POP/ROCK - Aug. 3, 1988

All is sweetness and light between police associations and singer Willie Nelson these days. Peace officers in West Virginia and three other states have dropped plans to picket a Nelson appearance in Charleston, W. Va., this week because Nelson announced he would give a concert to benefit both police and American Indian causes. Police nationwide had been critical of Nelson’s appearance last October at an Orange County benefit for Leonard Peltier, an American Indian activist serving two life sentences for the 1975 slayings of two FBI agents. About 800 officers from four states demonstrated at the Friday concert in Warwick, R.I., but canceled their Saturday protest after Nelson agreed to the new benefit concert.