N.C. Tobacco Farmer Faces Sentencing

Source from:  WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC) RALEIGH, N.C. 06/24/2004

The final chapter in the saga of "Tractor Man" could be written Wendesday when Dwight Ware Watson is sentenced in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Watson is the North Carolina tobacco farmer who snarled traffic for nearly three days just before the start of the Iraq war. The 47-hour incident began on March 17,2003, when Watson drove his tractor into a pond in Constitution Gardens. He was convicted last September of making a false threat to detonate explosives and destroying federal property. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered Watson to undergo a mental evaluation before learning his fate. He could face as much as 20 years in prison but is likely to draw a lesser sentence. Watson drove to the District to call attention to the plight of American tobacco farmers. He claims changes in government tobacco policies have ruined him financially. Enditem