£SD In Freshwater?

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32386, 27 August 1970, Page 15

£SD In Freshwater?

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) FRESHWATER (Isle of Wight), Aug 26. An American hippie demonstration and a rumour that the drug LSD had been injected into a water supply, brought the first threat of trouble to a mammath pop festival which will open at Freshwater, on the Isle of Wight, today.

Yesterday the British Press Association reported that a public health official had been called in to inspect the water supplies feeding the festival’s catering enclosure. The organiser of the festival, Fiery Creations, quickly denied reports that LSD had been injected into the water as “completely untrue,” although there had been some trouble with over-chlorina-tion.

Hippies waiting for the start of the festival rushed for their drinking mugs after hearing the report of LSD in the water supply. The news agency said that 1000 gallons of tea and coffee was thrown away after reports of drug contamination. It added it was thought

that a rubber section of the pipe could have been punctured with a hypodermic syringe. Free Days

Groups of English fans, who were among an international advance guard camping near the festival site, spent most of yesterday morning obliterating slogans and four-letter words daubed over fences by a group of American hippies who had demonstrated the night before for free music. The group, calling themselves the “White Panthers,” had tried to pull down fences surrounding the festival arena. As a gesture to many fans who had arrived without the money to buy tickets or in the belief that the entertainment would be free, the organising firm announced yesterday that no admission charge would be made for the first two days of the festival. A spokesman for Fiery Creations said it stood to lose $428,600 by making this gesture. High Cost The organiser has poured more than $1,071,500 into this, the third Isle of Wight festival, which promises to be the biggest musical event of its kind held in Britain. Top stars from the United States and Britain are booked

for the week-end. but the first two days will be devoted ■ to lesser known groups as a warm-up. All week, groups of teenagers from all over the world have been trickling to the island, off the south coast of England, for the muchpublicised festival, which is being held in spite of fierce opposition from local residents. Tents, cardboard shacks and other makeshift shelters have sprung up all over the 200-acre site, to house the pop fans, many of whom journeyed hundreds of miles to attend. The organising firm has cooperated with the police and local authorities to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Teams of vigilantes will deal with teen-agers under the influence of drugs. Top Artists Extra police have arrived on the island along with the fans and a steady stream of food supplies to meet the demand from the 30,000 to 40,000 people already there. The organiser estimates that their number will swell to 250,000 by the week-end when such artists as the folksingers Joan Baez and Leonard Cohen, the guitarist Jimi Hendrix, and the jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis, will be featured. Tickets for the week-end will cost $6.40.