YOUTH RALLY GOES ON DESPITE TURNOUT

A youth rally Wednesday afternoon at the Central Church of Christ attracted
only a handful of people -- and no youths -- but community organizers took
the opportunity to protest the Rockefeller drug laws and the effect they
have had on Rochester's young people.

The rally's purpose was to send a message on behalf of young people that
drug laws disproportionately affect the black and Hispanic populations, are
unfair and need to be repealed.

Several people spoke, including Minister Clifford Florence of the Central
Church of Christ.

An ex-convict who said he received the maximum sentence after his first
drug-related offense and was forced to watch his children grow up from
prison also spoke at Wednesday's rally.

The drug statutes were put into place in the mid-1970s at the behest of
Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, who said New York's urban areas were being
blighted by heroin abuse. The laws allowed prisoners to be sentenced to up
to 15 years to life in prison for first-time offenses.

"Education is the answer," said George Moses, an outreach worker for
Northeast Area Development Inc. "Not incarceration."

Wednesday's rally, on the steps of a church that sits between the Monroe
County jail and the Rochester School District's Central Office, was over
after 10 minutes. Still, organizers remained upbeat about their mission.
"Do you think we get discouraged when no one shows up?" Moses said. "No. It
just reminds us we have more work to do."