The Charlotte News from Charlotte, North Carolina • 6

THE CHARLOTTE NEWS Thur Aug 15 1974 You're Going To Have A Certain Amount Of Roughnecks' The people know they'll lose their places if they leave So they relieve themselves where they are and then wallow in it The stench is unbearable" Aaron says he wants to vomit "One guy is running nude through the infield It's like a scene from a Frankenstein movie" Aaron is asked: How should a parent react if his teenager wants to go to a rock concert? "I'd find out what kind of concert it's going to be If it's nationally advertised like this one was in Rolling Stone Magazine and in big cities like Chicago well that could be bad news The local concerts don't have these kinds of problems The crowds are small enough so they can be controlled "But you can't control 200000 people unless you've got an army or machine guns "Tiiere was no organization not adequate sanitation and security for 200000 people It's incredible nobody was killed" RICHARD HOWARD speed Chuck and the dog are behind the permanent fence in front of the six-foot-high temporary fence Aaron is directly south within hailing distance Both are moonlighting for the security dog firm that has been hired by the promoters of the concert Guards are spaced cbout every 15 yards A Can Is Thrown The first hint of trouble Chuck says is a beer can ihrown from out of the crowd ft narrowly misses the dog but 'alls silently on the rain-sof-lened turf "They seemed jovial to each ther but hostile as hell toward us" Chuck is saying ''One guy came up and started talking softly at first He said: 'Now why in the world do you have such a mean Then be screwed up his face and yelled: 'You'd better not be here when we come back or we'll kill the dog and you too' Presently word comes down Jic line of security guards: Watch those guys over there the blue tent They've got a ifle" The crowd walks swiftly kering throwing beer cans I'i'vks bottles One man with ')ng blond hair motions Chuck the fence spits on him tells nim: "I have a M-l in my car in id I'm coming back after ark to get you" Chuck is stunned Forty-eight urs later he will say: "I nuldn't believe it was really inpcning These People are peers my age grnup But never seen people like They didn't act like or even like animals No 'imuls ever were that uncivi-c(l" One man with long reddish i'i nude runs screaming dung the road vaults atop a car jumps off slides down a muddy creek bank and out sight Chuck would estimate the JOHN ALLEN Open House executive director: 'It was an absolute madhouse' sion and waits as Aaron puts the collar back on The rock barrage continues Greater sections -of the fence fall perhaps 200 yards of it But some ignore the openings and instead climb the fence roll across the top of the barbed wire and fall stomachs bleeding on the ground beyond Then they stand attack the second fence The race track is covered with broken glass so thoroughly covered Aaron would say that it would be impossible to walk without stepping on glass Some rock fans shirtless and already bleeding dive head-first over the retaining wall and slide through the glass on their stomachs down the 60-foot wide track that is banked 24 degrees to alio race cars to run at 160 miles an hour 'Cut To Ribbons' "They were cut to ribbons I don't know why some of them didn't bleed to death Girls too Y'oung pretty girls They didn't seem to care" It is almost as if Aaron is saying they are insensitive to pain so hopped up on drugs that they cannot feel the abuse their bodies are taking "One guy stood there grinning at the top of the hill and dared the guards to turn a dog loose on him A guard did and the Doberman hit this guy in the thighs shredding his trousers digging into his flesh Blood was running down both legs But the guy just stood there grinning "Finally a guard walked up and struck him across the head with his stick broke the stick The guy just shook his head turned and walked away" Another man appears Aaron says with a two-foot-long knife "A dog saw that knife and just went nuts He charged the guy got him by the calf of the leg and took out a big bite like half of the guy's calf He ran off screaming He was bleeding so badly I don't know how he survived" A guard's face is split with a beer can Another guard retaliates against the nearest rock fan grabs him begins beating and in Aaron's words "beating beating beating I had to pull him off By now the guards are really getting brutal They've had it People are being beaten like I've- never seen" 'No Questions' Another security man apparently a supervisor arrives and Aaron says tells them to stop the gate crashing at all costs that he wants to see nobody entering without a ticket unless he "has a knot on his head or a broken neck I don't know you and you don't know me So do whatever you have to do no questions will be asked" The battle continues into daylight At one point Aaron says guards announce to the crowd: "Okay you