Arkansas

[palmspringsbum]

Marijuana group trying to get two issues on ballot

BY TRISH HOLLENBECK Northwest Arkansas Times

Posted on Friday, July 7, 2006

URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/42550/


Members of a group who support medical use of marijuana and making enforcement of marijuana laws a low priority by local police conducted a press conference Thursday in front of the Fayetteville Town Center.

Luke Vinze, a representative with Fairness for Fayetteville, gave a presentation of the organization’s goals during the conference. There were a handful of people attending.

The group is circulating two local initiatives: one to allow doctors to recommend the use of medical marijuana for seriously ill patients, and another to make adult misdemeanor marijuana possession a lower priority for the city’s police. Vinze said 5, 000 signatures are needed for each petition to be put on the ballot, and the group has so far collected at least 1, 000 signatures for each petition. There is a September deadline.

The group, Vinze said, will probably be set up each Saturday on the Fayetteville downtown Square to try to collect signatures.

“ These are both very controversial issues and each side has its pros and cons, ” Vinze said.

The group’s goal, he said, is to open the subject up to debate.

The proposal on medical marijuana would allow seriously ill patients who obtain a physician’s recommendation to use medical marijuana without penalty. It would also allow physicians to recommend medical use of marijuana to a person who is seriously ill, without fear of prosecution.

The low priority initiative would make violent and property crimes a higher priority for law enforcement than an adult misdemeanor marijuana possession.

As a medicine, Vinze said, marijuana is routinely used to treat multiple sclerosis, AIDS, the effects of chemotherapy, epilepsy and glaucoma, among others.

Twelve states, he said, have legalized the use of medicinal marijuana and results have been successful.

There is a synthetic use of marijuana regulated by the Food and Drug Administration in pill form and prescribed by thousands of physicians, Vinze said. It is called marinol. While it works for some patients, he said, it lacks several therapeutic compounds and is more psychoactive than natural cannabis.

Twelve states, he said, have passed legislation similar to a low-priority initiative and marijuana has not been shown to increase in use.

Ryan Denham, president of the organization, wrote in an e-mail that the medical petition simply says that a doctor is allowed to recommend the use of marijuana, not prescribe it.

The low priority petition, he said, states that marijuana is the lowest priority in the city of Fayetteville, but it would not change any fines.

“ Arkansas is not a ‘ home rule’ state, which means we are not allowed to pass laws in a municipality or county that contradict state code. So instead of lowering the fines, we said that adult misdemeanor offenses are the lowest priority, and also limited Fayetteville’s budgetary process to not allow any money to be spent to enforce state or federal marijuana laws, ” he stated.

Columbia, Mo., he said, passed similar petitions, even though there is a state law that states that marijuana is illegal.

[Midnight toker]

Greens nominate Lendall for governor

The Arkansas Times
July 15, 2006

<table class=posttable align=right width=200><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg src=bin/lendall.jpg width=200></td></tr></table>The Green Party of Arkansas at its convention today nominated Jim Lendall as its candidate for governor.

He is still fighting to get on the ballot by challenging the rule that forces third-party candidates to gather over twice the number of petition signatures as independents.

Lendall's speech at the convention outlined his platform and campaign themes.


JIM LENDALL's GREEN PARTY CONVENTION SPEECH

What we have now in Arkansas is a ONE-Party system – the right-wing and the barely left-wing of the Republican Party - We need a TWO-party system where voters have real choices.

Voters want and are entitled to choices at every level of government. They are tired of TweedleDee/TweedleDum elections, where the party labels are different but the candidates' stands are identical.

The Democratic Party Platform sounds good on paper, but obviously the party's candidates can't read. Mr. Beebe, for instance, is ambivalent about women's rights, the environment, labor laws, tax reform, and many other planks of the platform. Or, he panders to the bigots, as in the case of foster care. He has rejected the support of gay people in his own party.

