Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 16, 1995                   TAG: 9511160036
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-9   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

NOT PARAPHERNALIA, WOMAN SAYS; JUST A SMOKESCREEN, JUDGE RULES|

The items, sold at Billy Bob's Tobacco and More, could be used to smoke herbs and tobacco, she said. One device could be used to help someone stop smoking, she added.

A commonwealth's attorney felt differently about the products, which included a brass "hookah," or a vase with several long, cloth-covered hoses used as pipes, and bear-shaped plastic containers originally made to hold store-bought honey but modified into smoking devices.

On Tuesday, a judge felt differently, too, and ordered Rebecca Ann Albert, 24 and former co-owner of the store, to perform 50 hours of community service.

Albert, who no longer works at Billy Bob's, said she doesn't recall ever seeing marijuana being used, not even in movies. She said the store sold about the same amount of tobacco products as the devices authorities said were illegal, which she said shows that the tobacco was not a cover for the sale of illegal items.

Each product was tagged with a label saying the item was not intended to be used for illegal purposes. Customers also had to sign a form saying they would not use the products illegally.

Skip Schwab, assistant commonwealth's attorney, found Albert's explanations of the devices' legal uses hard to buy. He said the labels were added after Montgomery County deputies gave the store a copy of the state code and told employees the items were illegal. The deputies seized the items in September after an investigator saw they were still for sale.

"Why is that on there? Why is that even necessary?" Schwab said of the labels. "People would laugh at a legitimate tobacco store if they had to sign this to buy a tobacco pipe."

Defense attorney Jeff Rudd argued that if the "items did not have a legal purpose [they] would have banned by the state of Virginia" or their manufacture and distribution across state lines would have been banned by federal authorities.

Billy Bob's opened shortly after the county dropped a charge against the co-owner of Definitely Different, a shop that shares the same Peppers Ferry Road building as Billy Bob's. The charge was dropped after the woman agreed to ship the items back to the manufacturer.

Sheriff's deputies said they charged both stores and seized the paraphernalia after citizens complained. Authorities wanted to put a quick end to any idea that head shops - the common slang name for stores that sell marijuana-smoking devices - could make a comeback in the county.

Albert testified she was not selling the items to people who she thought would use them to smoke marijuana.

She said the Sheriff's Office "stayed on our backs saying we are the cause of the drug problem around here. We sell tobacco, that's what we are. ... We're just a legitimate tobacco store."

General District Judge John Quigley ruled there was no evidence presented that the devices were commonly used in the community for tobacco use and that Albert "reasonably should have known" the devices were considered drug paraphernalia.

But he took the charge under advisement for 12 months, ordered Albert to perform 50 hours of community service, and to forfeit the nearly $6,000 in items. If Albert successfully completes the community service and the advisement period, the charge will be dismissed.