Schwag frontman Jimmy Tebeau says Camp Zoe is an idyllic campground for weekend hippie jam fests. Federal prosecutors beg to differ.

@DumpsterPirates hunny there is a song what u

The Missouri state constitution states: that we the people are guaranteed the right to the gain of their own industry! The bible states: that we shall reap what we sow!The government has become Jesse James with a badge, and has made an industry our of stealing our industry!Pharmecutical drugs were not mentioned in the artical, yet pharmecutical drugs have become the biggest abused drug, yet the pharmacist and drug companies are not held accountable for their products actions!Drug use is rampet in prison, and it is mostly brought in my staff members, but if prisons can not be kept drug free, than how was camp Zoe? Seize all of the prisons, bars, pharmacutical pushers ect. also!!! Or give Jimmi back his assets! No more double standards! No more hypocracy! No more thievery in the name of justice! No victin: no rime!!! No more lies!!!

What a travesty of justice. Are all bars and clubs now subject to this kind of forfeiture? I am completely uninvolved with this property of festivals, but this makes me furious. No crime charged, no drugs found on the property? This is the kind of thing which caused America's founder's to fllle England and start this country. The guard has got to change, this is unacceptable in my country, the USA. I am done running in fear from lifestyle crimes and I encourage everyone to feel the same. Oliver North was convicted of selling thousands of pounds of cocaine to finance the Contras, with minimal consequences. Come on Justice Dept. time to play fair , you are ruining this country! Drowning in the tears of your citizens and countrymen.

This is so terrible, Camp Zoe was my heaven on earth one of the only places to go and feel completely safe and happy. My heart goes out to Jimmy and his family.

the sad reality of it is if illegal things are brought into a festival it was probably the police that brought the stuff in themselves just so they could say it was going on, but that is the way of the world folks, the people happy inside their boxes taking their pharmies because they are just so depressed or sore from a 20 year old injury, these are the people that make the decisions for the rest off us. Enough is enough. SAVE ZOE! nOW GET UP AND GET DOWN, YOU'LL NEVER STOP US COPPERS.

Camp Zoe was also home to another well-known "drug party" called Underground Sound. It used to be held at Salt-Petre Cave near Murphysboro, IL. Every year they had several drug overdoses. One year they had a stabbing, and another year somebody was chased into the woods by a mob. I understand it will now be held at Hog Rock Ranch in Illinois again. Which is where they had the Juggalo festival. Another notorious event with stabbings, drug overdoses, and rapes.

I'm a pretty open minded person, and can appreciate all cultures, sub-cultures, and art forms. However, I am appalled at the ignorance displayed by some of these so-called festival organizers who show no regard for human life or the law. I think they would rather pad their pockets than take the proper measures to insure the safety, and well-being of the public.

I've been to Camp Zoe for a Schwagstock, and it was just a drug fest. I don't think I met a sober person a part from myself, my friends, and some of the security.

fuck the feds. save camp zoe. i hate america. if i was given a plane ticket outta here id be goneeeeeee

I have a few things to say:

First of all, I have seen the Schwag perfom and they are incredibly talented musicians, worthy of playing the songs of one of my favorite bands, the Grateful Dead.

Secondly, the seizure of property, even if the owner has not been convicted of a crime, is a terrifying and totally unconstitutional violation of Tebeau's rights. Don't think it could happen to you? When one person's rights are violated, all of ours are.

That being said, let's be honest here. Of course Tebeau knew illegal drugs were being used at his Camp Zoe. If he didn't, he's a complete and total idiot. Is that a crime? I really don't think so. When I attended a Schwag event, there were tons of drugs being sold right out in the open. EVERYONE knew exactly what was going on.

I think it was a really bad idea to buy a camp out in the middle of Central Missouri. Did he really not think that Barney Fife would not try to clamp down on a band that plays Grateful Dead songs? From the arrest records, it seems the Missouri Highway Patrol was on to something, weren't they? Remember Missouri is really two states: Missourah and Missouree. The two tend to not mix very well.