win It's a free concert Come on in" But they close off the opening after 30 or 40 have entered and begin swinging their sticks knocking the young people to the ground At mid-morning 'both Chuck and Aaron say they're sickened by it all walk from the field of battle willing they say to forfeit their $75 just to get away As they move toward the stands they see a helicopter "God they've called in the Over Downed Fence To Enter Concert Area TOM way president who leased the property to the promoters evaluated the concert two days after it ended: "With 200000 people you're going to have a certain amount of roughnecks But I've never dealt with this type person before I never knew they existed "We could nave handled maybe 90000 or 100000 But this crowd was impossible Never again will there be another rock concert at the speedway as long as I'm president I apologize to everybody who was inconvenienced by it" Howard said damage to speedway fences and other facilities would run between $30-000 and $50000 and said this would be covered by a cash bond posted by the promoters "Wc made money but th's not enough money in the world for us ever to lease out our property again for a rock concert Some things are eyond money and this is one of those things" Added Howard: "What really worries me is that these people are our future the people who arc going to replace us I wonder what's going to happen to the country when they take over You got to worry about that "They're angry confused people who are looking for something I don't know what it and I don't think they do either "They think Jesus is coming tomorrow so they want to have a good time today I don't think that's quite what the Bible tells us" THE EXECUTIVE director of Open House Inc John Allen estimated that 60 per 'cent of the crowd was "high on drugs or liquor It really was a wild scene These people working for us here are experienced in the drug culture But they were amazed utterly shocked by what they saw Can you imagine: More people high than not high? It blows your mind" Allen said his group treated about 185 persons with drug problems and "45 or 50 of them were in life-threatening situations You could safely say that some of them probably would have died had they not received emergency treatment on the spot Some were in convul sions really sick "We were pumping stomachs and the medical people were injecting some of them with antagonists (special drugs) to nullify the effects of the narcotics It was an absolute madhouse A catastrophe" TED HOLLAND is a surgical technician at Charlotte Memorial Hospital who helped organ- Rock Fans Step thing If they'd come with their guns somebody might have been killed" Now it's approaching dusk Molotov cocktails are thrown "It's a miracle they didn't explode But the ground was so soft that the bottles didn't break They just started a few small fires" A guard near Chuck is hit in the face with a can that is filled Chuck says with urine "Later on the cans would be filled with worse stuff The guy was hit right between the eyes It looked like his head was caved in He went down like he'd been shot without saying a word Some people came and carried him away" A Dog Is Hit By now it's 9:30 Friday evening Dark except for speedway perimeter lights The crowd is howling at the fence One man takes out wire cutters and begins snipping through the gate while those around him fire broken glass at the guards Chuck's dog is hit in the leg by a flat piece of slate The dog goes down bleeding but without a whimper Now Chuck says "thousands are jammed against the fence pulling on it It's down and they're coming through screaming waving log chains iron posts sticks clubs It's organized like an army They even appear to have their own medical crew A couple of guys with medical kits are out there tending the injured "You can't find a tighter knit group of people than these If they've got nothing else at least they've got unity" Six hundred rock fans make it through the breach in the fence before more security guards arrive and seal it off "By now the guards are getting mad They start throwing rocks and broken glass back at the crowd It's only a matter of time now" Chuck is thinking "God what have I gotten myself into?" NOW IT'S 12:30 Saturday morning The crowd in Aaron's words is bigger and nastier The point of attack now is farther south below the high bank behind the first and second turns on the race track There is a gap maybe 20 yards long in the section of the fence immediately in front of Aaron who's on a hill with his dog 20 feet above the fence "You can see them out there walking around gathering rocks and bricks" Now they're coming They're through the fence running the 30 yards to the bank and climb- ing through thorny bushes and ivy toward the race track Aaron's Doberman strains on the leash which is held in Aaron's left hand "They'd come up the hill and we'd run them back with the dogs It was absolute chaos The dogs were