DISTRICT JUDGE REJECTS REQUEST TO ACCEPT LATE SIGNATURES

District Judge Kenneth Cory on Friday rejected the arguments posed by both
a group requesting the court order the Clark County Registrar to accept
6,000 late signatures in support of an initiative to legalize possession an
ounce of marijuana and a group asking for a deadline extension on filing
petitions for an initiative to cap property taxes.

Cory ruled the Committee for the Regulation and Control of Marijuana's
rights were not infringed because state law requires all petitions for an
initiative must be filed at the same time by the June 15 deadline.

Cory essentially found Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax was simply
following the law when he refused to accept 6,000 petitions the group
wanted to file several days after the deadline had passed.

The group's attorney, Ross Goodman,unsuccessfully argued the Legislature
established these laws while providing the guidance they should be
"interpreted liberally."

Clark County Counsel Mary-Anne Miller said those laws were not created for
interpretation, and essentially in the end deadlines musty be met unless a
state agency impeded petition gathering.

"A deadline is a deadline when it's not blown because of the actions of a
government agency," Miller said.

Cory also decided not to grant a deadline extension to the group gathering
signatures for the Angle-Gustavson Property Tax Reform petition seeking to
cap Nevada's property taxes in a constitutional amendment similar to
California's Proposition 13, which has essentially rendered the initiative
dead.

Tony Dane, a consultant on the initiative, said the group was harassed in a
similar fashion as the Nevadans For Sound Government, and as a remedy it
should be granted the same deadline extension of July 20.

The group gathered more than 45,500 signatures, but failed to obtain the
51,337 needed by the June 15 deadline. Dane said his May 18 arrest at the
University of Nevada Las Vegas while he was gathering signatures for the
property tax cap and one of the Nevadans for Sound Government's
initiatives, struck fear in volunteers resulting in a loss of 70 to 100
signature gatherers.

Cory said while Nevadans For Sound Government immediately contacted the
Secretary of State upon being harassed and later went through the Nevada
State Supreme Court and the District Court to seek a remedy, the property
tax cap petitioners failed to do so.

Miller said granting an extension to Dane's group could have had a negative
impact on the upcoming election as county clerks are learning how to use
new electronic voting machines. With the deadline already extended to the
Nevadans for Sound Government,another such extension would have made it
difficult for some of Nevada's smaller counties to be ready for Nov. 2.