My advice, if he manages to save Camp Zoe is to sell and find somewhere else, like Sauget, to have a camp to play. They might want to watch out for the pollution, but I think it could work.

Good job staying up on the story, bad job staying up on your sources. Do you even realize you just published my photo without my consent or giving me credit? http://www.facebook.com/pages/...

I had my life ruined and most everything I owned stolen by these "do-gooder" hippies directly tied to the"Schwag Family". Let them rot in jail. There's nothing peace or love about those people, trust me. They screwed me over worse than I thought imaginable.

The pattern for most fed agencies seems to be easy targets that do not end up ina courtroom with complex financial schemes and tuned in defense attorneys that worked for the feds before private practice. Now if you had hundreds of loaded weapons, numerous 911 calls to your property, rampant drug use with armed employees, and a dead body from drug overdose, that occurs in a wealthy St. Louis suburb, you would not face this mess...oh that might be because of who you are...a beer baron or an outdoorsman. And as the Feds spent millions in NYC to round up aged mafia wiseguys, the feds will never even dream of trying a RICO investigation on the Wall Street Cartels, insider trading mob, or financial ponzi/ hedge schemes so complex and that milked the entire world economy. In part those things are way expensive to investigate, the defense teams can confuse an average jury and the culprits have generally secreted their cash overseas. The cops and prosecutors are doing their job, and in the end, a conviction and asset trade is a notch in the belt for promotions ..

so let me get this straight. jimmy's land is worth $600,000, his bank account is worth $188,000, the price of seein jimmy cry because he lost his land? priceless.

I'm suprised it's taken this long for the riverfront times to do a story on the dirty drugstock that has taken place several times a year for over a decade now. I remember going to schwagstock back when Jimmy's little redhead kid was running around, then several years later I saw him at "spookstock" with dreads high on exctasy. The whole "love" and "family" deadhead mythology is just a rediculous white on white family fluff nonsense distraction. Year after year there were less true counter culture "hippies" and more frat boy jocks with tie dyes bragging about how much acid they've taken. The last time I went I couldn't walk five feet without different 13 year old girl asking were the weed was at. I tottally support a movement to legalize drugs and love music and nature and peaceful gathering. But these douche bags have been making $45 a head from hundreds of kids who aren't even dead fans looking to get all trippy dippy. I could understand why an unoriginal cover band of a cover band would do whatever they could to continue making a living as they aged, but when your a parent of kids who are involved with the drug scene, you might want to start making more responsible decisions about the "family" you so fakely pretend to be all about. Don't get me wrong, never sell out, never give up on your dreams for money, don't even cut your hair, but don't get rich providing a place for children to do dangerous drugs and then pretend to be about love and karma and family. I could continue, but I think I made my point...

Don't diss the Summer Camp. I saw a kid with Dead wings and he asked me about Schwag. Never seen the Dead. BOOO. Kids are grimy and dirty and thats why the Feds dont bust Bonnaroo or Waka. The kids aren't AS grimy and dirty at Bonnaroo or Waka. (Well, the first 2 years.) The first year I described Zoe as, " a ghetto in the woods." And I can only imagine how shitty it got. The point being, maybe the reason people are offered dirty drugs at other festivals is because they got their wings at Shwagstock.

I'd just like to say that if you gather any large group of people together you will always find drugs, violence, and stupidity. To con-dim a place like this where people have made it such a safe place to go. I mean they even have their own medical staff that has EMT's, and other medical professionals. I know from speaking with these people they treat this as a job, a time to be professional, not a time to be on whatever drug and slap band-aids on people. Compared to a lot of the other raunchy smaller festivals I've been to campzoe is number one in cleanliness to! Around the clock porter potty maintainer, cleaning of the hand washing stations, which have foot things so you don't have to touch anything to get your hands / face properly cleaned. I have never seen such care at a festival before.

People there are always nice, always giving, always accepting. I never before saw any violence there til spring jam 09, but that was quickly taken care of by security and those who were hurt in the fight were taken to the medical area known as safe stock. This fight I saw was between some kids (in my opinion, they were realistically prob 19-20) and obviously werent very stable people and obviously weren't treating the situation as a mature person should. Just in the bar scene, a bar or club gets popular it starts getting a flow of different people, then those people tell their friends, their friends tell theirs and so on, and eventually you start getting problems with people bringing in drugs, but to take this wonderful place away from those of us who enjoy the land, the beauty, the sinking creek, the community feeling from all of those who really care about this place. Why do that to us? What have we done so wrong? We assemble in peace, and we will always assemble this way, and there will always be other places that people like us will get together and enjoy the music, the vibes, and the company of one another. You can take the land but you will never take the spirit of what is really there.

I'd also like to add another thing about the staff at campzoe, my hubby and I went there in july heat when there wasn't a festival going on and we were litterately the only people there aside from the people who live and work there. Atleast twice a day we one of the staff members would come by and check on us, make sure we had enough water, were staying cool and were enjoying our selfs. These people have been nothing but friendly folk, so why punish us for the stupidity that we have not caused. It is not out fault that people who see this place as a drugged out party come here with whatever substance they enjoy. Just keep this and other stories similar to this in mind, because you will be hearing A LOT more of them. viva le zoe!

Keegan Hamilton, I think people are still confusing the Keegan commenter with you, though that is not the kind of comment you would make in reference to your own story.

This is indeed a travesty, harassment, and above all, pure and simple greed by law enforcement to line their pockets. Nothing has been said about Jimmy supporting us clean and sober people at these events. I was only at Zoe once, for Big Summer Classic, and found the place to be quite mellow and less chaotic than say, Summer Camp where hoards of drunken weekend "hippies" gather each year to litter, puke, vandalize and spill beer on everyone. Jimmy even set aside a special area called "Camp Traction" for about 100 clean and sober folks and family campers. I hear that that was a regular thing at Zoe. It was well organized and very clean. I also will say that EVERY not most, but EVERY private venue I have been in, bars, concert halls and even Busch Stadium, would qualify for asset forfeiture from the amount of "illegal activity" I have witnessed in them! This is simply Easy Rider all over again. The line in the movie when "George" (Jack Nicholson) tells Dennis Hopper that the rednecks fear him because he represents freedom, the freedom they can't have, it scares them, and they do bad things. Zoe was a good thing and the laws of this country contradict the very "Constitution" that supposedly makes it such a wonderful Free nation available for dreams like Jimmy's..... to have a cool place, out in nature to play music.... plain and simple. Now, to all the little assholes who don't understand that music and dealing dope are not even on the same plane, way to go! You just might have fucked it up for everyone! Music festivals are for music... (if you want to hoot up, that's your business) they're not a place for you to make money dealing, your place is on the street where you will live and die by the rules there. Way to go assholes!

Camp Zoe is the "Walgreens" of all hippie music festivals - you can get anything you want there.

Keegan, the story you shared in your comment is just as I see it. Seeing something happen to this respected, positive, beautiful home, that is Camp Zoe, is heartbreaking. I just finished reading your RFT story, thank you for writing and sharing this story.

I wish the best of luck to Jimmy and all those behind Zoe supporting them. Many are following closely and are all supporting the Zoe family.

This is a great article, but haven't I read it before?

Went to high school with Jimmy and have known him and his family for over 25 years. He is a wonderful man and great friend. It is a travesty of justice what the FEDS are doing to this man. My question is why is the local Sheriff allowing these Federal Jack Booted Nazi' to rob the people of Shannon County. When will the local citizens demand accountability from their elected servants? By the way can any Federal agent be legitimate when their Commander in Chief cannot even produce a Birth Certificate, which I had too to renew my drivers license. Thieves that is all they are. Good to see Rosenbloom get in on this. He is the lawyers last hope.

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Gee, I wonder if the Feds are going to be busting any NASCAR races soon. I hear some pretty crazy shit goes down on the infield.

Part of what Joe was doing was an attempt to avert the exact thing that has finally happened. Do you honestly think Joe made his money at Zoe? He is a businessman. I would hate to think I had to bail out my employer if they had such a horrendous thing happen to them. In the end, it's none of our business.