excited They bit a lot of the wrong people "But a dog never bites the person holding the leash You guide him toward the person you want him to get Then you say the word that's his signal to attack "Hit!" The Doberman vaults for ward as If spring-driven pulling at Aaron's left shoulder socket Some turn and run Others stand and try to fight "The ones who ran didn't get hurt Those who stayed were bitten" Aaron's other command to the dog is "Stop!" At that the Doberman halts the attack rests near Aaron As the night wears on it is: "Hit! Stop! Hit! Stop!" "You can't tell me a dog en- STAN KAPLAN promoter joys this He doesn't It's work He's just doing what he's trained to do And I'm certainly not enjoying it I'm trying to keep them from killing me" Aaron would describe a Do-berman's bite not as a tear or rip "He doesn't bite and then shake his head He just gets a good hunk of flesh and then he turns loose" The screams of pain are mingled with screams of anger "Kill those goddamn dogs!" A Leather Collar Aaron's Doberman is wearing a leather collar "You don't want a dog in this situation with a choke collar Somebody might grab it and choke the dog to death" The leather collar is too loose and twice the dog slips out of it But he Is so expertly trained that when the tension from the leash vanishes he immediately lies down amid all the confu ize medical facilities and treatment as he has for other Kaleidoscope-sponsored concerts in past years His group he said included 60 persons among them nurses and four physicians all of whom were paid by Kaleidoscope They worked out of a permanent field hospital at tjie speedway and out of the wheel alignment building which they shared with the Open House staff "We treated from 300 to 400 people" Holland said "for every kind of medical problem you could name The most common was lacerations because many of the kids were barefooted and broken glass was all over the place "We had some dog bite cases too although not as many as I would have imagined considcring the trouble at the fence "There was a lot of suturing done One guy came in Friday night during the fence trouble with a five-inch laceration on his head "The drug problem was considerable It was not so much because of the amount of people doing drugs but because of the quality of the drugs they were taking Some bastard out there sold to those kids what amounted to no more than poison It was laced with strychnine "We made announcements on the public-address system warning the kids But it didn't seem to help too much" ONE OF THE show's promoters Stan Kaplan owner of radio station WAYS said: "It was a fantastic show I never heard one person who didn't say it was the most fantastic event ever held well organized Terrific The only problem was: We didn't make any money "Despite all the fears of Cabarrus County authorities neither hospital nor jail was filled with people Nor was there a crime wave I understand only 105 people were treated in hospitals in Cabarrus County and in Charlotte and only five of them were actually hospitalized Two for drug overdoses two for auto injuries and one woman for a miscarriage "It was a physical impossibility that the tremendous use of drugs alleged actually took place Only two people in all that crowd were hospitalized for drug overdose I think the truth is that a helluva lot ot drugs were offered for sale but there weren't many buyers "I think there was almost a total absence of violence except for that business at the fence "We made only a little money My partners and I made a conscious decision to open the gates Saturday morn ing We were unwilling to defend those gates at the risk of injury or possible loss of human life I don't regret our decision "But I'll never sponsor another outdoor concert unless it's in a stadium with brick walls where proper security is possible "Only a few people caused what trouble we had For 99 per cent of the kids there it was a magnificent musical experience Hundreds have phoned me and told me that thanked me for the concert They didn't do a damned thing wrong I'm glad they were able to have this kind of experience" A SPOKESMAN for Cabarrus Memorial Hospital in Concord said 142 persons from the concert crowd had been treated and that six had been admitted to the hospital One person was treated for a dog bite and "a couple" for drug overdose the spokesman said Charlotte Memorial Hospital National Guard" Chuck says But it is a helicopter bringing in the entertainers CHUCK AND AARON walk through the thousands lying in the mud around the stage where the rock bands will play "It was like walking through a can of worms" Chuck would say "Imagine four football fields with people lying head to toe shoulder to shoulder wallowing in the mud Some are passed out The portable bathrooms are at the far end of the speedway ige of the marchers from 15 to including a large number of -iris some of whom are without clothes Pay No Attention "People just didn't pay