Lets put Bonnaroo controversy to rest
The traffic stops involving Bonnaroo patrons have been a sticky situation to say the least. That was to be expected.
Emotions tend to brew when drug arrests are tossed out the window, or when personal rights could have been violated by law officers.
Regardless of your opinion on the situation – and the opinions vary greatly among reporters here at the Standard – we do agree on one thing. It’s time to put this Bonnaroo mess to rest. After analyzing the situation from virtually every standpoint, it appears everyone involved was trying to do their job.
The sheriff’s department was trying to keep drugs from rolling freely through this county and that’s what we expect from Sheriff Jackie Matheny and his deputies. Judge Larry Ross was trying to ensure that basic Constitutional rights were not violated and that’s what we expect from him.
Maybe mistakes were made along the line. Maybe they weren’t. But from what we can determine, everyone involved was acting in the best interests of Warren County and that’s what is important.
We are all anxious for tourists to flock to our county and spend their money here. We want them to patronize our grocery stores, our hotels, our restaurants. We don’t, however, want them bringing in drugs and that’s where the problem begins.
If talk about Bonnaroo must persist, it should be about next year’s festival since promoters have tentative plans for three more annual events. There needs to be talk between law enforcement officials. There needs to be open lines of communication established between arresting officers, the district attorney, and the judge about what’s acceptable. If we’re going to endure this whole messy situation exactly 11 months from now, we haven’t learned a thing.
Regardless of your stance on the ultimate Bonnaroo outcome, we should applaud our law enforcement officials for trying their best to keep our highways safe and drug free. We should applaud our judge for trying to protect Constitutional rights.
When it comes to Bonnaroo, about the only statement where we’re going to have a consensus is that we have to agree to disagree on this one.