I realize that my chance of finishing better than second in this Governor's race is remote. I am hoping that we gather enough votes so that the Green Party can field candidates at every level in this state for the next election, without having to go through the expensive and unnecessarily burdensome petition effort.

I could waste your afternoon and give you the details of my stands on the many issues we face in Arkansas. You can look at my Legislative record .... and you can go to my web site jimlendall2006.com and get the details.

I will give you a quick laundry list of the issues though:

Environment - Polluting businesses in Arkansas have wasted their money paying for in-house defense attorneys. The people of Arkansas have been paying for a corporate attorney for them- the AG. Our aquifers are being pumped dry. The longer we allow pollution and contaminated sites poison our air, land and water, the more expensive it will be to remedy the situation. Let's clean up these NOW. We do not clean the air and water by redefining what pollution is.

We need to have WELFARE REFORM - CORPORATE WELFARE REFORM. No more free rides on the backs of working people. No more stealing money from the schools for profit. No more forcing everybody else to pay for corporate tax evasion.

Education – We need quality education for ALL children, rural and urban, rich and poor, citizen and non-citizen ... without watering down the standards and expectations for any. Build Safe classrooms before stadiums. We don't need to bribe teachers to teach with so-called merit pay.

Health care – health care for ALL residents of the state – more school nurses, expanding insurance coverage, quality services for all with disabilities, access to all forms of treatment, including medical marijuana. I will continue to actively support reproductive choice.

Criminal Justice – Establish drug courts, re-examine the laws for more reasonable penalties, eliminating discriminatory practices, end the death penalty.

Fair Taxes – eliminate sales tax on foods, redesign the tax system – see my web site.

Labor – While the Democratic party has turned its back on labor, except during election years, I have not! Collective bargaining for public employees, Expand the Whistleblower Law, Protect the rights of public employees when their jobs are being privatized, make the Labor Department protect workers, not companies.

And finally,

Equal Rights - Discrimination is re-emerging as a dangerous political tool. Religion, race, nationality, and sex have become fair targets for political exploitation. It is ironic and tragic that the people who claimed that marriage and family were important to the stability of the community were stampeded to the polls to deny marriage for other American citizens.
<ul>
<li>For a country of immigrants, it is sad that we rush to deny new arrivals their rights. We continue to repeat the anti-immigration backlashes that have marred our country's history. I oppose efforts to deny public services to immigrants and their families.</li>

<li>Quality foster care and adoption for the children of this state, no discrimination on the basis of marital status, race, or sexual orientation!</li>

<li>Pass the Equal Rights Amendment! </li>

<li>Stop racial profiling!</li>
</ul>
I invite the Stonewall and Log Cabin members of their respective parties to join the Green Party instead ... as members, as voters, as candidates, and as friends. The Green Party plank against discrimination is not just symbolic. We do not pander to bigots.

I understand if some folks cannot join with us for other social, political, or economic concerns, but if you can agree with the principles of the Green Party .... Please join our family, you are welcome here.

The Green Party is a choice for a change!!

Posted by Warwick Sabin on July 15, 2006 04:50 PM |

<span class=postbold>See Also</span>: Lendall faces different kind of campaign

[budman]

Carroll County copter crash hurts GI, trooper

BY SHARON C. FITZGERALD

Posted on Thursday, August 10, 2006

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette


GREEN FOREST — An Arkansas National Guard pilot and a veteran Arkansas State Police trooper were injured Wednesday morning when their helicopter crashed in eastern Carroll County.

Arkansas National Guard Maj. Timothy Dickinson, 36, of Little Rock and Trooper Andy Wiley, 51, of Alma were taken to hospitals in Washington County, National Guard and state police officials said.

Guards officials are working to determine the cause of the crash, which occurred about four miles northeast of Green Forest.

The two men took off in an OH-58 A Kiowa helicopter from the Carroll County Airport in Berryville at 10 a. m., Arkansas National Guard Maj. Keith Moore said. The men were in one of two helicopters searching for marijuana plants around Long Creek, along with a ground unit.

