Pubdate: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 Source: Daily Collegian (PA) Copyright: 2000 Collegian Inc. Contact: http://www.collegian.psu.edu/ Author: Virginia Avedisian AWAD LANDS ON SELECT BOARD Last night, Anne Awad beat incumbent Hill Boss in the race for a seat on the Amherst Select Board 2189 to 1429. Voters also answered a referendum question concerning marijuana with a resounding yes. Awad won Boss’ place on the Amherst Select Board and, as of 11:50 p.m. last night, the Amherst Town Clerk’s office announced that the non-binding question concerning the decriminalization and de-prioritization of marijuana had indeed passed with 1659 citizens voting in favor of it and 981 voting against it. The voting took place on campus from noon to 8 p.m. at the Hampshire Dining Commons for Southwest residents, North Fire Station in Amherst for Orchard Hill and Van Meter residents and Immanuel Lutheran Church for Northeast and Sylvan residents. Awad is currently an employee at the State Department of Public Health. She sought to not only develop, but also to protect the local community. She was in favor of the referendum question on the subject of marijuana and had many students’ support for both her campaign and for her position on the referendum question. The incumbent, Boss, was clearly divided in his views on the referendum question from those of his opponent. Boss said that he had no problem with the first part of the referendum question, which dealt with the decriminalization of marijuana offenders. The referendum asked that marijuana offenders not be considered criminals. He disagreed with the second part of the question, which asked for police to in a way to, in his words, “look the other way,” in that type of situation. Boss felt that the issue was currently being taken as a political issue when it should instead be a strictly a legal decision. When it comes to the question of the deprioritization and the decriminalization of marijuana, the Cannabis Reform Coalition (CRC) branch at the University of Massachusetts and the Citizen’s for a Sensible Marijuana Policy have been extremely involved in getting this non-binding question to pass. At least one woman decided to sit outside under the bridge in the Southwest residential area on an inflatable chair urging students passing by to vote for Awad and the referendum question. The CRC also petitioned Amherst using a signature drive that included students in the past to initially get the question onto the official ballot. In addition to its past efforts, the CRC discussed the issues associated with marijuana and voting for Awad in the Campus Center, and passed out many different flyers to students passing by. It was anticipated that voter turnout would be considerably higher this year as many local residents were expected to vote on the referendum question. The final voter turnout was 20.4 percent. - --- MAP posted-by: Greg