MAYOR'S RACE FEATURES 'POTHEAD,' PIG FARMER

Rhode Island Incumbent Flies South Amid Questions

JOHNSTON, R.I. -- It's quite a choice for mayor this year: The incumbent,
William Macera, was pulled over by police with a campaign aide who was
charged with driving while using marijuana.

The same day, write-in candidate Louis Vinagro was charged with threatening
a state official trying to inspect his pig farm. Then there's George
Resnick, a Republican candidate considered a long shot in this heavily
Democratic community.

"I don't want to vote for a pothead," Anthony Esposito, a 77-year-old
retiree, said yesterday as he entered a restaurant next to Town Hall. "I
might vote for the pig farmer. He isn't a bad person. He gives a lot of
money away to charity."

The mayoral race in this town of 27,000 took its odd twist Tuesday, when
Macera and his aide, school custodian Alan Iemma, were pulled over.

The mayor said he and Iemma had left a school meeting for some fresh air
and drove toward the state dump, where Macera said he frequently goes to
inspect complaints about odors. Police said the car Iemma was driving
matched the description of one suspected in a series of break-ins, so they
stopped him.

In court affidavits, police said the inside of the car smelled strongly of
marijuana, that Iemma and Macera smelled of the drug and both men had
bloodshot, watery eyes.

Iemma was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of
marijuana and other counts. He denies the charges. Macera wasn't arrested,
and prosecutors say the former priest won't be charged.

Macera made a brief public statement denying wrongdoing, then boarded a
plane for what he said was a long-planned Florida vacation.

"The reports, if true, raise serious questions about who Mr. Macera
associates himself with and what types of decisions he is capable of
making," Resnick said.

Johnston residents are more accustomed to hearing about write-in candidate
Vinagro's brushes with the law.

Besides his countless scraps with the state environmental department over
his trash-recycling business, he has an extensive criminal record,
including running pit-bull fights and violating hazardous-waste laws. In
this latest run-in, Vinagro swore at the state environmental official and
ordered him off his property, police said.

Vinagro did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.