So it seems there will actually be a planned event at the original Woodstock festival site in Bethel this summer. Alan Gerry's organization is working hard to obtain the necessary permits, while it prepares the field for what is being described as a "manageable" crowd of 90,000 people over three days. Ticket promotion is being readied and bands are being hired, the local paper says Don Henley of the Eagles has already been booked.

But some of the contradictions of Woodstock, clearly one of the defining symbols of the turbulent 1960's. Dominated the news this past week... as two trials from last year's anniversary played out in local courts.

The sight of county attorney Ira Cohen holding a press conference in the government center lobby on Tuesday, while a county employee pinned up "Free Ira" signs, was more than slightly disingenuous. Cohen was arrested by state police last August when he stopped to talk with two people at the intersection of Hurd and West Shore Roads and refused to heed the direction of a state trooper. He says he was badly treated, handcuffed for about 90 minutes, simply for asking "why".

That dosesn't seem right, and Thompson justice Perry Meltzer agreed, throwing out the charges with scarcely more than a cursory glance. District attorney Steve Lungen suggests that Cohen "got off" because he's important, maybe so, but a less well-known first offender would have had the case "adjourned in contemplation of dismissal," something Cohen says was never offered.

Cohen's message is straight out of the Woodstock spirit..."Question Authority". But no matter how badly Cohen wants to be a Woodstock poster child, one of the most powerful men in the government cannot seriously expect people to listen to this with a straight face. Cohen is the man! The guy who exudes authority and control in county government. He's the guy you have to deal with if you want to breath in Sullivan County.

Roy Howard's recent trial is equally disturbing. I've never understood why he didn't just get the necessary permits and hold his mini celebration. The Town of Bethel says it never actually denied him permission. But before you think Bethel officials are somehow the good guys in all this, one has to wonder why they aren't thanking Howard and his wife for solving their problem last August. Everyone knows that several thousands of people turn up every summer to commemorate three days of "sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll... and Howard wanted them to stay on his property. Charging him with contempt of court for actually helping diffuse a potentially explosive situation was mean-spirited, especially since the state police were sending the crowds to his farmstead so there wouldn't be a confrontation on the original site a mile away. Alan Gerry should thank him.

This is Glenn Pontier with a personal perspective...saying "Question Authority" is a good slogan. Somehow our country had lost its way in the sixties, refusing to face the problems of race, war and cultural freedom after a decade of "loving Ike", gray flannel suits and "Leave it to Beaver".

The Woodstock generation captured that American spirit of independence and freedom... defining a generation and forever marking Max Yasgur's 37 acres as the "field of dreams". I hope Alan Gerry's corporate organization and military-style field headquarters now erected across from the monument is successful. Sullivan County and the town of Bethel deserve a financial break.

But with all its contradictions, Woodstock has never really been about profits or economic development. It's a symbol for the same reason that our democracy is a success...because it is rooted in a fundamental spirit that freedom cannot be bottled and packaged...or ultimately controlled. We really will see this summer.

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