Wiley called 911 from his cell phone to report the crash at 10: 25 a. m.

“There was no last radio contact from the pilot noting difficulties or problems with the aircraft,” Moore said at the crash site.

The second helicopter and the ground crew arrived at the crash site minutes later, Moore said.

Moore was in a team of National Guard personnel that flew to the crash in a Black Hawk helicopter.

Moore said there was no evidence of a fire before or after the crash. The black helicopter sat upright against a barbwire fence on a hillside. The landing gear appeared to have been sheared off in the crash.

The crash will be investigated by an Army Aviation investigation team, he said.

Dickinson was being treated Wednesday at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, but his condition was unavailable. Lt. Christopher Heathscott, a Guard spokesman, said Dickinson’s vital signs were stable Wednesday afternoon.

Wiley was listed in fair condition at Northwest Medical Center of Washington County in Springdale, a hospital official said.

Jerry Dale Popejoy, who lives a half-mile from the crash site, said he saw the helicopter flying about 150 feet above the tree line Wednesday morning.

“It was flying slow, and I thought it was flying pretty low,” he said.

He said the helicopter disappeared over a hill, and he heard a popping noise similar to gunshots. Minutes later Popejoy saw another helicopter fly overhead and heard sirens.

The land is owned by Dennis Rhoades, who said he raises chickens and cows on 130 acres. He was in Berryville on an errand when he heard there’d been a crash on his land, he said.

The OH-58 A the men were flying was assigned to the 77 th Aviation Brigade at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock and was used as part of the state’s counterdrug program, Heathscott said. The program pairs guardsmen with local and state law enforcement to search for marijuana plants and methamphetamine labs, he said.

On Wednesday, Dickinson and Wiley were working on an investigation that also involved the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Carroll County sheriff’s office.

“This [Guard ] unit provides aerial and ground support to the state’s counterdrug operation program,” Heathscott said.

Barbara McGill, who lives less than a mile from the crash scene, said she sees helicopters flying in her rural neighborhood often. Long Creek runs along her property and is a popular place for people to grow marijuana and congregate to use drugs, she said.

“I’ve had to the call the sheriff several times about them,” Mc-Gill said. “I’ve found a couple of marijuana plants growing by my barn, and I had to pull them up and burn them.”

McGill was at the Carroll County prosecuting attorney’s office Wednesday morning when the call came in about the crash.

“The sheriff and them all took off and went out there,” McGill said. “They said they were able to reach one person but one was still trapped and they couldn’t get to him.”

Wiley has worked for the state police for more than 23 years and is based at Troop H in Fort Smith, said Lt. Mike Foster, his supervisor. Wiley has worked drug eradication for 10 to 12 weeks during the summer for the past 10 years.

“There’s no telling how many hundreds of hours of flying time that he’s flown,” Foster said.

Dickinson, who has been in the Guard for 18 years, received an Army Aviation Broken Wing award in 2003 for keeping an OH-58 helicopter from crashing, according to the Army Combat Readiness Center’s Web site.

In that incident, Dickinson was returning from a reconnaissance mission near Searcy when his helicopter started having engine problems. He was able to get the helicopter to the ground safely and use his cell phone to call the local airport for assistance, military officials said.

The Arkansas National Guard has 23 helicopters, including four OH-58 s.

Wednesday wasn’t the first time Foster received word that one of his officers had been in a helicopter crash.

Foster was supervisor when Trooper Charles Michael Bassing and two sheriff’s deputies were killed July 24, 1986, when their helicopter crashed during a training exercise for marijuana eradication.

Foster wiped away a tear Wednesday when he described his reaction to hearing Wiley’s helicopter had crashed.

“It’s hard to explain it; you don’t know what to expect,” Foster said. “You expect the worst. But if they can get away, they have a pretty good chance.”

