re: That time hippies came to Pointe Coupee Parish - 1971 Festival of Life

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And there were at least three deaths:

Randy Runkle, 19, of Elmira, Ohio, died Sunday in a medical tent following an overdose of methadone.

Wayne Edward Green, 19, of New Orleans, drowned Friday and his body was recovered two days later.

Edwin Thomas Hardy Jr., 20, of Atlanta, drowned Wednesday, the day before the festival began, and his body was recovered the following Saturday. Both were sucked under by the Atchafalaya, which is reputed to have one of the swiftest currents of any river in the country

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“We had the unbelievable situation of the stage prestructures being built without the metal bars being pinned down. The kids were working on them in a storm and down it came. I can’t forget the scene: the rain was coming down and there was a boy with two of the pipes run through him. We had to hold the pipes steady all the way to the hospital at Baton Rouge so they wouldn’t move. You’d think by now I’d be objective about all this. I wasn’t. I cried all the way back.

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