No more schwagstock

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/atoz/2010/11/camp_zoe_site_of_schwagstock_f.php

really F'n blows. There's was nothing quite like it. I had only been twice and as cliche as it sounds it seemed like a home away from home. Met some really cool cats there. Had to be one of the most beautiful places I've traveled to. Sucks it came to this.

To all the fellow schwager's, happy schwag!:2thumbsup:

 

From the article:

"The paperwork shows that the authorities hope to use a mechanism called asset forfeiture to take the property. Under a forfeiture, they would not need to convict the property's owners of a crime -- or even charge them with one. The burden of proof is much lower."

Now that is some bullshit there. Government taking someone's property without even charging them for a crime - much less convicting them? That is some bullshit there. That they can do that just shows how much we really do live in a "big brother" society under guise of a "free country".

 

Bullshit indeed man. I can admit somethings were a lil outta hand, but shit.

Maybe they just had too much too fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0v62YZE3rk&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]YouTube - The Schwag 11/22/07 Shakedown Street Pt1


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZU-OYCfBeA&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]YouTube - The Schwag 11/22/07 Shakedown Street Pt2

 

Here in Pennsylvania they shut down another festival park, citing drugs.... There are plenty of large scale commercial venues where the same things are taking place..

What its really saying is, take property from the private business owner .. and allow the commercial to get away with whatever. :devil:

There is certainly questionable behavior concerning alcohol at football game stadiums, where fans destroy property..

There is amazing lack of public awareness on certain issues when it comes to the overall outlook of a social whole. This society can not continue on this course.

The hippie has also allowed the Super-sub culture to posses them even Further more, dating far back as Altamont: At what cost ?.. Overpriced stadium seat, - to a TSA:love: turnstile to enter!

This is not the scene of your favorite band, How are you suppose to have a good time, when youre surrounded by armed guards?..


Well?

You cant say you didnt ask for it, they asked for the same things at Altamont, and while those may have been different times then. There are something that never change.
That is:
The Vibes a Music festival scene gives off, and the eventual unruly behavior of so called independent people it leads too..

 

I liked that comment.

 

A new venue is in the works for Underground Sound... I can't give anything away yet, but the venue is HELLA SWEET and not as far out as Zoe.
:afro:

 

never been, but i know what it's like for a fest that i love to be canceled.
THAT IS FUCKED UP


i think they didn't have too much too fast, i think the government just has dark eyes

 

That's unfortunate, how long before they starting hitting all the festivals hard? If they put popo under cover they can observe the open sales of all that shit pretty much at any music festival.

 

its easier to attack a people that will not fight back..

 

What about the Rainbow Farm? Who said hippies won't fight back?

 

Missouri has strict laws and are now notorious for shit like this. I wouldn't worry about festivals in other states. Undergound Sound was held in Illinois for 4 years without problem, 2 years in Missouri and then now this... Undergound Sound will live on, just not in Missouri. I would hope other festivals in Missouri, and especially at Zoe, have the smarts to move the festival elsewhere to surrounding states instead of cancelling it indefinitely. These festivals are bigger than they have ever been in this nation. During such depressing and hard times in this country, people need an outlet... somewhere to have fun and let loose. If all the festivals in the nation are attacked like this, people would be pretty upset and that might pose as a problem for the government.

 

Actually, the band is holding a benefit concert here within the next month in the Springfield, mo area to try and raise money to fight the land seizure in court..or potentially find a new stomping ground.... if i find out more info.. ill post... seems like a waste... never got to go.. but ive met the band .. good guys just trying to keep the spirit alive <3

 

What are you talking about?.

The organization ended with the burning down of all the structures on the property and the shooting deaths of both Tom Crosslin and Rolland Rohm..

2 stupid hippies with not enough firepower to shoot a rabbit. And they was going to take on the FBI.. please..

 

Point is they fought back.

Edited... and..

The bums will always lose. You hear me?

 

I was arrested in a somewhat similar, equally crooked 'safety checkpoint' in boone county, MO

FUCK missouri for real.

 

Details about the benefit... if you're anywhere in the area.. i suggest helping out... it'll be a grand time for all!!!


