Pro-marijuana event still smokin' on its 20 th anniversary
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Robert Ruth
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
TOM DODGE DISPATCH
David "Shake" Shakin, left, laughs as Alek Shamloo, 19, gets a ring stuck on
his finger. Shakin, who was selling jewelry at Hempfest yesterday, brought
his wares to Ohio State from Athens, Ga.
For more than 35 years, David "Shake" Shakin has kept the faith.
While many "flower children" of the 1960s and early 1970s have dropped out
of the peace movement and joined the establishment, Shakin remains a true
believer.
His hair is white, but he still wears a beard. He calls an artists' commune
outside Athens, Ga., home. And he supports himself by traveling the country
selling hand-made Indonesian jewelry at music and community festivals.
Shakin, 55, brought his jewelry business to Hempfest yesterday on the Ohio
State University campus. He was among about 50 vendors that set up tables
and booths at the 20 th annual pro-marijuana event.
When he was a teenage student at Long Island University, Shakin participated
in Vietnam War protests around the country. Those protests drew hundreds of
thousands of demonstrators, he recalled. Radicals talked of revolution.
Hempfest and other similar gatherings nowadays are mild by comparison,
Shakin said.
"Back then, you had more of an opportunity to do those things," he said.
"Not now. It's more a police state now."
Still, there is an anti-establishment aura at Hempfest, Shakin said. Incense
provided the most pungent scent in the afternoon, but the aroma would change
in the evening, Shakin predicted.
"The air will get sweeter," he said with a mischievous grin.
Other booths provided more evidence that Hempfest was not the kind of event
chambers of commerce feature in their promotional literature.
Booths selling bongs and toke pipes proliferated. Other vendors sold
T-shirts emblazoned with the images of such music icons as Bob Marley and
Tupac Shakur. Signs promoting the legalization of pot were everywhere.
Socialists and the Green and Libertarian parties set up booths early. Asked
why Republicans and Democrats weren't represented in the early afternoon,
Steven Linnabary, treasurer of the Libertarian Party of Franklin County,
said, "They're making money off the war on drugs. Look at who the jailers,
cops and prosecutors are. It's all pure patronage."
In 2004, OSU attempted to ban Hempfest from the campus. But U.S. District
Judge Algenon L. Marbley issued a restraining order prohibiting the
university from canceling the event.
OSU's hierarchy remains unenthusiastic about Hempfest, said Phil Desenze, a
21-year-old OSU student who served as one of the festival's co-coordinators.
Because Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, which sponsors Hempfest, is
considered a student organization, the university gives it $2,500 a year,
Desenze said. But Ohio State then charges the group $2,800 to provide
security, he said.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
PEACE
Steven R. Linnabary, Treasurer
Franklin County Libertarian Party
(614) 891-8841
P.O.Box#115; Blacklick, OH 43004-0115
"When you make peaceful revolution impossible, you make violent revolution
inevitable" John F. Kennedy
ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian
SPONSORED LINKS
| Libertarian | English language | Political parties |
| Online dictionary | American politics |
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
- Visit your group "Libertarian" on the web.
- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
