Pubdate: Fri, 10 Dec 2004
Source: Burlington County Times (NJ)
Copyright: 2004 Calkins Newspapers. Inc.
Contact: http://www.phillyburbs.com/feedback/content_bct.shtml
Website: http://www.phillyburbs.com/burlingtoncountytimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2128
Author: Danielle Camilli
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Cheryl+Miller (Cheryl Miller)

TOMS RIVER MAN FINED FOR DISORDERLY CONDUCT

EVESHAM - Jim Miller of Toms River said yesterday that he only wanted
to bring his message about legal marijuana use for medical purposes to
the crowds of people gathered for President Bush's visit to the
township in October.

He said he didn't come to the event at the township recreation center
on Tuckerton Road to be a rabble-rouser or to get arrested. However,
by the end of the Oct. 18 rally, he was in handcuffs, arrested and
charged with disorderly conduct for "obstructing traffic by pushing an
unoccupied wheelchair in the roadway and refusing to obey police
instructions."

Yesterday, Miller pleaded guilty in municipal court here to a lesser
charge. He admitted he violated the township's "peace and good order
ordinance" when he disobeyed a police officer's orders during the rally.

Evesham Municipal Judge Karen J. Caplan fined him $400, plus court
costs for the offense.

Miller was the only person arrested at the rally.

"The only thing I did wrong that day was not move behind the barricade
when the police officer told me to," Miller, 52, said. "I've been an
activist for more than a decade and have never been arrested outside
of Washington, D.C."

Miller and wife, Cheryl, who died last year at the age of 57 after a
long battle with multiple sclerosis, began advocating for legal
marijuana use for medical purposes in 1991.

"I was keeping a deathbed promise to my wife that I would continue to
work for medical marijuana," he said yesterday. "When I saw that it
worked better than any medicine and was so effective, I got involved.
When I realized it was a political matter, I got political."

Miller brought one of his wife's wheelchairs, the one he calls her
memorial wheelchair, to the rally. A sign on the chair read, in part,
"George Bush flip flopped on medical marijuana." Another sign was a
tribute to his late wife.

Miller contended he was not blocking traffic during the rally, just
trying to leave the parking lot where protesters were held during and
immediately after the president's visit.

Miller said he plans to contact an attorney to discuss whether his
constitutional rights were violated when he was not allowed to leave
the parking lot when he wanted to.

Caplan told Miller that she recognized his right to protest as one of
the "most treasured amendments in our Constitution," but cautioned him
to do so in the appropriate time, manner and place to ensure public
safety.
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MAP posted-by: Derek