HEMP FEST BEGINNING TO MELLOW OUT

EPHRATAH - The Woodrock '98 Hempfest took place Saturday at the Rockwood
General Store.

Event organizers were hoping that New York state gubernatorial candidate
Thomas K. Leighton would make an appearance, but due to his schedule he was
unable to attend.

Walter Wouk of NORML a group opposed to marijuana regulation, said Leighton
was in Albany Wednesday and Thursday, and it would not have been possible
for him to make the event.

By early afternoon Saturday, fewer than 100 people had gathered on the
grounds of the Rockwood General Store. Wouk said he thought more people
would come to the event later in the afternoon. He estimated around 1,000
people would attend the event.

Ina V. Stone Kurz, the organizer of the event, also said she thought there
would be more people attending in the evening. She said she was happy with
the way the event was turning out.

A spokesman for the Fulton County Sheriff's Department said the event was
giving the department no problems at all. Kurz said she was told the
sheriff's department was not going to interfere.

Kurz has a lawsuit pending against Fulton County officials regarding police
interference at last years event.

Wouk said the event is a conscious raising effort to provide the correct
facts to the public to alleviate the fears many associate with the
consumption of marijuana.

"We try to focus on getting the truth out," he said.

Of all the groups of people he speaks to, he said, he finds the greatest
support from the over-60 crowd. Many tell him they find marijuana helps to
relieve pain from a variety of conditions.

He said he works with the disabled. He would conservatively estimate 50
percent of the people he works with use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett