POT PROPONENTS TAKE AIM AT POLICE

A county meeting on the voter initiative that made marijuana
possession by adults for personal use the lowest law enforcement
priority was marred by a series of verbal pot shots.

Patience and tempers were thin at the outset, as the County Council
committee meeting Tuesday night started more than 21/2 hours later
than scheduled.

Last November, almost 58 percent of the isle's voters approved the
"Peaceful Sky" law, which applies to adults on private property with
24 or fewer plants or their dried equivalent. Every private citizen
who testified Tuesday urged police to stop eradicating marijuana.

"I would think that a voter initiative would carry more weight than a
legislative initiative," said Blake Watson, who is awaiting trial on
marijuana growing charges.

Big Island police have flown three eradication missions this year, in
late June, mid-August and mid-September.

"There was an expectation when this law was passed, and from the
testimony that we're hearing, that expectation is not being met. And
we've got to come to grips with that," said Hamakua Councilman Dominic
Yagong, chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and Parks and Recreation.

"We are trying to comply with this ordinance," Police Chief Harry
Kubojiri testified. "That is why on every eradication mission, we have
our vice commander (Lt. Richard Sherlock) read this ordinance to every
participating person, and we try to inform everyone what the
parameters of this ordinance is until we get clarification from the
(state) attorney general's office."

The requested opinion has been pending for months. County Prosecutor
Jay Kimura reiterated his position that state and federal marijuana
laws take precedence over the county ordinance.

The initiative directs the council to reject grants or funding
earmarked for eradication.