<hr class=postrule>
To contact this reporter: sfitzgerald@arkansasonline.com

Information for this report was contributed by Charlie Morasch and Michelle Bradford of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff.
<center>
Copyright © 2001-2006 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com
</center>

[palmspringsbum]

Carroll County : Helicopter engine quit, injured trooper reports

BY SHARON C. FITZGERALD

Posted on Saturday, August 12, 2006
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette


The engine stopped in an Arkansas National Guard helicopter before it crash-landed Wednesday morning in rural Carroll County, a state police official said Friday.

Arkansas State Police Trooper Andy Wiley, a passenger on the helicopter, told his boss the engine failed before it crashed on a hill.

“He remembers just the engine quitting and that’s it,” said Arkansas State Police Lt. Mike Foster, Wiley’s supervisor.

Wiley, 51, and Arkansas National Guard Maj. Tim Dickinson, 36, were injured Wednesday in the accident shortly after takeoff from the Carroll County Airport in Berryville. The men were part of a team searching for marijuana plants.

Mechanical records on the helicopter will not be released until the investigation is complete, Arkansas National Guard spokesman Lt. Christopher Heathscott said Friday. It could be several months before an Army Aviation team from Camp Robinson in North Little Rock completes its investigation into the crash, he said.

“It will be a thorough investigation,” Heathscott said.

Wiley, a 23-year veteran of the state police, was listed in fair condition Friday at Northwest Medical Center-Springdale. Foster said the trooper was expected to be up and walking by the weekend.

“He doesn’t know when he’ll get out of the hospital,” Foster said.

Dickinson, who has been with the National Guard for 18 years, was listed in fair condition Friday at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville.

Dickinson, the son of state Rep. Tommy Dickinson, D-Newport, suffered a shattered vertebrae and underwent a successful surgery Thursday, his father said Friday. He is expected to make a full recovery, his father said.

“We’re just thankful and give God the credit,” Tommy Dickinson said.

Tommy Dickinson said his son is alert and talking, but he hasn’t told him what happened Wednesday before the helicopter crashed.

In 2003, Tim Dickinson received an Army Aviation Broken Wing Award for safely bringing down an OH-58 A Kiowa helicopter after the engine stopped.

Tommy Dickinson said his son’s luck continued with the crash Wednesday. “The military told me yesterday that if he hadn’t landed the helicopter at an angle it probably would have exploded,” Tommy Dickinson said. “It’s a credit to his skill that he was able to land the helicopter like he did.” On Wednesday, Wiley and Dickinson were working on an investigation that also involved the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Carroll County sheriff ’s office. They had been in the air less than 30 minutes when Dickinson made a crash-landing in a clear area in eastern Carroll County. Wiley, who was able to climb out of the helicopter after the crash, called 911 from his cell phone.

To contact this reporter: sfitzgerald@arkansasonline. com

[Midnight toker]

See: Eureka Springs: Group gets 'pot' proposal on ballot

[palmspringsbum]

Gay issues are hot topic in several Arkansas elections

By Staff and Wire Reports
The Dallas Voice
Nov 2, 2006, 18:55


<table class=posttable align=right width=180><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg src=bin/lendall_jim.jpg></td></tr></table>Republicans making opposition to same-sex marriage, adoption by gays prime messages in races for governor, lieutenant governor, Congress


Jim Lendall — running as the Green Party candidate for governor in Arkansas — must win 3 percent of the vote for the party to automatically have a spot on the ballot in the 2008 presidential election. But his support for the rights of same-sex couples may not help him any in the race.

“The reason I’m running is they need to have at least one competent person running. People need a choice other than the two-party system,” said Lendell, who announced his candidacy last year but wasn’t assured of his spot on the ballot until August, when a federal judge ordered the state to recognize the Green Party.

Lendall and the American Civil Liberties Union had sued over the number of signatures the state required to place third-party candidates on the ballot.

