In a scenario reminiscent of Woodstock's decades-old battle to find a place to play, organizers for Phish [ tickets ]'s proposed multi-day year-end festival are facing a growing campaign to keep their festival out of Florida's Okeechobee County. The resistance movement has grown from County Sheriff Ed Miller's fears that the event would not only invite widespread drug use into an avowed zero-tolerance region, but could also provoke terrorist activities.

In late May, county officials unanimously approved an initial plan for the Vermont-based jam band to mount a 5-day festival on 500 acres of ranch land. The festival, expected to draw as many as 70,000 fans, would pour a projected $7 million into the region.

County officials will not issue the final permit for the event without the approval of the Sheriff, who last week reportedly met with local church members opposed to the event. In statements made at the time of the vote, the Sheriff said that he simply didn't have the manpower to police an event of this magnitude, in part because his officers will be on the lookout for Y2K problems throughout the region.

Event promoter Great Northeast Productions has said that they are willing to provide a security force of 300, but Miller wants local, uniformed officers at the event to enforce the county's zero-tolerance drug policy. Great Northeast's David Werlin told the Palm Beach Post that a little reasearch revealed ''plenty of law enforcement officers who were ready, willing and able, and who wanted the overtime for that time period.''

Event organizers have acknowledged that they are considering a number of alternate venues for the event, which was originally targeted to take place in Hawaii.