SlipLive

Here is a summary of what has taken place and what could potentially happen to me:

On July 1st at approximately 10:40 pm I was detained by local police at the High Sierra Mountain Music Festival in Quincy, CA, because they observed someone handing me a "suspicious looking aluminum packet" which turned out to be a small marijuana brownie. At police headquarters I was searched against my consent and police located several more brownies in my possession. It should be noted that I treated the arresting officers with the utmost respect, even though I refused to talk to them since I did not want to incriminate myself.
The brownies were confiscated along with several other miscellaneous personal belongings, including all my personal cash (it was claimed that this cash was "revenues"). I was arrested, thrown in jail, and bail was set at $15,000.00. Not being able to post this abnormally high bail myself, and assuming that I would soon be arraigned and released on my own recognizance, I remained in jail for four days until Wednesday the 5th. On that date I was brought to court wearing a striped felony outfit, my feet and wrists shackled to each other. In court I was informed that the District Attorney is seeking a two year state prison term, regardless of the fact that I have a clean record and have never before been involved with the law. He is citing the following two felony charges:

- HS 11360. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section or as authorized by law, every person who transports, imports into this state, sells, furnishes, administers, or gives away, or offers to transport, import into this state, sell, furnish, administer, or give away, or attempts to import into this state or transport any marijuana shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a period of two, three or four years.
- HS 11359. Every person who possesses for sale any marijuana, except as otherwise provided by law, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison.

My court-appointed attorney assured me that he could get this sentence reduced to a mere year. He was sure that there was no way that I would be set free until my trial several weeks from then. I told him I would consult the services of someone else.
Having now recognized the severity of problem I was facing, I immediately contacted my family from jail following my arraignment. My father supplied the bail money and my sister located a private NORML attorney who specializes in this area of the law, Eric Alan Berg. I was released on $15,000.00 bail after having spent five days in jail on the night of Thursday, July 6th.
The full severity of the problem I am facing was not revealed to me until the afternoon of Friday, July 7th, when I was informed by Attorney Berg that, since I am not a US citizen (I'm German, but have lived here for over a decade), I would certainly face deportation from the United States if found guilty of any felony charges. After serving my sentence in state prison, I would be transferred to federal prison where I would remain for an additional two years before being deported. I would never in my life be able to return to the US to visit my beloved family, girlfriend, and the numerous friends and acquaintances I have come to love over the last ten years.
If found guilty, I will lose everything: My freedom, family, friends, and the right to remain in the country I have been calling my home for over ten years. My aspirations of starting a professional mechanical engineering career with the degree I recently received from Northeastern University would obviously also be ruined. The five year investment of energy, effort, and money that it took to graduate near the top of my class would be rendered completely useless. All because of the alleged sale of a marijuana brownie in a state that has already widely legalized marijuana.


Allow me to draw a few quick preliminary conclusions: I want to proliferate the points I am making throughout the press and various social channels. This is only possible with the help of friends. We all must act now.

Without the help of my family and friends I would still be in jail without any way out. The system would have completely swallowed me, much like it has swallowed countless millions in the past, many of whom are completely innocent but are unable to fight because of insufficient funds. After all, not everyone has family that is willing to dish out a quick 30 grand for bail and legal expenses with only a day's notice; a sad confirmation that you are absolutely NOONE in the eyes of our system unless you have money.

Now why do they lock people up? Obviously I'm a completely harmless person and there is therefore absolutely no benefit in throwing me in jail, right? WRONG. An accountant who sat in jail with me explained it to me: Fixed costs for a jail are mortgages, electricity, wages for the guards, etc. They are constant, no matter how many people are incarcerated, and are therefore part of the county budged. He told me that our beautiful state of California pays the county jail approximately $125 a day for every inmate incarcerated. Variable costs per inmate are almost none, about five dollars of food per day and perhaps one or two dollars for clothing and toothbrushes, etc. All the labor (i.e. cleaning, cooking, and washing) is done by the inmates and is therefore free. Hence, the county gets almost $120 a day for every inmate. This is where the police department comes in - their duty is to keep the prison full at all times in order to guarantee a constant money flow to the county. And those boys do a great job of stuffing the place with people like me, some other random potheads, and a few alcoholics who have taken a wrong turn in life and need rehabilitation, not incarceration. Combine the Jail's income with the money raised from hefty court-fines and county attorneys, and you are seeing only the tip of the Prison Industry iceberg.
I want to take this fight to the streets - what happened at High Sierra is absolutely ridiculous. Out of the approximately 5000 people attending, 150 were arrested and booked by the Plumas County Police Department. Yes, that's one out of 33 people. How would you feel about having a one in 33 chance of getting arrested at a festival? Go to 33 festivals like High Sierra throughout your lifetime, and statistics predicts that you will get arrested. But High Sierra is no isolated incident. Disproportionately high police presence is becoming commonplace at events such as Burning Man and even at some recent Rainbow Gatherings.

We are too educated and proactive to let this foe quietly consume us. What has happened to me must not happen to others. We have to change what's going on right now. Too many beautiful lives are wasted behind walls, too many children ripped from their parents? grasp and sent into foster care... in short this system creates revenues by crudely destroying the lives of the poor and those who have problems. They are trying to destroy mine, but I will fight to the end ? something that they don?t expect.
I ask every one of you who read this not to quietly pass by and do nothing. At this rate, there is a good chance that sooner or later, the system will wrap its long fingers around you, yes YOU!

You have every reason to be very concerned,

- FeLiX

diesel wrote:im going to play devils advocate, or in this case, the DA, and say, he was doing something illegal, right?

Usually we come back from the festival, recuperate, unpack, and focus on what went well and what improvements should be made for the following year's festival. This year has been a little different. While the commentary on the event itself has been positive, the outpouring of feedback regarding law enforcement behavior at the festival has been most prominent and the festival’s future in Quincy has come into serious question. This is not the first time we have heard such complaints.

Despite our consistent endeavors to present a safe and secure festival the application of law enforcement at High Sierra seems to have worsened gradually over the past few years, a fact to which many of our patrons can attest. Until this point, we have been quietly working with the Board of Supervisors, the District Attorney's office, and other appropriate county officials to improve the way that local law enforcement applies and enforces the law at our festival. Approaching High Sierra 2006, we felt optimistic that our proactive efforts would result in an improved situation. Unfortunately, after the first night of the fest it became abundantly clear that this would not be the case.

Many of you have expressed your own concerns to the local newspaper and appropriate county officials. Rest assured that your voices are being heard in Plumas County and we encourage you to keep the truthful accounts coming. Your individual stories can indeed speak more poignantly and effectively than a paraphrase of your words delivered by the festival. If you or anyone you know was involved in or was witness to what could be considered inappropriate conduct and have not yet shared your experience, we encourage you to please make a formal statement through our online contact form (you may do so anonymously if you wish). These testimonials are imperative… without proper documentation and a way to quantify the circumstances, the process degenerates into hearsay.

There were a total of 47 arrests and citations made at the festival. At face value, 47 incidents for a 4-day, 8,000 person event doesn’t make for overwhelming evidence of law enforcement overstepping their authority. Yet those numbers are deceiving when the harassment and general heavy-handedness is taken into account. Unfortunately, the arrest numbers compile the bulk of the hard data that is looked to as county officials weigh the facts and decide whether changes need to be made. This is where your personal accounts can make the difference in painting a more accurate picture of any and all rights violations.

It is clear to us that the situation has reached a tipping point. We basically have two options; we can remain in Quincy and continue working within the local community to improve things or we can move the festival. We will be pursuing both avenues and carefully weighing their consequences in the coming months. At this time we have resumed communications with the Board of Supervisors and made it abundantly clear that without significant changes in law enforcement practices, High Sierra Music Festival cannot continue in Plumas County. As we also consider our legal options, we’d like to put a call out to any festival-friendly attorneys who might be willing to work on a pro bono basis to advise us on our situation. Offers of legal assistance can be directed to our online contact form or we can also be reached by phone at 510.420.1529.

Even as we explore every option and seek new festival frontiers, we remain hopeful that we will be able to affect change and reach an amicable solution that will allow the festival to remain in Quincy. Since making our home in Plumas County, we’ve built innumerable positive relationships within the community, earned the trust of a majority of county officials, and honed our logistical game plan to efficiency. Moving the festival is not only a major logistical undertaking, there is no guarantee that moving to another location will produce different results. We have a few ideas, but if you know of a site that might be a good fit for High Sierra please let us know… we are certainly open to suggestions. Keep in mind that accessibility and proximity to amenities are important considerations.

Finally, please know that we hear your concerns and that they echo our own. This is an important time for the festival and we are faced with some critical decisions. As we move forward, please trust that we are doing what we can to ensure the future of High Sierra, maintain the festival’s integrity, and protect the rights of everyone in our festival community.

Thank you for being part of our High Sierra family. Stay tuned, and stay in touch.