Many of you who attended the 1969 Woodstock Festival must remember Max Yasgur. For those of you who didn't know him, he was the owner of the land where the historic festival took place. He died in 1972, but, before he died, he tried to give this famous piece of property to the Town of Bethel for the public's enjoyment, where people could assemble for FREE, but the town government, who didn't appreciate what had happened in their little town, didn't want anything to do with it, and refused his offer. Soon after, he died. But people continued to return to the site on a daily basis. Many people, who had arrived in Bethel for the concert in 1969, never left. They put down roots and raised families. Many of them had a hope that it would happen again. But, members of the local government, like the town supervisor, George Neuhouse, weren't about to let it happen again. They even created unlawful legislation to prohibit a large assembly from ever coming together again on that land. Nice guys.

The late Max Yasgur's wife, Miriam, sold the last 38 acres of the 1969 Woodstock Festival site to Louis Nicky in 1981 for about $59,000.

In 1983 a deed was filed transferring the property from Louis Nicky to June Gelish as joint tenants.

In 1984 Bethel town historian, Bert Feldman, asked permission from Louis Nicky to place a permanent marker on the property commemorating the Woodstock Festival. He got permission and Wayne Seward volunteered to make the monument. It is still there and people come from around the world to see it and take pictures of it and the field.

In 1989 Louis Nicky planned to have a commercial concert, a 20th Anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, but couldn't get the permits from the town of Bethel. He died of a heart attack just days before the event and people came from all over to have their celebration anyway. Tens of thousands came, created a stage and had their reunion, in spite of resistance. And, June Gelish and her two grown sons collected money from the crowd and loved it. Garbage bags full of money, collected from and by the crowd, were handed to the town supervisor, Allan Scott, to cover any town expenses, and he loved it.

In 1990, following Louis Nicky's death, June Gelish took over the Woodstock site and planned another commercial concert for the 21st Anniversary. This time Allan Scott personally  filed charges against June on August 15, 1990, for having a commercial event on land that was zoned residential and agricultural and moved to get a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the public from gathering at the site. So, June turned around and accused the crowd that was already on the property, preparing for the event, with trespass. Great. Well, many thought it was some kind of a joke and lined up for a ticket from the local constable. Well, everyone, including the police, thought it was a little out of line.

And, unbeknownst to the general public, until recently, another abstract situation was developing down in the Brooklyn Surrogate Court. The widow of Louis Nicky, Helen Necketopoulos, had filed a petition to claim her husband's estate, which included the Woodstock site. Along with the petition was evidence that the deed that was filed in the Sullivan County Clerk's office in 1983, transferring the property from Louis to June and Louis, as joint tenants, was forged. Not a good situation at all. As a result of the evidence, Surrogate Judge Bernard Bloom, issued a temporary restraining order against June Gelish preventing her "from making any transfers, assignments or other disposition of any monies or other property belonging to the [estate of Louis Nicky] and from selling, transferring, mortgaging, leasing, encumbering and/or hypothecating the [Woodstock] property, which is the subject of this inquiry."

Now, back at the farm, where people were being falsely charged with trespass... Only 25 tickets were given out because the Bethel Town Constable ran out of tickets to hand out to the thousands of people gathered on the property and it was obvious the people weren't leaving. Besides, the police knew the people on the property weren't guilty of trespass. Three of the people charged with trespass, Will Callaghan, Abigail Storm, and Daniel Eggink, who was also arrested for trespass by June Gelish because he kept claiming she didn't own the Woodstock site,  plead not guilty and were acquitted in the Bethel Justice Court.

The following year, in the spring, Abigail Storm and Will Callaghan, Director of the Save The Earth Society, met with Allan Scott, the town supervisor, to make sure there was no future problem or planned attempts to stop the people from gathering in August for the 22nd Anniversary. He said no one was going to be allowed to go onto the property and light fires or set up a tent, a teepee, or a free kitchen, and that he was going to do whatever he had to do, which was, if the  alleged owner, June Gelish doesn't want people on "her" property, he'll have to enforce her wishes to have people removed. Storm and Callaghan replied, "We also have to do what we have to do, which is to defend the public's property right and the public's sovereign rights, which are protected under the Constitution of the State of New York and the United States, to peacefully approach, enter, and remain on the property for the 3 day reunion, which is, to them, sacred and holy. And, all that with the aid and assistance of anyone acting in the name of the people. Amen.

When August rolled around  people arriving for the anniversary were met by police and the Bethel town supervisor, telling them they couldn't go on the property because June Gelish said so. There were cars lined up along the side of the road. According to the town supervisor, no one could drive onto the property, however, he was "allowing people to go onto the property on foot for a brief period of time to look at the monument and take pictures". God help this man. The town supervisor had actually used town vehicles to pile dirt in the entrance to the Woodstock field. Not nice, guys. However, no June Gelish was in sight. Well, some of us knew that the "owner" of an unfenced, unposted property has to personally tell someone to leave their property. We also believed the public had established an easement on the property because of their continual use for more than 20 years, without asking permission from any owner. So, some of the people got out of their cars and walked onto the property  and held a brief meeting where it was decided to go back to their vehicles and drive onto the property, as had been their right up to that time, in order to protect the public's right to continue their use of the property. So, the public (about thirty carloads)  proceeded onto the property past the police, the town supervisor, and the pile of dirt, and proceeded, then, to set up camp and prepare a welcome home for those who were coming for the reunion. The police watched, but made no move to stop them. They had no legal right to stop anyone. After awhile the police and the town supervisor left. They were most likely having their own little meeting, or big meeting.

Meanwhile, thousands came together once again and had a beautiful spiritual experience being together. But, of course, not everyone was happy about that.

The following year the town supervisor, Allan Scott, came out with snow plows belonging to the town of Bethel and blocked all the roads leading to the site. Then, according some witnesses, there were police with tear gas in the trunks of their car. Great.
What a nice Welcome Home.
 
 To be continued... 
 

 

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