GAINESVILLE HEMPFEST

Orange, blue -- and green -- fill city

Alcohol, disruptions, keep police busy

Saturday proved a hitchless University of Florida Homecoming.

Thousands of orange-and-blue tailgators seemingly packed every parking
lot in the city, enjoying the mild weather and the football victory.

Geared to those more interested in green, the annual Hempfest produced
signatures for a medical marijuana initiative but no arrests.

In the morning, a distinguished audience that included Justices
Charlie Wells and Ben Overton of Florida Supreme Court attended annual
law student skits.

In a motorhome encampment after the game, Johnny Kelly, owner of
Kelly's Shell Station in Gainesville, enjoyed tailgate fare with a
dozen relatives and friends.

The motorhome row was a little more orderly because the university
this year began charging for assigned parking spots.

"I had to pay $200 for this spot," said Kelly, who often takes his
motorhome on the road to watch the Gators.

Parking spots and fund-raising were oft-mentioned topics in skits
performed by the John Marshall Bar Association of the UF College of
Law.

The entire program was modeled on a mock telethon to raise money for a
new building.

One call to the telethon mimicked Coach Steve Spurrier saying that
since the University Athletic Assocation had appropriated the law
school parking lot on football Saturdays, that they could take over
the library as well.

Impersonators of law Dean Richard Matasar and his thick mustache gave
the school the theme song, "Money, Money, Money."

UF President John Lombardi and U.S. President Bill Clinton also took a
few jibes.

Mostly though, the future lawyers aimed their barbs at prominent law
professors, such as Joe Little, who was parodied for claiming to
nurture legal minds while expelling students for minor breaches of
classroom etiquette.

In the afternoon at the downtown plaza, the Coalition Advocating
Medical Marijuana made a low-key plea to get Florida to join seven
other states in allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for their patients.

Paul Adams, a 48-year-old AIDS patient from Daytona Beach, told the
audience of several hundred that he takes two or three puffs off his
pot pipe to relieve pain in his extremities, to whet his appetite and
to ease insomnia.

Kevin Aplin, the event organizer, said marijuana proponents trying to
a get a constitutional amendment on the 2000 ballot currently are
counting signatures to determine whether they have reached the 45,000
threshold for forcing Florida Supreme Court review of the initiative.

After that the coalition still must gather 435,000 total signatures to
get its issue on the statewide ballot.

The political focus was a marked changed from years past when the
festivals featured "doobie tosses" and confrontations with police.

Breaking with tradition, Police Chief Don Shinnamon assigned only
three officers to the event compared to the 80-plus police personnel
seen in previous years.

"That intimidating presence is not here today, and I'm happy for it,"
said Steve Schell, a clean-cut UF student.

The reduced police presence did bring back one tradition though: An
attendee here and there lighting up for apparently nonmedicinal purposes.

Alcohol, disruptions, keep police busy

Police ejected 51 individuals - and arrested 12 - at University of
Florida events this weekend.

Twenty-eight people were ejected - 10 of the them UF students - during
Gator Growl on Friday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, according to
University Police Department reports.

Most of the ejections were for ticket switching, use of distraction
devices and alcohol violations. Four people were arrested for alcohol

violations.

Twenty-three people - again, 10 of them UF students - were ejected
during the University of Florida-University of South Carolina football
game on Saturday, reports said. Eight people were arrested for alcohol
violations.

Rescue workers were also kept busy at the game, treating 74 people,
most of them minor, most of them alcohol-related. Two people were
transported to Shands for treatment, one for cardiac problems and the
other for abdominal pains, according to an Alachua County Fire Rescue
report.

Before the game, Alachua County and Gainesville Fire Rescue workers
also responded to a small chlorine leak at the O'Connell Center, where
some pedestrians complained about the strong smell.

Paramedics also treated and released a 13-year-old boy who was walking
into the stadium when he was hit by a truck making deliveries to
concession stands, report said.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady