A news day for the wayback machine – Day #2 for Woodstock ’94 – The pilgrimage to Woodstock looked a bit like a forced march Saturday instead of a rock n’ roll odyssey as thousands scrambled to get in and thousands more camped on top of one another. Promoters said as many as 250,000 people were on the 850-acre site of Woodstock “94, with many more coming on charter buses, stuck at shuttle bus sites or straggling in on foot. Some walked up to 10 miles, said New York State Police spokesman James Atkins. “It looks like the Bataan Death March.
Shambling columns of people,” Atkins said. “A well-fed Bataan Death March.” Tents were pitched everywhere just inches apart in fields and woods and on hillsides. People knocked down fences to scout out campgrounds in woods outside the site. Some tents were so close to portable toilets that trucks couldn’t get in to clean them, creating the prospect for a fetid day as temperatures climbed to the mid-80s with high humidity and thunderstorms a possibility. Some highways shut down and nearby exits on the New York State Thruway were closed to all but local traffic.
Parking lots at shuttle bus sites miles away were jammed full, and promoters rushed to find more space for ticketholders to park. An afternoon downpour turned the site into something resembling Max Yasgur’s muddy farm in Bethel, 55 miles southwest, home of the first Woodstock.
One death was reported. Joseph Roussel, 44, of West Babylon, N.Y., died Friday night of complications from diabetes, said Walter Dobushak, Ulster County medical examiner. Initial reports that Roussel’s death was alcohol-related proved wrong, Dobushak said. Drug use was widespread, mostly marijuana, LSD and mushrooms, and people smuggled in booze despite an alcohol ban. Police said they made no arrests for fear it might inflame the crowd.
Meanwhile, Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman. under heavy Congressional criticism for his testimony on the Whitewater investigation, is expected to step down from his post in the next week to 10 days, administration officials said Saturday. But a Treasury official speaking for Altman said he had not yet decided whether he was willing to resign and had not been asked to do so.
And finally – A measure proposed by Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, for the new Healthcare plan is less than perfect. It seeks health insurance coverage for 95 percent of Americans by 2000. It is weaker than President Clinton’s proposal, which would guarantee universal coverage by 1998 and require employers to pay at least 80 percent of premium costs for their workers. It is weaker than the proposal by House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo, which seeks universal – coverage by 1999 and would require employers; to pay 80 percent of the cost. Mitchell’s plan would not impose employer mandates before 2002.
It would do so only if coverage of 95 percent of Americans is not achieved by 2000 and Congress fails to impose a mandate or find another solution. Essentially, Mitchell’s plan shifts employer mandates from a financing mechanism, as in the House and Clinton plans, to an enforcement tool to be used if businesses fail to cover their employees. Mitchell’s plan is a slow, eight-year stroll toward universal coverage, slower than Americans deserve, but perhaps the best they can expect from Congress for now. Bowing to political reality, Clinton says he will accept Mitchell’s proposal, but will accept nothing less.
And that’s a small slice of what happened today – along with another day of Woodstock and the continuing adventures this August 13, 1994 as presented by The CBS World News Roundup.
Editors note: apologies for the sudden electronic bursts on this newscast – the original DAT tape was badly deteriorated and this was the best transfer I could do
