1992.04.15 - The St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Dodging County Is Costing Axl Rose

by **Blackstar** Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:15 am

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Dodging County Is Costing Axl Rose

By Kim Bell
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

Axl Rose has avoided arrest at a Chicago concert and on an Oklahoma highway, but life on the run is costing the heavy metal rocker,

Rose’s band, Guns Ν' Roses, canceled a concert in Chicago and two in Michigan after learning that St. Louis County had asked local authorities to arrest him.

He is charged with four counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of property damage stemming from a melee at the Rlverport Amphitheatre in northwest St. Louis County last summer.

Canceling the concerts was "humongously costly," Bryn Bridenthal, Rose's publicist, said Tuesday. She estimated that they had generated $1.5 million in ticket sales.

Bridenthal said, “Axl felt he should retreat to a neutral corner.”

Rose’s bond has shot up 10-fold to $100,000 because prosecutors told a judge that Rose had not surrendered yet and had plans to travel in Europe.

The band is scheduled to perform next week at an AIDS benefit in London. Dan Diemer, an assistant prosecutor in St. Louis County, said U.S. Customs had agreed to stop Rose on his way back into this country.

Robert P. McCulloch, St. Louis County prosecutor, said that a warrant had been issued for Rose’s arrest in August when the charges were filed but that Rose had been told he could surrender at his convenience.

Eight months passed, and McCulloch said he decided to take action now because Rose was performing near St. Louis. Last week, police were asked to stop the band’s bus as it left a concert in Oklahoma City and headed for Chicago. Oklahoma police stopped the bus but were told Rose had gone to Little Rock, Ark.

Rose skipped out of a concert in Chicago on Friday before the Cook County Sheriff's Department could enforce a bench warrant posted by the St. Louis County prosecutor's office.

Bridenthal said Rose had offered to perform a concert for the charity of McCulloch’s choice, but McCulloch said he won’t negotiate the case until Rose surrenders. Besides, McCulloch said, another concert might not be a good idea.