OFFICIALS FIND HEAD SHOP A HEADACHE

Lighting Up In Lompoc

Becky Gage hardly looks like the type of business owner that city leaders
would want to run out of town. But Gage, along with her husband Dave, caused
a small uproar in Lompoc this month when they opened a new store, called The
Head Shop.

Along with incense and posters, the Santa Maria couple sells water pipes, or
"bongs" -- products they say are for tobacco consumption. However, the
colorful devices, made in the mold of everything from South Park characters
to the Pink Panther, are usually associated with marijuana use.

That has led Mayor Dick DeWees to speak out against the shop, and has the
Gages defending their right to do business.

"The city leaders, I feel, have one thing on their minds that we're doing,
and they refuse to accept anything beyond that," Becky Gage said.

DeWees doesn't buy the tobacco use argument -- he says the shop promotes
drug use.

"I don't see it as something we need downtown," said DeWees, who has not
been inside the store. "It's not the image we want to send regarding the
downtown and city of Lompoc as well."

The conflict harkens back to the early 1980s, when the Legislature made it
illegal to sell or manufacture items, like bongs and roach clips, solely for
use with illegal substances. In those years, head shops were relatively
common in Isla Vista and Santa Barbara.

Though head shops all but died out in the county during the 1990s, a few
stores now include bongs, pipes and rolling papers among their merchandise,
though signs in the stores say the items are for use with tobacco products.

The Gage's shop in the 100 block of South H Street is well-lit, and sells
"black light" posters, beaded curtains and glow-in-the-dark stickers. In
addition to water pipes, there are also wooden and hand-blown glass pipes,
ashtrays and lighters.

Signs warn that tobacco-related items will not be sold to people under 18,
and that the shop owners do "not condone the use of illicit substances."

The couple owns a similar shop in Santa Maria.

"I'm not doing anything illegal," Becky Gage said. "They have to prove I'm
doing something illegal to shut me down."

It is not against the law to sell drug paraphernalia in California, but
state ordinances limit the way items can be displayed, according to Police
Chief William F. Brown, Jr.

DeWees has been particularly concerned about the shop's location, in the
heart of an area the city is trying to revitalize. The store is located near
two bars, a dry cleaners, a bookstore and coffee shop, and a barbershop.

"We are obviously very concerned about economic development," DeWees said.
"But this is not something we see as a real asset."

With anticipated annual sales of about $100,000, Dave Gage says The Head
Shop is just the kind of popular, profitable business the area needs. Based
on those projected earnings, the city will receive about $1,000 in sales tax
revenue, in addition to about $90 for the store's business license.

The shop has received mixed reaction from local residents as well.

Lompoc resident Christina Vasquez was one of about a half-dozen customers in
the store late Wednesday morning. She and a friend eventually purchased a
$25 beaded curtain with a mushroom design.

"If people don't like it, they don't have to come in," Vasquez said.
"They're not disturbing anyone. They're not loud."

But just a few moments later, longtime Lompoc resident Mary Lou Phillips
walked in, her hands held over her mouth in apparent dismay.

"We have teen-agers that hang around here," Phillips said. "This is only
going to draw more trouble. We have enough shootings in America. We don't
need them getting high."

Police Chief Brown, agreed, particularly since Old Town is a popular weekend
evening hangout for teen-agers.

"From the general health and well-being of the community, it disappoints
me," Brown said. "This charade they play that it's tobacco-smoking products
is insulting in many respects. Anything that promotes the drug culture, or
promotes the use of illegal substances, is detrimental to the health and
well-being of the community."

Though community protests scuttled the opening of an adult materials shop a
few years ago in Lompoc, the Gages won't let complaints get the best of
them, they said.

"There's nothing they can do," Dave Gage said. "The police chief or the
mayor, they can't do anything. We're here to stay."