were in county jail Sunday morning and called it "the largest
figure I've ever seen."
In felony complaints filed Sunday, 28 persons, including one
Lubbock resident and a few others from the South Plains, were
named in drug cases.
Accused Names
Charged with possession of marijuana were: [26 various names of persons
between the ages of 17 and 30, from locations across Texas and
the U.S.]
Only two were charged with selling narcotics. They were C.W.
Bullard, 18, Amarillo, charged with selling mescaline; and Danny
L. Howell, 17, Olton, charged with selling marijuana.
$1,000 Bonds Set
The complaints Sunday were filed before Justice of the Peace
Wayne LeCroy who set bonds at $1,000 each for those charged with
possession of marijuana and $2,500 each for the two charged with
selling narcotics.
-End of article (?)-
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