MARIJUANA ADVOCATES TO PROTEST U.S. OPEN OF SURFING

Members of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws Say
They Plan to Picket After They Were Denied a Booth at the Competition.

HUNTINGTON BEACH Marijuana advocates plan to protest the U.S. Open of
Surfing after they said they were denied a booth at the
world-renowned competition.

Officials with the Orange County chapter of the National Organization
to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) said they were refused a booth after
being told by an organizer that the city and event sponsors did not
support the group's message. The group advocates the repeal of
marijuana prohibition and the use of medical marijuana.

U.S. Open officials deny the accusation, stating that the refusal was
purely a business decision. City officials said they have nothing to
do with the granting of booths and denied having any kind of say.

"We're still going to be there anyway," said Kandice Hawes, president
of the organization's Orange County chapter.

About a hundred people from NORML and supporters plan to picket the
event on July 26 and 27.

James Leitz, executive producer of the U.S. Open of Surfing, said the
group was denied a booth this year because he said they had
misrepresented themselves last year, applying under the guise of
another organization.

Leitz said last year an Anaheim man handed in an application under
the vendor name of "Steve's List." The application didn't mention
marijuana, according to Leitz and a copy of the document given to the Register.

"Then all of a sudden all of this marijuana stuff goes up in the
booth," Leitz said. "That alone right there is not how we play. I
don't care who you are... That's a check mark against you."

Steve Lawrence who put in the application for Steve's List said that
he spoke to an organizer last year and let her know that his Web site
www.steveslist.info was dedicated to the cannibas patient community.
The Web site is now defunct.

Lawrence, a member of NORML, said he filled out the application
truthfully and didn't think he had to include cannibas or marijuana
on the document.

"I filled it out as well as they expected," Lawrence said. "What I
see is that they just don't want NORML there..."

Lawrence said he allowed the NORML group members share the booth with
him for a few days last year as long as they paid half of the cost.
He and Hawes said none of the U.S. Open officials asked them to leave
or even approached them about the issue.

"They're just trying to make up an excuse," Hawes said.

Instead, Hawes said a female organizer told her on several occasions
that "they called Huntington Beach and that they didn't want us there
and didn't support our kind of organization and said that the
sponsors didn't want us there anyway."

Leitz denies the accusations, stating that he stands by the decision
to exclude the group.

"I myself personally have to worry about the 8-year-old kid... I have
to worry about the message we're sending," Leitz said. "I have to
worry about the family-friendly atmosphere. I think OC NORML's
message ... or what have you is vague. We just don't' think it's
appropriate for the family-friendly nature of the event."