Some 20,000 central Ohio hemp supporters gathered this weekend to celebrate
the value of pre-Bush judges who respect the Constitution of the United States.
Late Friday afternoon, Federal District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley issued
a stinging rebuke to the Ohio State University's attempt to shut down the
community's traditional Hemp Fest, which has been held on campus for a decade.
As a result, record crowds came to the most successful Hemp Fest in OSU
history, amidst calls to set next year's date as a national celebration.
In a tortured series of contradictory e-mails and false turns, the University
on June 2 revoked a permit it had issued to Students for Sensible Drug Policy
to hold its annual "mini-Woodstock" of music, speeches, food, face painting,
tie dye and more. The festival is a central Ohio tradition dating back to
1989. It's been held at the same central campus location since 1995.
SSDP began discussions for the June 5 event last October. OSU confirmed its
official permit on January 5. But the University then Bushwhacked the event
just three days before it was set to go.
SSDP had contracted with 40 vendors and 24 bands. More than a dozen student
groups and a handful of speakers, including one being flown in from New
Jersey, were left hanging.
In canceling the permit OSU cited a number of Ashcroft-style technicalities.
Campus police chief John Petry, who is new to the job this year, complained
in an email to SSDP organizer Sean Luse that "in past years, there has been
significant drug use at the event and the sponsoring group has done little to
stop that and could even be said to encourage it."
But the event has been historically so violence-free that last year OSU
assigned not a single police officer to a gathering that drew more than 15,000
people.
An SSDP legal team filed for a federal injunction to prevent Ohio State from
canceling the event. Long-time civil rights attorney Sandy Spater was
joined by attorneys Edward Forman and Bob Fitrakis, along with law clerk Michael
Beaver. The Hemp Fest team pointed out that underage drinking regular occurs at
Ohio State football games, along with occasional rioting involving massive
property damage and personal injuries. "By the police chief's reasoning," said
Fitrakis, "Ohio State should be canceling its football season."
The Hemp Fest legal team also cited a decision from Kentucky's Sixth Circuit
Court restoring the job of a fifth grade teacher who invited actor/activist
Woody Harrelson to speak about hemp.
The Chief's letter, said Fitrakis, who is publisher of the Free Press
alternative newspaper and web site, was "a throw-back to the old pre-1920s 'bad
tendencies' doctrine which would give the police power over who may speak. This
doctrine has been thoroughly rebuked by the courts."
In a dramatic decision delivered Friday at 5pm, Judge Marbley savaged OSU's
administration, calling its actions "constitutionally suspect." The permit
denial, he said, "teeters perilously close to the abyss" of discriminating
against SSDP because of its views. He also said the University trampled the group's
14th Amendment rights of due process and equal protection under the law. The
Festival, he said, could go on.
Marbley did, however, agree to the University's demand that a bond be posted
for police to observe the event. Attorney Fitrakis pledged the value of his
house to cover it. The final policing bill has yet to be settled.
The massive regional and national publicity generated by the cancellation,
court battle and restoration of the event helped swell attendance to over
20,000, a record. Campus police spent much of the day shopping at booths and
watching for pot smokers. One speaker read the First Amendment verbatim from a
sound stage. "Amidst a failed drug war, it's good to see the Constitution
upheld," said Fitrakis. "Next year, the event will be even bigger."
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The Hemp Festival organizers' web site is
www.ohiohempfest.org.
