West Paris to take pro-pot article to voters

WEST PARIS — Breaking with their peers from nearby larger towns, West Paris selectmen voted Thursday, December 28, to let a pro-marijuana ordinance appear on the warrant at town meeting.

If adopted by voters at the March 3 gathering, the ordinance would make possession of the drug the “lowest law enforcement priority” in West Paris.  

The proposal was submitted by the eight-month-old Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative.  Based in Lewiston, the loose-kit group of about 700 activists across the state hopes to end pot prohibition in Maine.

The refusal to block the ordinance from public debate prompted an impassioned response from Roland Delamater.  A presence at all selectmen’s meetings, Delamater tapes the sessions for broadcast on the local public-access tv channel. He rarely speaks, but appeared unusually moved by the ruling.

“Thank you for doing that,” he said, stepping forward for a rare appearance in front of the camera.  “I know it’s an unenforceable ordinance, but you guys kept the town’s finances in mind.”

Jonathan Leavitt, executive director of the Marijuana Initiative, called the decision "a victory for local democracy.”

Leavitt has threatened lawsuits against South Paris and Farmington, where selectmen reached different conclusions.  In those towns, town fathers refused to let the ordinance appear on town meeting warrants, despite the fact that it was submitted with enough signatures to normally bypass their authority.

State law says that when a petition is turned in with valid signatures equal to at least 10 percent of the people who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election, the question must be put on the next town meeting warrant, or a special town meeting must be called within 60 days.

“If they turn their backs on their obligation as elected officials, a lawsuit is an option for us,” said Leavitt, following the South Paris decision.

West Paris selectmen say they have little personal enthusiasm for the pro-pot ordinance, and have openly questioned how their small town, without a police force of its own, could possibly direct which laws county and state officers will uphold. 

Still, they said that once citizens spoke, however figuratively by signing Leavitt’s petition, they felt compelled to obey. 

“It’s got nothing to do with whether we want it or not, it’s got to do with whether they have enough signatures,” said Selectman Wade Rainey.

“We’ll just have to let it go forward and see how it goes,” agreed selectman Dennis Henderson.

Leavitt says the ordinance is designed to officially record the stance of West Paris citizens regarding marijuana use.  By de-emphasizing enforcement at the grassroots level, the Marijuana Initiative hopes to put pressure on state and federal officials to eventually relax all laws prohibiting the use of marijuana. 

“If policy change is going to happen it's vital that local towns and cities make their views known publicly,” says Leavitt.  “We simply cannot wait for the federal government to see the wisdom in changing arcane, destructive, costly, and failed policies."

Toward that end, volunteers fanned out across Western Maine on election day, November 7, to gather petition signatures for their proposal. 

In a two-pronged approach, Marijuana Initiative members also supported a second signature drive, intended to beef up Maine’s seven-year-old Medical Marijuana Law.  If that ballot initiative makes it to a statewide referendum next year, and gets the nod from voters, it would create marijuana dispensaries and force Augusta to launch education campaigns about the service.

Although Leavitt claims enough signatures were gathered to bring the “lowest law enforcement” ordinance to a head in many towns, he says his group decided to test the waters in only four “target communities” — West Paris, South Paris, Sumner, and Farmington.

Leavitt lives in Sumner.  The other towns all displayed a groundswell of support for the ordinance, he says.

That support, however, did not extend to selectmen in South Paris.  They turned the idea down cold. 

Acting on advice from Richard P. Flewelling, an attorney with the Maine Municipal Authority, they deemed the ordinance “illegal.”  South Paris Town Manager Sharon Jackson said this negated the board’s obligation to present it to voters. 

In a letter to Jackson, Flewelling stressed that it is state laws that govern the manufacture, possession, sale and use of marijuana.

“It is beyond the legal authority of any municipality to repeal them, or to prohibit or impede their enforcement,” he wrote. 

Although Leavitt submitted almost twice the valid signatures needed, South Paris selectmen refused to place the ordinance on the town meeting warrant.  Selectmen in Farmington took a similar stance.

In West Paris however, selectmen broke form.

“I think that where the petitioners submitted enough signatures, and where they’ve all been verified, basically, the townspeople said they want it on the warrant,” said Rainey.

“I don’t know if it’s an ‘illegal’ ordinance, but it’s certainly not anything we could enforce,” he reasoned.  “It would be an ordinance that would just be sitting there on the books, but it’s up to the townspeople to decide if they want that sitting there or not.”

In reaching their decision, West Paris selectmen not only bucked the advice of MMA, and precedent set by their more populous neighbors, they also appear to have turned on the advice of the town’s attorney Geoffrey Hole.

During a 20-minute executive session, December 14, selectmen reviewed a letter from Hole which reportedly backed Flewelling’s opinion.  An idea said to have been floated was to have all of the town’s petitioned by the Marijuana Initiative band together in any resulting legal fight.

Instead, West Paris selectmen said the people’s right to speak, right or wrong, trumped the offer of group  discount from their attorney.  Still, they also made it clear that by moving the ordinance proposal forward, they hope to stave off all potential legal action.

However, in doing so, West Paris charts a different course than the one taken by neighboring Sumner, where selectmen also decided to honor petition signatures and let the pro-pot ordinance go to town meeting.

In Sumner, Leavitt met with town clerk Susan Runes to comb over the model ordinance that was attached to the petition signed by voters.

“I went over things that I found very unacceptable,” said Runes, on Friday.  “I just felt we needed to do something because if it passes the way it is, it’s unworkable.”

Runes said some of those changes may by voted in at a public hearing to be held sometime between now and Sumner’s August town meeting.

Although West Paris also plans to hold a public hearing on the proposed ordinance, selectboard chairman Bill Birney says there can be no changes in his town.

“The folks that signed that petition signed for that particular document and that’s the document that’s going to go on the warrant,” he said.

Still, even though Leavitt says he’s glad his issue will get a public airing in West Paris, he is not all smiles about his dealings with Town Manager Don Woodbury, whom he says “seems to be doing his best to keep us out of the loop.”

In a recent letter to the town, Leavitt praised selectmen for acting “in the interest of local democracy,” despite any personal misgivings they may have about the pro-marijuana stance of the proposed ordinance.  However, he had few kind words for Woodbury.

“He has shown his lack of enthusiasm for his role by providing us with only a hard copy of the town voter list, despite the list being available electronically.  Farmington, Sumner and [South] Paris all readily provided electronic voting lists to us,” wrote Leavitt.

“Mr. Woodbury has also refused to provide us with a copy of the rulings that came his way from lawyers who were asked to provide their opinion on the issue, in stark contrast to the Sumner town clerk, the Paris town manager and the Farmington town manager, who maintained open

communication with us, in at least one case despite their lack of support for the issue.

“I would also point out that Mr. Woodbury has refused to keep us in the loop around when the public hearing will be held to review the proposed ordinance and get feedback. His response, when asked, was to inform us that it will be posted in a local newspaper and we should look there for the information sometime in February.”

Leavitt also complained about not getting “a simple phone call” to inform him that his proposed ordinance, tabled at an earlier meeting, would be ruled on at the December 28 meeting of the West Paris selectmen.

However, the matter was not on the agenda for that meeting, and was brought up as an additional item by Chairman Bill Birney, who expressed a desire to deal with the issue and not let it hang any longer in limbo. 

Hearings on the lowest law enforcement priority ordinance have yet to be scheduled in either West Paris or Sumner.  By press time, no lawsuits related to the petition drive had been filed against South Paris or Farmington.