Lendall, 59, served four terms as a state representative — two years as an independent and six years as a Democrat — and said that, over the years,he became more disillusioned with the Democratic Party.

His platform shows sharp differences with the two major party nominees — Democrat Mike Beebe and Republican Asa Hutchinson. Lendall supports the decriminalization of marijuana for medical use, a moratorium on the death penalty and says he would push for a repeal of the constitutional ban on gay marriage approved by voters in 2004.

“I call it the anti-marriage amendment,” Lendall said. “Basically we’ve singled out a group of American citizens and said, ‘you can’t have these rights.”’

Lendall has also said he’s opposed to reinstating a ban on gay foster parents that was overturned by the state Supreme Court in June.

Both Beebe and Hutchinson have said they support reinstating the ban, likely through legislative action. And both oppose gay marriage in the state.

In the race for lieutenant governor, Democrat Bill Halter, a former Clinton administration official who abandoned his gubernatorial bid to run for the state’s No. 2 spot, has overshadowed Republican Jim Holt in fundraising by nearly 14-to-1.

Holt, a state senator who surprised observers by pulling 44 percent of the vote against a popular U.S. senator in 2004, has focused his campaign on hot-button social issues such as gay marriage which was a hallmark of his failed 2004 run against U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark. He has also called for a reinstatement of a ban on gay foster parents that was overturned by the state Supreme Court earlier this year.

Holt says if the Legislature doesn’t reinstate the ban, he’ll push for a constitutional amendment banning gays from adopting children or becoming foster parents.

Halter has focused his campaign on education and economic development, calling for a lottery in a Bible belt state that has historically rejected any expansion of gambling. He does back a reinstatement of the gay-foster-parent ban but has not focused on social issues in his campaign.

In the battle for Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District, which includes eight counties in the central part of the state, the difference between Democrat Rep. Vic Snyder and Republican challenger Andy Mayberry is practically black-and-white, a lot like the early episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show,” which Mayberry has turned to often while challenging a five-term incumbent for a seat in Congress.

To Mayberry, homosexuality is an “abomination,” life begins at conception and federal courts will one day reverse a decision legalizing abortion-on-demand. He also wants to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage and protect the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Snyder, on the other hand, supports civil unions for gay couples, is for abortion rights, voted against the Iraq war and blames the Bush administration for many of the country’s woes. He said he senses that the nation is not heading in the right direction.

Both candidates believe their values best fit the district, but voters will have the final say on Nov. 7.

Mayberry, 36, said he’s been described as an idealist for frequently referencing “The Andy Griffith Show” for its “good morals and ethics and common sense.”

Snyder, 59, a five-term congressman, says civil unions for gay couples would allow them access to each other’s medical records and finances. He says Republicans have been using the issue to draw attention away from GOP failures in the last few years.

“They are trying to shake and bake this thing like we’re on a basketball court doing a fake,” Snyder said. “It’s not going to work this election.”

[palmspringsbum]

Lack Of Initiatives Thwart Biannual Rituals

By Ron Wood
The Morning News
November 4, 2006

FAYETTEVILLE -- Two referred questions await voters on the general election ballot. And the good news is people will be allowed to decide those issues -- this time around.

Voters could have had more chances to directly change state law, but additional proposals never materialized.

The Legislature could have referred up to three questions to voters but chose to offer only one. Lawmakers wanted to refer another proposal but failed to reach an agreement during the hectic end of the last session.

Ballot initiatives from special interest groups never materialized.

That meant Attorney General Mike Beebe, running for governor, didn't have to come off the campaign trail to review the ballot title and popular name of any proposed initiated acts to make sure they were not misleading or designed to fool voters.

It also eliminated the Arkansas Supreme Court's semiannual turkey shoot in which the high court, based on legal challenges, traditionally knocks off the ballot issues it considers to have false or misleading titles or to be constitutionally dubious.

Those last-minute strikes have come in past elections after the ballots were certified and printed, so any votes cast just weren't counted, leaving voters confused and irritated.

