Pubdate: Tue, 18 Nov 2003
Source: Maneater, The (Columbia, MO Edu)
Copyright: 2003 The Maneater
Contact:  http://www.themaneater.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1283
Author: Derek Kravitz, Staff Writer

PEACE, POT, AND PROTESTING

Standing on a sidewalk near the corner of Broadway and Providence,
Mark Haim and his band of protesters hold decorated signs condemning
U.S. involvement in Iraq. Every Wednesday, Haim and company head down
to the four-way intersection between 4:15 and 5:45 p.m. to protest, a
routine that has continued for more than two years.

A couple of the protesters' signs ask drivers to honk for peace. While
protesters stand at the corner, car horns can be heard in every
direction. Occasionally, drivers stick their heads out the window and
scream at them to stop protesting.

"The number of honks we get far outweighs any of the negative
responses," said Johann Holt, a local business owner and member of the
local chapter of the Sierra Club. "We can hear the honks a lot louder
than anything else, and that's more important to us."

Holt said many of the drivers who yell at him tell him to stop
protesting and "get to work."

"People drive by here and tell you to get a job," Holt said. "The
simple fact is most of us work many hours a week."

Two of the protesters at Wednesday's protest were MU professors, one
was an MU doctoral student, one was a social worker, another was a
carpenter and yet another was a custodian for a local church.

"We're from all walks of life," MU Spanish professor Michael Ugarte
said. "Sure, there are some counterculture people here who like to
live differently, wear clothes that are different, but that's not all
that we are. We're a very diverse group."

The protesters at Wednesday's weekly protest were all members of
Columbia's self-described progressive peace movement. Politically
active members of mainstream society, most of the group doesn't look
like the stereotypical hippies of yesteryear.

"Certainly the stereotype of the '60s hippie protester who has long
hair and smokes pot is something that has gone with the times," MU
doctoral student Richard Osbaldiston said. "There's no one out here
advocating a mindless policy like, 'Dude, why can't we all get along?'"

In reality, they represent a culture all their own. Columbia's
progressive peace movement members engage in political activities,
education and protests. Despite the differences, many of the
protesters are still viewed as latter-day hippies.

"I know that's how we're perceived," Ugarte said. "That's how we're
dismissed by people who think we are a bunch of misfits."

Stephens College student Julia Schafermeyer, a member of MU's Students
for Progressive Action, said she and other members of SPA do not
appreciate the "hippie" label.

"Many people involved in SPA aren't fond of being called hippies,"
Schafermeyer said. "A couple of our members have been pretty outspoken
against it."

Schafermeyer said many students react with curiosity to group members
clad in dreadlocks, beads, hemp bracelets and Birkenstocks.

"A lot of people are curious about us," Schafermeyer said. "But many
students just won't talk to us, so we don't reach a lot of people."

'They heard a call the same way we did'

One year ago, while protesting the U.S. government, MU Spanish
professor Michael Ugarte stood nervously in front of a line separating
the public from the government facility at the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of
the Americas, in Fort Benning, Ga.

In his mid 50s, thin, balding and sporting large-rimmed glasses,
Ugarte looks more like your favorite uncle than your everyday criminal.

Ugarte was reluctant to cross the line with his fellow protesters. But
seeing his daughter behind him and not wanting to disappoint her,
Ugarte gathered his strength and crossed. Moments later, he was
arrested by police and thrown into jail.

"I told my daughter, 'You'll be here if I get arrested, and you can
bail me out,'" Ugarte said. "I think just saying that forced me over."

Ugarte spent two nights in jail before being released.

"I'm used to creature comforts," Ugarte said. "I wasn't used to
spending a couple nights in the slammer. It was very, very cold."

He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of trespassing and was
sentenced to one year of probation, a $1,000 fine and 250 hours of
community service.

This weekend, local activists will head to Fort Benning again - but
this time without Ugarte.

"I wanted to go, but I asked permission from my parole officer, and he
said no," Ugarte said.

Despite the problems Ugarte faced as a result of his act, he said it
was a great experience.

"I think it was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life," he
said. "Looking back on it, I would call the whole thing grotesquely
sublime."

