A narcotics checkpoint set up last June outside the popular Telluride Bluegrass Festival will not take place this year, local law-enforcement departments reported this week.

Prompted by a class-action lawsuit filed by concert organizer Planet Bluegrass, participants in the 22nd Judicial District Drug Task Force agreed to refrain from conducting such checkpoints until the courts decide on their constitutionality.

"It was a board decision that we are not going to participate this year while we see what the outcome of this case is, but I do not think anything we did was legally wrong," said Dolores County Sheriff Jerry Martin on Tuesday.

Instead of the narcotics checkpoint, local police, operating separately from the drug task force, will conduct a DUI checkpoint at the intersections of highways 145 and 184, above the town of Dolores, to coincide with the festival.

The Montezuma and Dolores sheriff’s departments along with the Cortez Police Department will participate in the DUI checkpoint, scheduled for June 21.

"We’re going to do the sobriety checkpoint for now," Montezuma County Sheriff Joey Chavez told the commissioners on Monday. "We said in the newspaper that we will comply with the law on these things and will continue to do so."

The decision to hold off was welcomed by Planet Bluegrass, whose organizers charge that drug checkpoints violate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures.

"It meets our client’s needs that they gave temporary assurances the drug checkpoint will not happen for this year’s concert, but we are definitely still seeking a permanent injunction to prevent these illegal stops from occurring in the future," said Jason Slade Spillman, counsel for Planet Bluegrass.

Martin said his department will not agree to a settlement in the case, which is expected to go to a jury trial, Spillman said. Negotiations by Planet Bluegrass to have the task force discontinue the stops in exchange for dropping the suit failed.

Montezuma, Dolores and La Plata counties and the cities of Cortez and Durango are listed in the civil suit filed this month in U.S. District Court. The law-enforcement departments all participated in the checkpoint under the auspices of the 22nd Judicial Drug Task Force.

La Plata Sheriff Duke Schirard said his office has not been contacted about participating in another checkpoint, and would not consider it unless asked. Schirard added that he does not conduct narcotics checkpoints in La Plata County, preferring instead to rely on investigative measures to enforce drug laws.

Telluride’s own San Miguel County Sheriff, Bill Masters, has been outspoken against the tactic and has chosen not to participate, believing such intervention violate civil liberties.

Concert-goers driving through Rico on their way to the Telluride festival last June were stopped based on minor traffic violations or other suspicious actions, and then asked by police for permission to search vehicles for drugs. Narcotics dogs circled vehicles and indicated whether controlled substances might be on board.

Following police searches, a dozen so-called "festivarians" were arrested for possession of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms.

Concealed spotters were instructed to watch for "furtive behavior or movements" from drivers passing the signs, and to collect discarded evidence, according to the drug stops’ operation plan, dubbed "Catch 22."

Planet Bluegrass attorneys point to a November 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled such drug checkpoints violate the Constitution. The high court ruled that narcotics possession is considered an "ordinary crime" that does not warrant a traffic stop.

Sobriety, or DUI, checkpoints have been upheld by the Supreme Court as a legitimate police tactic.

"For Planet Bluegrass, this case is about principle," Spillman said. "(The defendants) say the stops are reasonable, we say they are not, and the Supreme Court has ruled they are unconstitutional."

Martin said claims by those arrested or searched were exaggerated. He maintains that the observation tactic is a legitimate law-enforcement tool to prevent drug-trafficking.

Martin was hopeful that the DUI checkpoint would be effective, but stressed that "the basic reason for sobriety checkpoints is drunk drivers."