"I think I was somewhat surprised after how successful they were in terms of 2004," said Andrew Dowdle, assistant professor of political science at the University of Arkansas. "I think that I expected to see more of them. It's really been the trend over the last 20 to 30 years that there had been more initiatives on there."

Dowdle said there didn't appear to be a big, driving issue like 2004's gay marriage amendment that would have been appropriate for the ballot. Minimum wage could have been that kind of issue for Democrats, but it was addressed by the Legislature.

For Larry Page, director of the Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council, the lack of gaming and marijuana initiatives on the statewide ballot is a welcome respite.

"It's not a consistent thing from election year to election year. There was a proposal for casino and lottery gambling and it's not on the ballot because the proponents of that measure didn't get their signatures," Page said. "Of course, there is charitable bingo left but you can't conduct the same kind of campaign against charitable bingo as you can against casino and lottery gambling. You work more among your grassroots network. It's been a quieter campaign than you normally hear from us when there's a gambling initiative on the ballot."

The group, formed in 1959, battles what they see as the negative moral effects of alcohol, gambling, abortion, euthanasia, drugs and other matters that threaten the traditional family. They're routinely involved in battling or supporting ballot initiatives.

Other groups said their interests simply laid elsewhere this year.

"Most of the effort went into getting ballot access for candidates or parties," Glen Schwarz, president of the state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said of the dearth of initiatives this year.

Schwarz, who has been active in no fewer than 10 petition drives in the past dozen years, said he collected signatures for the Green Party's effort to get a slate of candidates on the ballot. He said the Green Party paid $2 per signature to collectors this year. Schwarz also pointed out that Rod Bryan, an independent candidate for governor, collected more than 10,000 signatures, mostly on his own, to get on the ballot.

Backers of legalized gambling in the Natural State apparently didn't like their odds of winning this year. Based on past performances, in which such measures were either thrown off the ballot or roundly defeated, their odds probably weren't that good anyway.

There was only one attempt, according to the secretary of state's office. A Texas man was pushing a casino proposal but dropped his petition drive early on, after a death in his family. He also wasn't paying anyone to collect signatures, which has become a fixture of modern initiative drives.

"Nobody's going to stand out there for six hours for free," Schwarz said.

Other gambling initiatives didn't materialize this year. Part of the reason may have been that Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs and Southland Greyhound Park, the dog racing track in West Memphis, got expanded gambling, more "instant racing" game machines, through the Legislature. Legislators approved a measure in 2005 that allowed local voters to decide whether to allow electronic games of skill in their cities. Last year, voters in West Memphis overwhelmingly approved the machines. Hot Springs voters narrowly approved the measure.

Southland got 800 of the new machines in October while Oaklawn got 130.

Also missing were attempts to get state marijuana laws changed, same-sex marriage on the ballot and pro- or anti-abortion measures passed.

Eureka Springs does have a local marijuana issue on the city ballot that would make possession of an ounce or less a low priority for police enforcement. Violators would be issued a summons rather than being arrested.

The Fayetteville chapter and University of Arkansas chapter of the marijuana reform group concentrated on getting the local initiative on the ballot in Eureka Springs, according to Jordan Dickerson, president of the university chapter.

The group needed 144 signatures to make the city ballot in Eureka. The group Fairness for Fayetteville had wanted to put the issue in front of Fayetteville voters but didn't think they had time to collect the 5,000 signatures required. About 1,000 were collected before the attempt was dropped.

Dickerson said the chapter decided to try the local initiative largely because a 2004 attempt to get a medical marijuana initiative on the statewide ballot didn't come close to getting the 30,000 or so signatures needed. He said the group felt the organizational structure was simply not in place to tackle a statewide initiative this year.

Two states, Colorado and Nevada, have initiatives on the statewide ballot to legalize the buying and possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults. The Colorado measure is the same as that approved by Denver voters last year.

