CONCERT DRUG NET SNARES 200 ARRESTS

Fan Dies At 3-Day Widespread Panic Event At Oak Mountain

James Clemmons sat Indian-style, hands cuffed and a cigarette dangling from
his mouth.

The 24-year-old St. Clair County Correctional Facility guard was charged
with possession of drug paraphernalia and arrested at the Widespread Panic
concerts this weekend at the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre.

"Can I call my warden?" Clemmons asked from the asphalt.

Operation Don't Panic, staged by the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control
Board and Pelham Police Department, involved thousands of dollars, hundreds
of worker hours and dozens of uniformed and plainclothes officers. It was
one of the biggest ABC operations in recent memory.

The ABC saturated the amphitheater parking lots with undercover agents to
crack down on drugs and underage drinking. Late Sunday authorities said
they had arrested approximately 200 people during the three-day concert,
and half of those arrests were felony drug cases. Most of the others
arrested were for misdemeanor drug charges and underage drinking. Their
prey ranged from Mountain Brook High School seniors to a U.S. Department of
Energy employee. Agents found fans carrying everything from cocaine to
OxyContin. Several overdosed. Police said one woman died Saturday night of
an apparent overdose after she took Ecstasy.

"This is a terrible price to pay," said ABC agent Mike Reese.

Widespread Panic is the new Grateful Dead: Their followers travel with the
band all over the country. The group sold out Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights to more than 30,000 fans. Police
believed many would be bringing drugs. Widespread has a reputation for this.

About 4:30 p.m. Friday, ABC Lt. Andy Hardy, who was running the operation,
set Don't Panic in motion. Teams of undercover agents, usually groups of
three or four men, would meander through the crowds. Agents in their 20s
headed out, backed by middle-aged police.

Behind the amphitheater's stage, Hardy had a mobile command center to
process offenders. A Department of Corrections bus served as a temporary jail.

Fans had alerts when undercovers were roaming. They crowed "6-Up" a line
from Charlie's Angels or yelled "narc." Many stared at the command center
hoping to memorize faces.

The first visitor, at 5 p.m. Friday: Jason Jones.

The 28-year-old Arkansan, charged with one misdemeanor count of marijuana
possession, sat on a wall at the command center across from an ABC agent
named Vance.

"It's just weed," Jones said.

"It's illegal in the state of Alabama," Vance responded.

"There's a lot worse stuff out there," Jones said. "Believe me."

Agents do have a sense of proportion. One agent, Flash, made a fan caught
with a single pot bud and a pipe toss the drugs into a creek. Then he let
him go.

Michael Mann, 21, a University of Alabama criminal justice major and
aspiring lawyer, wasn't so lucky. Flash arrested him about 10:30 p.m.

"Please sir, I beg you. I don't need to go to jail,' said Mann, who was
charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. 'You don't have it in
your heart to let me go?"

"One freebie a night," Flash said.

An hour later, authorities broke down the command center. Officers with the
Pelham and Hoover police departments were tired. The Shelby County
sheriff's deputies who ferried the prisoners to the jail were also ready to
go home.

Officers regroup:

On Saturday, the ABC agents and police regrouped about 3 p.m. There was no
rain so the lots filled quickly. Hardy was ready.

"It's time to hit it," he said.

A couple of hours later, thousands had streamed into the amphitheater
vicinity. Parts of Oak Mountain looked like a refugee camp, what with lost
dogs wandering and the smell of the Port-O-Johns. Revelers stumbled. One
girl could barely stand. Pot was thick in the air.

ABC agent Adam and his team fanned out about 8 p.m. He took a confiscated
ticket to trade for dope.

He spotted 21-year-old Daniel Roosa with a backpack. Roosa and three
undercover agents went behind a car. Adam took an Ecstasy pill from Roosa
and said he was with the state police.

Roosa was told to act as though he was old friends with Adam. "We're going
back to the command center," Adam said. "Be cool."

Roosa was until he started yelling "police" a few minutes later. Adam threw
him to the ground and cuffed him. He had Ecstasy, cocaine, $1,600 and a
scale in the pack, police said.

Roosa, from Kentucky, was charged with drug possession and distribution.
The command center was overflowing. Police were confiscating large
quantities of Ecstasy, OxyContin, liquid acid, ketamine and a variety of
prescription pills. Stoned young men and women stumbled around in flex
cuffs. At times the command center better resembled a day care.

Carol and Kenneth Hudson of Gadsden watched in disbelief.

Their 21-year-old son Anthony died on Christmas Day 2000 of an OxyContin
overdose. He had toured with Widespread Panic. This was the parents' first
show they wanted to see how their son had lived.

"We just had to see what was going on," Carol Hudson said.

"I can't believe this," her husband said. "It's unreal."

Jason Bartlett of Colorado, charged Friday with misdemeanor possession of
marijuana, said the scene is harmless. He spent 20 hours in jail before a
friend paid $100 to bail him out.

"What they did to me was totally uncool," Bartlett, 30, a self-proclaimed
ski bum, said Saturday. He said the authorities were ruining the concert.

"We don't want to lose our scene," he said. "We are trying not to lose our
vibe, but we are definitely scared."

The hordes outside the amphitheater dissipated as the band started playing.
Everybody was inside listening to the music, including 29-year-old Erica
Robins Young of Chattanooga, who had come with friends.

About 10 p.m. Young collapsed and began shaking, her skin ashen. People
danced around her. Her friends struggled to help her, trying to find
security guards. Finally she was dragged from the stands. Young got
cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

"It didn't look good," said Pelham Capt. E.A. Thomas Jr.

An hour later, Young was dead. Police said she apparently bought some
powdered Ecstasy for $20. Her dazed friends struggled to fill out police
reports. They didn't know Young was dead.

Operation Don't Panic ended about midnight. Pelham police worked the
concert alone Sunday. The drugs, and the arrests, kept coming.