Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 Source: Saginaw News (MI) Copyright: 2010 The Saginaw News Contact: http://www.mlive.com/mailforms/sanews/letters/index.ssf/ Website: http://www.mlive.com/saginaw/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/377 Author: Gus Burns, The Saginaw News MARIJUANA ADVOCACY RALLY IN SAGINAW REHASHED SAGINAW - Things became "a little heated" when Saginaw County Sheriff William L. Federspiel pulled up to the stoplight at the center of a medical marijuana advocacy protest at lunchtime Wednesday, attracting its attention, said John Roberts, 49, of Thomas Township. Federspiel called the protesters a "brutal group" and a "mob" and said he pulled up to the light at Court, attempting to turn left onto South Michigan in Saginaw, where he was stuck for three light changes while protesters outside the Saginaw County Governmental Center shouted profanities at him. Federspiel was driving a department-confiscated Ford Mustang with the words "Taken From A Local Drug Dealer" in decals on each door. "They were calling me names I didn't even think existed," Federspiel said. "Most of the people there, they're not from Saginaw County, and they're ignorant to the fact that that Mustang that I'm driving was not taken from a medical marijuana patient, it was taken from a drug dealer." Federspiel said one protester walked toward the car and attempted to have him sign a recall petition against himself. "People are genuinely upset, they're mad," Roberts said. "(Federspiel) just smiled, did what he normally does, smiled for the camera." The protesters - whose numbers ranged from 40 to 100 participants at any given time between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. - waved and pumped signs into the air urging motorists to honk in support of medical marijuana, and many drivers accommodated. "Free the weed," some protesters yelled. Signs contained slogans such as "It's legal, just in case you didn't get the memo," "Arrest my suffering, not me," "Haven't you always wondered why marijuana is illegal," "Change this law, Mr. Obama, The Constitution demands it," "Stop arresting patients," and "Marijuana has never caused a death in the history of mankind, never." Joe Cain, a veteran U.S. Marine and the chief executive officer of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, who organized the rally, said he was happy with the turnout. About 50 people, at most, turned out for a July 1 rally outside the courthouse, and Wednesday's attendance easily doubled that, Cain said. He pointed at more than a dozen protesters sitting in the shade under trees in Borchard Park, across Court from the courthouse at 111 S. Michigan. "You see sick people," Cain said. "You don't see 'potheads' and drug addicts. "We're the most boring people in the world until you kick our doors in." Cain said the Saginaw County Sheriff's Department will be named in an upcoming class action lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union is working on with the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association. The lawsuit will name agencies in several counties across the state, Cain said. He said his organization is demanding that the Sheriff's Department return items seized during Saginaw County raids and reimburse the medical marijuana patients and caregivers they targeted for property they destroyed. The home Roberts lives at with his fiancee, Stephanie Whisman, 38, was raided by the Saginaw County Sheriff's Department - with support Drug Enforcement Agency - on April 15 and again by DEA agents July 6, less than a week after the July 1 rally Roberts organized. During that protest, state police arrested Whisman on a warrant that was issued because of a $23 outstanding city tax bill. Whisman is not a medical marijuana patient. Roberts has liver disease cause by hepatitis C. The couple hasn't been charged with illegally possessing or manufacturing marijuana. April 15, deputies and federal agents also raided the home of Edwyn W. Boyke Jr., 64, a Saginaw Township resident and medical marijuana patient who has a pinched nerve in his back. Deputies seized a number of items, including a car and lawn maintenance equipment, from Boyke, who paid $5,000 for their return. Boyke hasn't been charged with any crimes and said deputies never returned his dehumidifier or TV. Federspiel said reimbursing Boyke is out of the question. "I'll make one promise to them, that I'll continue to uphold the law, exactly as it's written," Federspiel said. "That I will do."