FEST ORGANIZERS STONED?

DEAR EDITOR:

It is obvious that the Hempfest organizers hate real art. Anything
that is not tie-dyed, paisley, painted on black velvet, or a hand-held
glass "sculpture" that holds bong water is not worthwhile art to them.

The Hempfest organizers cannot see through their marijuana-smoke-filled
Volkswagen vans to see how th v is event is harming the Puget Sound
environment. Sea lions, Orcas, endangered salmon runs, quack grass,
and all other native vegetation that the Seattle Art Museum has gone
to great expense to design, import, and strategically place is in
imminent danger of being completely destroyed under the Birkenstocks
of these eco-terrorists. Last year's "festival" did irreparable harm
to rocks and logs that were torn from their natural habitat and
relocated, just to make a wider entrance for more partygoers to
overfill Myrtle Edwards Park.

SAM has hired and paid the greatest architectural and environmental
designers in the world to put together a sustainable and beautiful
concrete, steel, and glass sculpture park that completely embodies the
ideals that make Seattle one of the most progressive cities in the
country. By illegally moving the rocks and logs from the locations
that environmental-restoration experts created, Hempfest has done more
than just cost SAM a few dollars in damages. It has upset the delicate
balance of the waterfront that SAM has created for generations to come.

It might be time to consider a new location capable of containing
563,374 people that would be less damaging to the environment. There
are large, fairly unused portions of the state in Pend Oreille and
Spokane counties that could easily accommodate this festival. The
infrastructure that is already in place in towns like Cheney (should
be plenty of places to find a drink in a college town), or the local
penitentiary in Walla Walla, can accommodate all participants, bands,
and speakers.

There is a reason that the government has made marijuana illegal. It
not only destroys lives, but, as all the organizers of Hempfest can
attest, it destroys your mind and the ability to make rational decisions.

JEFF LANDSTROM

Seattle