Hemp Fest Beginning To Mellow Out
by Michael Fredette

August 10, 1998 - The Recorder

EPHRATAH - The Woodrock '98 Hempfest took place Saturday at the Rockwood General Store.

Event organizers were hoping that New York state gubernatorial candidate Thomas K. Leighton would make an appearance, but due to his schedule he was unable to attend.

Walter Wouk of NORML a group opposed to marijuana regulation, said Leighton was in Albany Wednesday and Thursday, and it would not have been possible for him to make the event.

By early afternoon Saturday, fewer than 100 people had gathered on the grounds of the Rockwood General Store. Wouk said he thought more people would come to the event later in the afternoon. He estimated around 1,000 people would attend the event.

Ina V. Stone Kurz, the organizer of the event, also said she thought there would be more people attending in the evening. She said she was happy with the way the event was turning out.

A spokesman for the Fulton County Sheriff's Department said the event was giving the department no problems at all. Kurz said she was told the sheriff's department was not going to interfere.

Kurz has a lawsuit pending against Fulton County officials regarding police interference at last years event.

Wouk said the event is a conscious raising effort to provide the correct facts to the public to alleviate the fears many associate with the consumption of marijuana.

"We try to focus on getting the truth out," he said.

Of all the groups of people he speaks to, he said, he finds the greatest support from the over-60 crowd. Many tell him they find marijuana helps to relieve pain from a variety of conditions.

He said he works with the disabled. He would conservatively estimate 50 percent of the people he works with use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

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