*CHRISTMAS NIGHT*
SAVE CAMP ZOE BENEFIT SHOW with THE SCHWAG


AGES 18+, Doors at 8 p.m.
Showtime : 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., 2 sets
Tickets : $15 in advance - $20 day of show
Venue phone # 314-588-0388

Proceeds will go to the Camp Zoe Trust Account to help pay for legal defense and general bills for Camp Zoe.

Tickets on sale now! Follow link below to purchase yours :
http://www.ticketmaster.com/The-Schwag-tickets/artist/833261

http://www.campzoe.com/
http://www.robertsorpheum.com/

 

I think it's great that something like this is happening. Wish I was in the area to support. And good luck with the cause!!!

 

but uh....viets is doing the legal shit pro bono. besides the court costs (which isn't going to be THAT much) what are legal defense??????

 

The seizure of the 352-acre Camp Zoe property in Southeast Missouri has so far garnered substantial attention both in America and internationally. That’s because this is no ordinary seizure; without (so far) being charged with a crime, the property owner, musician Jimmy Tebeau, is having his land taken from him in a process that strips him of his rights under both the US and Missouri constitutions.

The DEA has filed a claim for seizure and forfeiture of the property on the grounds that for years, concert-goers have engaged in consumption and transaction of illegal drugs. Under this theory, every major music festival in the country could be shut down by law enforcement whose motive is not to make Americans safer through the protection of their rights, but the profit that police can make by taking property from citizens.

From today’s St. Louis Riverfront Times:

Only later did Goebel learn that the raid was the culmination of a four-year-long investigation by the DEA and the Missouri State Highway Patrol into alleged drug use and sales by Camp Zoe concertgoers. No one — including Camp Zoe owner Jimmy Tebeau — has been charged with a crime, but the eastern Missouri U.S. Attorney’s Office is attempting to confiscate the 352-acre property using a controversial process called asset forfeiture.

It’s not just alarming to festival attendees like Goebel. The situation has other music festival organizers worried that they, too, might be held accountable for any illegal activity that happens to take place at their event.

“It has gotten our attention,” says Brian Cohen, the organizer of St. Louis’ LouFest. “All festivals take on some degree of liability. That’s why we hire security, medical personnel, etc. But the potential penalties in this case seem to put it in a different category. LouFest and Schwagstock are two very different animals, so it’s hard to know what impact this could have on us. But we’re definitely watching it.”

Dave Roland, an attorney with the for the non-profit advocacy group Freedom Center of Missouri, calls the Camp Zoe seizure “a shot across the bow” for individuals who host music festivals or popular events on private land.

“My home state is Tennessee,” Roland says. “What about Bonnaroo? The folks who own that property need to be very aware and very concerned. With any large gathering of young people, there’s probably going to be some illegal activity, and if that’s taking place, it appears that property could be subject to forfeiture.”

Yesterday’s RFT story on the Camp Zoe seizure implicates the motive for the seizure: keeping money flowing to law enforcement despite the existence of Missouri law directing forfeitures to education:

Eapen Thampy, a policy analyst for the Kansas City-based non-profit group Americans For Forfeiture Reform, obtained records of each Missouri county’s deposits into the state’s “School Building Revolving Fund” via a Sunshine request. Thampy then compared the records to state audits of the forfeiture activity. After crunching the numbers, he concludes that “90 percent of counties in Missouri are non-compliant” with the state law that requires forfeiture proceeds be used to fund public education.

“We’re talking $60 to $80 million that has been misappropriated,” he says. “‘State law enforcement has been able to dodge all requirements of the system and keep that money directly for their budgets.”

…

That last part is key. Missouri’s reforms only apply to forfeitures in the state system. But local law enforcement agencies know that they may still keep seizure profits for themselves if they use the federal system.

In federal cases, an agency such as the DEA takes a percentage of the money seized — usually 20 percent — and returns the remaining 80 percent to the local police, an exchange called “equitable sharing.” None of the money goes to the schools.

That $60-$80 million estimate is for the years 2008-2009, when the federal government reported disbursements of roughly $50 million to Missouri law enforcement agencies. This $50 million in disbursements from the Dept. of Justice Equitable Sharing fund represent roughly $60 million in seizures, since the seizing DOJ agency (usually DEA or FBI) keeps 20%.

