Help my friend fight the power and spread peace!!!

[TooSicKs]

For those of you who missed my last psot, let me just try to catch you up on everything. Grandpa Woodstock is a friends of mine who after nthe 60's made it his mission on life to walk the earth like the dude from king fu, but insteadl of fighting injustice kicking ass, he fights nehativity by spreading a message of peace. He waks every year from woodstock, new york across the country to here every year. In march he was arrested for "disturbing the peace" by a dick police officer here in town, (BTW i know the cop personally also and he IS a dick, as are a few others, officer swan, officer gardiner, assholes both of em) his act of disturbance was honking a toy bicycle horn at a passing car and gesturing a peace sign with a smile. It seems some cops here in town have a thing against peace.

Grandpa told me, "you have the internet, right? can you get the word out about my story? I want people to know and i want to do whatever i can to spread my message of peace, man!"

So i ask all of you to help and take a few minutes to read the most recent article below. If you want to ask or tell me something to tell grandpa woodstock, i see him everyday and talk to him, and he'd love to get some feedback and just feel some positive energy in the midst of the injustice a few overzealous cops have caused him.








Here's a newspaper article about the most recent happenings



Officials review ownership of cave after Woodstock told to leave

By Ann Waters

Herald/Review

BISBEE -- Bisbee police officers twice entered a cave located on a mountain overlooking Bisbee where Grandpa Woodstock is living and ordered him to leave because he was trespassing on city property.

These visits, which took place Thursday and Sunday, have been followed by city officials questioning if the city owns the property and has the authority to ask Woodstock to leave.

Local resident Robert Rowe said he owns the property and allowed Woodstock to stay in the cave.

Police Chief Jim Elkins said he and Lt. Ed Holly visited the cave Tuesday afternoon. Using a map from the Cochise County Assessor's Office, Elkins said he and Holly were able to discern the cave was not on city property. Elkins said he has prior surveying experience from a previous job.

"It appears that the cave Woodstock is living in is not on city property, so as far as the police department is concerned, based on that information, this is a dead issue for the police," Elkins said.

The city still is looking for a survey map to help determine if the cave is located on city property. The map, which was made by Bisbee Engineering when a communications tower was erected nearby, had not been found as of Tuesday afternoon, City Manager Rob Yandow said.

Yandow said he was only told about the situation Monday afternoon after being contacted by Elkins. Yandow also said Elkins told him Monday he believed the property is owned by the city based on a survey that was done when the communications tower was put up.

"I believe Russ McConnell thinks that we do not own the property," Yandow said. "We will find out for sure who owns the property and if we find out that we (the city) don't own it, then that will be the end of our involvement in this."

McConnell, the city's public works director, was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Yandow said that if the city finds the cave is not on city property according to that survey map, the city cannot ask Woodstock to leave.

"I won't tolerate the harassment of anyone. The police in this city are not going to harass anybody, I won't allow it. We need to do business and treat everyone fairly and equitably," the city manager said.

Woodstock describes

visits to the caves

The officers' first visit to the cave occurred after stories in newspapers following Woodstock's appearance in Magistrate Court last week.

Woodstock, a colorful presence in Bisbee, walks the city streets during the day, giving the peace sign to all passers-by. "I pray for peace everyday," Woodstock said.

Police have received numerous complaints about Woodstock from several businesspeople on Tombstone Canyon. He is charged with disorderly conduct for honking a child's bicycle horn on Tombstone Canyon, thereby annoying some local business people.

Woodstock was given a continuance on April 1 to allow him time to find a lawyer to represent him. His next scheduled appearance in the Bisbee Magistrate Court is May 7.

Woodstock said Bisbee Police Sgt. Howard Gardner and Officer Keith Roberts climbed a mountain overlooking Bisbee and entered the cave at 10:30 p.m. Thursday.

During an interview Woodstock said the following occurred:

Lying in the cave asleep in a sleeping bag, he was awakened by Gardner shining a flashlight in his face.

Gardner told Woodstock he was trespassing on city property and gave him two days to leave.

Woodstock told Gardner the cave was on private property and he had permission to stay there.

Woodstock said Gardner looked "confused" when he was told that, but ordered him off the property anyway.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, Woodstock said the same two officers, accompanied by a third, off-duty officer, entered the cave. This time "the officer was nasty," according to Woodstock.

The officer took his handcuffs out and said, "'I told you you had two days to get out of here and you're still here. Now I'm going to take you to jail. You're trespassing."

