Pubdate: Wed, 01 May 2002
Source: Athens Banner-Herald (GA)
Copyright: 2002 Athens Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.onlineathens.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1535

WOMAN HANGS SELF IN MOTEL AFTER CONCERT BINGE

Troubles Continue To Follow Widespread Panic Tour

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A Minnesota woman who had been following a popular 
Athens band from city to city hanged herself at a Homewood hotel after a 
concert.

Jennifer Susan Moe, 24, used a hotel shower curtain to hang herself from a 
second-story balcony at a Red Roof Inn after attending a concert by 
Widespread Panic, said Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Jay Glass.

Moe's friends told police she had been smoking marijuana, drinking alcohol 
and taking Ecstasy and cocaine. She was discovered at about 9:30 a.m. 
Saturday, suspended from the outside railing at the rear of the hotel, 
Glass said. She left no suicide note.

Moe wasn't registered at the hotel. She went there to party with friends 
after Friday night's concert at Oak Mountain Amphitheater, authorities 
said. She had been moving from concert to concert.

''She'd been following them for a long time,'' her father, Jerry Moe, told 
the Mobile Register for a Tuesday story.

Police said Erica Young, 29, of Chattanooga died Saturday night after 
taking Ecstasy. She collapsed about 10 p.m. inside the amphitheater during 
the concert and died minutes later. Shelby County Coroner Doug Ballard Jr. 
said Monday it appeared Young died of a drug overdose.

About 200 people were arrested on drug charges during a three-night 
undercover crackdown at the series of rock concerts.

About half of the arrests at the outdoor show of Widespread Panic were 
felony drug cases. The rest involved misdemeanor drug and underage drinking 
charges.

The crackdown, called Operation Don't Panic, was conducted Friday, Saturday 
and Sunday nights at the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre by agents of the state 
alcoholic beverage control board and Pelham police.

Police cracked down on Widespread Panic fans during a Savannah concert last 
week, mostly for drug offenses.
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