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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1977)
THE BATTALION TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1977 Page 9 ME W& listened! writes i yin ore, ‘ 1 mages,. is > tenderd < audiei his style.| ,se niyseJ iut mypJ )r e seriousj will chan fertain, 1 °f myself I ’ *V'¥' IMk Reform for pot laws slow Np jcS^h Just horsing around Battalion photo by Linda Howard lascal and Lady would have no part of mere oats at a recent picnic held in their lasture on Elmo Weedon Road. While their iwners were fishing, the horses helped themselves to a few goodies. The horses belong to Dr. and Mrs. Dennis Howard of College Station. United Press International JACKSON, Miss. — The first major reform in marijuana laws in the Deep South may have had its genesis last spring in the seizure of a 55-foot shrimp boat along Missis sippi’s sandy Gulf Coast. Nine tons of high-grade Colom bian grass were confiscated in the predawn raid by narcotics officers. Nine persons were arrested, icharged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. The first four suspects went be fore a circuit court judge in January, just as the 1977 session of the Mis sissippi Legislature was beginning. They entered pleas of guilty and went free on fines of $15,000 each. Similar fines have since been levied against other suspects in the case, but no jail terms. Previous efforts to modify marijuana laws had gotten nowhere in this traditionally conservative state, the last in the nation to repeal prohibition in 1966. But news ac^ counts of the light penalties in the Gulf Coast raid gave new incentive to lawmakers pushing for a revision of drug laws. If persons accused of smuggling large quantities of marijuana into the country get off with $15,000 fines, lawmakers argued repeatedly, why should young first offenders face jail sentences for being caught with a few cigarettes? The arguments proved effective. On April 15, Gov. Cliff Finch signed a bill into law ending jail terms for first offenders for possess ing an ounce or less of marijuana. At the same time, the act imposes strict new penalties for hard-drug sales and possession of large amounts of marijuana. Seven states across the nation have revamped marijuana laws, but Mississippi was the first in the South to act. Keith Stroup, director of NORML, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, said he would have opposed Mississip pi’s act if it had been “in New York, Wisconsin or a lot of other states.” “But in Mississippi we support it as a significant breakthrough,” Stroup said. “The symbolic value of decriminalizing the marijuana smoker in the Deep South will not be lost on the rest of the country. It clearly is a version of decriminaliza tion as it pertains to first offenders.” Legislators who handled the bill insisted it did not mean de criminalization. First offenders still face fines of $100 to $250 for posses sion of one ounce or less, with in creasingly tougher penalties for subsequent offenses and possession of large amounts. The old law provided maximum penalties of one year in jail and fines up to $1,000 for possession of one ounce or less, leaving judges wide discretion in fixing the actual punishment. Marijuana laws vary greatly in other Southern states, and attempts to change them have met with little success. In Tennessee, a bill to re duce penalties for use of small amounts of marijuana recently was rejected by a Senate committee. Decriminalization bills have failed twice in the Georgia Legislature in the past two years. And few if any changes have been made in Alabama, Florida, or the Carolinas. This Week At Wyatt’s Cafeteria 155 <2> TUESDAY - MAY 3 BARBECUED CHICKEN Served with hot potato salad and one vegetable. WEDNESDAY - MAY 4 MEXICAN DINNER Two enchiladas w/chili, fried rice, beans, tortilla and hot sauce. a> 149 UJUfltt CRKtCRMS 804 Texas Ave. /ice, virtue surround bar owner ORTH ties United Press International DALLAS — If his life is a mixture ice and virtue he doesn’t seem to >w it. in the shelves of the Body Shop’s ice are bottles of bourbon and itch, gin and vodka; but on his k is an empty Dairy Queen par- :, the remaining ribbons of color gesting vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream, nd while the seductive ivements of the young topless icers bring in the paying custom- at the front, he sits in his office the back sending thousands in ifits to charity. I don’t see any conflict,” he says, lis, the club, is just what I do for iving.” The charities? I don’t know why ive to charities, I guess I’m just a touch.” The voice coming from some- ere under the bushy black beard hat of George “here let me spell out for you it’s 15 miles long” aralambotoulos. ultural and C» uality Sluditt y. Solar Em Farms,' admission). iscs End. )r. Kennetk ite Coliseum, ii »AY )r. Kennetli liitc Coliseun Drill Field, )1, 8 p.m. im, 3:30 p.m, Greek to you, eh?’ And his name may be found on list of donors to the Heart Fund, Ameriti , Cancer Society and the Lung Ijj sociation. He gives to the March and "Eiiergy-i Dimes and the Crippled Children continuous sic diets himself be overcharged on a.m. tolp.ni jit buckles S o kids can go to sum- ro bey 1210 u & (Iceanograp! * Although most businesses usually sponsor the walkers for between a quarter and a dollar per mile, last year the Spotlight Club pledged $20 to the March of Dimes for every mile a crippled girl in a wheelchair could go. She made the entire 20 mile trek, and the Spotlight Club wrote a check for $400. “Some people ask me why, and all I can tell them is that I want to get involved,” said Charalam- botoulos. “Some customers come in and say I just want free publicity, or I want to get something out of it. “But we don’t get anything out of it. That thing last year with the girl in the wheelchair was on TV, but that’s the first time we got any pub licity.” Charalambotoulos, known to his friends as “George the Greek,” says at times his customers are surprised to find him involved in charities, and at times charities are surprised to find involved in topless bars. “As long as you help somebody, what difference does it make,” he said. “We give in good faith. Our money is as good as anyone’s.” Still, Charalambotoulos says at times he feels that neither he nor his business is quite accepted by some organizations — no matter how good the cause. “Oh, they’re always glad to have the money,” he said, with both frus tration and humor in his voice. “But sometimes they’re not in such a hurry that they want to come by here and pick up the check.” UNIVERSITY SQUARE SHOPPING CENTER /TLOVE. ^ ACTION. COMEDY, SUSPENSE/ EXCITEMENT. JUCKELQDEof \ THERE’S ONLY ONE THING WRONG WITH THE DAVIS BABY. DAILY 7 :30 9 :30_ LAST , 3 9 AYS}, IliTllTlIIITIIIHIXi: il ut\y jlo dad i • • • fsaife i His name also may be found on ; police record, where either he his manager, Vince Vinson, are oked after periodic vice raids. T give to the Police Association, d they still bust me,” he said, nd I still give to them.” MANOR EAST S THEATRES MANOR EAST MALL 7:45 7:15-9:20 Giving (between $4,000 and ,000 annually) is a habit the 29- ar-old got into a long time ago, n not necessarily before he got in- Ived in vice. ased iiate imical ilicants -ience ports, bilities osals ng l elitist ie erienc 6 ' fy> /P.0. ;NTS i Charalambotoulos says in one rm or another he’s been in the rip club business since he was 15, ree years after his family migrated fom Greece to the United States, his adult life he has opened erns and restaurants, owned and anaged and sold topless bars, and w has settled — at least for a |hile — on the Body Shop and the otlight Club. His charitable efforts began with riving a bus for crippled children, i the years since he has been a vol- iteer worker with cancer patients id has even gotten some of the rls in his clubs to put in time. “About three years ago the March Dimes had a thing where busi- esses would put up some money |br every mile some kids could alk,” he said. “So we sponsored >me of the girls here. They went ut and walked 20 miles that day, len came to work that night with listers on their feet.” Htoirse —T/vTTFTtaBM* The mapy adventures of Winnie thePboh TECHNICOLOR <S> THE PihIK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN" [PGl PANAVISIOIT COLOR |iy Deluxe I United ^rtiRts LET'S ■ DOIT agaim West Screen 8:30 7:30 night Skyway Twin East Screen 8:30 ‘Drive-In’ & ‘Lords of Flatbush’ ‘Assault on Paradise’ & ‘Big Bad Momma’ Call For Times Campus >us 846-6512 COLLEGE STATION Call For Times ‘Sweet Cakes’ (X) LISTEN UP, GRADUATES! M Having achieved the realities of grad uation, you will want to hold the mem ories of Aggieland forever in a WILTON® H'RMTSTTCLE 1 ilhep beer mug cast exclusively for and sold only at the Curiosity Shop. Just fill the mug with ice and count 15 seconds. Now dump the ice and feel the mug. Not only has it suddenly become “ice cold,” it will stay cold - and keep your beer or ale cold. - ONLY $1 1 .95 Culpepper Plaza 1703 Texas Avenue College Station 693-0982