It is unclear how much of this is reported to the state auditor, but we do know that the Missouri state auditor in 2008-2009 reported roughly $12.7 million in seizures, $5.7 million of which received circuit court rubberstamp approval to proceed in federal court.

And in 2008-2009, deposits to the Missouri School Building Revolving Fund (the statutory vessel where seizure funds are supposed to be deposited) totaled $86,000.

What this means is that most, if not all, of Missouri counties are non-compliant with the statutory requirement that forfeiture money be deposited in a school fund. They are also non-compliant with the requirement that all forfeitures that state agencies participate in, even if the forfeiture ends up in federal hands, must be reported. As per the Revised Statutes of Missouri, 513.605:

(Cool “Seizing agency”, the agency which is the primary employer of the officer or agent seizing the property, including any agency in which one or more of the employees acting on behalf of the seizing agency is employed by the state of Missouri or any political subdivision of this state;
(9) “Seizure”, the point at which any law enforcement officer or agent discovers and exercises any control over property that an officer or agent has reason to believe was used or intended for use in the course of, derived from, or realized through criminal activity. Seizure includes but is not limited to preventing anyone found in possession of the property from leaving the scene of the investigation while in possession of the property;

And RsMO 513.607:
(2) Seizure may be effected by a law enforcement officer authorized to enforce the criminal laws of this state prior to the filing of the petition and without a writ of seizure if the seizure is incident to a lawful arrest, search, or inspection and the officer has probable cause to believe the property is subject to forfeiture and will be lost or destroyed if not seized. Within four days of the date of seizure, such seizure shall be reported by said officer to the prosecuting attorney of the county in which the seizure is effected or the attorney general; and if in the opinion of the prosecuting attorney or attorney general forfeiture is warranted, the prosecuting attorney or attorney general shall, within ten days after receiving notice of seizure, file a petition for forfeiture. [...]
8. The prosecuting attorney or attorney general to whom the seizure is reported shall report annually by January thirty-first for the previous calendar year all seizures.

10. Intentional or knowing failure to comply with any reporting requirement contained in this section shall be a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to one thousand dollars.

And as I wrote in the Columbia Tribune this September, not only is this Missouri law, but these directives are enshrined in the Missouri Constitution and a couple Missouri Supreme Court decisions:
In 1990, the Odessa School District won a landmark victory in the Missouri Supreme Court with a verdict that held the Missouri Constitution directed money seized from criminals to Missouri’s schools. The victory was short-lived. Almost immediately, Jean Paul Bradshaw, the U.S. attorney for western Missouri, contacted Missouri’s law enforcement agencies with news that they could keep the money through a federal forfeiture provision managed by the Department of Justice.

The program, called Equitable Sharing, allows state and local law enforcement agencies to take property seized in the course of an investigation to the Department of Justice for liquidation rather than to state courts. Ultimately, the Department of Justice cuts the local law enforcement agency a check for up to 80 percent of the property’s value, dodging Missouri’s requirement that the money must go to education.

In 2001, Gov. Bob Holden signed a bill aimed at reforming this system. The bill contained a number of protections, including a mandate that all forfeitures to federal agencies receive Missouri circuit court approval and that all forfeitures be attached to a felony conviction.

Nine years after these reforms, a number of problems have re-emerged. First, the transfer of forfeitures to the federal government has continued unabated as circuit court judges often rubber-stamp law enforcement requests. Second, the requirement that circuit court approval be granted is unenforceable; often, property goes to federal law enforcement agents who can execute the forfeiture directly without judicial approval. The amount of money that ends up being misappropriated this way is substantial. In 2008 and 2009, state and federal law enforcement retained well more than $50 million in direct circumvention of Missouri law at the expense of Missouri schools.

What do the feds have to say about this?

“It’s another tool in the toolbox,” says Richard Callahan, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Missouri. “Forfeiting is a key part of the attempt to achieve justice.”

Mr. Callahan, you are a thief, operating under color of law, working for a government agency that has made theft part of its modus operandi. I urge all Americans to hold our elected officials accountable for the behavior of people like Mr. Callahan; if we do not, we have forfeited our liberty, and we have nothing left.



http://forfeiturereform.com/2010/12...wn-every-major-music-festival-in-the-country/