Then he put his handcuffs away and asked Woodstock "how long is it going to take you to pack?" When Woodstock told him he had a place to go to Monday, Gardner allegedly said, "That's not what I asked you. I asked you how long it was going to take you to pack your ---- and take it down the hill."

Woodstock replied, "I suppose I could be out of here tomorrow."

According to Woodstock, Gardner then replied, "I suppose that if I come back here tomorrow and you're still here I could haul your --- to jail." Then he left.

Woodstock says he

had permission

Woodstock said he was surprised when the police told him it was city property, because Rowe gave him permission to live there. Woodstock was told the owner of the cave was happy he was living there because prior to moving in, other people had been living there and had partied and really messed the cave up.

"When I moved in, there was clothes, trash and kitchen stuff all over the place. I paid someone $40 to clean up their mess and haul it down the mountain," Woodstock said.

On Tuesday, Rowe said, "Yes, I own the cave he is living in. He (Woodstock) called me and told me he was living there. Before he moved in, the property was littered with a lot of trash from previous people who had lived there. He told me he cleaned up the mess.

"I consider there are two ways to give permission," Rowe added. "One I call passive permission. That is when you know someone is living there and don't tell them to leave. The other is to have someone sign a slip of paper. Woodstock has passive permission from me to live there."

Another cave and

possible health issue

There is another cave located about 50 feet from the cave Woodstock was living in on city property that had other people living in it over the weekend, Woodstock said.

Elkins admitted officers did not check the second cave until Monday night, although police incident reports on Tuesday do not show that to have happened.

Gardner gave Woodstock two days to vacate the property. When asked what is the usual time given to someone who is trespassing on city property to vacate, Elkins replied, "Immediately."

Yandow also said, based on the original police report, that "if the cave were found to have health issues, then the Health Department would be called and they would be asked to investigate."

In Gardner's first report on the Thursday visit to Woodstock's cave, he said the area was littered with "debris, belongings and fecal matter."

On a visit to the cave on Tuesday, there wasn't fecal matter or Woodstock's personal belongings in the cave. Inside the cave, carpeting was on the floor and some shelves on the side of the walls. There also were some pieces of art on the walls.

Police Sgt. Taron Maddux said Tuesday that Gardner was "probably acting on prior knowledge of the area based on the time the communications tower was put up. Gardner noticed from previous stories in the newspaper that Woodstock was living in a cave on the mountain and decided to check it out."

Elkins said there had been no citizen complaints regarding Woodstock living in the cave. He said he had no idea Gardner had made the nighttime visits to Woodstock and that Gardner had acted on his own.

"Officers are allowed to use their discretion in making investigations," the police chief said.

HERALD/REVIEW reporter Ann Waters can be reached at 432-2231.


Copyright 2003 Sierra Vista Herald.



Here's a pic of Grandpa Woodstock.

There are more articles around, and i'll try to post more.

PEACE!!!!!!!! Bongs Not Bombs!!!!!

[TooSicKs]

Here's an article from april 3 about his court date:

Grandpa Woodstock’s day in court
By Catharine Webb
The Bisbee Observer

“Grandpa Woodstock,” famous for standing on downtown street corners flinging peace signs and honking his “horn of peace,” had another day in court this week on charges of disorderly conduct/unreasonable noise.

But, once again, not much happened. A scheduled pretrial hearing was canceled — again — when Municipal Court Judge Adam Ambrose put it off until May 7 in hopes the 60-year-old local can find an attorney.

Ambrose said he is surprised that, given the public furor about the case, no attorney has stepped forward to handle the case “pro bono”.

“I’m sorry you haven’t been able to find anybody,” he said.

Woodstock, whose given name is Allyn Richardson, said he had spoken to one attorney who offered to take the case for $500, but not a penny less.

“But, I don’t have any money,” he said.

Richardson was cited Feb. 9 after repeated police warnings about obstructing sidewalks and making noise with his bicycle horn. The disorderly conduct-unreasonable noise charge stemmed from complaints lodged by some downtown merchants and library staff.

Since then, merchants have been divided about whether the robe-wearing, red nail-polished refugee from the 1960s is a Bisbee character or a Bisbee pest.

Tuesday, more than 20 supporters crammed into the small courtroom in city hall’s basement to watch the aborted proceedings.

