WET, WILD WOODSTOCK HAS ITS INJURIES

DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994

SOURCE: From Beacon Journal wire services

They're wet, they're caked in mud, they paid $135 for no good reason, but the kids are all right. Woodstock '94 turned messy last night. State police ordered the site closed, but even though they blocked dozens of roads, thousands more rock fans -- many carrying beer -- hiked to the 840-acre Winston Farm and walked right in.

"It looks like the Bataan Death March. Shambling columns of people," said New York State Police spokesman James Atkins. "A well-fed Bataan Death March." All the yellow-shirted gatekeepers who had been checking credentials on Thursday and Friday simply disappeared yesterday. The day, which began warm and moist, turned wet in the afternoon as a band of summer thundershowers grumbled across the Catskills.

From the two stages, announcers warned muddy fans -- many sleepless, drunk, stoned or all of the above -- to lie on the ground in a fetal position and move clear of trees and loudspeakers as lightning sliced the sky. Joseph Roussel, 44, of West Babylon, N.Y., who died from complications of diabetes, was the only fatality so far. There were two heart attacks, and all sorts of fractures and scratches.

More than 750 concert-goers have been treated at the on-site hospital, and about 4,000 have sought first aid, many after being injured in the muddy mosh pit -- where dancers flail and pass each other overhead -- in front of the stage, said Ulster County Medical Examiner Walter Dobushak.

The two fields, end-to-end with people in tents, were covered last night with a three-inch-deep mix of mud, beer cans, bottles and saturated sleeping bags.

On stage, Blind Melon lead singer Shannon Hoon responded to rumors of up to three deaths at the festival by asking the audience to "give them all a big God bless you" on the count of three. Then the band launched into hit single song No Rain.

In Bethel, N.Y., about 12,000 people gathered at the site of the original concert for an impromptu 25th anniversary celebration to hear free performances by such Woodstock veterans as Arlo Guthrie and John Sebastian.

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