Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 11, 1995 TAG: 9503130035
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Melissa R. Carden, co-owner of Definitely Different, was issued a summons to appear in Montgomery County General District Court on May 16 to answer to the misdemeanor charge. She said Friday she will contest the charge.
"They say they're selling it for people to use herbs in," Captain O.P. Ramsey said.
"I received a complaint that drug paraphernalia was being sold out of the store and that some of our younger citizens were going there to make their purchases."
Deputies went to the shop, located at 2179 Peppers Ferry Road, Wednesday afternoon and "seized all the things we believe to be drug paraphernalia," Ramsey said.
Definitely Different sells T-shirts, Harley Davidson items and other novelties, according to signs in the shop's windows.
Some pipes had marijuana leaf designs and were filled with seeds deputies suspect are marijuana, Ramsey said.
"They say all the marijuana seeds have been sterilized" and won't grow, Ramsey said.
Teen-agers and young adults from around the New River Valley and beyond apparently heard about the shop and came to check out the items, Ramsey said. "I've had a report that we've had kids driving down here from Salem."
Carden has hired Radford lawyer Max Jenkins to represent her. One item the deputies identified as a pipe is actually an ink pen, she said. The seized items represent only a small percentage of the business, she said.
"We were selling them for tobacco," Carden said of the pipes. "I'm young. I'm only 21 years of age. I don't want this on my record."
Jenkins said there are disclaimers on the products that warn the items are not to be used for smoking illegal drugs.
"They've got to prove that she did this knowing that they would be used this way," Jenkins said.
He questioned why authorities don't go after manufacturers of the items.
"It's amazing to me that if they're illegal to sell per se, that they can be shipped by interstate commerce," Jenkins said.
An investigation is continuing.
by CNB