Afterward, they tramped outside and voiced disapproval of a case they consider an abridgment of First Amendment rights, an example of city-sponsored police harassment, and yet another attempt to gentrify Old Bisbee by eliminating anyone “different.” One man commented that it was hypocritical to cite Richardson for blowing a bicycle horn when the tourist trolley clangs its bell all the way down Main Street.

Tuesday, as Richardson waited for the court hearing to begin, he stood on the sidewalk outside city hall flashing his ever-present peace sign to passing cars. But, a short time later, City Manager Robert Yandow walked outside to tell Grandpa Woodstock he needed to stand to either side of the sidewalk, but not in the middle. Richardson acquiesced to Yandow’s instructions and moved about one foot to the right.

[TooSicKs]

Thnaks for reading all this (if you have).

Today i'll try to get my camera out and take a few pics of grandpa with his latest personal statement:

He has a picture frame with a sling type support on it that he wears in front of him, so whenever you look at him from the front , you see his bust through a picture frame. A handwritten sign attached to the frame states "Ive been framed!!!!" haha, we all love grandpa here and it wouldn't be the same with out him.

At minimum send some good karma his way, and maybe a pro-bono attourney looking for a vacation in the mountians, and the chance to participate in some local history in the making.

PEace

[ReformMaryJaneLaws]

I'm sending ~good karma~ his way.

If I were you, I'd send his story to every lawyer in that area. You should be able to find email addresses for most of them. Someone would be willing to help him, I'm sure. I'm actually surprised that no one has jumped on it as of yet.

[TooSicKs]

I think nobody's jumped on it cause nobody but me really talks to people outside of town, bisbee is a cool place, 90% of the population are artists and hippies, and we got a real cool scene. There's soem "good ole boys" who sorta run things and some cops that are just punk bitches, and they need to be put in our place. Grandpa Woodstock is n the middle of a battle between "them dang long haired hippie tree huggin dopesmokin' granola crunchers uptown" (<--most of us here) and by the "geriatric redneck good ole boys in city hall"(<--a few people trying to run shit)

If he wins this thing it'll be locally known as the day when the system did battle with peace and peace won.

If there were more people like Granpa Woodstock the world will be a better place. Maybe if everyone hears about what he does, and how he has devoted his entire life to spreadig peace it'll at least plant a seed of thought.

[ReformMaryJaneLaws]

I'm going to copy what you've posted and email it to a friend of mine who works at one of the papers here that is geared towards the college scene. They always do stories like this and even though it isn't a local story for us, he may be able to at least get something in there about it.

[TooSicKs]

Hey, RJML, Hella thanks, Just make sure you let us know when it's gonna be out and where i can find it online if it goes print.

He's gotten a small blurb in USAtoday last month, and he's been in the papers here ever since his arrest. He's on the front page of both local papers this week and the whole town supports him.


Everybody, if you want to help out, send an email out to the major news networks with the articles n stuff, and if they get a shitload of 'em maybe he can get some national coverage or an interview or somewthing, ya know?

Come on everyone help us out down here, nobody should be arrested for spreading good karma, and especailly Grandpa Woodstock, some of the cops here are just harassing him now cause they hate "dirty hippies" and it's pretty shitty thing to happen in and in a pimp ass place like this, we got the power and ability to make a difference on the local level.

I'm gonna try and find some email addresses of the major news networks and write something up, when i do i'll post it and the email addresses here.

[TooSicKs]

I talked to Grandpa just now and he said that this morning the lawyer that originally offered $500 is willing to pro-bono, so he has a lawyer now. I took my camera and got a few pics

[TooSicKs]

This is his cart that he tows with him everywhere, and keeps all his stuff in. pretty sweet, check the license plate frame.

[TooSicKs]

The 'G ride,,

This is grandpa's cart, check out the license plate holder,,

Peace

[bud stuffer]

i like this guy

if i am ever out bisbee way i will have to track him down.

tell him i support him and his cause and wish him the best of luck regarding his case.

[MrSmokebigbuds]

iam sorry but i REALLY dont fell like reading all that now...any way u can summeris that?

[Zylark]

Originally posted by MrSmokebigbuds
iam sorry but i REALLY dont fell like reading all that now...any way u can summeris that?

hahahaha, who said pot makes you lazy!!!!

rotflmao

[Zylark]

sorry, nothing personal, it just caught my eye, and i started laughing hard.

[giggle, hrmmmffhmhmhmhahahaah]

oh, and free the hippie (forgot name, sorry). beeing different is *not* a crime. odd maybe, but that's what make it cool.