HEMPFEST CLAIMS WIN AGAINST CITY The organizer of Gainesville's annual marijuana legalization festival says his group won a "major victory" this week when a federal appeals court struck down two city ordinances aimed at regulating public gatherings. "I think the city tried to use a scorched-earth policy to prevent one group from holding an event," Kevin Aplin, president of the Florida Cannabis Action Network, also known as CAN, said Friday. Since 1989, CAN has sponsored Hempfest in Gainesville. In 1995, the city denied the group two of the three permits it needed to hold the event. In addition to a standard event permit, the city required all event organizers to obtain permits to set up sound equipment and to close streets that would be occupied during an event. The 1995 Hempfest went on as planned, after CAN filed suit against the city and was granted an injunction. The suit argued that the street closing and sound ordinances were unconstitutional. The city amended the ordinances before the case was concluded. A district court struck down the original ordinances, but found that the amended ones were constitutional. Aplin appealed that decision. On Tuesday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta ruled that both ordinances are unconstitutional prior restraints on free speech. In a brief opinion on both ordinances, the court stated that the sound ordinance was unconstitutional because it allowed the city to deny an event organizer permission to set up sound equipment. Ordinances regulating the volume of sound equipment have traditionally been upheld, the opinion noted, though ordinances allowing a city to ban sound equipment outright have been overturned. The opinion stated that under the street closing ordinance, permit applicants were not allowed "prompt judicial review" when permits are denied. Ongoing legal action between the city and CAN hasn't stopped the group from holding an event each year - though the controversy over the street closing ordinance came to a head last year. CAN threatened to file another suit in October 1999 when city officials required the group to obtain written permission from local merchants when applying for a street-closing permit. The city granted the permit the day the group was scheduled to file suit. This year's Hempfest is scheduled for Dec. 3, according to Aplin. City officials could not be reached for comment Friday.
No member comments available...
|