Dj Power: Trashed Library -- Radio Gimmick Leads To Big Money Search

FORT WORTH, Texas - People stormed the Fort Worth Public Library, tearing pages from books and throwing volumes on the floor, after a disc jockey hoping to encourage reading announced that he had hidden money in the stacks.

"Times are tough. I don't know if they're that tough, though," said Marsha Anderson, library spokeswoman.

People were "climbing the shelves, stepping on each other and elbowing people in the face" to get at books Tuesday, Anderson said.

When it was over, the library was a shambles, with several thousand dollars' worth of damage.

Listeners of KYNG-FM disc jockey A.W. Pantoja told library officials that the country station had hidden up to $10,000 in the books. But program director Dan Pearman said Pantoja had offered only $100.

"He thought putting a few dollars here and there might motivate people to go to the library," Pearman said yesterday.

The Dallas station said it will pay for the damage.

"It was never my intent to destroy a library," Pantoja said. "The last thing in the world I would want is to destroy a library." He said that "a little more than $100" of his own money was put into library books by a station producer.

Pantoja didn't ask the library for permission first.

"It was kind of a last-minute inspiration, and typically when he does that kind of stuff, 30 or 40 people show up and then they leave," Pearman said.

About 500 people were in the first wave to hit the library.

Librarians thought it was a joke, then realized they had a problem.

"I made an announcement over the public-address system that the contest was over," Anderson said. "That worked real well. Three hundred people kind of vaporized."

The city is looking into criminal charges and will alert the Federal Communications Commission.