DA REACTS TO PLAN TO MAKE COUNTY A POT PARADISE

A Townville man has an idea to draw tourists to Crawford County and raise
money to open Conneaut Lake Park: He wants to turn the county into a pot
smoker's paradise.

Pot plan mastermind Charles Stiles Jr. has a long history with the
drug. He spent six years in prison for possession of marijuana and in
November 2007, 57 people attended a rally in Meadville's Diamond Park
as part of his ultimately unsuccessful attempt to get a referendum
legalizing marijuana use on the ballot.

Now he wants the county's magisterial district judges to throw out all
marijuana charges, which Stiles claims would for practical purposes
make the drug legal here. He's also calling for the establishment of
marijuana-growing licenses to raise revenue.

He has sent a letter to all the five county magisterial judges asking
them to attend a public forum to discuss his plan.

If the reaction of two of the county's top law enforcers is any
indication, Stiles' invitation will get no takers.

"It's insane," said county District Attorney Francis Schultz. "Of
course not," he said when asked if he would support such a move.

"In the bizarre world, if they (district magisterial judges) would do
that, it would not make it (marijuana) legal. It would still be
against the law and people would still be arrested and charges filed,"
he said.

"The Legislature decides what's legal and what's not legal," said
Schultz, adding the magisterial district judges don't make that decision.

He said marijuana isn't legal for any reason in Pennsylvania.

Meadville Area Magisterial District Judge William Chisholm, who is
president of the Crawford County Magisterial District Judge
Association, said Stiles' "position seems rather unique."

However, he said any dismissal of charges would have to be solely on
whether the evidence presented meets the threshold required by law or
whether an agreement has been reached with the police and the defendant.

Chisholm said once a case is dismissed for lack of evidence, the
police officer would have the right to refile the charges.

He said magisterial judges take an oath to uphold the "Constitution of
the United States and the constitution of Pennsylvania and follow the
rules of the court. What he's asking is totally contrary to logic and
the rules in our system."

Furthermore, he probably won't attend the meeting, noting the judicial
canon of ethics doesn't permit judges to "take an active role in
tearing down the Constitution. Our presence on the surface would
appear to be supportive of what he wants us to do."

Stiles has a different view of the magisterial justices' role. "All
they have to do is tell the police no more pot charges," he said.

He said if no pot charges are filed, Crawford County can be advertised
as a "legal pot county," a move he said will draw lots of tourists to
the county.

His plan would include a county-issued license at $5 a plant, with the
money going to getting Conneaut Lake Park opened.

The one exception to dismissal of charges is if somebody sells the
drug without a license. "They have to keep it in their house," he
said, adding his plan also would permit no advertisement of the
product's availability.

Instead, he would set up an 800 telephone number for those growing the
plant to connect with buyers.

Advocating for his plan, Stiles cited alleged medical benefits of
marijuana for glaucoma, heart disease and other conditions. He said
cancer patients with chemotherapy "swear by it."

"It's a miracle plant," he said.