Ugarte and other members of the progressive movement are bridging the
divide between '60s culture and today.

"It doesn't matter what generation you are from, it doesn't matter how
long your hair is, it doesn't matter what you do in your free time,"
Osbaldiston said. "When you see an injustice in the world, you are
morally obliged to stand up, speak out and do whatever you can do to
solve it. I think the '60s protesters involved with the civil rights
and the Vietnam War heard a call the same way we did."

'Grateful Dead stickers are great, but kids are dying in Iraq'

Although local protesters are creating their own modern-day peace
movement, some local businesses are trying to cash in on '60s-era
nostalgia - complete with Janis Joplin posters, anti-war buttons and
Jimi Hendrix headbands.

If you head into some of Columbia's downtown shops, you might be lucky
enough to find a secret store within a store. Occasionally hidden from
plain sight, these secret stores sell glass-blown pipes, bubblers and
hookahs, labeling them as tobacco items and tiptoeing around the
legality issues surrounding marijuana paraphernalia.

Jay Trudeau, co-owner of Sunshine Daydream Imports, 812 E. Broadway,
said the glass tobacco products he sells bring in extra clientele.

"It's popular," Trudeau said. "It definitely brings people into the
store."

In February, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft indicted 50 people
for drug trafficking in a nationwide drug paraphernalia sting
code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter. Many of the
people charged in the case sold items over the Internet including
miniature scales, bongs, marijuana pipes, roach clips and safes,
otherwise known as concealers.

Columbia attorney Dan Viets, who is also the Missouri coordinator for
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said it is
nearly impossible to prosecute people who sell marijuana paraphernalia
labeled as tobacco-smoking products.

"They have to prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt," Viets
said.

Viets added it's inappropriate to assume stores like Sunshine Daydream
Imports market marijuana-related items to young people.

"If there's a store that's selling beer and they sell toys that appeal
to children in the same store, it doesn't mean they're marketing
alcohol to children," Viets said. "It's the same thing here."

Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm agreed with Viets, saying no legal
connection can be made between marijuana and the glass tobacco-smoking
items in Columbia stores. However, he said the number of
marijuana-related arrests increased this year compared to last year.

"We have looked at those in the past, but there's no evidence of a
direct connection," Boehm said. "Basically, making an assumption
doesn't help us any."

Volunteers at Peace Nook said despite the stereotype that the peace
movement revolves around the use of marijuana, most peace activists
and members of the progressive movement use marijuana sparingly.

"I've never gone out with people who say, 'Let's go get high
tonight,'" said MU student Ashley Futrell, a volunteer at Peace Nook,
a nonprofit establishment operated by Mid-Missouri Peaceworks. "It's
not that mindset at all. The people I hang out with might be chilling
out, having dinner and say, 'Let's bust out a pipe and smoke to relax.'"

Futrell said she has seen more people unassociated with the hippie
lifestyle who use drugs in excess.

Although drug use remains a stereotypical staple of hippie culture,
many local businesses are attempting to profit from the rebirth of
everything hippie by selling products such as tie-dyed T-shirts and
incense, and marketing them to area college students.

"College students tend to be very expressive and musical," Trudeau
said. "They're the ones that tend to go on tour with jam bands like
Phish."

Trudeau said his store specifically caters to college students, as do
many other local shops.

"It's a very competitive town for this sort of business," Trudeau
said.

Schafermeyer said the products Sunshine Daydream and other stores sell
detract from the idea of the progressive movement.

"An immediate way of getting satisfaction is buying something,"
Schafermeyer said. "Unfortunately, it replaces the real spirit of
community living."

MU student Justin Winn said many Columbia-area stores view hippie
culture solely as a profitable market.

"I think they see the market as some type of fad," Winn
said.

Winn added that many of the local stores that sell hippie-style items
obtain their goods through free trade, a practice which is
hypocritical to the progressive way of life they promote in their stores.

Haim said the difference between the Peace Nook and other Columbia
stores are the messages each store promotes.

"I love Grateful Dead stickers," Haim said. "I think Grateful Dead
stickers are great, but kids are dying in Iraq."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin