The U.S. Attorney's Office is asking the FBI to look into claims of civil rights violations by organizers of a 29th anniversary concert on the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, according to a letter obtained Tuesday.

The FBI review comes amid a broader battle between the site's owner and music fair organizer, the Gerry Foundation, and the Woodstock Nation Foundation, over whether the public has a legal and spiritual claim to a 37-acre chunk of Max Yasgur's old farm, where an estimated 500,000 people gathered in the summer of 1969 in a high point of the counterculture movement.

Abigail Storm of Woodstock Nation said the government's interest could strengthen the foundation's effort to prevent owners from keeping flower children off the site. ``It shows that they think there's something worth looking into,'' she said.

Gerry Foundation Vice President Michael DiTullo did not return calls for comment, but earlier asserted that his non-profit group, founded by Sullivan County millionaire Alan Gerry, owns the land.

Working with the Town of Bethel, the foundation plans an Aug. 14-15 concert. Organizers, who are bringing in some of the original acts and limiting attendance to 30,000 people with ticket prices of $69.98 a day, describe the event as a prelude to developing a musical theme park around the natural amphitheater.

But Woodstock Nation contends the hundreds -- in some years thousands -- of pilgrims to the concert site each year have created a public easement, and that the property can't be fenced in. The group says it isn't trying to stop the concert, but objects to plans to bar non-ticket holders from the area and commercialize the holy site of hippiedom.

``They've robbed the church, and now they're running off the congregation,'' said Storm. ``There's nothing peaceful or loving about their actions.''

The federal review focuses on the arrest last summer of Storm, her husband Dan Eggink, and several other people on trespassing charges on a complaint from Gerry's organization.

Before Gerry, the farm had been owned by Louis Nicky since 1981. Nicky, before his death, separated from his wife, Helen Necketopoulos, and lived with June Gelish. Gelish sold the site to Gerry for $1.1 million, but Necketopoulos claimed partial ownership. Necketopoulos in 1991 obtained a court order barring sale of the land, but last October settled for $250,000.

Because the dispute was outstanding last summer, Storm and her co-defendants contend that their arrest was unlawful and unconstitutional. Appealing their conviction, they also took their case to the U.S. Attorney in White Plains, alleging civil rights violations and a conspiracy by Gerry and his associates.

In a response Monday, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White did not say whether she considers the charges valid or not. But White wrote that the complaint was being sent to the FBI for ``their review and disposition,'' a move one federal official said signaled that officials considered it worth at least checking out.

The Albany Times Union
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