Poge Four

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Sundov, Seotember 16, 1973

Page Four THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Sundov Sentemher 1 6 1973

I

Freaks

x

s

By MARTIN PORTER
He had hitched all the way
from Kalamazoo just for the
weekend. The Ann Arbor Blues
and Jazz Festival was the place
to be for the thousands of music
festival j u n k i e s and trueblue
Blues afficiandoes from all over
the country.
There was a full,page ad in
Rolling Stone that promised "a
real good time." Word had it
that Ann Arbor was hassle-free.
. So Hal crossed the state, with
no money and no place to stay.
He assumed that everything
would be cool. He would some-
how hustle his way into the con-
cert. Nobody would hassle some
harmless, homeless young waif.
Then he got to Ann Arbor and

found that things had changed.
"I was only sparechanging for
ticket money, I was hardly eat-
ing at all . . . then I started to
get hassled by the cops. They
shook me down at least three
times on "routine checks" .-.
all those things- that I heard
about Ann Arbor were bullshit."
Hal could have been your run
of the mill paranoid freak, who
hallucinates a nark under every
rock, a boogie man in every
closet. But he was not alone.
People who had smoked dope
openly in the streets were be-
ginning to reconsider such flag-
rantly illegal gestures. On July
9th the much heralded five dollar
pot fine was erased from reality.
Then five people were busted on

~gm
the Diag during the so-called
Marijuana Melee.
Word was hitting the streets
that things were no longer cool.
The Ann Arbor Sun blamed the
redneck Republicans for instill-
ing paranoia into the hearts and
minds of the young innocents on
the streets.
It was announced that there
would be between 15 and 25 po-
lice officers on duty at Otis
Spann Memorial Field. No one
knew exactly how many plain-
clothesman would be circulating
among the crowd. And the amaz-
ing thing was that for the first
time in a few years people ac-
tually cared.
The office of Ann Arbor Police
Chief Walter Krasny is clean and
rectilinear. An old picture of the
chief himself in his uniform rests
on a filing cabinet behind his
desk.
A conservative print shirt and
sparkling white shoes seemed

ari uana

blues

at

festival


strangely offset by a crusty leath-
er holster and snubnose strap-
ped to his side, Krasny has been
in Ann Arbor for along time and
he speaks with authority:
"I think there is a definite
effort on the part of the city
council to give the city of Ann
Arbor more dignified national
image."
The statement struck an un-
usual note. Questions needed to
be answered. What was wrong
with Ann Arbor's national im-
age? Doesn't this change ignore
the, desires of a large portion of
Ann Arbor's population? How
will this change alter the police's
role andl actions?
Krasny only answered the last
question.
"I have no choice but to be
tougher with enforcing the law.
We take our orders from the
city council."
By the festival's end a total of
16 drug-related arrests had been
made. Of these, two had been

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booked. They were found divying
up two pounds of marijuana out-
side the festival stockade. The
remainder of the busts would be
referred to the prosecuting at-
torney pending an analysis of
the confiscated drugs. Krasny
would later give credit for the
control of drug sales at the con-
cert to the Psychedelic Rangers
who discouraged drug pushing of
all kinds, especially that of hard
drugs.
It was difficult to get hold of
Mayor Stephenson for an inter-
view. A hectic life in his private
law firm, and his job as mayor
of Ann Arbor seems to allow him
little time for the press.
The questions were harried
and the answers were curt. He
seemed eager to get certain
things straight.
"There was a certain degree
of symbolism in the gesture (the
repeal of the five dollar pot law)
I had to take into account
the desires of the part of the
community that felt the five
dollar law was hurting the town's
image. Besides the law was un-
constitutional anyway. I hope
since people have been made
aware of this fact that they
aren't deluded by some inoper-
ative law."
And what about allegations
t h a t Stephenson's government
serves only the lawyers and
bankers and ignores the wishes
of the city's youth community?
"I try to go down the center
whenever possible . . . I found
this is the best for all parties
concerned. I want people to
think of Ann Arbor as a friendly
town! I want parents to have
no qualms about sending their
kids to school here.
"There are no figures about
this but I believe that the town's
national image had a definite
negative economic effect for Ann
Arbor residents."
Time was running out. Was he
directing the police department
to make life hard on dope
smokers?
"Of course not . . . nothing is

Reflections of the festival: dope, dust, crowds and the
flues.

different than it was before I
came into office."
The mayor excuses himself
and rushes out to the waiting
room where he greets a seated
man who smiles and says, "How
ya doing governor."
** *
The scene was dark and quiet.
There must have been a lull in
the music. A group of people
walked briskly through a desert-
ed parking lot. The poorly lit
figure of a short haired man sat
on the trunk of a car.
"Want some ludes?" he chirp-

ed as the group passed by. He
was ignored. Finally someone
stopped.
"Want sdme ludes?" he re-
peated.
"How much?"
"75 cents."
The customer paused and then
blurted, "How do I know that
you aren't a cop?"
"You don't . . . How about if
I give you my word," he joked.
"It's not that I am paranoid,"
the potential customer explained.
"but Ann Arbor isn't the same
as it used to be."

GENEVA (UPI) - Three bird
species are just about to follow
the roc into extinction, accord-
ing to the World Wildlife Fund.
They are the Mauritius Kestrel,
the Japanese Crested Ibis and
the Puerto Rican Parrot. The
Fund said the encroachment of
modern life is mainly responsible
for declining numbers - there
are a maximum of only 10 of the
kestrels left and a dozen at most
of the two other species. Nesting
sites have disappeared, the Fund
said, because ^f a reduction in
forest areas.
FOREST
FIRES BURN
MORE
THAN
TREES

The ancient boogeyman from New
Orleans ... Roosevelt Sykes loosens
up.

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THOMAS BENTLEY-SGC Legal Advocate
THOMAS BURNS-Director of U-M Financial Aid
SANDY GRECH-SGC Vice President
ALLAN SMITH-U-M Vice President for
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This show is a must for the entire
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Each member of the panel will explain- their involvement in the
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