Bonnaroo arrests about the same as last year, sheriff says

[lexifer]

Manchester, Tenn. _ The crowd attending Bonnaroo VII apparently paid more attention to the music than to activities that could attract the attention of the law.
As of this morning, authorities had made 78 arrests and issued 124 citations. Many of the charges related to possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia, or public intoxication.

“As it stands now the number of arrests are about where they were last year,” said Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves.

In 2007, there were 73 arrests and about 200 citations.

Arrests were made for serious charges such as possession of drugs with the intent to sell, while citations were issued for minor offenses, such as possession of a small amount of marijuana.

There were no deaths associated this year with the music and arts festival, which attracted a crowd that numbered “near sellout,” which is 80,000. In the past years, there have been six deaths during the festival.

The festival ended last night and by dawn the exodus had begun. Authorities expect Interstate 24 traffic around the site in Manchester to be crowded as the music fans depart.

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