Jimmy needs our help, and although most of us are poor folk, we should do whatever we can to help him and ensure these heinous laws get changed! And yes, I am one of the many in the 40-60 and beyond group that went to events at Zoe. One of the things I loved about the place is that there were many of us old folks around. More than I have ever seen at other festivals. When young people made stupid decisions, there were lots of us around to take care of them and teach them the TRUTH about drug use. Where will that place be now?

THANK YOU, Riverfront Times, for keeping this issue in visable. BUMP!

Not all festivals are like Zoes Schwagstocks. Lets not get to self righteous here. Everyone had to know this was a bad scene laden with excess. I hate the way the Government stole the land. But I will not subscribe to the Zoe Campground was a victim stuff. They played their role.

Everytime I went to Zoe I'd see Joe Grasso marching up and down Shakedown telling folks what they can and can't do. He seemed nazi like with his walky talkies, marching around acting like he owned Zoe. He's a so-called millionaire, concert promoter, and friend of Jimmy's. IF JOE is so rich then why is Jimmy having benefits, fund raisers, and basically begging for money to help save himself? Here's a link to Joe Grasso's mansion including pictures. Look at where he lives and you tell me how he's sooooo rich and Jimmy's losing everything he worked for.http://stlouis.blockshopper.co...

Honestly? I have a story to tell.

Schwagstock was my first festival. Not knowing what to expect, I was slightly shocked to see the ease of finding drugs at Camp Zoe. But then, I started getting more into the scene.

When I went to a rave in somebody's loft above a (get this) Christian Book Store, the amount of drugs surprised me. There were people sitting in the corner or crowding the window with sweat streaming down their faces. The bathrooms reeked of vomit, much of which could be seen on the floor and in the bathtub. The host's bedroom was in constant use, and I saw drawers casually strung open and looted. People were snorting cocaine, molly, and 2CB from the counter and digging for cigarette shorts in the ashtray.I then went to Summercamp, a sponsored music festival in Chilicothe. There was a checkpoint at the front where items were searched, but by the end of the first night it was more of an inconvenience than anything. The people checking your luggage would be sitting back, drunk or high, waving you through. I quickly found the access to drugs was equal to that at Camp Zoe, only here they had EVERYTHING. Zoe mainly kept to the 'hippie' drugs, while at Summercamp I was offered black tar heroin, amphetamines, and all types of ecstasy. I was puked on at one point, and people were passed out everywhere. One guy passed out behind our car in the parking lot and started convulsing when we tried to wake him.

At Camp Zoe, my tent was on a main road. I had 200 dollars in my wallet which blew apart when I tossed it in the tent, and I forgot to close the flap. So our tent is strewn about with 10s, 20s, 50s. But when I returned I found all of the money was there. The only thing I had stolen from me at Camp Zoe was a few beers from our cooler, which were replaced with different brands (we had Heineken, one bottle replaced with one Budweiser etc.) At the rave, a man tried to start a fight with me because he claimed I budged in line. Later, when I put my coat on a chair to run to the bathroom, I found my pockets had been searched and 20 dollars taken.

It's funny. Parents try to shut down Zoe because "of the children". I really didn't see many people there under 18. The main age group was 18-30, with some who were 40-60. Besides the occasional family, children were hard to come across.Not with Summercamp. There were kids everywhere, making ghost noises outside of our tent and shooting us with marshmallow guns.

Personally, I believe the seizure of this camp is not for the usage of drugs. The drugs are a facade. Sure, people were getting high and tripping and yes, occasionally somebody did too much and started acting stupid. But nobody fought, nobody argued, everybody got along. The camp follows an 80-20 rule and, as always, the government will prosecute for that 20.

SAVE CAMP ZOE!

Great job staying on this story. This sort of journalism can make the difference for Zoe.

at least this seizure/adjudicated theft is being given the light of day by well written stories like this. that is what these NWO cockroaches fear the most along with their network of rats, moles and other assorted vermin.