HEY, HEY, IT'S THE MONKEES...

Police Turn Concert Into Near-Riot


Dana Point, CA-- No one ever confused the Monkees music with the social consciousness of an artist like Bob Dylan, but at least two of the group were feeling their oats after the Doheny Days event in September. In a scathing letter to Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, singers Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork say Sheriffs deputies "formed a riot line and advanced on us" when they, their entourage and some fans were waiting for a ride back to their hotel room after the September 13th concert.

They also said deputies, who wanted the group to leave the park also roughed up a fan and several of the band's friends. "We believe this unnecessary, overzealous, irrational and utterly unprovoked show of force and the profane, arrogant and bullying demeanor of its command reflects badly upon the Orange County Sheriff's Department," the singers told (O.C. Sheriff Brad) Gates in a letter signed by both Dolenz and Tork.

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Ron Wilkerson, who only this week saw the letter, adamantly denied the accusations on Tuesday. "They are not an exaggeration, they are totally untrue," Wilkerson said. According to Wilkerson, the event's promoter, Rich Sherman, had agreed with the state park authorities to have the park cleared by the 10 PM curfew which applies to the general public as well. The Monkees, who headlined the show on Saturday, stopped playing at 9:40 PM.

"The deputies started clearing the park just before 10 PM," Wilkerson said. "The event site was still not cleared by 10 PM. Two females next to the main stage were asked to leave and refused. They were arrested for trespassing, given citations and released. No one was taken to jail." Wilkerson said there were a number of warnings given and some people were arrested, but that there had been no "riot line." He said when the group's manager was told to clear the park, a number of people were still backstage. David Fiumano said he offered to speed the group's leaving the park, but that deputies threatened to arrest him, the Monkees said in their letter to Gates.

"The manager agreed to clear the park, but then he ignored the deputies," Wilkerson said. "The group did not pose a threat, but its presence was in violation of permit restrictions. There was no profanity and no riot clubs used by the deputies." Wilkerson said when the deputies continued to be ignored, about 16 of them line up against a fence. "They waited five minutes and then began walking into the crowd asking people to leave," Wilkerson said. "They did not walk arm-in-arm, and had no riot gear. That's not a riot line, which has completely different connotations." Fiumano also said a disabled man on crutches, the father of the band's saxophonist, was brutally shoved aside as deputies hustled the crowd out of the park.

"There apparently was a disabled man who was allowed to stay until everyone else had left the area," Wilkerson said. "When the deputies came back he was escorted to a place outside the park to where his transportation was supposed to be arriving." Wilkerson said the department stands behind the actions of Deputies assigned to the Doheny Days event. The Monkees, popular icons from the late 1960s are known more for their zany antics on TV than for their music.

SOURCE: Article by Dennis Kaiser of the Dana Point News, published 30 October, 1997. This article is reprinted here because it is in the national interest of the American people.

(EDITOR'S COMMENT: I find it incredible that in this crime filled world, the uniformed police believe that it is their business to oversee public events in all venues. What more evidence could one have of a police state in operation than this police action in Doheny State Park. Rookie policeman start out with an annual salary of $42,000; with 16 policemen lined up, that represents over $630,000.00 worth of professional armed force being arrayed against concertgoers! And when confronted with the specifics, the Sheriff argues that the people were in violation of event permits! Well, obviously all those wild concert-goers are a bunch of lawbreakers and criminals! The police take it upon themselves to control our cities and our towns, and the recent surveillance of Mike Hernandez, and the current effort to destroy him, smells of the underhanded tactics of an average run-of-the-mill police state. Some day we are going to have to pull our heads out of the sand and demand real change, before it is too late).


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