Marion County has a local wet-dry question before voters that will, if passed, legalize the sale of alcohol there for the first time since residents voted to go dry in 1948.

Past ballot initiatives and referred questions have included the treatment of farm animals, private property protection, property tax questions, several state lottery and casino gambling proposals, term limits, soft drink taxes, school financing, funding of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, allocation of the state's tobacco settlement funds, redevelopment districts in economically deteriorated areas and removing the political affiliation of judges.

[palmspringsbum]

Eureka Springs : Victory energizes ‘pot’ law backers

BY TRACIE DUNGAN

Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006

The Arkansas Gazette-Democrat


A group that persuaded Eureka Springs voters to pass a pro-marijuana initiative plans to continue its efforts by proposing a similar ordinance in at least one other town, a spokesman said.

The ordinance, which passed in Tuesday’s general election, makes arrests and prosecution of adults for misdemeanor marijuana possession of an ounce or less and paraphernalia possession, a low law-enforcement priority.

In September, Fayetteville NORML collected 156 petition signatures in Eureka Springs, a dozen more than needed to put the question to voters.

“For the first time in Arkansas history, citizens have had an opportunity to voice their opinion on America’s failed marijuana laws,” said Ryan Denham the group’s campaign director for the initiative.

“Eureka Springs citizens would rather police focus on violent crimes and property crimes, and not spend their limited resources targeting, arresting and prosecuting minor marijuana offenders,” he said.

The group, part of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, now will turn to its efforts to getting a similar initiative passed in Fayetteville in 2008, Denham said.

The group also is considering a push for legislation in Arkansas that would decriminalize marijuana infractions so they no longer constitute a felony or misdemeanor offense, but would be more akin to a traffic violation, Denham said.

“There’s been some interest shown,” he said.

He’s hopeful, he said, because of the new faces that will be in the next General Assembly.

Jerry Cox, executive director of the conservative Family Council and its lobbying arm, the Family Council Action Committee, said his team would be ready.

“We would certainly oppose it,” Cox said Friday.

The Family Council already has spoken out against legalizing marijuana for medical purposes in Arkansas, he said.

“The measure in Eureka Springs, I believe, sends the wrong message to our young people that somehow using illegal drugs is OK,” he said. “In Arkansas, I believe most parents believe the use of illegal drugs, especially by their children, always is wrong.”

The ordinance’s message, Denham said, is that while people “should not use marijuana,” they also should not lose education or job opportunities because of its use.

Eureka Springs Police Earl Hyatt reiterated that the enforcement priorities of the police force won’t change.

The initiative purports to grant officers discretion that, in fact, they already have in cases of marijuana possession, a Class A misdemeanor, he said, and it contradicts part of Arkansas law’s requirements for the offense.

With such misdemeanors, the arresting officer has a choice of making an arrest or releasing the person on a citation to appear in court, he said. State law requires the suspect be fingerprinted before being locked up or released.

“If an officer finds someone with a small amount of marijuana, they have always had the choice of pouring it on the ground and rubbing it in the dirt or charging the person — and that is not going to change,” Hyatt said Friday.

“This has always been a moot point, but they wanted it on there and they got it. It’s their democratic right,” he said.

Denham agreed that state law trumps parts of the initiative. But the point is, federal and state law enforcement agencies do, in fact, set enforcement priorities and city mayors can set agendas, particularly those that “follow the will of the people,” he said.

Cox said the Northwest Arkansas town is known for taking “a more West Coast type philosophy toward use of illegal drugs.”

“Eureka Springs may be the only city in Arkansas where a measure like this would receive any significant support among the local citizens,” he said.

[palmspringsbum]

<span class=postbold>See:</span> Support for reduced penalties for marijuana offenses, poll shows

[palmspringsbum]

Besides wanting to get legislation passed, he said, the Family Council will look at "defensive" measures such as opposing any effort to legalize marijuana for medical purposes

Gay parents issues top social agenda for 2007 session

Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007

By Doug Thompson
Arkansas News Bureau

FAYETTEVILLE - Conservative groups list banning gay couples from adopting children or serving as foster parents as their top priorities for the 2007 legislative session.

