For the growing number of Vermonters sympathetic to the cause of snuffing out pot prohibition in our lifetimes, there are oodles of convincing facts and figures to support their case. But is Roger Pion’s act of monster-truck vengeance exacted upon the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office one of them?

This week, BTV Green — the pro-pot activist group that convinced the Burlington City Council to put a nonbinding referendum on cannabis legalization on the Nov. 6 ballot — unveiled its new stickers and poster art (right). One depicts the now-iconic image of the Newport farmer driving his 10-ton tractor over eight police vehicles, reportedly in retribution for police harassment as well as an arrest for marijuana possession.

Is the image a clever collectible bound to end up on the walls of countless Burlington dorm rooms and frat houses? Without a doubt. But is it the most effective message for convincing undecided voters that pot smokers are chill, nonviolent, responsible citizens? Initial damage estimates from Pion’s handiwork exceeded $250,000 — not including police embarrassment over having to apprehend him on foot.

“We weren’t sure that anyone would be turned off by that [image],” argues BTV Green founder Albert Petrarca.

Staff Writer Ken Picard is a senior staff writer at Seven Days. A Long Island, N.Y., native who moved to Vermont from Missoula, Mont., he was hired in 2002 as Seven Days’ first staff writer, to help create a news department. Ken has since won numerous regional and national awards for his features, profiles and investigative stories and had his work picked up by international news outlets. He was the first journalist to shine a light on the thousands of undocumented workers in Vermont’s dairy...

29 replies on “Dope or Dopey? Burlington’s “Legalize It” Advocates Choose Cruiser-Crushing Farmer To Push Message”

  3. Fuck your BULLSHIT independence. Roger Pion has NEVER been convicted of a felony. Yet the PIGS gave Roger a concussion in the course of arresting him on a warrant over marijuana possessing a joint’s worth of weed. Roger’s brain was crushed and swolen by PIG Aaron Leferbrve of the Newport Pig Department who have a reputation of INJUSTICE and BRUTALITY and HARASSMENT. This is not about a “marijuana arrest”. It is about PIG BRUTALITY. Fuck your BULLSHIT independence while you spread the corporate news while not bothering to GATHER THE FACTS, you fucking retarded douche bag clown.

  10. “regardless of whether you think he’s more John Brown than Martin Luther King, Jr.”
    Ummmm he’s is claiming mental health issues, in court stating God told him to do it. Were John Brown and MLK batshit crazy too?

Comments are closed.