Drug arrests down, but thefts up at Bonnaroo

Drug arrests at the fifth annual Bonnaroo music festival generally involved smaller quantities than in previous years while thievery was up ?quite a bit more,? the sheriff said.

“They would go through tents and RVs and steal money out of purses,” Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves said Monday. “It seemed to be more organized.”

Graves described the most serious incident of the four-day festival at a 700-acre farm as the Friday night death of Joshua Overall, 21, of Hamilton, Ohio. Officials said Overall stepped onto Interstate 24 and was struck by a bus carrying bluegrass artist Ricky Skaggs.

“We have no idea why he would jump the fence and try to cross the interstate,” Graves said.

The Bonnaroo festival closed Sunday with former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh and Friends, blues guitarist Bonnie Raitt and New York rockers Sonic Youth.

Graves said about half the 80,000 music fans endured a Sunday night rain and waited until Monday to leave, “which is probably a good thing if they are intoxicated.”

He said 73 adults and three juveniles had been arrested as of Monday morning, about the same number as last year.

“Drugs and thefts have been our biggest problem this year,” Graves said. “You always have several assaults. One of them tried to pull one of our mounted patrol officers off his horse.”

Graves said officers in his department and for other law enforcement agencies policing the festival wrote hundreds of citations for misdemeanor offenses, such as illegal drug use. There were about 300 citations in 2005.

“We found a little more drugs this year, but less quantity it seemed,” Graves said. “Last year it wasn’t uncommon to find 10 or 20 pounds of marijuana. This year they are finding quarter ounces and smaller amounts. I think the word has gotten around. They are bringing what they use.”

Coffee County Mayor Ray Johnson said festival organizers would be paying the county about $270,000, a shared portion of each admission ticket sold. He said they also in the past have paid the sheriff’s department overtime and other related costs.

Johnson said the festival is an inconvenience for some of the county?s 51,000 residents but the shared revenue goes to the county general fund and helps “hold down the property tax.”

Graves said he was glad the festival was over.

“I don’t know what the money impact is but I hope it is a great deal,” Graves said. “Everybody is worn out and tired.”