But the leader of the American Civil Liberties Union in Arkansas said any legislative attempts to ban gays from adoptions or foster parenting would be on shaky constitutional ground.

Also, abortion foes plan legislation to prohibit coerced abortions.

This year, the state Supreme Court struck down a state rule that excluded couples from consideration as foster parents on the basis of sexual orientation, prompting some lawmakers to make campaign pledges to propose writing such a ban into state law.

The Family Council, a social conservative organization, and other groups that support such a ban will have little trouble finding a sponsor and may have several bills to choose from, Family Council Director Jerry Cox said.

Similar laws in other states have withstood constitutional challeges, Cox said. For instance, a law could forbid placing children in homes that the couple "cohabits" without marriage. Homosexual couples are barred from marriage by a state constitutional amendment passed in 2004.

Rita Sklar, ACLU executive director in Arkansas, said the state does not have enough foster homes, particularly for siblings, special needs children or children who need foster care for long periods of time, to bar a qualified pool of foster parents.

Meanwhile, Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, said the anti-abortion group is tentatively planning to draft legislation intended to block abortions that are coerced.

"Abortion is supposed to be the choice of the woman, but many times women are force to have an abortion, by partners, husbands, friends, lovers," Mimms said. "Sometimes by physical threats, sometimes emotionally terrorized into it, women feel they are trapped into having an abortion, not choosing it of their own free will."

Under the legislation the group envisions, before a woman could have an abortion, the clinic would have to conduct a screening to make sure the expectant mother sought the procedure of her own choosing.

Among other things, personnel would explain coercion, Mimms said. If the woman expressed that she felt forced into having an abortion, the clinic could not the procedure and would be required to seek assistant for the woman.

"We just want to make sure that, because abortion is a life and death decision for a woman, it's something that she's not being forced to do," Mimms said.

She said she knew of no such statute on the books in any state, and that Arkansas Right to Life was drafting its bill based loosely on similar legislation being considered in Texas and Michigan.

However, an Ohio law states that, except in the case of medical emergency, "Prior to the performance or inducement of the abortion, the pregnant woman signs a form consenting to the abortion and certifies ... on that form ...:

"She consents to the particular abortion voluntarily, knowingly, intelligently, and without coercion by any person, and she is not under the influence of any drug of abuse or alcohol."

Sklar said such legislation in Arkansas would be a waste of time.

"The two abortion providers that remain in Arkansas have made it clear (to lawmakers) that ... if they have any indication that a woman or a girl doesn't want an abortion, they won't give it to her. So this is unneeded legislation," Sklar said. "(Mimm's group) must be looking for attention. This is a problem that doesn't exist."

On other matters, Cox said legislation to increase penalties on adults who use the Internet to sexually solicit children are also will be priority during the upcoming session, Cox said.

In home schooling, a problem has developed where an as-yet undetermined number of home school students are not taking state-mandated standardized testing, Cox said. The state Department of Education is working with home school advocates to work out a solution. Reasons for not taking the tests vary, from problems as simple as missing the test because of sickness to, in some cases, refusal to take the tests.

"No student in private schools has to take the tests," Cox said. "So a lot of parents who have children in home school say 'Why should we?' Well, we'd better offer a solution or we'll be letting our critics solve our problem for us."

Besides wanting to get legislation passed, he said, the Family Council will look at "defensive" measures such as opposing any effort to legalize marijuana for medical purposes or to establish "entertainment districts," which would allow visitors to carry open alcoholic beverages from location to location in designated parts of a city.

[palmspringsbum]

<span class=postbold>See:</span> Arkansas Law Punishing Mothers Whose Newborns Test Positive for Drugs Accomplishes Little, Study Finds