Free Republic

D.C. Tractor Tussle Ends PeacefullyWASHINGTON, March 19, 2003 A two-day standoff in the nation's capital between police and a man in a tractor is over. The man gave up Wednesday morning and is now in police custody. North Carolina tobacco farmer Dwight Watson held police at bay since Monday afternoon, when he drove a large tractor into a shallow pond near the Washington Monument. Police said Watson, 50, claimed to have explosives when the incident began. Van Harp, FBI agent in charge of the Washington office, refused to say whether any explosives were found in the tractor after the...

Dwight Ware Watson, the man engaged in a marathon standoff with law enforcement on the Mall, said today that he has explosives but does not intend to harm anyone. He said he came to Washington on a "mission" to get a message to the American public that he and other tobacco farmers are being forced out of business by unfair government policies.