IN BAD TASTE? PERHAPS ILLEGAL? NO, SAY OFFICIALS

WINSTED -- Hemp leaves painted on a High Street home do not violate
any laws, officials said.

The resident of the 24 High St. home is Christopher Seek-ins, 26,
who was arrested Oct. 20, 2005, by Winchester police and charged
with the cultivation and possession of marijuana, possession with
intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia. About
185 marijuana plants were found in his home, police said.

"If he's the owner of the house, that's true," Deputy Chief Robert
Scannell said when asked if Seekins could paint his house however he
wishes. "There may be some building codes or zoning regulations
regarding signage that I'm not aware of that may be violated."

The painted leaves do not violate any town ordinances that Town
Planner Ray Carpentino could think of, he said.

"Nothing that I know of under my control," Carpen-tino said. "Just
like signage regulations, we can't regulate content -- it's illegal
for us to regulate content. We can regulate the size, the location,
the material but somebody painting their house is beyond our
planning and zoning."

Zoning regulations have multiple definitions of a sign but it is
basically defined as "something that advertises either a business or
merchandise sold on a property or a service provided," Carpentino said.

"There's nothing in the property maintenance code that it violates,"
Fire Marshal Joseph Beadle said.

Winchester police arrived at Seekins' home last October as part of
an in-home evaluation by the Northwest Mental Health Mobile Crisis
Unit, police reported following Seekins' arrest. Marijuana odors
were detected coming from inside the house and an investigation was
conducted, they said.

In a motion to dismiss charges against him in Bantam Superior Court
on Jan. 12, 2006, Seekins claimed the search warrant was faulty and
the arrest was therefore illegal, preventing police from taking
evidence from his home. He also said they couldn't have smelled the
odor over the smells emanating from a nearby restaurant.

Seekins could not be reached by phone for comment Wednesday.