From: mcdphx!gimcrack!thor Message-Id: <[9304030132 AA 14049] at [phx.mcd.mot.com]> Sender: mcdphx!freenet.carleton.ca!news (News Administrator) Reply-To: mcdphx!Freenet.carleton.ca!ab158 (David Johnston) Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1993 06:04:54 GMT Apparently-To: EXCEL!thor Just got back from Albany. Had a great time (including getting waved right through the border both ways... first time in years!). Sundays Albany Times Union had a couple'o reports on the Dead's visit. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad. Spelling mistakes are mine. DEADHEAD DETECTIVES HAVE LOTS OF TICKETS by Donna Liquori ALBANY- Tie dyes? Check. Bandanas? Check. Beads? Check. Wristwatch? No, not quite. Narcotics detectives going undercover Saturday amid the influx of Grateful Dead fans warned their supervisor, Detective Sgt. Tom Fitzpatrick, that the watch would be, well, a dead giveaway. Deadheads really couldn't care less what time it was, the detectives warned him. Fitzpatrick, wearing a white woven sweatshirt of the kind Deadheads covet, said he knew that and would ditch the watch before he hit the streets surrounding the Knickerbocker Arena. By 1 p.m., a Psychedelic throng wandered around the roads, some enjoying the scene, others trying to buy tickets. The investigators job was to blend in and fool the ones with the drugs. But getting arrested isn't exactly a bad thing for Deadheads. "It's part of being a Deadhead," Detective Jim Lyman said. "It's a status symbol." Lyman, wearing sunglasses, a multicoloured hat, a beaded bag, ripped jeans and another one of those weaved pullovers, practiced acting Dead by holding up his finger, saying, "I need a miracle," the phrase used by the Dead's faithful when seeking a ticket for a sold-out concert. Everyone in the special investigations unit is anxious to work when the Grateful Dead come to town. It's their Halloween. Even the desk officer, Detective Daniel Ryan, sported a multicoloured beanie. And arresting the concert goers doesn't come with all the hassles accompanying other drug suspects. They're generally more mellow. "Basically, they're the nicest people in the world to arrest," Lyman said. And they're also good learning tools. Fitzpatrick said the investigators learn the latest in drug paraphanalia and types of drugs available. The investigators came across liquid LSD when the hippie-emulating crowd was in town. A talkative Deadhead will provide the unit with "street intelligence" to make their jobs easier, particularly when they're searching for drugs that aren't the normal drugs of choice in Albany. "We don't do a lot of LSD," Fitzpatrick said, meaning, of course, arrests. "It's inherent to them." Fitzpatrick spoke on the second floor of Division 2, police headquarters. A small group of cops dressed rather convincingly in tie dyed t-shirts hung out in the hall, urging Fitzpatrick to hurry. One came in and popped a rainbow colored hat on Fitzpatrick's greying hair. The sergeant admits he gets "made" by deadheads pretty easily. The Deadheads will slap a sticker on undercover officers once they're discovered. So he lets others in the unit make the buys. Fitzpatrick said most of those arrested only care about one thing: getting out of jail in time for the concert. Often, police will accommodate them with tickets- court appearance tickets, that is. As the police deadheads made their way to the knick, one person asked for directions, another honked, and one man, not a deadhead, recognized them and shouted out a few profanities for their undercover looks. Once in the general area of the Knick, they mingled freely, buying food and checking out the wares for sale in the parking lot (that's where they buy their costumes). Clothes and drugs were not the only things people people were looking to buy. Concert tickets were at a premium. "We tried to order them. We came down and are hoping for the best," said Zack Belcher, a college student from Boston as he sat cross legged on the sidewalk along South Pearl Street. Courtney, just Courtney, from Saratoga, peddled Oranges out of a knapsack for 50 cents each. "most people buy oranges to trip. You eat, then you go zing," she said. Courtney, also ticketless, drove down to hang out with the thousands of fans. "It's an awesome day." Matt Aucon of New Hampshire sold canes that were actually pipes. "It's kind of unobvious," he said. He demonstrated by pulling the plugs out of the top and bottom of the black cane decorated with dancing skeletons. He sucked in on the bottom, and someone walking past yelled, "That's a pretty long hit, man." He didn't seem to disappointed about not selling any. He had three tickets. "All three nights. I'm psyched." I also had this about the same run with a more serious tone, so here it is. 45 DRUG ARRESTS LINKED TO CONCERT ALBANY- By midnight Saturday city police officers made 45 drug related arrests, many of them felonies, in the wake of the first three Grateful Dead concerts at the Knickerbocker Arena. One of those arrested, 20-year-old Jonathan Welsh of Jay, Maine, is facing four felony counts after allegedly possessing 344 hits of the halucinogenic drug LSD. "We made numerous arrests. We're talking 45, a lot of serious felonies," said an Albany police officer who declined to give his name. "A lot of uniforms (uniformed officers) made arrests. It's right out in the open." The officer said the arrest total does not include those made by other police agencies. City police said more than 1,000 hits of hallucinogenic drugs had been confiscated. "They're making 50 cents on the dollar. They're facing 15 to 20 years in jail," the officer said. "They didn't use their heads."