North Carolina: 'Tractor Man' Back Home, Relaxing and Considering Next Move

Source from:  By MARGARET LILLARD, Associated Press Writer 07/05/2004

The tobacco farmer who closed down the National Mall by driving his tractor into a pond and threatening to detonate explosives was back in North Carolina on Saturday, getting his first full night's sleep since he was released from jail, a spokesman said. Dwight Ware Watson, 51, was released from custody Thursday night in Washington, met with a federal probation officer on Friday and drove back to a friend's home in North Carolina that afternoon. "He had the first good night's sleep he's had since this whole thing started," family spokesman Ed Brock said by phone from Henderson. "He's convalescing and considering his situation." On March 17, 2003, Watson splashed his tractor into a pond on the National Mall and told police he had bombs. That prompted a 47-hour standoff during which streets in the area were blocked off, and earned him the nickname "Tractor Man." He was sentenced June 23 to six years in prison. But on Wednesday, the same judge slashed the sentence to 16 months, most of which Watson had served since his arrest. The judge cited a recent Supreme Court ruling on use of sentencing guidelines. During his court appearances, Watson was repeatedly warned against trying to turn his case into a forum on federal tobacco policy. Prosecutors are considering an appeal that could lead to reinstatement of his six-year sentence. Brock said Watson was consequently keeping a low profile, as much to get some rest and deal with the troubled family farm in Whitakers, about 55 miles east of Raleigh, as to avoid aggravating the court. Two Web sites, one promoting Watson's case and the other outlining the farm's history, were taken down until Watson and his lawyer could review them. Watson was staying with longtime friend David Cox, an engineer from Blounts Creek who met him in Washington and brought him back to North Carolina - to the chagrin of his brother George Watson Jr., who had been waiting outside the federal probation office to see his brother. It was a simple miscommunication, Brock said: "They weren't really expecting to see him. They were hiding from the media and didn't realize he was there." It may be a while before Dwight Watson decides whether he will return to the farm, which has been in his family for 150 years, Brock said. The family once grew tobacco and ran an agricultural seed operation on 1,500 acres. The remaining 1,000 acres are still owned by Watson and his siblings, though they are threatened with foreclosure by the end of the year. "Even though Dwight has been released from jail, he still has a huge load of issues to deal with as far as the farm is concerned," Brock said. "That's something he's going to have to resolve, I think, within himself before he will be in a position to answer that question." Much of the case hangs on what happens with a proposed tobacco buyout that would pay farmers to leave the Depression-era federal program that sets price and production controls on U.S. tobacco. "We are still hoping to get a buyout through (Congress) this year, because if it doesn't come through this year it might as well not at all," Brock said. Enditem