MAYOR'S POT BUST HAS SOME THINKING

If you found out one of your best friends was selling marijuana,
would it change your opinion of your friend or the marijuana?

It sounds like some people in little Wilton, Iowa, are struggling
with the news that their mayor, Dick Summy, has been arrested and
charged with trafficking marijuana. It's a pretty serious deal for
the 56-year-old.

Trafficking is a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in
prison. Violating the state's tax-stamp law is a Class D felony and
carries a maximum sentence of five years. And Sean McCullough, a
supervisor for the Iowa Department of Public Safety's Narcotics
Enforcement Division, said Monday that more charges could be coming.

He didn't get into the specific evidence the state has against Summy
but said, "We have enough evidence to lead to the arrest.

"His drug network spread over the Des Moines area," he added.

The mayor's alleged drug dealings still are under investigation, he
said, but the Polk County end of things is wrapped up.

"Additional arrests, if any, would be closer to home," McCullough
said, referring to the Wilton area.

Some of the mayor's peers had a surprising reaction to the news.
Richard Garrison, the councilman who is filling in for him as mayor,
called Summy "a nice, honorable person" and said he would "give him a
hug" if he could.

The city attorney reminded folks the mayor's only been charged -- not
convicted.

It's a safe bet that the mayor of a town the size of Wilton (about
2,900) has friends and enemies. In fact, we know from recent history
that he got sideways with the former police chief over an incident
involving another cop.

Ultimately, the chief resigned.

And surely there are residents of Wilton, about 40 miles west of the
Quad-Cities, who have some kind of bone to pick with the mayor.
That's just how it works in small towns.

But it's the people who are rushing to Summy's defense that interest
me. It's a get-in-their-heads kind of desire, wondering how a person
decides whether to stand by somebody who's accused of doing something
they ordinarily would find disdainful.

Are some of the people of a town that the U.S. Census Bureau says is
almost entirely white and has only a 12.6 percent divorce rate now
reconsidering their views on marijuana?

Is it possible that a crime once instantly dismissed as worthy of a
decade in prison could now seem somehow explainable? Somehow not so bad?

It'll probably depend on the details.

If the cops say Summy was delivering pounds of pot to an elderly
group of glaucoma sufferers in Des Moines, he may get some backing.
If it turns out he was dealing to college students in Iowa City,
things could go the other way.

A year-long investigation by state narcotics agents is a fairly
generous investment that will no doubt produce even more town
tongue-wagging as details emerge. The mayor will no doubt keep some
friends. Maybe he'll lose some, too.

A 56-year-old mayor from a small Iowa town doesn't fit the dope dealer profile.

And maybe that's what some find forgivable?