HEMP SIGN BRINGS FINE FOR MASEL

Local pro-marijuana activist Ben Masel got to see most of the John
Kerry rally, save for a quick trip to the Madison police station.

Masel was arrested by police after trying to get into the rally with a
sign urging people to grow hemp.

The tickets for the rally clearly stated that no outside signs were
allowed.

Masel said he insisted to security personnel that he had a right to
enter the rally with a sign that read "One acre of hemp equals 20
barrels of oil."

"I decided I had a right to carry it in a traditional public forum,"
he said.

Masel said he was refused entry and got "roughed up by union guys
working security" before being arrested by Madison police officers.

He received a $412 ticket for disorderly conduct, a fine that was
recently doubled by the City Council.

Masel said he returned to the rally after being arrested and joined
the crowd, with his sign, at the same location where he had previously
been refused entry.

"By then, they were not staffing the checkpoint," he
said.

Masel, 50, has a long record of minor offenses since 1982, mostly
disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, in connection with his activism.