SENATOR TARGETS AREA FOR POT LAWS

One state lawmaker is trying to penalize Columbia voters for enacting
softer marijuana laws in November. Opponents of the bill say it would
unfairly punish young athletes and local businesses.

The bill, introduced in the state Senate on Wednesday, would prohibit
any public school from participating in a sporting event or athletic
tournament in Columbia because of the city's "public policies
regarding marijuana."

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Gross, R-St. Charles, does not
explicitly target Columbia in its text but specifies the exact
provisions in the Columbia marijuana ordinances that voters passed in
November.

"The policies specified within the act include ordinances allowing for
the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes or ordinances limiting
misdemeanor marijuana possession fines to $250," the bill states.

Gross, who is attending the Presidential Inauguration in Washington,
D.C., could not be reached for comment.

Part of Columbia's marijuana law directs misdemeanor marijuana
possession charges to municipal court, allowing students convicted of
these charges to remain eligibile for federal financial aid. It
mandates that anyone charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession
cannot be fined more than $250.

The other portion of the law allows the use of medical marijuana for
seriously ill patients who have consent from a doctor.

Columbia is the only municipality in the state that meets the proposed
bill's guidelines.

Dan Viets, a Columbia attorney and Missouri National Organization for
the Reform Laws coordinator, said Gross is trying to score political
points for himself without understanding the ordinances.

"Obviously he's engaging in grandstanding and demagoguery by sticking
his nose into an issue he really has no business dealing with," Viets
said. "He's from St. Charles."

Viets added that the ordinances do not have anything to do with middle
or high school children.

"If he knew what he was talking about, he would know the ordinance
doesn't even apply to children," Viets said. "It's absolutely
irrelevant, which makes me think he has some other motive."

Don Laird, president of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, called the
bill "a little vindictive" and said the bill, if passed, could pull
sizable revenue away from city businesses, including restaurants and
hotels.

"It would be very damaging," Laird said. "It would take away a lot of
money from those events that bring a lot of business into Columbia."

Bruce Whitesides, the Columbia School District's director of physical
education and athletics, said he was surprised by the proposal.

"Instead of singling us out just for sporting events, he could spend
his time helping our education funding," Whitesides said.

Despite the bill's potentially dire implications on the area's
economy, Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, wrote off the proposed
legislation, adding that he doubted Gross had thoroughly read the
city's marijuana ordinances.

"I would put this bill in the category of one of the silly bills,"
Graham said. "It'll get a lot of attention, but it won't end up on the
governor's desk."

Gross' proposed bill comes only weeks after Senate President Pro Tem
Michael Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, tapped the two-term senator to lead the
Senate's Appropriations Committee, which controls the state's budget.
Gross is also vice president for business development for UMB Bank,
based in Kansas City, Mo.