any attention You could be nude nobody even would look at ou A girl drove up topless in i Volkswagen van started selling beer her breasts hanging down over the side of the van Nobody seemed to notice "They kept saying: 'You may think we're going to pay $15 to get into this goddamn place but we're not We'll break the gates down first and then kill you' "It was as if they felt they had a right to get in free that was unfair to ask them to pay" Chuck would describe his -'rowing fear as "something hat aimost paralyzed me I ried to stand there and look cough but I'm afraid I wasn't wry convincing Then they tarted shooting rockets and throwing cherry bombs at us and the dogs The dogs the untrained ones just went hananas "They kept trying to hide to set away But they couldn't There was no place to go We're between these two fences We've got to stay there My poor dog is shivering with car I know how he feels I'm shivering too" Some of the young people op seem friendly ask to pet he cowering Doberman One rl blonde 16 and from Michigan tells Chuck: "This is my first concert and it'll be my I've been here since Tuesday 1 didn't know it'd be like this" A boy about 18 tells Chuck that's all he does these days travel to rock concerts across the country "I just got up from New Mexico" Chuck asks how he finances his travels The boy answers: "Oh I go home every once in a while and my old man gives me a handful of money and sends me on my way again" Off to Chuck's left a man about 25 has a needle and jabs his forearm five times before hitting a vein 'Get Your Cocaine' A brown Ford van pulls up near the fence Chuck watches as four men alight carrying boxes "I couldn't believe it It was like they were hawking beer and hotdogs at a- ball game They were walking up and down the fence yelling: 'Get your marijuana and cocaine here Get your marijuana and cocaine here' "They were selling big bags of marijuana for $5 each And 'hey had plenty of takers If I had all the money they made I don't think I'd ever have to work again and maybe my son wouldn't either" A state highway patrolman in a marked car drives slowly along the road stops near Chuck's section of the fence "They started beating on the car calling him a pig making pig-like oinks throwing bottles calling him a well you can imagine what He sat there a minute then drove away In all the time we were there he's the only law-enforcement man I saw "Bnt I guess that's a good EDWARD HOFFMAN counselor treated in the emergency room 10 to 15 persons for drug overdose a spokesman said another 10 to 15 for lacerations of the legs or feet None was admitted to the hospital he said although several of the drug cases remained in the emergency area overnight The only persons admitted were four involved in auto accidents going to or from the concert he said HOW DID IT all look to Cabarrus County law-enforcement officers? Capt Lewis Crook a deputy who headed Sheriff Roberts' stall at the specd-wav said: "We didn't ever just say 'to heck with it' We went where we could1 and made arrests where we could I told them (the deputies) to be cautious and it just got to the point they couldn't get around because of the congestion" Crook said his men didn't work around the gates because "they had security guards and told us wc wouldn't bo needed there" A district court clerk in Cabarrus County estimated that about 100 warrants were signed over the weekend against persons at the concert WHAT CAUSES young people to behave in a group in a way that they wouldn't behave individually? Here's Edward Hoffman a Charlotte psychotherapeutic counselor: "The whole psychedelic movement is almost like a religious quest a search It provides kids with the things religion traditionally has offered: Identity a sense of belonging They have hunger for community which simply is not provided in our present living situation By doing what others are doing they gain group acceptance satisfy their hunger for community "In many cases they have no feeling of 'belonging to a family at home no sense of the values their parents may hold "The parents can't understand this They'll say: 'We gave the kid everything' Well they did But the message the kid gets is: 'Everything comes for nothing' He feels it belongs to him by right That's why he's angered at the prospect of buying a $15 ticket "It's alniost as if he's a small child crying: 'I want hat I want and I want it right now' "I think a lot of these kids have a problem with sheer boredom They ask: 'What is there worth Their parents are busy but they don't seem to be particularly turned on by life "The kids know no other way to get turned on so they find a neat way to do it with drugs That also allows them to escape from the pain they may feel The pain of living" Is there anything a parent can do? "Let ycur child know how much you hive him Not just with words but with actions" Richard Howard Speedway President Supervises Cleanup Surveys Damage After Rock Concert.