HIGH-MINDED GESTURE

Marijuana Activist to Raffle Off Bong to Raise Cash for Area Fire Department

EPHRATAH - A local businesswoman and pro-marijuana-legalization activist is
putting her money where her mouth is by raffling off an expensive water
pipe to benefit the RGL Volunteer Fire Department.

Ina Kurz, owner of the Rockwood General Store, claims she stands among
community leaders and other upstanding citizens as a supporter of the drug,
and those who dabble in its recreational use should not be thought of as
criminals.

Kurz, known in the area for organizing the pro-marijuana Woodrock festivals
in 1997 and 1998, has also run on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket for
the Ephratah town justice seat and lost three times. She has also been a
volunteer for Marijuana Reform Party gubernatorial candidate Thomas K.
Leighton.

Kurz has owned and operated the only "head shop" in the county - the
Rockwood General Store-for 28 years.

Kurz's effort to support the Rockwood-Garoga-Lasselsville Fire Department
is being received with polite hesitancy by Fire Chief and Town Supervisor
Todd Bradt, although he doesn't agree with the politics behind the offer.

"I am personally grateful for the offer, but I don't approve of the
marijuana angle," he said. "Maybe if it were legal, it would be different.
At the same time, we get along okay. I wouldn't want to step on her toes."

Kurz said the large, specially made smoking device is called "The Twin
Towers" in honor of the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Kurz said she is sure there were many victims of the tragedy at Ground Zero
who had smoked pot. "I think that it's perfectly appropriate," she said.

But Bradt said he doesn't agree because so many firefighters lost their
lives during the response and rescue stages of the effort at Ground Zero.

"In her way of thinking, maybe it's great," Bradt said. "But I don't think
that it's very appropriate. Besides, I'm up for re-election in September. I
really don't need the bad association."

Bradt was appointed to the supervisor position to finish out the term left
vacant by Bessie Floyd, who unexpectedly resigned and moved away from the
area last year. He hopes to serve for the remaining two years of Floyd's
term, and then if successful, he will run for his first full, four-year
term in 2004.

Kurz said she wouldn't take the association so badly.

"Raising money for the firehouse is the least of it," she said.

She said her aim is to raise awareness of the futility and injustice of
anti-marijuana laws as well as a recent push for the repeal of New York's
Rockefeller Laws.

"People go through Hell because the laws go against the First Amendment,"
she said.

"People have their jobs held over their heads because they choose to use
marijuana. These laws are [at the whim] of only a few politicians choosing
who can do what."

Kurz said her customers of marijuana paraphernalia include health
professionals, law enforcement officials, government employees and other
"heads" of the community.

But not everybody is hip to the lingo. "I had a hard time trying to explain
to the [members of the fire company] just what a bong is," Bradt said. "Not
too many people knew."

Despite the potential controversy, Bradt said he doesn't want to pass
judgment. "Ina's not a bad lady, and we have a decent relationship."

Kurz says a person should not be defined by his or her use of the drug.
"You are not a bad person if you smoke marijuana," she said.