FAIR PUTS LID ON MARIJUANA GROUP

Organizers In Medina Reject Norml's Request For Booth

Lighters Sparked Controversy Last Year

MEDINA - Organizers of the Medina County Fair have just said no to a group
of activists seeking to legalize marijuana.

John Hartman, president of the Cleveland Chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said fair officials
contacted him yesterday, saying the group's application to set up a booth
at the weeklong fair, which opens July 30, has been rejected.

Hartman said fair officials reiterated their objection from last year to
the group's selling lighters that encourage the legalization of marijuana.

At last year's fair, NORML's sale of lighters ignited a controversy after
fair officials objected, citing fears youngsters would use the $1 lighters
to set fires in barns.

Hartman said he thinks fair officials were not worried about the lighters,
but more concerned about kids walking around with souvenirs emblazoned with
NORML's logo.

"I think this all has to do with politics," he said. "I think they are
still mad that all the media showed up last year when they blocked the sale
of the lighters. That's what embarrassed them."

Newspaper and broadcast media reporters descended on the fair last year to
report on the controversy. Fair board President Dave Bertram said the
group's booth contract last year clearly prohibited the sale of lighters.

Since NORML violated the rules, Bertram said, the fair board decided to
reject the group's request to return to this month's fair.

Besides, he said, the board didn't think NORML fit in with the Commercial
Building's other exhibitors, which range from Amway to the Republican Party
to the Ohio National Guard.

"We just felt the booth wasn't appropriate for a family operation," he
said. "We work hard to try and maintain a family image."

Hartman said the group was just seeking a venue to spread its message and
the fair board's actions over the last two years have helped it accomplish
that goal.

"It's a police state out there in Medina County," he said.