ACTIVIST GELT PLEADS GUILTY TO POT CHARGE

WASHINGTON - Ben Gelt, who ran a gun-control campaign all the way to the
White House, found himself in a less illustrious landmark in the nation's
capital Wednesday as he pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana.

Gelt, 21, son of Denver Councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt and former Colorado
Democratic chairman Howard Gelt, stood in District of Columbia Superior
Court to plead guilty to possession of 16.8 grams of marijuana in his dorm
room at American University.

Gelt will serve no jail time and a drug-trafficking charge was dismissed in
exchange for his plea. He will serve six months of unsupervised probation
in Colorado, at the end of which he can have his record wiped clean. He
also was ordered to pay $150 into a crime victims' fund. He was accompanied
to court by Barnes-Gelt.

"I'd like to apologize for this humongous mistake," Gelt told District of
Columbia Superior Court Judge Mildred Edwards. "I'm wanting to not be
around any illegal activity again in my life."

Gelt, now enrolled at the University of Colorado, got some high- powered
support from U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, a Boulder Democrat, who wrote to the
judge about Gelt's political activism. Gelt was inspired by the 1999
Columbine High School massacre to become a student leader in Colorado's
gun-control movement. Gelt and a friend organized nearly 100 Colorado
students to travel to Washington, where they lobbied Congress and had a
private meeting with then-President Clinton.

"As Ben faces his own difficult time in life, I hope you will consider the
contributions this young man has made - and most importantly - what those
contributions say about his character and spirit," Udall wrote.

But Gelt got a lecture from the judge about hypocrisy in fighting to stop
gun violence while smoking marijuana, which she said fuels gun crime in the
streets. She said marijuana is at the root of more gun crimes in Washington
than cocaine or heroin.

"You can't have a double standard about this anymore," Edwards said.
"People are dead in the District of Columbia because of marijuana."

Gelt said after the hearing he was surprised by that.

"There's not a lot of street crime around American University, so it's hard
for someone from my socioeconomic background to realize that," he said.

Gelt was arrested as part of a sting operation at the private university.
Prosecutors said Washington police served a search warrant on his room Feb.
21 and found three bags of marijuana in his desk after he told them where
to look.

Prosecutor Tony Quinn, citing Gelt's political work, questioned whether he
was getting special treatment in being allowed to serve probation without
orders to check in with a probation officer.

But Edwards said she was giving Gelt the same second chance she would give
any first-time offender.