Tobacco farmer still behind bars

WASHINGTON -- The North Carolina tobacco farmer whose two-day tractor protest led to gridlock in the nation's capital caused another commotion Tuesday, this time in a federal courtroom.

"You have put us out of business," Dwight Ware Watson, 50, shouted at a federal judge during his detention hearing. At the time, a U.S. Park Police detective was testifying that Washington businesses lost money during Watson's protest.

U.S Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola ordered Watson be removed from the courtroom and quickly left himself after summoning U.S. marshals.

The judge allowed Watson's attorney, Bravitt C. Manley Jr., and Whitakers, N.C., Police Chief Charles Metters to try to calm Watson so the hearing could resume.

Manley had planned to call three character witnesses from Watson's hometown to help win his release, but told the judge after the outburst that his client would not contest the charges or detention.

Facciola found probable cause for charges of making a false threat to use explosives and ordered Watson held pending trial.

Watson drove a tractor -- and later pulled a Jeep and flatbed trailer -- into a small park located near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Washington Monument on March 17.

He claimed to have placed explosives in his vehicles and elsewhere in the Washington area. Police said Watson also demanded that the city be evacuated.

He surrendered after 48 hours, and authorities found only one non-explosive practice grenade.

The standoff inconvenienced thousands of commuters and several nearby federal agencies.

Watson's neighbor, Greg Macky, who was among the friends and family in the courtroom, described Watson as harmless, but frustrated by government policies.

"In order to get heard, he had to make a scene," Macky said.