MEDICAL POT GROUP TARGETS PLACER DA

A team of medical marijuana advocates gathered Friday in DeWitt Center to
serve Placer County District Attorney Bradford E. Fenocchio with recall
papers. Among them were Steven W. Kubby, former Libertarian candidate for
governor and founder of the American Medical Marijuana Association, and Dr.
Jay R. Cavanaugh, a member of the AMMA's medical advisory board.

The activists want Fenocchio removed from office for, among other things,
"refusing to uphold state law maliciously prosecuting legitimate medical
marijuana patients" and charging "sick, elderly and disabled patients as
drug criminals."

Fenocchio acknowledged receipt of the notice and said he would comply with
"whatever formality is required."

When asked to comment on the merits of the allegations, he replied:

"A lot of times when you have something stated, you consider the source.
That sort of adage probably would apply to the contents of this, as well."

Fenocchio is the second district attorney to be served with recall papers
by the AMMA.

The first, Pamela Kamena, faces a May 22 vote in Marin County.

And Cavanaugh said Fenocchio won't be the last.

The Placer County document, titled "Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall
Petition," was filed with the registrar of voters, County Clerk Jim
McCauley, shortly after Fenocchio was served.

McCauley said Friday he "fully expects" the required 20 signatures to be
verified by day's end. That means Fenocchio will have seven days to write
and submit a response to be included in the petition, McCauley said.

The activists will have 160 days from that date to obtain the 14,388
signatures required to place the issue before the electorate at a special
election.

McCauley said such an election will cost Placer County approximately $575,000.

Kubby, meanwhile, made a brief appearance in court Friday to ask Superior
Court Judge John L. Cosgrove to commute his sentence and terminate
probation on two misdemeanor convictions from his high-profile
marijuana-possession-for-sale trial.

Kubby won dismissal of the felony counts after jurors voted 11-1 to acquit
him and his wife, Michele. But they found him guilty of possessing
minuscule amounts of peyote and psilocybin discovered during the January
1999 search of his house.

Cosgrove refused to terminate Kubby's probation, but rescheduled the matter
for April 27 to study other possibilities.

He also extended until May 11 the day Kubby is scheduled to begin serving a
120-day jail term in lieu of alternative sentencing.

Kubby has notified the probation department he will not abide by the
court's sentencing order.