Pubdate: Wed, 04 Sep 2002
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Page: B2
Copyright: 2002 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Jenn Abelson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

MARIJUANA REFORM GROUP FILES SUIT AGAINST OFFICIALS

Members Allege Violation Of Their Free Speech Rights

There's no place like Stone Park to hold a rally for legalizing marijuana, 
organizers say, but Ashland officials aren't buying it.

"I had a rally in Framingham Common, but it's just not the same as Stone 
Park," said James Pillsbury, coordinator of the MetroWest chapter of the 
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "It's a great name."

State and local advocates of decriminalizing marijuana are accusing Ashland 
officials - for the second time in a decade - of violating free speech 
rights by prior restraint.

The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition and the MetroWest NORML chapter 
contend that the town created a $1 million liability insurance requirement 
only after the group submitted an application to use the park on Memorial 
Day, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court late last month.

The policy, the advocates say, restricted their right to free speech and 
other activities in a public forum.

"They want to keep me out of town," said Pillsbury, a plaintiff in the suit 
against Ashland and a Libertarian candidate for state representative. "It's 
absurd. It just blows everybody away that they would be doing this again."

Ashland Town Manager Dexter Blois and Dale Morris, an administrative 
assistant named in the suit, declined to comment.

Pillsbury's problems with the town date back nearly a decade. The 
Framingham resident held two rallies at Stone Park in 1993, and although no 
arrests were made, reports from a town official that he witnessed marijuana 
smoking at the events prompted efforts to block Pillsbury when he sought a 
permit for another event later that year.

Town officials informed him that a new policy restricted the use of public 
facilities by nonresidents to one time per year. Pillsbury then filed suit 
against Ashland, and a judge ruled in favor of the Massachusetts Cannabis 
Reform Coalition. The town was ordered to reimburse the group $30,000 in 
legal fees after the town lost its court appeal in 1995.

"The leaders of Ashland just don't seem to understand they can't 
discriminate against people for their political beliefs," said Bill 
Downing, president of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition. "How 
many tens of thousands of dollars will Ashland have to pay until the 
leaders understand what the Constitution stands for?"

According to the lawsuit, filed on Aug. 23, town officials informed 
Pillsbury days after he submitted an application to use Stone Park that he 
would need $1 million in liability insurance to hold an event at the park, 
even though that wasn't indicated on the application form.

When pressed on the regulation, Morris told Pillsbury that it was Ashland's 
policy to require $1 million in insurance from everyone who used Stone Park 
for an event, the complaint said.

But according to past permit applications obtained by Pillsbury's attorney, 
and previous interviews town officials gave to the Boston Globe, there is 
no record of such a policy.

Blois told the Globe the town typically requires about $100,000 to $300,000 
in general liability, and $50,000 in medical coverage for groups that use 
public facilities. Officials from the Recreation Department said the town 
is developing a policy to address insurance issues.

Dennis A. Mannone Jr., the former director of the Ashland Recreation 
Department, declined to comment on liability requirements, but said he gave 
one-time requests for the use of public facilities to the town attorney and 
town manager to handle.

"I didn't really handle it," said Mannone, who is named in the suit.

After Pillsbury failed to secure liability coverage, the town returned his 
application and denied the permit.

Barry Bresnick, a former selectman, said he witnessed marijuana smoking at 
the 1993 event, but does not believe there is any particular effort to 
stifle Pillsbury or restrict free speech.

A transcript from a May 1993 selectmen's meeting, however, shows that the 
members discussed the coalition event and talked about ways to prevent 
another pro-marijuana activity from happening. According to court 
documents, one selectman said, "Can we have a policy, develop a policy 
where we could keep individuals or groups [from] extolling illegal 
activities? ... We don't want inappropriate things going on next to a 
playground."

The selectmen suggested limiting use by nonresidents - a regulation the 
town enforced weeks later when the coalition applied for another permit. 
That move ultimately cost Ashland $30,000.

For decades, the coalition has held rallies throughout the state - 
including in Worcester, Fall River, and Salem - and encountered only one 
major flap with Boston in 1998. City officials refused to issue a permit 
without certain restrictions in an effort to control the annual Freedom 
Rally - which had attracted 100,000 people and led to 150 arrests the 
previous year. A Suffolk Superior Court judge refused to block the rally, 
but allowed the city to impose some regulations. Downing called that ruling 
a victory, and described Ashland's latest efforts to curb the coalition's 
activities as extremely upsetting.

"They just never seem to learn," he said.

This story ran on  of the Boston Globe on 9/4/2002. 
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MAP posted-by: Jackl