GARDNER COMMISSION WEIGHS TELEVISING MARIJUANA PROGRAMS

Gardner considers marijuana videos

GARDNER- A representative from the American Civil Liberties Union, a
photographer from the Boston Phoenix newspaper, a local pro-marijuana
activist and a Framingham man who makes a cable-television show turned out
yesterday for a meeting of the city's Cable Commission.

Marijuana brought them all together in the mayor's office.

A controversy is brewing at the Cable Commission over whether to televise
four tapes, part of a series of shows by Jim Pillsbury of Framingham.

The tapes concern state budget savings from decriminalizing marijuana,
medicinal marijuana, the first live hemp-clothing pageant ever on
television, and the politics of pot, according to a flier.

Steve Drury, an activist from Templeton, asked the city a couple of months
ago to televise the tapes, sparking an ongoing discussion. The ACLU has
joined supporters of the tapes to pressure the commission into agreeing to
let them be televised.

City Solicitor Scott Graves has written that the commission cannot deny
access to this producer and program unless a court determines the program is
obscene or defamatory or violates a law, such as copyright infringement or
hate crime laws.

At the meeting yesterday, Mr. Graves said that when he wrote the opinion
last week, he was under the impression the issue was whether the cable
station is required to show the program.

Since then he has learned he needs to find out if any member of the public
has the right to have a show appear on the channel, he said.

Gardner's access channel does not appear to have been set up as a forum for
people to air their views, Mr. Graves said.

The city's channel is a hybrid of governmental and educational programming,
said Vincent S. Ialenti, a commission member. The city needs to determine if
there is an obligation to show material presented from outside these areas,
he said.

Mr. Graves said he would have to review the contract with Comcast, the cable
system's franchise holder, and the history of the channel to see if anyone
else has been allowed to present views on the channel. He expects to have
his opinion to the city within a week, he said.

The intention from day one was to use the channel as an opportunity for
Gardner High School students to learn video production, Mr. Ialenti said.
City Council and School Committee meetings are among the programs shown by
students on the channel.

As for the current discussion about the marijuana tapes, Mr. Ialenti said,
"It's not the content. It's the request issue."

As the commission was voting to refer the issue to Mr. Graves, Mr. Drury
tried to speak.

"This is not a public hearing. Don't start with me," Mayor Daniel J. Kelley
said.

Mr. Drury handed over what he said was a petition signed by 30 Gardner
residents in support of airing the programs.

Ronal C. Madnick, director of the Worcester County chapter of the ACLU of
Massachusetts, said he would like to talk to the commission. He was told to
send his comments in writing.

Mr. Ialenti said the commission wants to find a solution because far too
much time has been spent on the matter.

"It's our goal to avoid litigation, which is a possibility," Mr. Madnick
said.

Afterward, Mr. Madnick said, "Obviously, one can view this as an issue of
censorship."