UNKNOWN POT ADVOCATE POSTS SIGN

Official Removes It From City Hall Lawn, Citing And Ordinance, Not Content

LAKELAND -- It wasn't quite Peter Tosh wailing "Legalize it," but someone
Thursday morning decided to protest America's ban on marijuana by placing a
neatly crafted sign on the lawn of Lakeland's City Hall.

"Marijuana is medicinal," read one side of the sign, which stood several
feet tall and was made of poster board and a solid wooden frame.

"Remember prohibition. It still doesn't work," read the other.

A hand-drawn marijuana leaf adorned both sides.

Assistant City Manager Tony Delgado, who eventually removed the sign, said
the author must have deployed the sign sometime after 8 a.m. because no one
arriving for work saw it.

It wasn't until later in the morning that it was spotted and removed.

Delgado said the sign wasn't removed for its content, but for general
violation of Lakeland's sign ordinance, which bars signs on public property.

"Regardless of what the sign said, we were going to remove it," he said.

Delgado said he suspects the sign was meant to protest the discovery and
seizure of several marijuana plants found last week growing on city
property in North Lakeland.

But, he added, "No one has called to claim responsibility."

And the sign itself offered no hint of its author's identity.

It's not a crime to advocate the legalization of marijuana, and Delgado
said the city would take no action against the sign's author, even if it
knew who it was.

"No one would get in trouble," he said. "We'd normally just remove the sign."